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| Advert in Lethbridge Herald, Sept 22, 2012 |
On Saturday, September 15, 2012, several Local 30048 members took to the streets of
Lethbridge to hand out “We Are ALL Affected” postcards to homes in their
respective neighborhoods and to engage small downtown business owners in
discussions about the recent and ongoing cuts to the public service.
We
encouraged business owners to go to the weareallaffected.ca website and talk to their local MPs about how cuts
are hurting Canadians - not only the workers directly affected, but also
individuals seeking a range of government services.
The effect of cuts
will most certainly filter to local economies, as demonstrated by the $132,000
that was spent by Southern Alberta PSAC members in the Lethbridge area on this Saturday (see Local 30048
Notices - Community Spending Project for more details).
Most
business owners were receptive to our presence and our concerns, and
some businesses very supportive (e.g., Round St Cafe, The Penny Coffee House,
Pita Pit, Painted Cottage, Gentlemen Three Menswear, Tompkins Jewellers, The Shoe
Tree and Naturistas).
There were a few
business owners that were less than receptive to the message that PSAC members
were trying to impart. In particular, the
owner/manager of Bernard Callebaut Chocolates (also owns the Quiznos next
door) was very clear in his message to us that the public service is
overstaffed and should be cut, and was not concerned with losing valuable
customers in Lethbridge due to cuts. He was clearly unsupportive and even offensive towards the public service, in the visiting member's opinion. He commented that in particular agriculture cuts would be a good place to start. We would ask that you consider
this if you are a customer there.
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| Big Jim and The Twins |
A group of PSAC activists also attended a couple of outdoor events this
same weekend, Lethbridge’s “Take Back the Night” March as well as “Love N Records”, both of which were held in a Galt Gardens, sporting our “We Are
ALL Affected” shirts and handing out postcards. We were fortunate enough
to have support by local musician John Greenshields of "Big Jim and the
Twins" who wore one of our shirts during his concert in the park.
The National Day of Action in Lethbridge was a successful event; members
engaged other members by getting them involved in the Community Spending Project and by encouraging them to hand out
postcards to businesses they frequent. It is our hope that these efforts
will raise awareness that We Are ALL Affected by the cuts to public
services and programs.
