I didn't think that it was necessary, or even possible, to lose any more respect for Howie, but the more I find out about this guy, the more respect I lose for him. In fact, he's actually in the negative respect column at the present time, and is unlikely to reverse his fortunes in my books.
Let's go back to the 1991 postal strike when Howie was the Attorney General of Ontario. A CUPW local president and two other union members were accused by Canada Post of violating a court order that restricted picketing around Canada Post's headquarters. Police subsequently failed to lay any charges, and Canada Post pressed for a contempt of court sanction. The judge hearing the case turned the matter over to Hampton.
The government had a clear choice in the matter: they could have chose not to proceed on Canada Post's request because 1) police had simply failed to lay any criminal charges in the matter, or 2) because the actions of the workers were in agreement on public policy grounds with the NDP, as the charges laid stemmed from the usage of scab workers, which the government opposed and was in the process of banning.
Instead of taking up either one of these two arguments, the government caved into pressure and charged the three men. As a result, the CUPW local president served a seventy-day jail term.
And this is the party that claims to put working families first? Ha. Actions speak much louder than words.
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I'm reading the same book, and it's really hard for me to get too giddy about the ONDP in the next election when I know we're going into the election with a leader who has very little popular support left and will almost certainly resign after the next election.
The only bright spot is that we'll gain lots of votes, despite this, but will also miss out on a lot of potential because we have a leader who is getting ready to resign.
I think now is the time for us to start looking for a leader of the party who will lead us to the promised land again.
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