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March 12, 2010
Some big
new stories have surfaced in the last couple of days.
The B.C.
government announced yesterday – mere days after the Olympics ended – that it
is reorganizing the B.C. Ambulance Service. This is no surprise given that BCAS
had been on strike and was legislated back to work just weeks before the Games.
CUPE spokesman B.J. Chute called the reorganization “retribution by a
vindictive health minister” for the strike. Harsh words indeed. You can read
the story here .
And in
Orangeville, Ont., an arbitrator has denied a grievance by the town against the
firefighters association over the issue of two-hatters. Well-respected arbitrator
Kenneth Swan said he could find no breach of the collective agreement by the
Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association or its executive members.
The
grievance was filed by the town in November 2007 after the union forced
Organgeville’s seven two-hatter firefighters to resign. The union said the
two-hatters were violating the union’s constitution by working elsewhere as
career firefighters and acting as volunteer firefighters in Orangeville. As
Orangeville Fire Chief Andy MacIntosh has noted, losing the two-hatters cost
his department 100 years of firefighting experience. Make sense to you? You can
read the Orangeville Citizen story here .
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Lastly,
for a Friday afternoon, nice weather here in southern Ontario means it’s time to think about our
Fire Fighting in Canada 2010 Provincial Open, set for Friday, April 30, at Royal
Woodbine in Toronto. It’s the Friday before the
Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs conference/trade show so the turnout is
always good, as is the food and the company! We try to arrange for the weather
to be good but having taken up my place on the 13th hole monitoring
the $10,000 hole-in-one contest in rain and wind in previous years I’m not
holding my breath. Feel free to bring me a warm cup of Tims!
Your $160
registration includes breakfast, lunch, a golf cart and quality entertainment provided
by once-a-season golfers (both manufacturers and chiefs!) and the usual stiff competition
from Team AJ Stone, winners in 2009 and 2008! Email me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
if you’re up for it!
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