Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
So how's the economy thing going, Steve?
A friend of mine has now been out of work for one full year - and no prospects in sight. My friend lost a job last October, not because of any inefficiencies or wrongdoing, but because of an office "re-organization".
In the year since, my friend has worked ceaselessly to find another job, signing up with a number of "job placement" agencies, taking part in government programs and training sessions, going into job data banks and on and on and on. My friend has attended numerous job interviews, sometimes even being called back for a second interview.
Seeing the distress on my friend's face when those interviews come to naught is heart-breaking. It is just as heart-breaking watching my friend try to juggle the dollars, attempting to keep afloat. And now, in what my friend sees as another blow to an already shattered ego, the Unemployment Insurance payments stop and that means accepting welfare.
I've been there and I know how demoralizing and demeaning the whole welfare process is. It's bad enough to find oneself in the position of having to ask the government for help; it's even worse when the government's welfare processes make you feel even more worthless.
This is the prospect my friend now faces. But it's not just my friend.
There are hundreds of thousands of Canadians of all ages out of work and most of them are without a job through no fault of their own. Most are out of work because many companies and corporations laid people off, not because they aren't making money but because their profits are not as high as they would like them to be. A good many Canadians should be asking themselves right about now just how secure their jobs are.
But what do we hear from our government in Ottawa, you know, the one that won this year's federal election by campaigning on the pledge that only they could fix the economy? Mostly we hear Jim Flaherty telling the Europeans how to deal with their mess and saying how strong our economy is compared to the rest of the world.
That doesn't help the unemployed in Canada put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads.
Instead, the current government has spent its first months in office charging full steam ahead on bringing in its omnibus justice legislation, killing the gun registry and getting rid of the Canadian Wheat Board. And, of course, they will continue with their multi-billion-dollar plans to build more prisons, buy billions of dollars worth of stealth fighter planes and spend billions on building warships.
One must give the Harper government credit for some job creation efforts, though. For example, they will be adding a few members to the House of Commons. That will cost taxpayers a few more million dollars a year, but, hey, there will be about 30 fewer unemployed Canadians.
If this government was serious about getting Canadians back to work, they would be investing some of those billions of dollars into a seriously neglected area that extends across the country: infrastructure!
Bridges, highways, roads, tunnels, public buildings, schools, public transit, rail lines. Much of the nation's infrastructure is crumbling dangerously, as we have witnessed in Montreal over the past several months, although, admittedly, some of Montreal's crumbling bridges are the result of criminal activity in the Quebec construction industry.
With a massive investment in public infrastructure, the government could open up hundreds of thousands of jobs immediately and it would have a ripple effect in those companies that service and supply the construction industry, that build buses and trains and ferries. It would take hundreds of thousands of people off unemployment insurance and welfare payments and increase the amount of income tax the government takes in. Spending would increase, leading to more employment in the retail sector. You know, real jobs, not the Bay Street and Wall Street jobs where nothing is made and nothing is produced.
Instead, the government seems intent on reducing the number of employees in the public service. This, they say, will help lower the taxes that Canadians pay, without giving any thought to the fact that it will merely swell the number of unemployed, effectively cutting tax revenue even more.
If the primary role of the federal government is to safeguard the well-being of the country and its citizens, it seems to me the welfare of its citizens is best served by doing everything possible to lower the number of unemployed. No economy can grow without a strong workforce.
Tell me, am I wrong?
