A Union Leader Who Embraces A Political Party In Scandal, Becomes Part Of The Scandal Themselves

The 2006 federal election was a turning point. It was the exact point in time members of the CAW realized how little respect then CAW head Buzz Hargrove had for the members he supposedly represented. With all the lurid details of Adscam finally out in the open via the Gomery Inquiry, Buzz Hargrove did the unthinkable.

 By placing a CAW jacket on the back of Liberal PM Paul Martin, whose government was found and admitted to being the recipient of illegal kickback funds via sponsorship scandal, he forever tarnished his reputation and that of the CAW logo. So badly did Buzz misread the anger and outrage by those same workers he represented, he is now the brunt of jokes by the membership, rather than admired for the good things he did for the union membership, and he did a lot. The Conservative Party won the riding of Oshawa, with the help of Buzz's poorly thought out photo-op with the leader of a party most normal Canadians had come to despise.

 Flash forward to the 2014 Ontario election. The heads of most major unions are endorsing Kathleen Wynne, the premier of Ontario and leader of a party embroiled in so many scandals I've lost count. Imagine your union head, the one that supposedly represents you and your co-workers, endorsing a premier whose party is the subject of not one, but two OPP criminal investigations. A premier who refuses to pay $60,000 once per year for a young girls medication to prevent her lungs being scarred from cystic fibrosis, while at the same time awarding a contract just under $500,000,000 to a party insider. To put it in perspective, this is a premier who has no issue paying $66,000 per day for an Liberal insider, but cannot find it in herself to cut a one-time cheque, with our money no less, to at least get this girl get by another year.

 Imagine the head of a union endorsing a premier whose government has driven the members electricity bills up 43%, increased taxes, user fees, cut OHIP services, and been in office throughout the loss of 330,000 jobs. That, sadly, has become the norm here in Ontario. There once was a time when union members admired and respected their leaders. That time, as they say, is history.