Skip to content

Council joins with unions to protest public service cuts

The Guardian reports on a rally that took place in Charlottetown yesterday “to talk about cuts to a variety of public services, such as Veterans Affairs Canada and Canada Post.”

The Council of Canadians

“Leo Broderick, with the Council of Canadians, said the Harper government is making it quite obvious which direction it’s going in. ‘The Harper government is going to privatize every public service that we have in this country that we’ve built up over the years’, Broderick said.”

Canadian Union of Postal Workers

“Chris Clay, president of the postal workers union in Charlottetown, says changes to Canada Post will affect up to 50 jobs on P.E.I. ‘That’s substantial’, Clay said. ‘Our membership is worried and, personally, I’m worried. I’m scared at the thought of losing my job and that’s where everybody is.'”

Public Service Alliance of Canada

“Debbie Buell, speaking for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, spoke about the cuts to Veterans Affairs. Of the plan to eliminate more than 800 jobs across the country, 232 of the cuts will hit the headquarters operation in Charlottetown by March 2015. The district office, where veterans could get a one-on-one meeting with a case worker, will close this Friday. ‘Our government is betraying veterans’, said Buell.”

Prince Edward Island Union of Public Sector Employees

“Debbie Bovyer, president of the Union of Public Sector of Employees, accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of attacking unions. ‘Most of the (Veterans Affairs) cuts apply to front-line workers so services of our veterans will continue to be compromised’… Bovyer also touched on cuts to EI, pointing to the 28 claims processing jobs cut in Montague in 2012, and cuts to Parks Canada where about 20 jobs were eliminated on P.E.I.”

New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island

“(P.E.I. NDP leader Mike Redmond asked), ‘How can it be that a country so wealthy cannot deliver mail door to door? How can it be that over 10,000 Islanders need to travel to the mainland for health care? How can we accept closures to our Veterans Affairs offices right here in Charlottetown and tell our heroes they need to travel to Saint John, N.B., for a one-on-one case worker?’”

Further reading
Barlow condemns Canada Post cuts

Council activists protest EI cuts in Tignish, South Shore and Montreal
Public sector cuts threaten Canada’s freshwater heritage