President's Commentary

The Occupy movement is here to stay. It will morph into something else. But it’s not going away until there are serious reforms to our economy and democracy.

It is the role of a democratic government in a civil society to defend all human rights. Human rights cannot flourish where labour rights are not enforced.

It’s time for true political leaders in Canada to emerge and rise to the challenge of addressing inequality. And the rest of us must be more demanding of our governments to justify their policy choices – will they reduce inequality or make the problem worse?

There’s a dark cloud hanging over Labour Day celebrations this year. Workers and their families are scared and angry as they struggle to cope with the ongoing economic crisis.

The real question now is whether or not Canada Post is up to the job to be the innovator the country needs. There is a massive opportunity for CEO Deepak Chopra to make a transformative shift in our postal system. Now is the perfect time for Canada Post to open itself to the future, to invest and expand.

The Conservative campaign has so far reinforced the image of Harper as a controlling, angry dictator. It’s definitely dented any momentum he had going into the campaign.

How bad is income inequality in Canada? Really bad. And it is getting worse. A Fairness Test would ensure that the poorest Canadians are not hit the hardest by deficit reduction policies.

The Conservative government’s "tough on crime" agenda is a waste of resources and is actually making the real problems in our justice system worse.

Wisconsin Governor’s attack shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us. Indeed, the question has only been when and which jurisdiction in North America would be first to take such heavy handed action.

There's very little evidence these tax cuts will lead to more jobs. In fact, they come with no strings attached so companies that eliminate jobs are actually rewarded - James Clancy, NUPGE national president.

Tim Hudak is misleading voters by pretending that an attack on public sector jobs and wages will deal with a financial mess that the financial sector has caused, says James Clancy, NUPGE's national president.

Please read this commentary by National President James Clancy to learn more about the dispute with the Canadian Labour Congress over raiding.

CPP is the envy of the world: it’s secure, funded on a sound basis and well managed by professional staff independent of government.

It’s time for Canada to put into practice our international commitments to labour rights.

(19 Aug. 2010) - Perhaps if Colonel Stogran had a well-financed lobby behind him the situation would be different. Unfortunately, unlike the arms industry, veterans tend to lack the money needed to 'effectively' lobby federal politicians.

(5 July 2010) - 'The big winners were the same financial institutions responsible for the economic crisis in the first place. Rather than seize the opportunity to act, the G-20 leaders failed to agree on any new regulations for the financial sector.' - James Clancy.

Updated with video.

(19 May 2010) - President's Commentary: Harper has personally fired, threatened and bullied so many agency and commission heads who have disagreed with him that it’s difficult to keep track of them all, says NUPGE's James Clancy.

(11 Feb. 2010) - The top priority for the upcoming federal budget must be to preserve and create good jobs. The budget should also invest in building a healthier, smarter, greener and more secure Canada, says NUPGE president James Clancy.

(29 Jan. 2010) - While 2009 provided several significant victories for workers across Canada, governments continued their legislative attack on the rights of labour, says NUPGE president James Clancy.

(16 Dec. 2009) - 'We need a National Pensions Summit that provides Canadians from all walks of life with an open forum to fairly explore and assess the viability of all options designed to improve retirement security for all Canadians.'  - James Clancy.

(27 Nov. 2009) - NUPGE president James Clancy says Harper is changing Canada so radically that we could lose more than our good name – already badly damaged on the world stage. "We just might lose Canada altogether," he writes.

(22 Oct. 2009) - NUPGE president James Clancy says Canada needs serious tax reform. But he says the new HST in Ontario and BC unfairly targets working families and should be cancelled. Instead, Canada must look at restoring fairness to its tax system by cancelling the Harper government's planned corporate tax cuts and by creating new tax brackets at the top for the wealthiest Canadians.

(16 Oct. 2009) - The objectives of the legislation are threefold: to eliminate sectoral bargaining, to allow the establishment of employer-dominated company unions and to greatly reduce the power of unions in the construction industry.

(31 Aug. 2009) - 'I ask you to reflect on the victims of this powerful recession and to speak out for the changes that our government must make if we are to build a better world for ourselves and our families.'

(28 July 2009) - Why is Canada still refusing to ratify ILO Convention No. 98 – the right to form unions and bargain collectively? After 60 years, the federal government has run out of excuses. Even the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized this right. - James Clancy.

(22 July 2009) - "My heart goes out to all those families whose lives have been disrupted by the fires. I can’t imagine what they have felt." - James Clancy.

(18 June 2009) - Canada has a shameful secret, says NUPGE president James Clancy. It is one of only nine countries in the world that have failed to ratify the International Labour Organization's Convention No. 29 on Forced Labour.

(2 June 2009) - Canada's social infrastructure is starving for funds despite right-wing lies about the cause of Jim Flaherty's projected $50 billion deficit.

(24 May 2009) - As long as Harper and his cabinet let the big banks write the rules, we'll continue to have a financial system that's good for them and bad for everyone else.

(18 May 2009) - The “experts” had their chance. We tried it their way. It didn’t work. Now it’s our turn. It’s our turn to ensure our governments find real economic alternatives that work for everybody. — Commentary by NUPGE president James Clancy.

(31 March 2009) - The same corporate 'experts' who flattened the stock market and triggered the economic crisis with relentless deregulation are now claiming that higher wages for workers is bad for the economy — Commentary by NUPGE president James Clancy.

(20 March 2009) - The second of two commentaries by James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), on the challenges facing pension plans in Canada. Read first commentary

(19 March 2009) - The first of two commentaries by James Clancy, national president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), on the challenges facing pension plans in Canada.

(19 Feb. 2009) - Obama understands that the current recession presents national leaders with a unique opportunity to unleash ingenuity and develop green technologies that will renew economies and simultaneously confront climate change.

(18 Feb. 2009) -- 'Is it really asking too much for a Canadian prime minister to raise his game above the shabby politics of fear, partisanship and rigid ideology?'

(Jan 27, 2009) -- 'Everyone except the prime minister seems to understand that big problems require bold solutions. Canada needs a large-scale fiscal stimulus.'

(Jan 23, 2009) -- 'The Harper government thinks we have to choose either a strong economy or a clean environment. This is a false choice that sells our country short. We can and must have both.'

'In tough times it is important that our governments show leadership and make smart policy choices that are in our long term interests,' say James Clancy and Peter Olfert. 

(Nov 11, 2008) -- 'Our challenge is to ensure that a progressive approach of using our common wealth for the common good stirs our collective conscience and becomes the centre of political discourse and policy in this country.'

(Oct 9, 2008) -- 'The Harper platform is a vapid document, full of slogans but lacking a substantive plan to tackle the current economic and social challenges.'

(Sept 24, 2008) -- 'How many more people must die before the Harper government realizes that public health and safety must always transcend the boundaries of ideology?'

(Apr 15, 2008) -- 'No longer can governments be allowed to ignore the deepening crisis in our nursing home sector. The care of Canada’s seniors, now so shamefully neglected, must become a top priority for all of us.'

(Dec 7, 2007) -- 'Labour rights are human rights. Seize them. Defend them. Promote them. Understand them and insist on them. It’s a sure way to strengthen our democracy while helping to achieve equality and justice for all working people.'

(Oct 26, 2007) -- 'Union activity is an integral part of democratic civil society. Our problems are social and economic, but the solution remains political.'

(Oct 11, 2007) -- 'Lost jobs, stagnating wages, historic gap between rich and poor. These are the types of trends that can pull a country apart at the seams.'

(Aug 15, 2007) -- 'The CMA is undermining the most fundamental premises of our national Medicare system – health care is not a commodity that should be bought or sold. It is a common good and needs to be treated and respected in this manner.'

(July 19, 2007) -- 'The Supreme Court ruling on collective bargaining rights is definitely a victory worth celebrating. But with so much at stake, we cannot and must not stop to rest or relax for long.'

(Mar 30, 2007) -- 'As the facts clearly demonstrate, with last week’s budget stuffed with platitudes rather than solutions, the Harper government just doesn’t have what it takes to build the kind of future most Canadians want and deserve.'

(Mar 15, 2007) -- 'Doris Anderson was an important journalist, women’s rights champion and activist.  Canada mourns her loss, but celebrates a remarkable life.'

(Mar 4, 2007) -- 'We are spending lots of money for war  and military equipment but what happens when our soldiers come home?'

(Feb 9, 2007) -- 'There is an important message that Canada's provincial and territorial health ministers ought to hear when they meet this week in Toronto: More health professionals are needed to reduce hospital wait times.'

(Jan 23, 2007) -- 'Kevin Park, a well-known activist and staff representative with the British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union," was a passionate life-long advocate of causes related to social justice.'

(Aug 28, 2006) -- 'There is a point during the Canadian summer when one starts to think of the fall. It's mid-August and the garden has just peaked. Kids are complaining that they are bored. You can hear the crickets at night. It's a classic Canadian summer.'

(Aug 3, 2006) -- 'When I worked as a front-line street worker I occasionally met guys who would brag about going on joy rides - taking a car that is not their own out for a spin. These guys would claim there was no harm done as they left the car more or less in the condition they found it.'

(May 3, 2006) -- 'While extreme ideologues can generally be relied upon to defy reality in support of their radical agenda, Ms. Martinuk's article was especially surprising in its shallowness and misrepresentation of the facts.'

(16 March 2006) -- 'Perhaps the Harper government is afraid that good old fashioned Canadian common sense will once again show itself right about Afghanistan as it was about Iraq.'

(March 03, 2006) -- 'Alberta Premier Ralp Klein's Third Way for health care is about allowing  the very wealthy to jump the queue at the expense of the rest of us.'

(Feb 27, 2006) -- 'Harper will, if he gets his way, push Canada down the American capitalist road into a new world of neoconservative American politics.'

(Feb 20, 2006) -- 'In keeping the child care promise, Stephen Harper can demonstrate leadership and a mastery of statecraft that would serve him very well when he next goes to the polls. Does he have it in him?'

(Jan 20, 2006) -- 'I urge Mr. Harper to come forward, stand up for working families, and stand up for Canada by adding his name to the Workers' Bill of Rights. It is never too late to do the right thing, Mr. Harper.'