A final irony is that while the UCP is urging employers to keep people on payroll through the crisis, they, themselves, are setting thousands of workers and families adrift. It’s a case of do as I say, not as I do.
So, what is to be done?
Albertans need to deliver this key message to UCP MLAs: austerity doesn’t end recessions; it makes them deeper and longer.
Virtually all governments around the world understand this. We need to remind the UCP that the role of government during times like these is to help ordinary people, not hurt them. We need to remind them that government is the only institution can fulfill this role during a crisis. And, perhaps, most importantly and most simply, we need to tell them to stop the cuts.
Gil McGowan is president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, representing 175,000 unionized Albertans working in both the public and private sectors.
