The Proletariat Congress

We’re not finished with injunctions yet, Miller says

Not good enough. That’s all I have to say. It’s not bloody good enough! Send them back to Miller! Grow some back bone and stop giving members of the NDP a bad name by being a spineless twat. Not all of us support the current tactics. I hate the tactics being used. It will make the situation needlessly worse.

I believe in the right to strike, but if it prevents people from going about their business then I say, revoke the right. If you’re going to inconvenience other people then you shouldn’t be allowed to go ahead. Picket lines are fine, but not when people are forced to wait 15 minutes to dispose of garbage in the heat of summer. The longest way should be no longer than the longest traffic light in Toronto. 60 seconds should be the longest time anyone should have to wait.

Even then 60 seconds is too much. This is not right.

Stand up to these people. It is your duty and right. This right is given to you in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.

They can set up picket lines; we can set up counter-picket lines. We can have our own signs denouncing them. It won’t weakened their so-called position. They weakened it by being insufferable assholes who have refused to try and win over the public.

If the union was smart it would have tried to make the public its friend in this. They broke the first rule of any strike – don’t piss off the public.

Fire fighting, paramedic, medical and police services are all considered essential and thus under Ontario law subject to a rule that prevents them and other services deemed essential to the public’s well-being, from going on strike. They are permitted to accept a work-to-rule order but strikes are completely illegal because of their status as an essential service.

But guess what service should be considered essential but isn’t? Public transit.

This past Friday, at midnight the TTC went on strike with absolute zero warning. Yet the TTC’s union had promised on March 29 that they would give a 48 hour notice to the city and the commuters so that other arrangements could be made in advance of the looming strike.

The reasoning was due to the fact that last minute talks broke down. (Gee, like that’s the first time it’s ever happened in the entire history of humanity.) And hence, the many riders out on Friday night were left with limited means to get home, especially from the clubbing district. They were forced to take cabs and make other arrangements without any prior notice. (TTC strike leaves riders furious, frustrated)

Fortunately for us, the province is not letting the union have its way with the city; it’s refusing to hold the city hostage over talks that broke down. The province wasn’t ready to see a repeat of the 2002 garbage strike that held the city hostage under the foul stench of piled up, uncollected garbage.

The Premier decided to resurrect a 2002 back-to-work legislation (that ended the garbage strike), that required the backing of all parties, to vote the TTC back to work on Monday. The move had been announced on Saturday, stating that the vote was to take place on Sunday at 1pm.

For once, our overpaid under qualified politicians have done something for the good of the public and have ensured the safety of the city. A politician working on a Sunday is a rarity, but when it happens, you can bet they man business.

The vote consumed only 31 minutes and received the anticipated backing. Even the NDP had backed the bill, making the passage of the bill simply.

The bill is expected to receive royal ascent later and the TTC is back at work on Monday. Even if it is without a contract. Then again, who are they to cry? They are some of the best paid employees in the city. The average wage is $20/H plus benefits and more. You can bet your average minimum worker wouldn’t have baulked at the offer the union was given. It would have been eaten up without a second though.

The union has just become avaricious over the years. Their actions increasingly infantile and egocentric. Despite an increase to the funding received and the rise in the cost for bus fare, a metro pass and tickets, there is still not enough money to satiate the gluttony of this archfiend.

The next move the provincial government needs to do to send a strong message to this entity that believes it can wilfully hold the city hostage is to declare it an essential service, stripping it of its ability to sort to strike action.

On ne permet pas ici l’anglais. Vous êtes seulement Français autorisé! Pourquoi? Puisque nous avons dit ainsi. Ne l’aimez pas, merde dure, anglaise!

That’s right. English is not allowed, even if those are vintage posters that are adorning the walls of your pub, strictly up as decor and nothing more. Sounds crazy right? What nation in their right mind would allow for such a law to exist? Is it France? Any one of those more oppressive nations that find freedom of expression to be detrimental to public health?

No, this is in Canada. This is specifically in la belle province; Québec. This little law is found in the The Charter of the French Language. The same set of laws is also referred to as the Québec Language Charter.

The specific article in question from the charter is article 58, which states:

Public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French.

They may also be both in French and in another language provided that French is markedly predominant.

However, the Government may determine , by regulation, the places, cases, conditions or circumstances where public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French only, where French need not be predominant or where such signs, posters and advertising may be in another language only.

This article of the language charter was cited by the OLF (Office de la langue francaise) watchdog against the Montréal pub, McKibbins Irish Pub, that received a complaint because it hosted a bilingual menu, bar service and displayed imported vintage posters (from Ireland) on the walls that were strictly in English.

The watchdog ruled that this pub was in violation of article 58, despite that the posters were not advertising any product.

Montréal by all rights is also a bilingual city and it has a sizeable English speaking population. To have bilingual menus shouldn’t be punished. Businesses wishing to cater to different language groups should have the freedom to do so.

Those who don’t, have to answer to the Quebec Language Police. Is this an exaggeration? Not by any means. This group does exist. That is the colloquial term for the OLF. While they aren’t the same as the religious police (see: Mutaween), they still have no place in a democratic nation. They have no right to tell someone they can’t use English. They can ask that French be presented along side, which in this case it was.

If Québec wants to enforce this kind of narrow-minded thinking, then it should just declare its independence from Canada because it insists on violating the citizens’ Charter (see: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom) rights, the second article of which guarantees the right to freedom of expression, thought and belief.

2.b – freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication

Quebec language police nab Montreal bar

In a Brampton Court today, Justice Fragomeni handed down the verdict in the case against Allison Cox, a woman guilty in a case of criminal negligence, in which she is charged with manslaughter, causing the death of her autistic adopted sister, Tiffany Pinckney, who died from malnutrition in the basement of her sister’s Mississauga home.

The evidence clearly indicates that Allison Cox did not provide Tiffany Pinckney with the necessities of life, including adequate food, water and medical attention to sustain her life.

This is the general consensus across the board. The woman was deprived of the basic necessities of life and as a result of it, died in Cox’s basement on April 2, 2005. She had died in conditioned labelled as appalling.

It’s amazing that the Crown prosecutor, John Raftery, got this ruling and not because Cox is innocent in any way but because of this little snippet:

“People treat their pets better than Tiffany Pinckney was treated,” Raftery said in his closing arguments in November. “The level of care, or more precisely the neglect she received was not suitable for a human being.”

…so, you’re telling us that there is an acceptable level of negligence and that Cox went one step too far? And that if she had stayed within certain boundaries then there wouldn’t have been a problem, would there, Mr Prosecutor?

Given such a statement, it’s surprising that the judge didn’t catch on to that. That the prosecutor wasn’t called out for implying that there are acceptable; suitable levels of neglect that are all right for human beings. Perhaps it’s good that justice can be blind, otherwise it can’t be served in light of such statements.

Guilty verdict in woman’s starvation death