A crowd of about 200 people led by Karl Habla; Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins and James Bay; and Timmins Mayor Steve Black gathered at Gillies Lake to honour the men and women in Canada's labour force.
The focus of Labour Day 2017 was the impact of automation on jobs, and the need for a universal pharma care program.
Charlie Angus also awarded Karl Habla with a Canada 150 pin, for his enthusiastic support for Timmins, Canada and his annual organization of the Labour Day walk.
“We often look at Labour Day as something from the past to celebrate and certainly we need to always remember the incredible work that went into organizing the mines here when life was very, very cheap, when people worked very long hours and got paid very little,” said Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins-James Bay and a candidate for the leadership of the NDP.
“It was labour, organized workers who changed the quality of life and created the middle class in Canada,” Angus reminded the crowd.
Steve Black, the mayor of Timmins, acknowledged the work of its unionized workers in keeping the city working smoothly.
“I want to pay tribute to the people of Timmins on this Labour Day,” said Mayor Black. “Almost 90 per cent of the City of Timmins is represented by unionized workers and they help keep Timmins running.”
Labour Day is a time for reflection on the contribution of Canada’s working people to our lives, but it is also a time to look at the lessons of the past and the challenges for the future.
“As we look at the past, we got to think about where we are going because this generation of workers are being told that the permanent jobs are there anymore, that they will be working perpetually on contracts, short term work cycles, without pension benefits, without any kind of support,“ Angus said.
“When I look at Labour Day, I say we got to learn from where we came from, where we are at and where we are going,” he said. “And unless we stick together and organize life will be very difficult for this generation of workers, so let’s make the changes to give them a better future.”
Automation and the resulting loss of jobs was a major theme of this year’s Labour Day event.
Karla Habla, the organizer of the event and the leader of the Labour Day walk around Gillies Lake, wore a sign around his neck that read “Made in Canada by Robots.”
“Increasing automation and the impact on Canada’s workforce is going to be a huge challenge for the future,” Angus said. “We don’t know exactly how exactly it’s going to play out, but we need to ready.”
Among the changes to Canada’s laws might be major changes to Canada’s tax code.
“When the multinationals and the one-percenters are continuously downsizing their workforce and shipping tax money off to the Cayman Islands - that is not acceptable,” Angus declared. “So, if we are going to see corporations letting go of workers to benefit their bottom line, well then, maybe their bottom line has to take a hit too to restore some balance."
The other approach to battle automation is to develop local economies, get better education and investing in the grassroots.
“Overall, we have real opportunities by investing in education, investing in creating economies at the grassroots,” said Angus.
“I just recently announced a plan on how to build local grass roots community, regional development co-operatives,” he pointed out.
“We are always given dire, gloom and doom pronouncements, but there are really incredible opportunities, and incredible vitalities, and new ideas for building a new economy that works for the middle class,” Angus explained.
Angus sees a role for government being a partner in helping to build a new economy while making sure that the multinationals and the one-percenters pay their fair share by closing tax loop holes and benefits granted to industry on the basis that the will create jobs.
One of the solutions for dealing with automation caused job loss is the implementation of a universal guaranteed annual income. While Angus believes that is one solution, he thinks there are better options.
“Guaranteed annual incomes is certainly, one of the options that is being discussed but personally I would rather put the money into education and creating opportunities so people aren’t just pensioned off and give people an opportunity to take control of their lives."
On the issue of pharma care, Angus said it should be Implemented and is one of the visions of Tommy Douglas the NDP leader and Saskatchewan premier who was he driving force to the implantation of universal health care in Canada.
“Pharmacare is a no-brainer,” said Angus, “This is the unfinished business of Tommy Douglas’ Medicare.”
“The cost to the system of people not having access to medical drugs is enormous and the savings to the system would be enormous,” Angus said. “I will be pushing everyday full until we get pharma care enacted in Canada.”
