The first annual Union Labour Day BBQ was held from 11am to 2pm at Olympic Plaza in Calgary on Monday, September 6, 2009. For 3 hours there was a huge line up for hamburgers, hotdogs, oranges, pop, and cake. All this could be had while listening to great live musical acts. This is the start of a true Labour Day classic.

The Calgary Cowbell had the opportunity to interview Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason and the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour Gil McGowan. Both were in attendance at the BBQ. 

                             

Calgary Cowbell: What does Labour Day mean to you?

Brian Mason: To celebrate the accomplishments of labour and also to contemplate the things yet to be done in our society. To fully recognize the contribution of people who produce the wealth of our country.

It is also a time to talk about unemployment. We are in the middle of a very wealthy city where thousands of people do not get enough to eat (motioning towards the BBQ lineup, many of whom are homeless).

Calgary Cowbell: What are the biggest challenges for the NDP right now?

Brian Mason: The Stelmach government is doing great damage to our health care system. The extremely low royalties means that future generations can’t be guaranteed prosperity. The lack of affordable child care in the province. The conditions that many of our seniors endure. I haven’t even mentioned the environment.

 
                   

Calgary Cowbell: What does Labour Day mean to you?

Gil McGowan: A reminder to Albertans that the labour movement continues to play an important role in the broader economy. In almost every case the union movement is at the heart of things. A lot of good ideas are being floated. There is a lot of progressive stuff happening in this province. You need money though to be able to do that. Labour has the money and the organization to expand the progressive circle. The labour movement has stepped up and done that job.

This Labour Day is about unemployment. At this time last year there were 73,000 officially unemployed people in the province. The number has jumped to 160,000 now.

When people think about the recession they first think about what is happening in the manufacturing sector in places like Ontario and Quebec. The reality is that no other province has been shedding jobs more quickly than Alberta.  

Over the last 3 or 4 weeks we’ve been hearing from politicians, economists, and people in the business press that the recession is over. What we’ve seen from statistics Canada and at events like this, it is clearly not the case.

Calgary Cowbell: What needs to be done?

Gil McGowan: We need the federal government to do more to help people who have lost their jobs. EI (employment insurance) isn’t doing the job it was set out to do. Only 39% of those who have lost their jobs are receiving EI. We would like to see the federal government create a national standard for EI eligibility that would allow all Canadians to benefit from the program that they paid into.

We would like to see an EI national standard of 360 hours. Right now workers in Calgary and Edmonton have to work at least 665 hours even to be eligible for EI. The people who are losing their jobs first are young people, part timers, and temporary workers. They are the people who are least likely to receive benefits though.

We have a message for the provincial government about budget cuts and program rollbacks. For the last two or three months we having been hearing ominous remarks from the premier and other members of the cabinet suggesting we may be returning to Klein style cuts. This is the last thing they should be considering because it would make a bad situation worse. In the face of an increase in unemployment, that we haven’t seen for the last 15 years, the last thing the provincial government should be doing is throwing even more people out of work.

There is no jurisdiction in North America that is in better financial position to do something aggressive on the job front here in Alberta. We should use this recession as an opportunity to be doing what the provincial government should have been doing years ago - using public money to invest in a greener economy.

Four months ago the Federation of Labour, Sierra Club, and Greenpeace produced a blue print called Green Jobs. If the provincial government implemented the practical recommendations outlined in the report, we think they could create as many of 40,000 jobs in sustainable industries. Ideology is stopping the provincial government from implementing these recommendations.