Often the first sign of someone losing a debate is the tactics they employ. This maxim has proven true in recent weeks with the public and parliamentary debate on Bill C-377, a federal private members bill that would require unions and other labour organizations to report annually financial statements, salaries paid to union employees, the amount of time spent on lobbying and political activities, and certain information about expenditures over $5,000. These measures would bring union disclosure laws in-line with those in countries like the U.S., U.K, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany.
The recent rhetoric and tactics employed by unions and their proxies in parliament, the New Democrats, have ranged from abhorrent to desperate. For example, a prominent union member compares the Prime Minister to Hitler in a video posted to the left-wing website Rabble.ca (coincidentally funded by many unions). Then earlier last week the NDP MPs on the Finance Committee launched a filibuster to block consideration of amendments to Bill C-377 that were designed to address the concerns raised about the legislation by union leaders and the NDP.
Merit Canada believes that Canadians deserve a reasoned and thoughtful debate on Bill C-377, not theatrics and offensive comparisons. Merit Canada and its 3,500 members support this bill because we believe the general public has come to expect financial transparency for all entities that benefit from the public trust, whether businesses, governments, charities, or unions. Unions and other labour organizations in Canada benefit enormously from the public trust, through the collection of mandatory dues from workers in unionized workplaces and generous tax breaks on union dues that are worth $400 million annually.
At the same time, Merit Canada recognizes that some legitimate concerns have been raised about the bill and for this reason supports amendments that would enshrine important privacy protections, limit salary disclosure to senior level union executives, and ensure that legitimate trusts that make payments for health and dental benefits are exempted from the legislation -- all things that unions have said need to be fixed.
Democracy works when MPs, Senators and other interested parties stick to arguing the substance of their position on an issue and are prepared to acknowledge when improvements can be made to legislation. However, all Canadians lose when theatrics and obstruction replace reasoned debate.
Bill C-377 is now awaiting final debate in the House of Commons, where hopefully the NDP will allow legitimate concerns to be addressed through amendments. However, if Canada's union leaders and the NDP continue to obstruct and oppose Bill C-377 -- to the point of trying to prevent amendments that would address their concerns with the Bill -- Canadians have every right to ask why Canada's union leaders are so afraid of public transparency.
Follow Terrance Oakey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/terrance_oakey
I guess that tells you just how poor the arguments against this bill are.
"Merit Canada believes that Canadians deserve a reasoned and thoughtful debate " Dear Merit Canada what country are you living in? Ever since Harpo got a majority have you seen ANYTHING even vaguely resembling "a reasoned and thoughtful debate" happening in ANY Federal government session, press conference, photo op.....really just once some where any where ?
Did Merit Canada ever criticize the Harper Tories for their complete lack of transparency? How about blasting them publicly for awarding an embezzler like Tony Clement with a job as the President of the Treasury Board after he used millions, earmarked for border security, to build arenas and gazebos in his riding? What about the businesses, like Caterpillar, who are given corporate welfare tax incentives to come here, only to leave as soon as their home state bans unions? Where is the outrage over corrupt business practices?
Criticizing the NDP for their tactics? Has Merit Canada ever watched television in Canada? Base, ignorant, US-style attack ads are the HarperNeoCon norm. Where is Merit Canada's outrage over this? This group has absolutely zero credibility. What a ridiculous article.
Also, if germany's such a good example, will merit canada demand we follow the german model and reserve a seat on every board of directors for union representation, so they can vote on the future of the companies they belong to?
Try reading!
The only organizations even coming close to this level of requirement are organizations that get all the benefits of Charitable Status. And those organizations are in no way comparable to unions whatsoever.
Once again - if unions can be targeted for this kind of legislation, the same requirements need to fall on businesses as well. Otherwise the government is aggressively butting into private business relationships to skew them against workers.
from their website
How about reporting on time, money, and 'in-kind' donations from big business and the many right wing lobby groups such as the National Citizen's Coalition, the Canadian Sports Shooting Association, the Progressive Group for Independent Business and so on.
If he and Merit Canada want to single out unions I'll call them political operatives for the Conservative Party. If he wants to take on BOTH sides to create a balanced playing field I will be supportive.
However, I do see any balance in his approach or commentary. This blog could have been written by the PMO.
Its exactly what they really are, political operatives for the CPC, which would rather we all work for minimum wage and lousy labour rules as corporations rake in billions of dollars on the backs of hard working Canadians.
And I am sure the PMO got a copy before it came to print!
So we can conclude that public welfare benefits from unions and not from big business, as business is only involved in the benefit of individuals or a group of individuals too small to be considered 'public'.
I wonder just how big a business or corporate entity needs to be to meet Merit's definition, or how small a union has to be to fail to meet it?
More union bashing, more "us against them" mentality, more of the Neo-CON mindset in action.