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Denis TassÃ© pulls a John McCain out of his hat

Author: Maxime Rainville (Conservative)

1 Oct

Last night, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) was sponsoring a debate between the candidates in Gatineau.Â The candidates had all accepted to attend with the exception of the Conservative candidate, Denis TassÃ©.Â The Conservatives were claiming, credibly I think, that the PSAC is bias and that it would be an unfair forum.

But just as the debate was about the begin Denis TassÃ© came in and announced he would indeed be participating.Â He still said the union’s leaders were bias and he accused them of actively campaigning against him by urging members to vote for anybody but the Conservatives.Â He declared that he said “yes” to government workers but “no”to the Alliance (I’m sure that brings a tear to your eyes ).

I’m not really sure what to think about this.Â On one end, I’m sure there’s no love lost between the PSAC leadership and the Conservative, but on the other end why would the guy change his mind about this sort of thing five minutes before the debate started?

Personally, I still think it’s not the job of a union to tell its members for whom to vote.

Filed under: All Candidates Meetings, Conservative, Lanaudière / Laurentides / Outaouais, Local Campaigns, Maxime Rainville (Conservative)

One Response for "Denis TassÃ© pulls a John McCain out of his hat"

dsider October 7th, 2008 at 11:09 am 1
“Personally, I still think itâ€™s not the job of a union to tell its members for whom to vote.”

That is an inflammatory and misleading statement. I fully agree that it is not the job of a union to tell its members how to vote. However, that is not what the PSAC, or other reputable unions do.

A union has a responsibility to its members to provide them with information that is relevant to their interests as employees. This is doubly important in a federal election for the PSAC because its members are employees of the federal government, and the results of the election WILL directly affect their employment.

The PSAC would be irresponsible if it did not provide information to its members about the effects to them of voting for one or more parties. On this basis, they make a recommendation to their members about voting for the party that will have the most positive effect on their employment.

Also, its a secret ballot, and no-one’s holding a gun to union members heads. Ridiculous!

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