Unifor Local 27 Retirees Chapter

The federal government is using $1.8 billion in surplus EI funds to help balance its books, drawing criticism from opposition parties and labour groups who say the money belongs in taxpayers’ pockets.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver delivered Tuesday the Tories’ long-promised balanced budget ahead of this year’s federal election — though it was one that eked out a very small surplus of $1.4 billion.

By railroading Bill C-377 into law, the Conservative government has laid another brick in their wall of contempt. Contempt for workers and their means of acting in solidarity: unions.

Contempt has marked the history of the bill since it was first introduced in 2012. Though it is claimed to make unions more transparent, Bill C-377 is actually a carbon copy of an anti-union salvo fired off by George W. Bush's Republicans in 2003. American workers continue to pay the price.

Finance Canada review of Canada's retirement system says Canada scores poorly among OECD countries

Canada scores poorly among developed countries in providing public pensions to seniors, according to an internal analysis of retirement income by the federal government.

And voluntary tax-free savings accounts or TFSAs, introduced by the Harper Conservatives in 2009, are so far unproven as a retirement solution and are largely geared to the wealthy.

Update: On February 25, 2015, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting issued a news release saying all major Canadian TV networks and station owners—Bell, Corus, Québécor, Rogers, and Shaw—would not run Friends of Canadian Broadcasting TV ads that poked fun at Stephen Harper's "hostile agenda" for the CBC.

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here

“The NDP’s $15 federal minimum wage strategy is exactly what working families in Canada need. Tom Mulcair and the federal New Democratic Party are on the mark with their minimum wage strategy. A rising tide lifts all boats, and one way to reverse the trend of growing income inequality is a livable wage – a minimum wage policy indexed to inflation.

The NDP’s $15 minimum wage plan – sets a high water mark that provinces and territorial governments should aspire to reach.”

– Sid Ryan, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour

TORONTO, July 30, 2015 /CNW/ - With Canada possibly slipping into another recession, a new comprehensive review of the economic record of Stephen Harper's Conservative government paints a damning portrait of nearly a decade of economic failure.

"Canada's economy has never performed worse, since the end of World War II, than under the present Conservative government. The Harper government ranks last among the nine post-ward governments, and by a wide margin – falling well behind the second worst government, which was the Mulroney government of 1984-93."

Make sure to watch the video where In just three minutes, economist Jim Stanford destroys the myth that Stephen Harper has been a good steward of our economy. He provides ample evidence to prove that Harper has the worst economic performance of any Prime Minister since World War II.

Jim Stanford's Video Report

Full Report in PDF form

Again this year MP Irene Mathyssen will be hosting a free income tax filing service at her London office for lower income Londoners.

Volunteers trained by the Canada Revenue Agency will be present to e-file 2014 tax returns for eligible individuals.

Click the full story link below for details