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Several labour groups allege Edmonton city council broke the law when it voted behind closed doors to sell off some publicly owned assets.

Lawyers for the groups will be in court tomorrow to argue that the privatization of Epcor's power generation should be declared invalid. The assets were spun into a new publicly traded company called Capital Power.

The Alberta Federation of Labour and the city's two largest unions are among the groups challenging the sale.

iNews880.com, Thurs Sept 10 2009

A Court of Queen's Bench justice will be hearing arguments tomorrow in a case launched by a group of labour organizations against the sale of EPCOR's publicly-owned power generation assets.

The group includes the Alberta Federation of Labour and the City of Edmonton's two largest unions, CUPE Local 30 and CSU 52.

They argue that Edmonton City Council breached key provisions of the Municipal Government Act when it went behind closed doors to privately decide to privatize EPCOR's power generation assets.

"We are arguing that City Council had no legal authority to make the decision to privatize EPCOR's power generation," says AFL President Gil McGowan. "And if they did not have the legal right to make the decision, the decision cannot be considered valid."

Representatives of the group - including McGowan and Dave Loken from the Coalition of Edmonton Civic Unions - will be available on Friday before and after the hearing to take questions from the media about the case.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Media Availability: 9:30 a.m.
Court Hearing Begins: 10:00 a.m.
Edmonton Law Courts
1A Sir Winston Churchill Square

Both EPCOR and the city of Edmonton have filed extensive responses to the groups' statement of claim. The hearing is expected to take the bulk of the day.

- 30 -

For more information call:

Gil McGowan, AFL President @ (780) 218-9888

Dave Loken, Coalition of Edmonton Civil Unions @ (780) 448-8981 (office); (780) 237-8656 (cell)

Closed-door meetings breach Municipal Government Act, group charges in lawsuit

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench today is hearing a case that could potentially overturn the multi-billion-dollar deal that saw EPCOR's power generation capacity spun off into a new company and a portion of the shares sold to investors in a public offering. The case has been launched by three labour union groups, including the Alberta Federation of Labour, CUPE 30 and CSU 52.

The case revolves around whether Edmonton City Council acted in a legal manner when it held a "behind-closed-doors" shareholders' meeting to make the decision to spin off the assets, valued at $2.8 billion.

"The legal point, at its core, is both simple and important," says AFL President Gil McGowan. "Municipalities are required under law to operate in particular ways. We suggest that when it made the EPCOR privatization decision, the City failed to meet its obligations to the public under the Municipal Government Act."

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires that all decisions by a City Council be made in public. It also clearly restricts to whom a City Council can delegate its authority. A City Council cannot delegate its decision-making powers to anyone it chooses - there are strict limitations to whom it may delegate, namely only to a Council Committee, the Chief Administrative Officer or Designated Officer.

The City argues that when making decisions about EPCOR, Council is not acting as a City Council under the MGA, but as a "shareholder," and therefore the rules under the MGA do not apply. The legal validity of this "shareholder" status is the key point at issue in the lawsuit. The groups contend that the "shareholder" has no legal validity under the MGA, as the Council is prohibited from delegating to such a collection of individuals.

"For years, City Council has ducked public accountability for its EPCOR decisions by hiding behind the cloak of 'the shareholder'," says Dave Loken, spokesperson for the Coalition of Edmonton Civic Unions. "As it turns out, this cloak may be illegal."

If the court declares the decision invalid, it is unclear what will happen next. Potentially the judge could order the share offering invalid, and the Capital Power deal would have to be reversed.

"There's no doubt this could cause a huge headache for the big institutional investment outfits that bought stocks in Capital Power," says McGowan. "But, frankly, the interests of investors need to take a back seat to the interests of the citizens of Edmonton who own the assets in question. The most important thing to come out of this case would be public accountability. City Council does not get to act with disregard to the public interest. And they don't get to use their so-called delegation powers to do an end run around the democratic process."

"The citizens of Edmonton were shut out of the decision to privatize one of our most important assets. We need to get those assets back - or at the very least, make sure this never happens again," concludes Loken.

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For more information call:

Gil McGowan, AFL President @ (780) 218-9888

Dave Loken, Coalition of Edmonton Civic Unions @ 780-448-8981 (office); 780-237-8656 (cell)

As the ranks of the unemployed in the province continue to swell, a new report suggests Alberta's workers are hit by an employment insurance double whammy: working longer hours to qualify for a shorter compensation period.

Alberta has seen a "dramatic" increase in the number of people who have lost their jobs this year, jumping to 160,000 from about 73,000 last year, said Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan on Monday.

"By itself it's alarming enough. What's even more disturbing to us is that only about 40 per cent of those people are eligible for benefits under the current system," said McGowan, attending a free barbecue in Calgary organized by local labour unions and associations.

"We have a very disturbing situation here in Alberta. Not only do Albertans have to work longer in order to be eligible for benefits, they also are eligible for benefits for shorter periods.

"This Labour Day, the story isn't about work, the real story is about unemployment."

Anthony Bajalo knows what it's like to look for work.

The construction labourer said after the heyday of big jobs and even bigger paycheques during boom time, work is drying up.

The 33-year-old has gone job hunting outside the city in Caroline and Sundre to find enough work to pay the bills. He recently lined up a job in Vancouver next month to work on infrastructure for the Winter Olympics.

"There are a lot of people looking for work. It's tough right now," said Bajalo.

"I've been to some places that have shut down in the middle of the jobs.

"It's tough being in a city that was booming, jobs left, right and centre. Then everything dries right up."

In Calgary on Monday, several volunteers from the Calgary and District Labour Council dished up burgers and hotdogs to a steady stream of people attending the barbecue at Olympic Plaza.

The Labour Day event is meant to give back to the community and highlight some of the worrisome activity in the economy, said Collin Anderson, interim president of the council.

"There's a definite concern that this economic downturn is being used by the corporations and companies to claw back gains that have been made over the years," he said.

More work hours, fewer benefits and changes to pensions are some of the key concerns, said Anderson.

"The workers truly have to be united now, it's the only strength we have, our solidarity and willingness to stand up for one another."

The Alberta Federation of Labour released a report this week outlining concerns about Canada's employment insurance system.

According to McGowan, workers in cities such as Montreal and Windsor, Ont., receive benefits for as long as 50 weeks, while in Alberta the maximum period is about 43 weeks.

Further, workers in Edmonton and Calgary have to work about 665 hours to qualify for EI, compared to about 560 hours in Montreal.

"All Canadians pay into the EI system at the same rate, but Albertans are having to work longer for fewer benefits than other Canadians," he said. "We think this is a perverse situation."

Alberta's robust workforce during happier times falls "further and faster" as the economy droops, said McGowan.

Employment insurance reforms could become a key national issue if a fall election materializes.

Some labour groups are calling for a national standard across the country.

Although EI is a federal responsibility, provincial leaders need to take a strong position on behalf of Alberta workers, said NDP Leader Brian Mason.

"It (EI) no longer serves the function it once did."

The federal government announced Monday it will institute new measures in the upcoming session of Parliament to help train and find new jobs for "long-tenured" employees who have been laid off.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said the provisions would be aimed at those who had been consistently employed for at least seven out of the past 10 years who "are finding themselves, through no fault of their own, unemployed with limited portable skills."

The minister said the "group who have been, frankly, hardest hit by the global recession," such as those in the automotive, manufacturing and forestry sectors, would be targeted for assistance.

The new measures follow a series of initiatives launched in May that allow for some long-tenured workers to claim up to two years of EI benefits so long as they use that time to train for new work.

As of June, 816,000 Canadians were receiving EI benefits, up more than 60 per cent from when the economy started dipping in October.

Parliament will resume sitting on Sept. 14.

Calgary Herald, Page B2, Tues Sept 8 2009
Byline: Jamie Komarnicki

Numerous trucks and employee vehicles were kept out of the Safeway distribution centre by striking workers on Labour Day, an act the Alberta Labour Relations Board deemed "unlawful" late Monday night.

The board ordered the picketers to only detain those who approach the picket line for as long as they need to explain the nature of the dispute.

They also directed the union to keep watch on the traffic buildup outside the north Edmonton centre and adjust their delaying of traffic to quell any potential snarls like the one experienced on Monday.

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 started picketing Monday at 6 a. m., after they served strike notice and the company locked them out.

The 350 workers planned to picket in three shifts over each 24-hour period to keep traffic from getting to the distribution centre and Lucerne ice-cream plant at 14040 Yellowhead Trail.

Work at the company's frozen food warehouse, at 11528 160 St., was also affected. Picketers stood, and at times sat in lawn chairs, in front of arriving trucks.

Bob Behrens, Safeway's director of distribution for Alberta, said the company initially fenced off all but the main truck entrance to the facility.

But as vehicles started to line up, and threatened to stick out onto the Yellowhead, Safeway reopened the other entrances. The picketers then spread out to block all entrances. One truck was let through, as well as some employees, but most were kept out.

Safeway told the board that dozens of trucks come into the centre daily with produce that has limited shelf life.

The board was still hearing the arguments of Safeway management and the union's lawyers at press time Monday.

Employees have been without a contract since December 2008, but a deal seemed imminent after company and union negotiators reached a settlement Aug. 26.

However, more than 70 per cent of union members rejected the settlement their union leaders supported.

Several picketing workers who voted against the deal said Monday that benefits for workers in the physically demanding jobs are still in dispute. As well, full-time workers do not want to add three hours to their current 37-hour work week because they suspect the company plans to announce layoffs.

"I don't want to see guys lose their jobs," said Travis Ozechowski, who has worked full-time for three years in the produce section of the distribution warehouse. "I'm a shop steward, so I've got to look out for everybody."

Workers knew going into the vote that this could be a long strike, he added.

Safeway has started hiring temporary workers to keep operations going during the strike and lockout. The company has advertised the temporary warehouse jobs at $18.41 an hour.

Noor Afridi, 36, applied for one of those temporary jobs Monday. He has a job with a security company, but he hasn't been getting enough shifts to pay his bills.

Afridi said he does have concerns about crossing the picket line during a strike, "but when you have financial pressure, that can take you anywhere."

The wage the company is offering to temporary workers is a sore point for Laura, a union member on the picket line who does not want her last name printed. She was hired a week and a half ago.

"I was hired at$14.86 an hour," she said. "They're going to get$18.41 an hour to take my job."

Hourly wages for the 350 workers range from about $14 an hour for a part-time employee up to $20 an hour for full-time workers, the union has said.

While the first day of picketing shut down work inside Safeway's distribution centre, the effects of the strike and lockout were felt about eight kilometres down the road.

Organizers of an annual Labour Day barbecue were scrambling to buy enough oranges Monday morning to feed the city's unemployed, who lined up across Giovanni Caboto Park, near 95th Street and 109th Avenue.

"We're a little short on oranges because of the strike at the Safeway," said Tom Olenuk, president of the Edmonton and District Labour Council, which organized the barbecue for Edmonton's jobless.

"Usually we get about 4,000 oranges, but because of the strike we only got about 1,000."

Thousands of people were expected to visit the park for the barbecue that has been feeding unemployed people on Labour Day for 20 years now, Olenuk said. It's an event organizers hoped would fade away eventually, he noted.

"Instead of getting smaller, it's gotten bigger."

The situation for unemployed people in this province is particularly dire because of poor coverage from Canada's employment insurance program, according to a newly released analysis from the labour council and the Alberta Federation of Labour.

That analysis shows the number of unemployed people in Alberta has doubled since October 2008, to almost 154,000, the labour groups said in a news release.

Edmonton Journal, Tues Sept 8 2009
Byline: Andrea Sands and Ben Gelinas

True to their word, an environmental coalition has filed suit in California challenging the recent U.S. presidential permit granted to a controversial pipeline running from Alberta across the Canada-U.S. border to Wisconsin.

When the permit was granted Aug. 20 for Enbridge's Alberta Clipper pipeline, a coalition of environmental and Native American groups opposed the decision, claiming it went against U.S. President Barack Obama's promise to cut global warming pollution and America's addiction to oil while investing in clean energy.

On Thursday, the National Wildlife Federation, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the Sierra Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. They will be represented by the non-profit law firm Earthjustice.

Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt said the lawsuit was filed in California because a number of the plaintiffs are located in the state, and the law allows plaintiffs to file in their home jurisdictions.

"The basis of the lawsuit is that the environmental review that was done does not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and some of our more policy-based reasons for filing the lawsuit raise such questions as, if Obama is really committed to investing in a clean energy future that he's talked so much about, then these sort of decisions really don't mesh with that."

She added the Clipper pipeline will mean more air, water and global warming pollution, particularly in communities near refineries that process oilsands oil.

Kevin Reuther, legal director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, says there are too many unanswered questions to allow the pipeline to go forward.

"What happens when this dirty oil leaks and spills from the pipeline?" he asked. "How much more global warming pollution will be emitted? How much more water will be polluted? How many more migratory birds will die? No one knows, because neither the state nor federal agencies responsible for protecting us have done their jobs."

According to the coalition, the Alberta Clipper is the latest of a massive network of "tarsands pipelines" up for approval by the State Department. The coalition maintains the agency has been under pressure from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to allow the pipelines to go forward, despite the risks they pose to American communities, clean energy jobs, and national security.

The $3.6-billion Alberta Clipper pipeline will carry oilsands product from Hardisty, Alta. It will extend 525 kilometres from the U.S.-Canadian border near Neche, N.D., across northern Minnesota to an Enbridge terminal in Superior, Wisc. The project also includes associated pumping and terminal stations. Scheduled to be up and running in 2010, the pipeline has an initial capacity of 450,000 barrels of heavy crude a day. A second pipeline, Southern Lights, will consist of a new 51-centimetre pipeline extending 307 kilometres from Superior, Wisc., to an Enbridge terminal in Clearbrook, Minn.

Meanwhile, National Energy Board hearings begin today into TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the American Gulf Coast. Hearings are slated until Friday in Calgary and Sept. 22 to 25 in Saskatoon.

According to TransCanada, the proposed Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion Project (Keystone XL) is complementary to the Keystone Pipeline and would serve existing refineries and markets on the U.S. Gulf Coast in Texas. The proposal calls for a 3,200-kilometre, 91-centimetre crude oil pipeline that would begin at Hardisty, Alta., and extend southeast through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. It would incorporate a portion of the Keystone Pipeline to be constructed through Kansas to Cushing, Okla., before continuing through Oklahoma to a delivery point near existing terminals in Nederland, Texas, to serve the Port Arthur, Texas, marketplace. An 80-kilometre pipeline to the Houston, Texas marketplace is also proposed.

The Alberta Federation of Labour is an intervenor at these hearings.

"The last thing Alberta needs right now is another bitumen super-pipeline taking jobs out of the province," said president Gil McGowan.

Fort McMurray Today, Tues Sept 8 2009
Byline: Carol Christian

The Alberta Federation of Labour is slamming the federal government for shortchanging Albertans when it comes to EI benefits.

Gil McGowan says Albertans have to work more hours to qualify compared to workers in other provinces.

Workers in Calgary and Edmonton must work 665 hours before becoming eligible for EI benefits compared to 560 hours in Montreal and Toronto and 420 for Newfoundland.

A new analysis from the AFL says our province has the lowest percentage of jobless workers receiving EI with just 39 percent of workers here getting benefits, compared to over 50 percent in Quebec.

660AM, Tues Sept 8 2009

EDMONTON - While the first day of picketing shut down work inside a major Canada Safeway distribution centre and ice-cream plant in west Edmonton, the effects of the strike and lockout were felt just a few kilometres away.

Organizers of an annual Labour Day barbecue were scrambling to buy enough oranges Monday morning to feed the city's unemployed, who lined up across Giovanni Caboto Park, near 95th Street and 109th Avenue.

"We're a little short on oranges because of the strike at the Safeway," said Tom Olenuk, president of the Edmonton and District Labour Council, which organized the barbecue for Edmonton's jobless.

"Usually we get about 4,000 oranges, but because of the strike we only got about 1,000."

Thousands of people were expected to visit the park for free hotdogs, hamburgers, drinks, bananas and a limited supply of oranges during the barbecue that has been feeding unemployed people on Labour Day for 20 years now, Olenuk said. It's an event organizers hoped would fade away eventually, he noted.

"Instead of getting smaller, it's gotten bigger."

The situation for unemployed people in this province is particularly dire because of poor coverage from Canada's employment insurance program, according to a newly released analysis from the labour council and the Alberta Federation of Labour. That analysis shows the number of unemployed people in Alberta has doubled since October 2008, to almost 154,000, the labour groups said in a news release.

The employment insurance system that should be helping unemployed workers during the recession only pays them $1,591 a month in benefits, on average, the labour groups said.

Compared with workers in the rest of Canada, Albertans have to work the longest number of hours to be eligible for the shortest periods of benefits coverage, the analysis said.

"Clearly, we need to increase the benefits," Olenuk said.

About eight kilometres up the road from the Labour Day barbecue, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 spent their Labour Day blocking traffic into and out of the Safeway distribution centre and Lucerne ice-cream plant at 14040 Yellowhead Trail. Work at the company's frozen food warehouse, at 11528 160th St., was also affected.

"They're just shunting trailers around in there," said Local 401 president, Doug O'Halloran, who joined workers on the picket line. "There's nothing going in or out of there today."

Union members also blocked several vehicles they said were carrying Canada Safeway managers trying to enter the warehouse and plant. People inside those vehicles did not want to speak to media.

Safeway workers started picketing Monday at 6 a.m., after they served strike notice and the company locked them out. The 350 workers are picketing in three shifts over each 24-hour period to keep traffic from getting to the Safeway buildings.

The workers have been without a contract since December 2008, but a deal seemed imminent after company and union negotiators reached a settlement Aug. 26.

However, more than 70 per cent of union members rejected the settlement supported by union leaders.

Several picketing workers who voted against the deal said from the picket line Monday that benefits for workers in the physically demanding jobs are still in dispute. As well, full-time workers do not want to add three hours to their current 37-hour work week, several workers said.

That's because workers suspect the company's goal in adding the hours is to announce layoffs, said Travis Ozechowski, who has worked full-time for three years in the produce section at the grocery retailer's distribution warehouse.

"I don't want to see guys lose their jobs," Ozechowski said. "I'm a shop steward, so I've got to look out for everybody."

Workers knew going into the vote that this could be a long strike, he added.

Safeway has started hiring temporary workers to keep operations going during the strike and lockout. The company has advertised the temporary warehouse jobs at $18.41 an hour.

Noor Afridi, 36, applied for one of those temporary jobs Monday. He has a job with a security company, but he hasn't been getting enough shifts to pay his bills.

Afridi said he does have concerns about crossing the picket line during a strike, "but when you have financial pressure, that can take you anywhere."

The wage the company is offering to temporary workers is a sore point for Laura, a union member on the picket line who does not want her last name printed. She was hired a week and a half ago.

"I was hired at $14.86 an hour," she said. "They're going to get $18.41 an hour to take my job."

Hourly wages for the 350 workers range from about $14 an hour for a part-time employee up to $20 an hour for full-time workers, the union has said.

Edmonton Journal, Mon Sept 7 2009
Byline: Andrea Sands

In some ways, it's appropriate that the Labour Day holiday marks the last long weekend of summer. Let's face it, while some of us are lucky enough to have jobs that we find fulfilling, a bit of time off to spend with friends and family is always welcome. We work to live, not vice versa.

That's why Canadians have come to expect that, when their working days are over, they can look forward to retirement-- a time to relax and enjoy the leisure they've earned through years of labour.

Unfortunately, these expectations are beginning to seem unrealistic for many. Canada's pension and retirement income system is in a shambles, and with a growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement age, the stage is set for a crisis of poverty among senior citizens.

The figures speak for themselves. According to investment industry analysts, Canadians are currently on track to replace only 50 per cent of their pre-retirement income once they retire. The situation in Alberta is even worse, with retirement savings that will provide only about 45 per cent of pre-retirement income.

Since pension experts agree that to retire without a drop in living standards requires about 70 per cent of pre-retirement earnings, it's clear that Canadians, and Albertans in particular, are going to face serious problems when they reach the end of their working lives.

Why this shortfall? Canada's retirement income system rests on what have become known as the Three Pillars: public pensions (the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security), workplace pensions offered by employers, and individual savings.

Unfortunately, the second pillar--workplace pensions --has been in decline for the last two decades. During this period a growing number of companies have decided that they no longer want to bear the cost of providing a retirement income for their employees.

According to government figures, in 2008 only 40 per cent of Canadian workers belonged to an employer-sponsored pension plan, and in Alberta the figure is just 33 per cent. This decrease in pension coverage is bad news, because a good workplace pension is an efficient and cost-effective way of saving for retirement.

The alternative to an employment-based pension is, of course, individual savings through a tax-exempt Registered Retirement Savings Plan. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that RRSPs just aren't getting the job done for most Canadians.

There are several reasons for this. Faced with the stagnating real income and the reality of financial ups and downs, few working people are able to make regular contributions at a high enough level to generate the savings needed to support retirement.

Even for those able to keep up their contributions, it's hard to invest these savings in a way that generates a reasonable rate of return, especially when stock markets are as volatile as in recent years. Furthermore, most RRSP funds are invested in mutual funds, and the mutual fund industry in Canada charges some of the highest administration fees in the industrialized world. These fees eat away at investment returns, even when economic times are good.

For these and other reasons, RRSPs just aren't fulfilling their mission. The proof is in the pudding: a Statistics Canada study published last year shows that, for families whose main income earner is in the crucial 54-to-65 age group (in other words, people on the verge of retirement), only 65 per cent have RRSP savings, and the median value of these RRSPs is just $55,000. That level of savings isn't going to provide a dignified retirement for anyone.

Government leaders and pension advocates have admitted these problems and various remedies have been proposed. The governments of Alberta and B. C. have begun to explore a supplemental pension plan (to supplement the existing Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security) tentatively called the ABC (Alberta-B. C.) pension plan. While this proposal represents an honest attempt to address the looming crisis in retirement incomes, the design of the proposed ABC Pension is fundamentally flawed, and will not be able to do solve the current problem.

Put simply: the ABC Pension suffers from some of the same problems that have hampered individual RRSPs. Participation will not be mandatory, even though this is the only way to guarantee that most workers will actually get a pension. The plan's proposed design also exposes individual participants to the risk of falling financial markets and low interest rates (lower interest rates make a pension more expensive). Finally, the suggested contribution rates (essentially, the rate at which participants save for retirement) are much too low to provide sufficient pension income.

The good news is that there is a better way. There is already a pension plan in Canada that provides almost universal coverage and a guaranteed benefit level --the Canada Pension Plan. The CPP is an extremely efficient plan, with very low investment and administration costs. The problem is that the level of benefit is far too low to provide for a comfortable retirement. So, instead of inventing a new, inferior supplemental plan, all that really needs to be done is significantly expand the CPP.

Of course, raising the level of CPP benefits will cost money but, unlike the costs associated with the ABC Pension plan, this will be money well spent. Since the CPP already has the tools needed to collect contributions and pay out benefits, the increase in costs will go almost entirely to higher benefits, rather than to administration. Unlike an Alberta-B. C. plan, the CPP is also portable from coast, to coast to coast. The CPP alone is capable of providing seamless coverage to working people all across Canada, and doing so at a reasonable cost.

This Labour Day, Canadians should throw their support behind the growing movement for fundamental pension reform based on expansion of the CPP. With reform, the dream of retiring with dignity can be realized by all Canadians, instead of only a privileged few.

Calgary Herald, Page A11, Mon Sept 7 2009
Byline: Gil McGowan

CALGARY -- Union leaders marking Labour Day with a downtown barbecue lamented the recession's toll on Alberta's workforce.

And they accused the federal government of shortchanging the province's residents by imposing stricter qualifications for employment insurance.

Workers in Calgary and Edmonton must work 665 hours before becoming eligible for EI benefits compared to 560 hours in Montreal and Toronto and 420 for Newfoundland and Labrador, said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

The official number of unemployed Albertans has grown from 73,000 a year ago to 160,000 today, added the union chief.

"There's no other province that's lost jobs like Alberta," said McGowan.

"Only 40% of those people are eligible for benefits."

That's due to Alberta's traditional status as an economic powerhouse, which no longer holds true, he said.

The situation amounts to a betrayal on the part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who hails from Calgary, said McGowan.

"Stephen Harper should be ashamed of himself for not reforming a system that discriminates against his constituents," he said, adding Albertans receive a maximum of 43 weeks of EI compared to 50 weeks in Ontario and Quebec.

Barbecue organizers handed out free hamburgers and hot dogs supplied by unionists to hundreds of people -- many of them clearly needy, said McGowan.

"The story of this Labour Day is not about working, it's unemployment," he said.

Edmonton Sun, Mon Sept 7 2009
Byline: Bill Kaufmann