Unpaid Internships In Canada

My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians, 12:9, The New Oxford Annotated Bible

The Oracle of Ottawa has done many things in his long life so far, but one thing he has never done and never will do, is work for nothing. Even in the times of the basest and most unrestricted capitalism as it existed in the England of Dickens, Marx and Engels, even Scrooge paid Bob Cratchit  the minimum sustainable wage. It appears to the Oracle of Ottawa that we have even sunk beneath that bench mark in present day Canada at the time of this writing.

Soon, Comrade, soon...

The issue of unpaid internships is one that the Oracle of Ottawa has been meaning to address for some time, but even thinking about it makes the Oracle so hot, that he is in fear of popping a blood vessel or slipping his clutch plates. But it welled to the surface again today as the Oracle was in transit up to the Ottawa Valley to see a great wise man. And as per usual the Oracle was listening to Cross Country Check Up on the CBC radio.

The lick spittle lackey of the Prime Ministers Office, Rex Murphy, was on the job again with today's assignment; What do you think of unpaid internships in Canada? You could tell right away, that today's mission was to sell working for nothing as a really good idea that will somehow benefit you and your way in the world! Oh, it was of course very subtle, every twist and turn of good and expert communications technique was employed. And the Oracle swears that the first several calls were placed shills. Someone should investigate this someday. The Oracle of Ottawa just cannot see any one that is in their right mind agreeing to this insane practice.

It seems to the Oracle of Ottawa that some investigation of students today would go a long way to stopping this insane practice. Much of the anguish could be prevented by good planning while still in high school. The Oracle of Ottawa wonders why any youngster would go into a profession or line of work that required any form of unpaid internship at the end of the program. There is information in the fact that after getting an honors commerce degree you will be expected to work for nothing contains the signal that perhaps working for a large financial institution is really not in your interest! Perhaps it would be better for the youngster to get into a journeyman trade.

All this insanity has started in the period of the 'Harper Government' time in power. Combined with the bullshit volunteer wave, the corporate whores will soon only have to pay themselves, and we all know how good they are at that, don't we? Why even to get out of high school now, a student has to rack up a certain amount of unpaid work to graduate! The Oracle of Ottawa only sees this as a ploy to precondition your little bastards to get used to working for nothing. And you gutless lackey play along - go along parents eat it up!  

As the Oracle continued upon his way up the Valley he was struck with an epiphany. If this is the future for our youth what is the point of living in a capitalist society at all? What is in it for our youth to put up with this? If the worker is never going to see the fruit of his labour, what is the point of continuing with this capitalist lie? What is the point of continuing to support this dying society? If all the wealth of a nation is going to be only enjoyed by the 1% perhaps it is time to try something new, what the 'Harper Government' calls a reckless social experiment. 

The Oracle of Ottawa hates to face the realization that perhaps it is time to again introduce the dictatorship of the proletariat. As time goes on we seem to have less and less to lose and certainly nothing to look forward to, do we? Perhaps we should bring down the whole stinking marketed mess and start over again, it is not like it has never been done before, right?

Scott Brison Asks The NEXT Question

The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul.
Francis Bacon, Essays, Essay XXXIV - Of Riches

As the Oracle of Ottawa has always told his Dear Readers before, if you want to know what is coming next in Canadian politics, you must never miss Question Period on Fridays. You would think that after the week that has passed, and the scandals that have erupted, and somehow strangely refuse to be quenched, that not much of note could possibly bubble up. Well Dear reader you would have been wrong again. It was near the end of Question Period on Friday last, and the Oracle thought we were down to the ending softball questions.

Scott Brison - On it!

 Then Scott Brison stood to his seat, and put a soft ball Question to Kellie "Butch" Leitch on unemployed youngsters and the resident evil of unpaid internships! This is a question that the Oracle of Ottawa was dying to hear asked. The cocky Leitch seemed not to expect to have this question coming at the time it did, and she seemed totally "outed", so to speak.

Much to the rage and utter amazement of the Oracle of Ottawa this evil practice of getting kids to work for nothing, for "work experience", is one of the most evil creations of the 'Harper Government'. It has even touched into the Oracles circle, and the Oracle of Ottawa is not amused. The Oracle can not understand how this is even possible. Haven't these wars been fought and won decades ago? Don't we have child labour laws in Canada? Well since the 'Harper Government' not any more. And to add insult to injury, when some scum bag employer, such as car dealership owners, get these free child labourers, they are getting money, grants and tax breaks from the 'Harper Government'!      

Now this evil of the 'Harper Government' has not been thought up by the 'Harper Government' but rather is the spawn of its many management consultants, that have been very busy chipping at the workers liberties in Canada since the Conservatives have come to power. This has all been achieved by exploiting the two most common fears of the working class. The stigma of being labelled mentally ill, and the stigma of being unemployed. There have been minor changes over the last decade that have virtually gutted employment law as we once thought that we knew.

Yes Dear Reader, Scott Brison has asked the NEXT question, that will certainly put another stake through the 'Harper Government' come the next election. And the Oracle of Ottawa is very grateful that Scott Brison stood up and asked it so perfectly, looks from here that Justin Trudeau has his next Minister of Labour and Employment... 

The 'Harper Government' Trade Union Paradox

In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine, p. 148

It has been a source of utter amazement and perplexity to the Oracle of Ottawa of the 'Harper Government''s pathological hatred of trade unions. Surely the party of Family Values and self help and overall independence of big government would endorse wholeheartedly the working classes getting together to take care of themselves? Why in Canada it has been legal forever. Geez, the 'Harper Government' hangs out with the corporate whores and all the assorted lobbyists 24/7, what ever could the problem really be?

'Harper Government' attempts to raise Jimmy from the dead...

We have all heard, many more times than once, how the so called right wing revolution that is apparently going on in Canada at the present, according to great scholars such as Preston Manning, who could possibly get all excited about a few thousand blue collar types getting to together to form their own self help groups! If the ideology of the Preston Manning Duck's Ass, Alberta revolution is so awesome, surely it would be an easy sell to the dirty handers, no? And the chrome domed eminence of Steve Harper himself surely is telling the truth when he says he wants Canadians to get on and up the social and economic ladder, no?

The early trial balloon was floated on the CBC National evening news tonight. It all started with a clip of the ever greasy and repulsive Pierre "Little Polly" Poilievre  going on about "Big Union Bosses" from stock footage. Complete with hair cum to the saturation level, and oozing pierogi sweat. It was probably huge back in Ducks Ass, Alberta. But the Oracle of Ottawa soon realized that Little Polly is sweating out of total fear of kicking off the first Canada wide General Strike since the Great Depression. Not the the 2008 one, but rather the 1929 one, yeah, thanks.

The 'Harper Government' is getting ready to bring up the big guns of the right wing revolution with the legislation that will weaken the right of collective bargaining in all Canadian Crown Corporations, that is of course buried deep in another omnibus budget bill. The Oracle of Ottawa can only suspect that they are not proud of it either.

What goes around, comes around. And we as working people are due for another great labour leader again.
Wouldn't it be ironic that it will probably be the 'Harper Government' that will clear the way for the "next one"? Happy one hundredth birthday Jimmy, wherever you are!!

Prisoners Union Of Canada? - Sign Me Up!

 Unions make gains when they are militant and creative.
 Errol Black, Jim Silver, Building A Better World - An Introduction To Trade Unionism In Canada, p. 171

Life is a lot like a stochastic process. It is a random process of events. And these processes have fat tails. It is all just fancy way of saying shit happens, and never forget that this shit could also happen to you. Allow the Oracle of Ottawa to demonstrate. You have as about as much of a chance of being a successful entre-pren-whore as you do of having the misfortune of serving twenty five to life in a Canadian prison! Allow that to sink in, ponder that, and tell the Oracle of Ottawa if it isn't true.

Does this work all the time for everybody or what?

Where does it say in the Canadian Constitution and / or the Charter of Rights, that if you have the misfortune to be incarcerated, that you are automatically somehow less of a Canadian? Has the Oracle of Ottawa missed something? Or is this all part of the Preston Manning bullshit of the falling to the right? How is it that as the Oracle of Ottawa watches Question Period, he gets the feeling that if you are a Canadian stranded in a barred shit hole abroad, the present speed of the assistance of the Canadian government will depend if you ever spent time, for whatever reason, in a Canadian prison, and if you have, well your a die hard criminal and you deserve to rot where you are! Not true? What about that potato farmer from New Brunswick?

The Oracle of Ottawa was very surprised that the attempt of a bunch of prisoners out West in British Columbia were refused the right to organize! Every time the Oracle of Ottawa climbs into his nice new car he can't help but see the Ontario license plate. And I always get that queasy feeling of the knowledge that that plate was made by a prisoner somewhere close to me, and he did not and still does not get at least minimum wage for his or her work. What kind of society do we really live in? Just asking....

Prisoners Union of Canada - Local No. 1

After the shock and the amazement of the utter balls of the inmates, the Oracle of Ottawa wondered why the CLC, the Canadian Labour Congress has not yet made a peep? I mean they only have the connections to over three million union members. And Bill C-377 is sitting in the Senate all but in and done to final passage. This bill is a crafty Conservative Party Of Canada version of American 'Right to Work' legislation. It will keep every Canadian so busy and use up so much resources that in the opinion of the Oracle of Ottawa, it will all but put organized labour out of  business in Canada. 

What better time then the present to organize some new members? There have been many attempts to organize the hamburger joints and the box stores, but these entities are monsters of bottomless cash resources. Why doesn't big labour send the 'Harper Government' a real message and send some burly Teamsters, and some militant auto workers and for good measure some hairy assed Steel Workers to get every prisoner in Canada signed up? What the fuck is there to lose? One last defiant act!

Could you just imagine the shower of shit this would cause? Could you just imagine Vic 'The Dick' Toews and Rob 'The Knob' Nicholson having to stand up in the House in Question Period to report on the progress of the Prisoners Union of Canada first contract negotiations? With the full Canadian Rand Formula of course... Now that would be priceless! And we won't stop there would we? How many people are unemployed in Canada at any one time? And having a hell of a time to get their rightful UI money. Do you see where this all going? Then we could do all the welfare recipients, across Canada. Everyone deserves representation don't they? Don't they?

 Face it folks. Pretty soon all we are going to be left with is the Ashes and the Rain....

The Three Hardest HR Questions

When human beings have finished, they are just beginning,
and when they stop, they are still perplexed.
Sirach, 18:7

The Oracle of Ottawa strongly believes that there are three professions that have no place in a modern Western Democracy. Marketers, spin doctors and human resources tools. They not only don't deserve to eat, they don't even deserve to be loved or respected in the least by anybody. And all the "good" practitioners live solitary, lonely lives from hell. Even afraid to go out in public, lest they run into someone that they have successfully fucked over in the past. And believe the Oracle of of Ottawa, some of them have a lot to fear from a lot of people. Whatever you do parents, keep your kids out of these low life professions!

Human Resources...

 Once upon a time, there was no such thing as "human resources"! It was called the personnel department. They picked the people to do the jobs. It was all so straight ahead, once upon a time...Today, just to get a crummy job, you have to jump through many hoops. It is not unusual to go through six or more interviews. And the HR thingies just seem to love asking impossible to answer questions. And you are right, they have nothing to do with finding the right person, but rather, as you have always suspected, they just love the sadistic pleasure of seeing you squirm!   

The Oracle of Ottawa has chosen the three hardest ones. With a near perfect answer. The Oracle of Ottawa, being generous to a fault, he will share his wisdom with you, in the hope that you will see the scum HR thingy squirm for you!

 Question: Tell me a little about yourself?
 Answer: I didn't provide a detailed and truthful resume for nothing. You have no doubt completed an internet search, credit check, drug test, criminal check, and the hours of detailed psych testing that I agreed to complete. You no doubt, at present, know more about me than I do! I was hoping that you could tell me something about myself...

Question: What do you think of when you are driving?
Answer: Getting there.

Question: Tell me about a time you failed?
Answer: All of life is winning a few and losing a lot. With every failure there emerges a hard learned new valuable piece of  knowledge that I lever into my life algorithm, which has resulted to the present level of my success...

 Scum like this, has no place in our society. Do not even try to appease them, slam them hard, and watch them squirm!! Remember; they can't run the organizations they pretend to serve by themselves.

Big Canadian Labour And Bill C-377 - A Solution?

Let us then know our limits.
Blaise Pascal, Pensees, No. 43

One of the major topics of discussion in this break between Sessions will no doubt be about Bill C-377. This is a private members bill that was introduced by an obscure, right wing, bible thumping wacko by the name of RussHiebert . He went to one of the better bible thumping schools in the U.S.A, no doubt because he wasn't smart enough to get into Boston College! You really know when a Conservative MP is a thin skinned right wing wack job when he posts his clips from Parliament on You-Tube and disables the comments and the likes/dislikes counter! What a small town prairie piece of crap.

Lets bring Jimmy Hoffa(left) back from the dead!

 Bill C-377 is a bill that will require most labour unions in Canada to comply to near impossible reporting requirements. It is really just a warm up to "Right To Work " legislation. If the Oracle of Ottawa remembers correctly it got third reading in the House and is on its way to the Senate. But the biggest joke of it all, if you check out the text, is that this was a real private members bill. The legislation text no doubt came from the Prime Ministers Office and the hapless Russ drew the short straw to be the member that would raise it as a private members bill. Standard arms length practice.

Trade unions have been around for a very, very long time. They grew out of guilds, (or gilds...) and some are hundreds of years old in Europe, and are still going. There is a very extensive historical literature on the subject matter. There are three titles that come to the mind of the Oracle of Ottawa. A very early text is by Adam Smith, the father of modern economics! He spoke loud and long in the Wealth of Nations of the rights of workers to gather together to strike up the best deal they could get. After all, the employers were colluding amongst themselves all the time!  But old Russ Heibert probably never used his Parliamentary Library card, he could have no doubt checked out a first edition (in two volumes) of the landmark work. But everyone knows that western bible thumping hicks never read books...

The second title that is very illuminating of why labour unions had to come into existence is very well covered in Das Kapital Buch I by, of course, Karl Marx. Now we all know that there are no copies of Capital west of the province of Ontario, so Russ has probably never even heard of Karl Marx. To Russ Heibert, Karl Marx was a guy that worked with Mark Carney at Goldman Sachs, that never made partner..

The third title on labour union history that the Oracle of Ottawa would have to recommend is "History of Trade Unionism" by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, in the revised  1920 edition. It starts in great detail from the earliest days (1400's)  through to the early 20th century! Yes indeed dear reader, unions have been a tough thing to kill. And they are on the verge of a mighty comeback around the world, and it will all be due to Russ Heibert kicking a nest that he will greatly regret for the rest of his worthless life. Why he won't even be welcome at his church at the end of all this...

Ask yourself dear reader, what is a trade union really? Well first and foremost it is a lobbyist for the best interests of its members. It is also a communications and advertising company. Why a trade union is just three corporations rolled into one! Now the Oracle of Ottawa realized that he had the solution to Bill C-377. All the entities that are now at present known as trade unions have to do is incorporate! The shareholders will be what is known today as the "membership" and the "big fat union bosses" will be the board of directors! Now we all know the purpose of  a corporation don't we? To make as much money for its shareholders as possible! And we all know how much the 'Harper Government' loves corporations don't we? So there it is! All organized labour has to do is upgrade so to speak. And we all know how corporations tend to grow larger and larger in the relentless pursuit of profit and shareholder approval... Why the working man could rule the world and create a near perfect workers state, all nice and legal too!

Here is a little more background in greater detail of the approaching problem. But remember it was the Oracle of Ottawa that came up with the solution, and you read it here first!

'Harper Government' - Labour Union Transparency Act

I'll be back.
Jimmy Hoffa, Hoffa The Real Story, p. 218

For all of my fellow Canadians that follow the 'Harper Government' somewhat closely, you are probably worried about the noises of the back bench minions of the contents of the proposed Labour Union Transparency and Accountability Act. The Act of course will be damn near impossible to interpret, and therefore every required submission will be found to be illegally submitted! And then there will be all those nasty surprises that will surely come out, and in turn will be used by the 'Harper Government' to play off the Unions to the public and maybe even be the base for outlawing unions, of any kind altogether!

Jimmy Hoffa (left) attending Labour Union School...

Well, the Oracle of Ottawa says bring it on! Surprised? Well the Oracle of Ottawa can explain his logic. This is the point where the hubris will in the end kill the beast of the 'Harper Government'. This will be the self inflicted Trojan horse, with all of its unintended consequences, that will play a very large part in bringing down the 'Harper Government'. Let us explore this line of reasoning further, shall we?

We all know that organized labour in Canada needs a good shot up the side of the head, don't we? The Oracle of Ottawa will readily admit that the leadership of some unions has ossified greatly over the decades. And if there was a financial reporting requirement, there will be some mighty shocks. Both good and bad. The Oracle of Ottawa is almost certain that several of the biggest unions by membership got all but wiped out financially in the 2008 bust up. Brace yourselves. But, conversely, there will be many of the smaller and much older unions and brotherhoods that will have financial results that will simply stun the 'Harper Government' not to mention the general public.

This will be the long sought for catalyst that will create a very powerful and deep reaction in organized labour in Canada. Why it could all but get out of control, and very quickly. It will most certainly bring forth the patiently waiting "next generation". And who knows, maybe the Oracle of Ottawas dream of a another Jimmy Hoffa will be fulfilled! And the Canadian worker could certainly use another golden age. Another age where the only knees that knock will be those of the management side of the table. It has been a long time and we are really, really due... 

 He is still out there...The Oracle of Ottawa can feel it. The next one is soon to be coming along... and we will get it all back and more.

Lisa Raitt - How Twisted Is That?

SINS CRYING TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE
Willful Murder
Sodomy
Oppression of the poor
Cheating laborers of their wages
Cathedral Daily Missal, p. 28

Well, for a female 'Harper Government' minister, three out of four ain't bad! But for the sixty percent plus of all Canadians that did not vote for the 'Harper Government', we all know the truth of the 'Harper Government'. And that is the fact that it is just loaded with psychiatric couch cases from one end to the other. Much to the surprise of the Oracle of Ottawa it seems that Lisa Raitt is no exception. If you want a full explanation the Oracle of Ottawa strongly recommends the fully cited article on Wikipedia. The real interesting part is the Background section.

CP Rail - Another spiral to the bottom?

It seems that the minister, the youngest of seven children, born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, grew up in a nice union family! Her father was way up there in the Cape Breton Railway Transportation and General Workers Union, which is now part of the Canadian Auto Workers! How much of a treacherous Judas can a daughter turn out to be? Talk about making your parents proud! And the worst of it all is that she is not like the rest of the mouth breathing, knuckle dragging social Darwinists. She has been educated, why she has even been to the hallowed halls of the Middle Temple in London (England)! She certainly knows the environmental effects of the present 'Harper Government'; she has a Masters degree in environmental chemistry! Where, dear reader, do you think it all went so wrong? 

It just staggers the Oracle of Ottawa's imagination, that this repressive destroyer of labor law and traditional rights grew up in a union home. Talk about "issues"! And speaking of issues. How come no one from the NDP or the Liberals brought up the fine point that the board of Canadian Pacific has recently fallen in a palace coup to the control of an American hedge fund vulture? There should be no surprise that the pension fund is going to stripped down as far as the law will allow. What ever is in it for the Minister of Labor to allow this to happen?

It's the Teamsters now...Good luck with that! Only about 1.4 million members and access to the best legal minds that money can buy....

Ottawa IKEA Monster Store Opening - Total Fail

The essence and composition of external bodies are so obscure, that we must necessarily, in our reasonings, or rather conjectures concerning them, involves ourselves in contradictions and absurdities.
David Hume, A Treatise Of Human Nature, Book II, Part II, Section VI, p. 366

The guys in marketing are scratching their heads in amazement and shock. They did everything right. They made sure that the new store was grossly over size and a definite blight on the neighborhood where it was built. They made sure that the color scheme was offensive to the locals. They threw their weight around with the City of Ottawa by strong arming in a monster digital bill board just to make sure that every one, even those that couldn't care less, knew that the big bad IKEA was in Ottawa.

Never got touched...

Then the lads at marketing really turned the screws and made sure that the opening of just another monster blight box store became "news" in all the local Ottawa media markets. You know the ploy. Planting advertising in local news casts as news instead of as advertising. With the present situation of the arrival of the 'Harper Government' and the attending horseman of the New World Order, the people in Ottawa totally rebelled and totally rejected the tactics. As they worry for the future and the fact that they may have to become skidmark IKEA shoppers themselves...

An underwhelmed OPP traffic cruiser at IKEA opening...

 It was in the local vulgar media, starting at lunchtime, firstly on the local CTV lunch time news cast. It was a laughably sheepish talking head, that for the life of her, could not find one good thing to say about the total fail. The expectations were for thousands and thousands of customers panting and foaming at the mouth to grab the least scummy third world produced detritus. The only people that slept out over night (!) for a good place in line seem to be the planted marketing types to get all the latest intelligence from the proles, that failed to show up! The Oracle of Ottawa just loved it! There were installed lines of pylons to marshal the rabble, that never showed up. Acres of empty parking. Valuable Police resources were on hand from the Ottawa Police Department and the Ontario Provincial Police standing by on the Highway 417 to control the access ramps that were surely to be backed up, standing around like vagrants ditched by the Conservative Party of Canada with their collective thumbs up their bum's! It was along lonely day...

A total doodle of a day, like it never happened!!

The train wreck continued on the all the local evening hour broadcasts. The thousands predicted became a modest five hundred people. The Oracle of Ottawa can reassure the good readers that this figure was totally wrong! The actual figure was more like 175 - 250, including all the called in employee families and spouses. The sound of the logo'd plastic clappers was slightly louder than one hand clapping.

OPP code 3 response to boredom in progress at Ottawa IKEA opening. Well actually, it was the Timmy's run of coffee and donuts for the lads so they wouldn't fall asleep from the non-event.....

Canadian Labour And The Three Tired Regimes

Forget the shrimp Honey I'm coming home with the crabs
Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex, p. 94

The one thing that really eats the Oracle of Ottawa is the deal that today's youngsters are getting in the work place. When I think of the deal that my nieces and nephews have today compared with what the Oracle of Ottawa once enjoyed, well, a man could get weary. Although union labour is still strong in Canada, it just isn't what it once was. Recently I have been pondering much on the problem. When and where did it start to go off the rails? It has been a long and slow process, but the answer came to me just recently. Labour power, in Canada and America especially, started declining on July 30th, 1975. The day that Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.

Winnipeg General Strike - June 21, 1919

At first hearing it all sounds a bit much over the top. But like all profound revelations, it improves with each and every additional pass. What are the foundations of the whole worker thing? What is it all based on? How is that labour got so far behind the eight ball? Well the Oracle of Ottawa actually rounded up some material on the subject recently. The reason there is not much good information on the subject is that the works are so incredibly expensive! It seems to be a conspiracy of some nefarious powers of billable hour powered interests. But already I have learned that the basis of labour law is based on three (tired) regimes. And I will try to share with you what I have gleaned so far.

The first regime is the common law of employment. "Which treats employers and employees as free and equal contracting parties in the buying and selling of labour." Don't you just get a real laugh out of that howler? This is essentially the same common law that Adam Smith and Karl Marx bitched about in their major works over a hundred years ago. And what is even more depressing is that their arguments are still as relevant today as the centuries of the past that they first recorded them! You as a worker, essentially have no power what so ever under the common law. We had better hope that the other two regimes left have something better to offer.

Jimmy Hoffa - Left - Where Labour Leaders Come From...

The second regime is collective bargaining. " It is based on the realization that the usually inferior economic position of the employees vis-a-vis the employer keeps the individual employment contract from being a satisfactory mechanism." No shit! Once labour was totally on top of this and really ran successfully with it for many many years. Then somehow, during the recent right wing wave that has circled the earth, this most powerful tool has been slowly and very successfully undermined. The one weird thing about all this to the Oracle of Ottawa is that the corporate overlords have no problem forming as a block against the workers of the world, through such "unions" as the Bilderberg Group, and all the other various secret societies! And yet they will not seem to allow and are never at all happy when we try to do the same thing for our own protection! Are you starting to see the problem here? 

The third regime is statutory regulation. This is the employment standards legislation of you province or state, that you happen to reside and / or work in. You don't need the Oracle of Ottawa to tell you that, depending where you live, this regime is now, it seems, constantly under attack. The Oracle of Ottawa is just in shock when he watches the incredible decline of American workers rights, especially as of late. It seems that the corporate blue suited whores will use any trick method, or naked power to even accelerate this dismantling. The old days of hearing the knees knock on the other side of the table is long gone it seems to me. What is to be done?

We need another Golden Age. And perhaps a Global Master Freight Agreement??

Jim Watson's Burgher Summit

In society the values of freedom and democracy are accepted as the norm. In contrast, the relationship between employers and employees is based on the subordination of the employee, and this is the source of conflict.
Larry Suffield, Labour Relations, Second Edition, 2008, p. 9

If the buses stop rolling, Gentleman Jim's political career is over. If you don't believe that last statement is true, just call up Larry O'Brien and ask him! So when the Oracle of Ottawa got the first word that the Mayor of
Ottawa called the interested parties to lunch to hammer out the recent kinks at OC Transpo, the Oracle of Ottawa figured that His Worship would come to his senses and employ some of the perquisites that comes with his office. And let the Oracle of Ottawa tell you dear reader the mayor of Ottawa has a very nice office! I can say that, because quite simply, I have seen it! Ensuite shower, lots of room(s), and there are several very nice conference rooms nearby that would provide a most congenial setting for the breaking of bread in a most collegial atmosphere. Considering what was at stake, if the Oracle of Ottawa was holding this event, it would have been somewhat understated epicurean! I mean considering the money at stake, what is the pocket change for the services of a decent executive caterer?

Some management styles don't work very well...

But alas no, the squeaking little man opted out for burgers at Wendy's? The party included His Worship, Diane Deans, present transit chairwoman, union boss Gary Queale and aide, and that vertically challenged acting mangler of OC Transpo, one Alain Mercier. Later in the day the press conference appeared on the local vulgar media. The Oracle of Ottawa caught the CBC local version. One can learn a lot from not only listening but from watching. The real leader in the group is Gary Queale, when he stepped up and took over the mayors lectern with both hands, (!) all the players watching now knew who was really wearing the pants, so to speak. The shocked look on the Mayors face was priceless. It was brilliant proof that Mr. Queale was not from CUPE 503! Then came that little insect manager, who realizing he is hanging by a thread, was doing the French bullshit hand ballet...the Oracle of Ottawa immediately concluded that he is toast. That guy looked like some one from history, I just can't place who, but it is really creepy...

Adrien Arcand looks a lot like....

This is the same manager that was caught dead to rights texting / talking and driving a short while back. End result nothing! Catch a union card carrying bus driver on video talking on a cell phone dead heading an empty bus and you would think the guy was Adolf Eichmann! The person hurt the most by all this is Diane Deans. There will be no more approaches by any political party for anything. All the hands at the City know that many many longer serving people have been ditched "under the bus" so to speak for so much less than what some of these pathetic alleged "managers" get away with...Credibility once lost at that level is all but unrecoverable.

One ponders the mystery of the destruction of once promising careers by the unfounded faith in a little pathetic skid mark that is more suited to running a wall mart in Mexico... I will leave that to you the readers and the hapless taxpayers...

We used to have every reason in the world to be proud of our bus system, is this string of events a neo-liberal case of starve, kill and privatize?

A Street Car Named Desire - Ottawa Style

It was sex, violence, crime, craziness and filth - all in one package.
Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels, p. 23

Every wally, trot, skidmark and prep in the City of Ottawa with a camera phone thinks he and / or she or "it"  is freaking Cecil B. DeMille! But this story has nothing to do with that. This story is about one of the most blatant and basest "labour consultant" hatchet jobs that the Oracle of Ottawa has ever had the pleasure to witness. The said video of the incident has been attached below. Take a moment now to peruse it. All you can see is some pathetic skanky geek whispering into the "alleged" bus drivers ear. You hear a voice of a very annoyed person, sight unseen, giving the said pretty geek the verbal lashing of a lifetime, no doubt from this viewers position, very well deserved. Another day in the big city. You got a problem with that?

Now just another shit job...

You can see the blatant foreign American consultant influence in the said video. It is all engineered to help the pathetic come to a easy, snap, confident decision of smug guilt of the "alleged" bus driver. This came about no doubt from the recent utter trashing the City took at the bargaining table recently. Did you see Jim "Alcibiades" Watson in the local vulgar media announcing the contract? The Oracle of Ottawa watched very closely. One has to admire Gentleman Jim's greatest talent as a small market politician; that of being able to speak coherently while grinding his teeth! I started to count the days before the face saving incident would come to light. The Oracle of Ottawa was not to be disappointed.

An OC Transpo driver familiar with the "alleged victim" told the Oracle of Ottawa by phone, that the said driver in the video, that was unseen in the video, was constantly being harassed by the pretty "alleged victim" attempting to get the said "alleged" driver to provide the main musical instrument for a skin flute concerto that the young pretty thing was dying to perform for the pleasure of all involved. It appears that the "alleged" driver did not have the said and desired instrument available, clearly and in no uncertain terms. Good man!!

Alcibiades and"friend"...

According to the brilliance of the Oracle of Ottawa the only "crime" here is that of the pretty "alleged victim" harassing the operator of a commercial vehicle. See the Highway Traffic Act!! The driver was protecting the safety of his vehicle and his passenger. So? Do you have a problem with that? Didn't think so...

What I am really disappointed about is the reaction of the Mayor of Ottawa. It appeared to the Oracle of Ottawa that the said "alleged" mayor came to a very fast and certain decision of guilt in his twitter message. Perhaps someone in the "alleged" mayors office should gently persuade the said "alleged" mayor that people as intelligent as he is should not "twitter". Only twits twitter. Lets face it people. The present "alleged" mayor of Ottawa has been a dismal fail. The only good thing to come out of this is that there is not recall legislation on the books! The Oracle of Ottawa is now going to make it official. Gentle Jim is but a one termer or less.

And the Oracle of Ottawa will tell you who could possibly be the next Mayor of Ottawa. Ottawa needs some royalty, from Ottawa, not some altar boy hick from the boonies! Someone from a legendary Ottawa family, yet someone that has grown out and alone from his famous fathers shadow. The Oracle of Ottawa really likes the thought of Ryan Keon as the mayor of Ottawa. The Oracle of Ottawa like many citizens of this once fine City is tired of being embarrassed by out of town hay seed hicks.

A great set up job! One of the best I have ever seen....