Union Run a Muck

This a story of how unions can go to far. Also why is this person not fired? That is the million dollar question ? Who


Privacy breach feared
Private information released by SGI, FedEx worker says
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix May 23, 2010
•
A Saskatoon FedEx worker is concerned about a privacy breach where the addresses of around 25 local employees were leaked from Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) to the union trying to organize the global courier servicePhotograph by: ,, ,A Saskatoon FedEx worker is concerned about a privacy breach where the addresses of around 25 local employees were leaked from Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) to the union trying to organize the global courier service.

"It's concerning," said Tracy Gibson, a FedEx employee for 12 years. "If it's that easy to get the information, it makes you wonder who else can access it."

Last year, the Teamsters Union, a labour group that represents blue-collar and professional workers, launched a full-scale campaign to organize Canadian FedEx employees.

Local FedEx employees were soon being approached by union representatives about joining, but many weren't interested, Gibson said.

Soon after, employees noticed union representatives writing down employee licence plate numbers in the parking lot, Gibson said. They then began receiving mail at home from the union addressed to the owner of the vehicle, which in many cases wasn't the FedEx employee, Gibson said.

Gibson, 37, and five other employees asked SGI to investigate what they suspected was a privacy breach. They were contacted last month by SGI's chief privacy officer with a letter confirming suspicions their personal information was given out inappropriately.

SGI spokesperson Kim Hambleton said the privacy breach was traced to the Ministry of Justice, where it was discovered an employee had given the information to the union.

Privacy breaches are "very infrequent," Hambleton said.

Third-party agencies such as other government ministries or law enforcement have limited access to information in SGI's database, she said. SGI's extensive database includes customer contact information, driver and vehicle information, and driving history. The majority of agencies only have access to customer names and addresses, Hambleton said.

"We're very clear on what that information should only be used for and can only be used for," she said. "Obviously, if someone chooses to abuse it that is, you know, (unfortunate), but we make it extremely clear on what it is to be used for."

Ken Acton, assistant deputy minister with the ministry of Justice, said Friday the employee, who worked in a clerical data-entry position, was suspended without pay and upon return was reassigned to a job with no access to the SGI database.

The information was provided inappropriately to a friend at the union, he said.

"We take this very, very seriously," he said. "It's really unfortunate."

"In this case there was a mistake made," Acton said. "Do I think our system is flawed? No."

The privacy breach "opens up a can of worms," Gibson said, and suggests personal information may not be as secure as people believe. The mechanisms in place in government for keeping information private need to be examined, she said.

"People have to know about this," she said.

While Gibson said her problem was not with the union but the ease of which the information was given out, she does not support efforts to unionize.

"I don't want to be part of a group that is so aggressive," Gibson said. "That just goes beyond pushy."

A local Teamsters representative declined comment and a national spokesperson did not return a Friday interview request.

dhutton@sp.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Question on My Mind. Do you have any answers for me.

1. Why is the Sask Party opening up this kettle of fish now. Hey dudes keeping working with 1st nations do not just do things and just act like you do not care. Read this tell me what you think.

Protest Day At The Legislature
Those angry at government speaking out

Story Tools
ShareThisReported By Sarah Mills
Posted May 18, 2010 - 1:56pm
It is a day of protest at the Legislative has the spring session begins to wrap up. In the final few days those angry at government are intent on making their voices heard.

Front and centre on the grounds here at the Legislature is the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. They are angered at the potential sale of protected environmental lands.

"Talk to us first, show us a map, where are these lands, maybe our Chiefs are interested in these lands", vice-Chief Lyle Whitefish maintains the government isn't doing enough to consult on issues he says are vitally important to them, "start talking to us, strt a dialogue and of course, the duty to consult."

Alongside them are hundreds of people fighting contruction union changes in bill 80 and healthcare workers without a contract.

2. The second question I have is this ? Read this and tell what you think ? What are you pushing now Stephen Yikes!

PET Trudeau said it best !“The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.”


May 15, 2010
Stephen Harper and religion
There's been a lot of talk this week about the influence of the Christian right on Stephen Harper's government. Primarily, this is the result of Marci McDonald's newly released book, The Armageddon Factor. Exquisitely timed, as Antonia Zerbisias pointed out in the Star this week, this comes on the heels of Harper's decision to ban support for abortion in overseas aids projects and at the same time as the National Prayer Breakfast and the huge March for Life Rally on Parliament Hill.

Paul Wells, in Macleans, has weighed in with some skepticism about McDonald's arguments, saying more or less that she's overstating the whole thing.

Here's what I know. Back before he became prime minister, Harper and I used to talk quite a bit. No surprise. We're contemporaries on the Hill; the same age and (believe it or not) we were of similar views on things like Meech Lake, democratic reform and political cynicism in general. He helped me a lot with my book on the Charlottetown accord and gave me a lot of good advice/insights through the years. I think he's changed, but that's a topic for another day.

In all my conversations with Harper, the subject of religion never came up. Except once. I asked him why he was inserting the God-bless stuff into his speeches when he became the leader of the Canadian Alliance. He said, cryptically: "You'd understand if you had children." Fair enough. We left it at that.

The only other insight I had into Harper and his religion was shortly after he won the 2006 election and a then-new book, the Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper, by Lloyd Mackey, implied that Harper and his wife, Laureen, were deeply religious. She was keen to correct that record and got in touch with me to help do that among the media. She wanted folks to know that Harper was only an occasional church-goer (maybe a half-dozen times a year?) and that she and her alleged Christian-temperance family celebrated the election win with cases of beer. I duly passed the word around.

Does this mean that all this talk of Christian influence is wrong-headed? As mentioned above, I don't claim to have any special understanding of the Harper I see as prime minister and have a hard time connecting the dots from the guy I used to know with the one I see in power. That's not unusual, though. Many folks change when they come to office; some for the worse, some for the better.

What is clear is that he now sees no downside in giving some air time to the Christian right among his supporters. As I noted in the story of the pro-life rally this week, no one is telling these folks to shut the f--- up. They're not being punished, as Diane Ablonczy was last year, for being overly visible with controversial folks. Is that a tactical or theological development? I'd lean toward this being a political calculation by Harper and his advisers; political calculating being the the closest thing I've seen to a religious crusade in this regime. McDonald, as far as I've seen in interviews, seems to be making the same point: whether or not Stephen Harper agrees with the organized Christian right, he's sending some important signals to them in recent weeks. They seem to be happy about that, and so they should be.




Is me or this wrong

Go bye West

OK These comments are not needed. The best thing to do with gun Control is to blow it up and start from begining a simple plan. Which is you buy a gun from this date it gets on a list. Will it stop the crazy gun guys no. But it will make people happier and then charge people a fees of one time for each gun 10.00 bucks or so. Quick and Simple Will it work No because the polticians are to busy doing shit like this.

By Joan Bryden, THE CANADIAN PRESS,

Updated: April 20, 2010 10:38 PM

Tory MP apologizes for suggesting Ignatieff should be beaten 'black and blue' over gun registry

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP is apologizing for issuing a news release that compared Canadian police chiefs to a cult and urged Liberals to beat their leader, Michael Ignatieff, "black and blue."

Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz said late Tuesday that he did not write the release, issued under his name earlier in the day. "I want to apologize for the language in the news release. It was over the top," he said in a phone interview from his office.

"I don't know how that got out of here."

The release angrily denounced Ignatieff's decision to require all Liberal MPs to vote against a private member's bill that would scrap the controversial long-gun registry.

The Tories have launched an orchestrated campaign to ridicule Ignatieff's decision and to pressure eight Liberal MPs, who supported the bill at second reading, to stick to their guns when it comes up for a final vote next month.

But the missive from Breitkreuz's office went well beyond the official party line. Indeed, P.E.I. MP Wayne Easter, one of the eight Liberals the Tories are trying to court, called it "a tirade that's unbecoming of a member of Parliament."

In the release, Breitkreuz, a passionate, longtime gun registry foe, is quoted as saying Ignatieff is "a bully who may well be committing political suicide."

"With tactics like this, I doubt he'll be missed on either side of the House," the release said.

Breitkreuz was quoted calling Ignatieff's attempt to head off elimination of the registry "an act of desperation that insults the intellect of Canadians."

"His true colours are showing and, if his caucus has any integrity, those colours should be black and blue."

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police also wound up in the news release's cross-hairs as it mocked opposition MPs' claims that the registry helps save lives.

"It's like a cult that is led by organizations of police chiefs who pretend the registry helps them do their jobs. They should be ashamed."

The police chiefs association supports retention of the gun registry. But Breitkreuz was quoted as calling both the chiefs and the Coalition for Gun Control "politically motivated lobby groups that derive financial support from pro-registry sources."

"Their positions are tainted and suspect in my view because their endorsement can be bought."

In the later interview, Breitkreuz said he would never use words like cult to describe police chiefs or call on Liberals to beat their leader.

"This language is not me. I have kept this (gun registry) debate civil for 15 years and I want to keep it civil."

Before Breitkreuz's apology, Easter, who voted last November to scrap the registry, said the missive is "off the wall" and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to disassociate himself from his backbencher's views.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the news release was "in poor taste and inappropriate."

"Mr. Breitkreuz has apologized. What Mr. Breitkreuz should have said is that Michael Ignatieff once again turned his back on rural Canadians by clearly stating he still supports the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry," Soudas said.

Easter questioned whether Breitkreuz might have inhaled too much air on the Hill on Tuesday, which was redolent with the smell of pot during a protest against marijuana laws.

"Was he out there talking to the wacky tobacco groups or something? I think he must've got too much of that smoke up his nose and it affected his brain."

Grits move to modify gun registry
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News ServiceApril 20, 2010 StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Monday.
Photograph by: Chris Wattie, Reuters, Canwest News ServiceLiberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made a pitch on Monday to save the federal gun registry by proposing changes aimed to unify the party's fractured stand and satisfy opponents on the Liberal benches who voted to scrap the contentious databank.

Ignatieff said he would like to make it easier for firearms owners to register their long guns by streamlining the paperwork, removing renewal fees, and making it a ticketing offence, rather than a criminal one, for first-timers who fail to participate.

"It would be wrong to ignore the frustration and legitimate criticisms we have heard about the gun registry in rural Canada, in northern Canada, in remote Canada," Ignatieff told a gathering of the Canadian Police Association.

The Liberal party created the registry as a key element of an expansive gun-control package and the Harper Conservatives have repeatedly promised to scrap it.

Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner introduced a private member's bill last year to eliminate the registry and it passed by a 164-137 margin, with the help of Liberals and New Democrats, in a preliminary vote in the House of Commons in November.

The proposed bill now moves to the all-party public safety committee for hearings before returning to the Commons for a final vote. The committee holds its first meeting on the registry on Tuesday.

Ignatieff, who permitted a free vote among his MPs the last time around, said he will whip the vote next time so that his caucus is unanimous in its opposition.

It is unclear whether the forced unified stance would defeat the bill since only eight Liberals sided with Hoeppner last time, joined by 12 New Democrats and one independent.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will also propose amendments to Hoeppner's bill, but he would not comment on whether he will whip his MPs to vote against the bill otherwise.

Hoeppner appealed to Liberals who supported the bill last year -- mainly from rural areas -- to vote with their constituents in mind, not their leader.

"I think if they personally oppose the long-gun registry and their constituents oppose the long-gun registry, they certainly should vote against it," she said. "I would think it only makes sense that they should follow through."

The bill would eliminate the need to register rifles and shotguns. The requirement to register handguns would remain in place. The registry is separate from gun licensing, which permits owners to have firearms, but does not require them to list their possessions.

The registry was introduced more than 14 years ago as part of a wider gun-control package, largely after lobbying efforts by the families of victims of the 1989 Montreal massacre, when Marc Lepine used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Saskatchewan budget

Budget 2010: Promises Deferred, Future Ignored
March 24, 2010
REGINA - Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater called the 2010 Saskatchewan Party budget damage control at its worst. “The Saskatchewan Party is clearly floundering in this budget,” said Bater, “and while in crisis mode this government has mortgaged our future and targeted First Peoples as the victims of their repeated fiscal mismanagement.”

“For starters, the budget is not balanced and debt is on the rise. There is an operating deficit of $175 million and they are using the Financial Growth and Security Fund to hide it. Even worse, public debt is forecast to rise over the next three years. Debt elimination should be a priority for any government that truly believes in our economic freedom in the future, but this government is content to rest on their laurels from the token debt payments they’ve made in recent years.”

“Second, there is very little belt tightening. They have only reduced spending by 1% from last year- which means this government has still increased spending by a whopping 20% since taking office. This is still unsustainable and after last year’s fiscal disaster they have made last minute desperate cuts to the civil service. These cuts were made haphazardly without the Sask Party government having done a value-for-money audit first. The use of attrition as the means to make these cuts has robbed Saskatchewan of the next generation of talent in our professional civil service.”

“Saskatchewan has no greater priority than to ensure the full participation of First Nations and Métis people in our economy. We urgently need a real push for aboriginal economic development with the start up and expansion of small businesses and entrepreneurship. Instead, the Sask Party eliminated the critical Aboriginal Employment Development Program and has allowed the First Nations and Metis Business Development Program to fade away.”

“Worst of all, their targeting of tobacco on reserve land is a further depletion of Treaty Rights that the government has no jurisdiction over. This is nothing more than a tax grab by a government that is desperately trying to hide its own fiscal mismanagement and incompetence.”

CBC News - Saskatchewan - SaskPower seeks rate increase

CBC News - Saskatchewan - SaskPower seeks rate increase

Okay one reason that this goverenment has to go, What is my party point view on this ? We need to start make statements on this stuff and we are but the media. Does not cover our point of view. Ask them Why?

Happy New year

Here are My Wishes for You...
H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!
Author Unknown

Do think your MP should push for a certain life style choices?

In my opinion MP should not cry wolf too much, or give there opinion on things when their information is wrong. And very much pushing a certain way of life on others to live their lifes a certain direction. In my opinion an MP job is to be someone who looks at and some who needs to reflex and help build bridges for all opinions. Not just push a certain view point of right and wrong. The MP's in city are not builders they are people who try to divide and conquer and are very closed minded. In my opinion they are wrong here some newspaper articles from both sides. But when there are certain issues we need to use common sense. And show both sides of the story.

Here are the articles from both sides tell me what you think?

Local Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott is applauding Saskatoon doctors for restricting access to abortion services.

"Saskatoon's doctors should be commended for the leadership they are showing by reducing the availability of abortion in our city and for supporting real alternatives for women in need," he said in a Friday news release.

Vellacott, who was not available for further comment Monday, said in the release "a growing body of research reveals significant health problems caused by abortion," including breast cancer, cervical injury, uterine perforations, hemorrhaging and infections. The release does not include statistics from research studies.

Vellacott was responding to a Nov. 13 StarPhoenix story in which Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon, said many women who need abortions in Saskatoon are travelling out of the city because of difficulties receiving the procedure here.

The operation is generally not performed in Saskatoon after the 12th week of pregnancy, a cut-off date that is one of the earliest in Canada. The date is decided by doctors who perform the procedure.

Reisner said Monday it is hard to find scientific research on the subject that is not biased. Reisner points to a 2000 study from the World Health Organization that did not find a link between abortions and increased breast cancer risk.

"The risks (of abortion) are the same for any surgery -- hemorrhaging and infection," she said.

Reisner adds the surgery in question, called a therapeutic D and C, is performed for a variety of reasons, including excessive bleeding and miscarriage. She says for Vellacott to single it out as a separate procedure is "medically inaccurate."

According to Vellacott, women are discussing the "devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects" abortions have on their lives. The number of post-abortive women who were consulted is not given.

Vellacott's release also says the current abortion process in Saskatoon is "conducive to abuse," and says "aborted women tell stories of being badgered, harassed and coerced into getting their abortion by boyfriends, partners, parents and employers."

He says pro-life feminists view abortion as "part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available," and adds abortion has been used to cover up the sexual abuse of young girls.

Vellacott says in the release women need to be better informed so "they don't feel trapped into killing their unborn child." He says compassionate and caring support is needed for women to have a "real choice" and be able to "choose life."

Reisner said her staff ensures women are fully informed, saying "we don't refer a women for an abortion unless she is aware of, and has considered all her options, and is certain that she wants to terminate the pregnancy.

"We do not have a right to assume what is best for other women," said Reisner. The centre is "there to support the informed choices women make; we discuss all options with women, including abortion, parenting and adoption."

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Here is more information for you to look at ;

Liberal accuses federal Conservatives of demonizing abortion
By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free PressNovember 26, 2009 7:02 AM

OTTAWA — Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville accused the federal Conservatives Wednesday of vilifying women after a Saskatchewan MP linked abortions to breast cancer.


Neville was one of several opposition MPs denouncing the comments made by Conservative Maurice Vellacott in a news release last week.


Vellacott, MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, was responding to a news story in Saskatoon about women travelling out of the city because of difficulties getting an abortion there. He said the “current abortion regime is conducive to abuse” and said women who have had an abortion have a greater risk of breast cancer.


He also said abortion is part of a “male agenda to have women more sexually available” and that because abortion is widely available, men think they can blame a woman for not having an abortion.


Neville said the comments were “vile” and “completely degrading to women” and demanded the Harper Conservatives reject them.


“His comments show an odious attitude toward women,” she said, comparing him to a “Reform party extremist.”


Conservative MP Helena Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women, said Vellacott, like any MP, is entitled to his opinion.


“It does not mean it represents the government,” she said.


Vellacott was also under fire this week after he sent a flyer into the riding of Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer accusing him of being in favour of the national gun registry. Stoffer has always voted against it.


Vellacott issued an apology for the flyer.

Tory critics link abortion and jobless comments, call government out of touch


November 24, 2009 8:08 p.m.
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Text size OTTAWA - Opposition critics are taking aim at what they say are out-of-touch, ideologically driven Conservative MPs, citing recent comments on the unemployed and abortion emerging from government ranks.

Tory MP Gerald Keddy's crack about the jobless on Halifax streets being "no-good bastards" raised opposition ire in the House of Commons on Tuesday. But it was a news release on abortion services from Saskatchewan Conservative Maurice Vellacott that had other government opponents fuming.

Vellacott, a former evangelical pastor, recently praised the shortage of doctors performing abortions in Saskatoon. And in the release, he asserted that "pro-life feminists have come to see abortion as part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available."

Liberal MP Anita Neville called Vellacott's argument "atrocious" and deeply disrespectful of both women and men.

She accused Vellacott of having a "very right-wing, somewhat Neanderthal agenda" and said Keddy's comment on the unemployed and Vellacott's anti-abortion arguments are "all a part of a disrespect for people."

"There's no greys, there's no sense of compassion, there's no sense of openness and a generosity of spirit."

Liberal MP Scott Brison, a former Progressive Conservative, said the famously tight messaging of the Harper Conservatives appears to be slipping and what's emerging is a government agenda "that is mean, that is narrow, and is not reflective of broad-based progressive Canadian values."

Quipped Brison: "I think the problem with Conservatives is that 90 per cent of them give the other 10 per cent a bad name."

New Democrat Megan Leslie agreed that with no immediate election in the offing and the Conservative government riding relatively high in public opinion polls above the struggling Liberals, "their true colours are coming out."

Leslie suggested Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current busy international travel schedule is cutting Conservative MPs some slack.

"They aren't being silenced, and they've been very silenced by this prime minister," said Leslie.

"Maybe it's because he's out of town."

Keddy apologized Tuesday for his comment on the unemployed.

Vellacott weighs in on abortion
Saskatoon MP commends system for restricting access
By Jenn Sharp, Special to The StarPhoenixNovember 24, 2009Comments (69)
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Saskatoon-Wanuskewin MP Maurice VellacottPhotograph by: Gord Waldner, The StarPhoenixLocal Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott is applauding Saskatoon doctors for restricting access to abortion services.

"Saskatoon's doctors should be commended for the leadership they are showing by reducing the availability of abortion in our city and for supporting real alternatives for women in need," he said in a Friday news release.

Vellacott, who was not available for further comment Monday, said in the release "a growing body of research reveals significant health problems caused by abortion," including breast cancer, cervical injury, uterine perforations, hemorrhaging and infections. The release does not include statistics from research studies.

Vellacott was responding to a Nov. 13 StarPhoenix story in which Evelyn Reisner, executive director of the Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon, said many women who need abortions in Saskatoon are travelling out of the city because of difficulties receiving the procedure here.

The operation is generally not performed in Saskatoon after the 12th week of pregnancy, a cut-off date that is one of the earliest in Canada. The date is decided by doctors who perform the procedure.

Reisner said Monday it is hard to find scientific research on the subject that is not biased. Reisner points to a 2000 study from the World Health Organization that did not find a link between abortions and increased breast cancer risk.

"The risks (of abortion) are the same for any surgery -- hemorrhaging and infection," she said.

Reisner adds the surgery in question, called a therapeutic D and C, is performed for a variety of reasons, including excessive bleeding and miscarriage. She says for Vellacott to single it out as a separate procedure is "medically inaccurate."

According to Vellacott, women are discussing the "devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects" abortions have on their lives. The number of post-abortive women who were consulted is not given.

Vellacott's release also says the current abortion process in Saskatoon is "conducive to abuse," and says "aborted women tell stories of being badgered, harassed and coerced into getting their abortion by boyfriends, partners, parents and employers."

He says pro-life feminists view abortion as "part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available," and adds abortion has been used to cover up the sexual abuse of young girls.

Vellacott says in the release women need to be better informed so "they don't feel trapped into killing their unborn child." He says compassionate and caring support is needed for women to have a "real choice" and be able to "choose life."

Reisner said her staff ensures women are fully informed, saying "we don't refer a women for an abortion unless she is aware of, and has considered all her options, and is certain that she wants to terminate the pregnancy.

"We do not have a right to assume what is best for other women," said Reisner. The centre is "there to support the informed choices women make; we discuss all options with women, including abortion, parenting and adoption."

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix