So Why Does Tim Hudak Want to Kill the Ontario College of Trades?
Every Ontario Conservative is singing from the same Hymnal. "Close the Ontario College of Trades, close the Ontario College of Trades .... Hallelujah, Hallelujah."
Seemed strange to me because before they starting singing about it, I'd never heard anyone wanting to make this an election issue.
I've been following Canada's Neoconservative movement long enough to know when something is up. And it didn't take long to discover what it was.
The driving force behind this, is a group calling themselves Stop the Trades Tax. Anytime a "grassroots" movement uses the terms "friend of" or "stop the tax", you can be sure that they are short on grass but long on roots, and those roots usually lead back to a lobbyist and an industry or corporation.
Stop the Trades Tax was the brainchild of Karen Renkema, former Vice-President of Council of Ontario Construction Associations. In 2007, it was announced that Renkema would be leaving that job and going to Queens Park to act as a lobbyist for one of their members.
Renkema is now also the Chair of a group Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance, which some believe is simply a proxy for the construction industry.
According to Jeff Koller
We know from Randy Hillier's "leaked email" that the PCs were going after the construction industry for funds, on a promise to allow them to hire non-union workers. And what better way to lure campaign funds, than the commitment to cancel a program that is impeding the industry's ability to increase their profit margin, and eliminate competition from smaller firms.
And Renkema is clear. She will not compromise, and even the hint of a mere review, has her steaming mad. In fact, in most of their press releases, they bash the Ontario Liberals for allowing The Ontario Trades College to exist.
Now you can't google Stop the Trades Tax without generating a myriad of PC MPPs and candidates signing a pledge to get rid of it. (Yes those dreaded pledges)
I wanted to find out what actual trades people thought of this and found on a Carpenter's union website, a list of reasons why the Ontario College of Trades was important:
And says Unifor national president Jerry Dias, Hudak is misleading the public about the Ontario College of Trades.
Every Ontario Conservative is singing from the same Hymnal. "Close the Ontario College of Trades, close the Ontario College of Trades .... Hallelujah, Hallelujah."
Seemed strange to me because before they starting singing about it, I'd never heard anyone wanting to make this an election issue.
I've been following Canada's Neoconservative movement long enough to know when something is up. And it didn't take long to discover what it was.
The driving force behind this, is a group calling themselves Stop the Trades Tax. Anytime a "grassroots" movement uses the terms "friend of" or "stop the tax", you can be sure that they are short on grass but long on roots, and those roots usually lead back to a lobbyist and an industry or corporation.
Stop the Trades Tax was the brainchild of Karen Renkema, former Vice-President of Council of Ontario Construction Associations. In 2007, it was announced that Renkema would be leaving that job and going to Queens Park to act as a lobbyist for one of their members.
Renkema is now also the Chair of a group Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance, which some believe is simply a proxy for the construction industry.
According to Jeff Koller
[Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance] call for reduced journeyperson to apprentice ratios (where have we heard that before?) and oppose any new compulsory trade certification, saying that those things kill jobs and inhibit economic growth.
Koller disagrees, but you can see where Hudak got his talking points.We know from Randy Hillier's "leaked email" that the PCs were going after the construction industry for funds, on a promise to allow them to hire non-union workers. And what better way to lure campaign funds, than the commitment to cancel a program that is impeding the industry's ability to increase their profit margin, and eliminate competition from smaller firms.
And Renkema is clear. She will not compromise, and even the hint of a mere review, has her steaming mad. In fact, in most of their press releases, they bash the Ontario Liberals for allowing The Ontario Trades College to exist.
Now you can't google Stop the Trades Tax without generating a myriad of PC MPPs and candidates signing a pledge to get rid of it. (Yes those dreaded pledges)
I wanted to find out what actual trades people thought of this and found on a Carpenter's union website, a list of reasons why the Ontario College of Trades was important:
And says Unifor national president Jerry Dias, Hudak is misleading the public about the Ontario College of Trades.
“The College of Trades is good for the trades. The decisions affecting the skilled trades are being made by the trades for the trades, and not by politicians like Tim Hudak,” he said.
“It’s about time the Conservatives quit bashing the college and rather embraced the structure and worked with all the stakeholders to make it a successful body.”
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Pushed to the Left and Loving It: So Why Does Tim Hudak Want to Kill the Ontario College of Trades?
“It’s about time the Conservatives quit bashing the college and rather embraced the structure and worked with all the stakeholders to make it a successful body.”
more
Pushed to the Left and Loving It: So Why Does Tim Hudak Want to Kill the Ontario College of Trades?