Hargrove has always liked the spotlight and today he took it but then it shifted too Paul Martin. The Liberal campaign has been nothing shy of a fear fest. 12 years in Parliament, 12 years and Paul Martin can not point to one thing he has started as a progressive, which makes his pleas to progressive voters (read NDP) even more cynical than the usual Liberal campaign effort.
Hargrove's shallow effort to have folks line up and vote Liberal should be questioned by his members, people that have lost jobs and pension money due to bankruptcy of the employer. I expect he can claim getting Martin onside. Perhaps if the Martin Liberal government had supported the NDP bill on this workers would already have the protection right?
Martin proved today just why its time to go when he said it was wrong that workers would lose out on their pensions when a company declares bankruptcy. How convenient in the middle of an election to take this stand when he could have supported this while in the house. The NDP had a bill before the House of Commons to do just that. Protect workers pensions in the event of a bankruptcy.
Paul Martin and his government rejected the NDP bill and went further ...
"These amendments would represent a radical change to the bankruptcy system. In doing so they would create a number of direct and perhaps unintended adverse consequences on the Canadian economy."We cannot put the engine of economic growth at risk. Bill C-281 would put the brakes on building the 21st century economy as we know it today." (Hansard: May 5, 2005) - Liberal Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry Jerry Pickard
You can read a text of Bill C-281 here. Both the Liberals and Conservatives took the side of Corporate Canada against workers pensions. Bankruptcy laws already favour secured creditors ahead of workers. I would suggest that just in the Liberals and Conservative platforms, both will continue to protect the Corporation, the boss, over working Canadians. Isn't about time that workers be considered secured creditors? I think so but then I am a worker and not one of the big business groups funding the Conservatives and Liberals.
Election, Liberal Party, Canada, Politics, Conservative Party of Canada, Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, NDP
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