Albertans Mobilize Vigorously
Against Kenney Government's
Stepped Up Anti-Social Offensive
Community Builders Stand Against Kenney's Wrecking
- Peggy Askin -
 A
militant rally organized by Alberta Forward in a
Progressive Canada,
CUPE Alberta and Support Our Students took place
outside the Westin
Airport Hotel in Calgary where the United
Conservative Party (UCP) was
holding its annual general meeting. About 1,500
people attended despite
the bitter cold and isolated location. Teachers,
students, and parents,
nurses and other health care workers and
professionals, seniors, and
people from all walks of life and virtually
every sector of the economy
participated in the rally. They came, as one
speaker said, as community
builders, to oppose wrecking, to speak in their
own names about the
impact of the Kenney government's anti-social
offensive, and to demand
that all the anti-social measures be reversed.
With signs and banner,
chants and speeches, they expressed their
determination to turn things
around.
The rally showed that people do not accept the
claim of
the Kenney government that it has a "mandate,"
are not disoriented by
the government's shock-and-awe tactics, and are
vigorously and
militantly defending their rights and the rights
of all. For many, it
was their first time participating in such an
event, and the day was
filled with the spirit that it is up to all of
us, and together we will
build the resistance.
In a very successful and innovative approach,
the rally
was organized with alternating open mic
sessions, and marches circling
the hotel. The first speaker was a teacher who
set the tone for the
rest of the day by speaking about how important
it was to work
together. A large contingent of teachers took
part to say No!
to planned layoffs taking
place across the province, including 300 Calgary
teachers on term
contracts who will lose their jobs, and to
affirm their fight for their
working conditions that are student learning
conditions.
Nurses were also out in force. The day before
the rally,
Alberta Health Services announced in a meeting
with the United Nurses
of Alberta leadership that at least 750
registered nurses will be laid
off over several years in a massive
"downsizing," eliminating over one
million hours of care. Health care, education
and other public sector
workers
from the Canadian Union of Public Employees
(CUPE) and the Alberta
Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) marched
together. They too had
received a letter stating that up to 6,000 jobs,
many in health care
will be eliminated or contracted out.
 Nurses,
teachers, health and other public sector
workers, students, Assured
Income for the Severely Handicapped recipients,
and many
concerned citizens spoke about how they will be
affected by this anti-people
offensive, and that it is up to all of us to
build the resistance.
Teacher and rally organizer, Stephanie Quesnel,
explained
the impact of the cuts and how they will impact
class size and
specialized care, while cuts to health care will
result in limited
staffing, increased wait times, and decreased
quality in care. "I hope
[Kenney] realizes that it's not a minority, it's
a huge majority, that
are against these cuts
and this isn't what we voted for. If people
voted for the UCP, this was
not on the platform so it's coming as a surprise
to many people," she
said. "We've been awfully loud. If he isn't
listening, then he isn't
listening to a really large chunk of Albertans
because there is a shift
happening and they have to listen."
Vice President of AUPE Local 71 Bobby-Jo
Borodey, said,
"It doesn't matter what union you belong to,
what group you are
associated with, all that matters is that you
are an Albertan and this
government has waged war on the people of this
province. Your fight is
our fight. Our fight is your fight and,
together, we will be stronger
and
together we will win."
Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta
Federation of
Labour, did not mince words. "People are losing
their jobs. Instead of
jobs they have given us the destruction of jobs.
Everyone should be
prepared to join us on the picket line. This is
our moment to stand up
and fight back and that is exactly what we
intend to do," he said.
Barb Silva, representing Support Our Students
Alberta,
spoke with great conviction, saying, "This is a
question of educational
justice. Do not ask us to compromise, Jason
Kenney. Don't ask us to
negotiate on the backs of Alberta children. We
see your plan. We know
where you are taking Alberta education. We know
Kenney wants to break
unions, weaken public education and divide
communities [...] Kenney wants
you to see education as an individual commodity.
We know it's a public
common good. He wants to attack public education
at every opportunity.
We will meet him there every time to defend it.
We are here today,
public education proud. We are community
builders not
breakers. We support students, we support
teachers, we support public
education, and we will not stand by and let the
government sell it to
the highest bidder."
Peggy Askin, vice president of the Calgary
chapter of
the Congress of Union Retirees and former
President of the Calgary and
District Labour Council said, "The Kenney
government has no mandate to
carry out this brutal anti-social offensive. He
does not act in our
name when he swings his wrecking ball. We are
here together speaking
and
marching for our rights, for the needs of human
beings to come first.
It is no accident that workers are writing 'UCP,
United Corporate
Puppets' on their signs, as that is whose
interests this government
serves. We are here together fighting for the
Alberta that we stand for. It is the teachers,
the health-care workers, the public-sector
workers, all working people -- it's all of us
who work to make this province function.
"We say Stop Paying the Rich and Increase
Funding for Social Programs!
"We say No! to this dictate. We want a
real say and we are empowering ourselves."
See also the article titled "Kenney Government's Despicable
Attacks on Teachers" by Kevan Hunter to be published in TML Weekly
No. 30, December 7, 2019.
 
 
  
This article was published in
Number 29 - December 4, 2019
Article Link:
Albertans Mobilize Vigorously
Against Kenney Government's : Community Builders Stand Against Kenney's Wrecking - Peggy Askin
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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