(Audio interview begins aprox four seconds after you click play)
Toronto Media Co-op spoke with James McDowell, Second Vice-President of the Brampton Mississauga Labour Council over the phone as McDowell and ten others are occupying Conservative MP Bal Gosal's office 8500 Torbran Road, Unit 44, Brampton. According to McDowell "this is happening across the province; I am aware of at least 20 offices being occupied around the province."
The Ontario Federation of Labour press release states: "At 1:00 pm today, outraged pensioners, soon-to-be pensioners and supporters have resorted to constituency office occupations to demand that Conservative Members of Parliament abandon plans to push back the OAS eligibility age from 65 to 67, or make any reductions to benefits. Instead, they are calling for the Harper government to introduce modest increases to Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions that would double benefits for all retirees and seniors."
According to McDowell, "if they continue the attacks to the working people of this country in the next four years they are going to be taken to task on it."
When asked what their plans are, McDowell replied "this office is publically funded, so we will be here until we get some kind of proper attention to this problem." When asked if they will leave the building once it closes for the evening, McDowell said that the occupiers will "have to make that decision when it happens."
The Ontario Federation of Labour has provided contact list for occupations that are currently taking place at the following Conservative MP constituency offices:
MP OFFICE |
OFFICE ADDRESS |
LEAD OCCUPIER |
TEL # |
Hon. Jim Flaherty |
701 Rossland Road East, Unit 204, Whitby |
Jim Freeman |
905-431-5607 |
Hon Bal Gosal |
8500 Torbram Road, Unit 44, Brampton |
James McDowell |
416-587-8809 |
Kyle Seeback |
160 Main Street South, Unit 29, Brampton |
|
|
Phil McColeman |
3-108 St. George Street, Brantford |
Gary MacDonald |
519-751-9371 |
Hon. Gary Goodyear |
1425 Bishop St North Unit 3, Cambridge |
Mike Devine |
|
Guy Lauzon |
621 Pitt Street, Cornwall |
Elaine MacDonald |
613-330-3117 |
Hon. Michael Chong |
5-200 St. Patrick Street E, Fergus |
Janice Folk-Dawson |
519-766-8376 |
Peter Braid |
22 King St. South, Waterloo |
Sandi Ellis |
|
Harold Albrecht |
153 Country Hill Dr, Unit 2A, Kitchener |
Len Carter |
519-239-7692 |
Stephen Woodworth |
12-300 Victoria Street North, Kitchener |
Orville Thacker |
519-893-3974 |
Barry Devolin |
68 McLaughlin Rd Unit 1, Lindsay |
James Mulhern |
705-344-0287 |
Susan Truppe |
546 King Street, Main Office, London |
Len Elliott |
519-671-9320 |
Ed Holder |
200-390 Commissioners Rd West, London |
Jim Kennedy |
519-697-0360 |
Hon. Rob Nicholson |
2895 St. Paul Ave, Unit 11, Niagara Falls |
Heather Kelley |
905-993-2078 |
MP OFFICE |
OFFICE ADDRESS |
LEAD OCCUPIER |
TEL # |
Jay Aspin |
100-133 Main Street West, North Bay |
Henri Giroux |
705-471-7746 |
David Tilson |
229 Broadway, Unit 2, Orangeville |
Primrose Short |
519-938-6030 |
Dean Del Mastro |
1875 Lansdowne St W, Peterborough |
Doug McDonald |
705-740-3489 |
Gary Schellenberger |
544 Huron Street, Stratford |
Dave Jasper |
519-801-5409 |
No Tory MP in Thunder Bay |
Service Canada, 975 Alloy Drive, Thunder Bay |
Melanie Kelso |
807-620-0396 |
Jeff Watson |
186 Talbot Street South, Essex |
Dino Chiodo |
519-995-3603 |
Check back to Toronto Media Co-op for more updates and interviews as they become available. If you have photos or video of any of the events you can upload them by creating a Media Co-op account for free or I can post them for you if you e-mail zruiter@gmail.com
The site for the Toronto local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.