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Labour Councils Occupy Select Conservative MP Offices in Ontario

Group Demands Accountability Over Threats to Old Age Security and Pensions

by Zach Ruiter

Labour Occupation at Bal Gosal's Brampton Office
Labour Occupation at Bal Gosal's Brampton Office

(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

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