What Workers Have to Say About Election Call
We Need Journalism that Informs Workers About What Is Really Going On
– Mining Worker in Abitibi –
Trudeau is an opportunist. He is taking advantage of the pandemic to call the election because he hopes he wins a majority. He doesn’t have a high rating, he’s not liked, at least not in Abitibi. He is using the fact that O’Toole is not popular to get his majority. He is taking advantage of the pandemic to make political capital by saying that he has helped Canadians so he can get a majority. The people around me don’t want an election. He promised not to have an election during the pandemic, but he is doing it while a fourth wave is underway.
I think your journalism is good because it represents workers everywhere, the voice of everyone, and it is important to say that workers don’t want these elections. They don’t want a majority government either, because for a majority government it’s easier to pass laws that are against our interests. A minority government has to be more careful when it passes laws. We only have to look at what is happening with François Legault’s majority government in Quebec and his bill on occupational health and safety, which is a brutal attack on workers. We have no interest in having a majority government come out of this election.
A newspaper like Workers’ Forum informs the public. It does it very well. I read the articles often and they are very well done. It is journalism that defends the interests of all workers, whether in western or eastern Canada. Workers need to be informed about what is really going on so that they can make decisions that are in their interests. Take the issue of labour shortage. Employers keep complaining about the labour shortage. In reality, there isn’t one. It’s not a shortage. The reality is that they’re not paying the people. If they pay decent wages and workers have decent working conditions, they’re going to get workers. How can you live on a minimum wage of $13.50 an hour? Ridiculous wages, bad conditions — let them improve the conditions and the workers will show up. Employers also use foreign temporary workers, but they exploit them and fire them saying they are no good, and many are just sent back to their country. It’s important to inform workers. For me it’s an important issue in this election.
