The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Sid Green Sidney Green did a lot more for labour than just talk. When he was in the Manitoba NDP cabinet, Sid brought in amendments to the QueenÕs Bench Act that allowed every citizen to carry a sign or picket; prevented the courts from ordering people to work; allowed workers to picket places other than their own plants or factories; and other measures for which he received little credit from those who benefited the most. Sid also strongly advocated guidelines for both employers and their workers in regard to their bargaining positions. First, he says, you must free collective bargaining in that the workers can choose not to work, and the employers can choose not to hire without the state interfering. Secondly, every employer should know that any form of gaining public support is available to his/her employees in case of a strike/lockout. Thirdly all employees should realize that not working could cost them their jobs. Fourthly, employees should be made aware that if public opinion does not support their demands, they will lose the strike. Finally in many areas of public service Ð hospitals, fire stations, etc. Ð the public is unwilling to accept discontinuance of services. Of course this does not always happen, as the garbage workerÕs strike in B.C. showed, but Sid is mainly right in the principles he speaks of. What about the former ministerÕs recent writings? An October commentary in the Winnipeg Free Press declared that First Nations blockades should not be tolerated any more than they would if cottage owners set up roadblocks in protest. There should not be a double standard and First Nations citizens must be treated as equal citizens, not part of a separate government. For this belief he received a sarcastic rebuke from the same newspaperÕs native writer, who claimed Sid was wrong on most counts. Undeterred, the next month Green explained his belief that multicultural groups should not receive government financing as they have since Pierre Trudeau declared a policy of bilingualism and multiculturalism in 1971. Before that, volunteers ran the ethnic organizations, which were self-financing. Since then millions have been spent annually on ethnic grants. Sid insists that maintaining ethnic groups is a positive in our society, but publicly financing them is not, as it can lead to governments dealing with people as part of an ethnic group and not as citizens of Canada who have elected representatives provincially, federally and locally. Sid claims: ÒBy funding ethnic organizations, governments put themselves in the position of funding beliefs and activities that may be in conflict with either the nation as a whole or individual citizens.Ó Most right-thinking people would agree, but I am sure the many groups who now depend on government financing would be somewhat upset. GreenÕs December commentary dealt with the slander of the late Jim Walding by Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin, who tried to manufacture a scandal that Walding was paid off by Karlheinz Schreiber to defeat the Pawley government in 1988 Ð most certainly a fabrication of embittered New Democrats. Sid explains that the law of character defamation dies with the death of the one defamed, and Martin can get away with it legally. This does not make it morally correct, as it slanders WaldingÕs family and many others. Sid explains that Walding was mistreated by Pawley because the former Speaker had voted for Green for caucus leader instead of Pawley in 1979 (along with seven others who were also mistreated). Interesting stuff, Sid! Sid was always very popular in his Inkster constituency while in the NDP. When my friend Bob Armstrong ran against him in one election, the TV report on election night said: ÒInkster Ð no polls reporting, Sid Green declared elected!Ó RogerÕs Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
