July 2011: Tories give billions of dollars and thousands of jobs away; Alberta Dubai of the North; ethical shopping website; CETA

Alberta Tories give away billions of dollars and thousands of jobs

The Alberta Progressive Conservative government's management of the energy industry and provincial finances has come under fire from the AFL. Firstly, the AFL showed that the current government gave $2.9 billion to oil and gas companies in a failed scheme to boost employment, while a $100-million education shortfall was allowed to cause more than 1,000 teachers and support staff in the province to be cut for K-12 schools. Secondly, more AFL research revealed that Premier Ed Stelmach is failing on his promise to upgrade more raw bitumen in this province, which will allow thousands of good jobs to be shipped down the pipeline to the U.S. For more ...

Alberta become Dubai of the north with 'guest worker' program

New figures from the federal government reveal that Alberta employers are using to Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program to fill jobs while long unemployment lines continue to plague other parts of Canada. "While unemployment is in the double digits in other parts of Canada, and more than 25 per cent for young workers in some provinces, it's becoming increasingly apparent that the TFW program is becoming the first choice for many employers rather than a tool of last resort, especially here in Alberta," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. For more ...

Ethical shopping website launched for Albertans

Want to be a consumer with a conscience but don't know where to shop? The Alberta Federation of Labour and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 have launched a website for discussion on shopping ethically and to provide the information you need to make more ethical shopping decisions. For more information ...

Join the fight to stop the Canada-European Union trade deal

Negotiators for the Canadian government and the European Union are working on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) - a deal which could cost Canadians $2.8 billion in prescription drug costs, lead to the privatization of public services and weaken democracy by transferring decision making from local governments in Canada to multinational corporations. Municipal governments are being kept in the dark on these negotiations, but you can fight back and get your local councils involved. For more information ... Watch these videos on the dangers of the CETA deal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQPh_YSnkVI and http://vimeo.com/26354593

Urgent Action

Please shop at these two Sobeys - We are STRONGLY encouraging consumers to shop at two Sobeys stores. They are Rosslyn Sobeys in North Edmonton and Forest Lawn Sobeys in Southeast Calgary. No other Sobeys stores are currently recommended as they have not met ethical standards. For more ...

Municipal services, public utilities and prescription drug costs are among the things at stake in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
An Environics Poll shows that 81 per cent of Canadians trust the public sector more than the private sector to provide drinking water treatment and delivery
Canadian municipalities could lose Canada-only tendering rights and local-preference policies
EU demands could mean $2.8 billion in increase prescription drug costs for Canadians