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The gap between rich and poor has been widening for 30 years in Canada yet business keeps offering the same failed solutions, says OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas.
Toronto (23 Dec. 2009) - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) says Canada must reverse the trend that has seen the rich get steadily richer and the poor ever poorer over the past 30 years.
"The gap between the rich and the poor ... has nothing to do with recessions," says OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas.
"In good times and bad, the rich have been getting more, the middle class has been working harder and the poor have been falling further behind. Yet business leaders keep telling us that tax cuts, public service cuts and privatization will make us all better off," he notes.
"It’s not true. If these policies were going to work, they would have worked by now. Meanwhile, people in this country are hurting. In cities and towns, on farms and reserves, there is real suffering going on. And we can’t ignore it."
Thomas says Canadians know that it does not have to be this way.
"When I talk to business people, I ask them if they think it is impossible for us to have a society that is both compassionate and prosperous. And you know what? They never say it’s impossible. They know it can be done. But the business class in this country is far too focused on that new Lexus to care about the price of food for those who are hungry. That has to change. As trade unionists, we have to challenge business to care."
Child poverty
Thomas says countries like Sweden, Norway, and Finland typically have child poverty rates in the 2% to 4% range while the range in Canada is more like 15% to 17% per cent.
"Why do some countries have lower child poverty? Simple. Because they decided to," he says. "And because their business people are part of a national consensus that compassion matters."
Thomas says OPSEU will sponsor a conference - Ontario 2020: Planning our future together - in Toronto next March bringing together 240 people from unions, business, government and community groups.
"(It) is a chance to get us all talking about making the next 10 years better than the last 10," he says. "I’m very excited about it. It’s just one of the ways your union can work to make real change in the world."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE