ALBERTA VICTIM OF CANADA’S VOTE BANK POLITICS; AND, UNEMPLOYED SUFFERING DUE TO DELAYS IN EI DISPENSATION

Amidst all the recent brouhaha related to auto industry’s near closure situation in Ontario province, the plight of huge unemployed work force of Alberta has got submerged and forgotten. No doubt thousands of workers were axed by GM, Chrysler and Ford and potentially many more may have been affected indirectly, but the fact remains that Alberta also saw massive lay offs from Q4 2008 till Q2 2009 – it is still going on.

The precipitous fall of crude prices led to cancellation of many oil sands projects. Coupled with this, falling prices of natural gas caused big cut down in new wells to be drilled. This dealt a double whammy to the Albertans and resulted in job losses not seen in decades. As well, there have been thousands of bankruptcies in the province which was riding wave of prosperity until a year ago.

But the unfortunate part is that while auto sector workers have got all the attention from the Federal government in terms of bail out funds and other help, no body has bothered to look at the plight of the massive number of laid off workers of Alberta. A substantial portion of people were laid off from the engineering companies and these people have no other job options because there are hardly any oil and gas projects elsewhere in Canada.

The Federal government seems to be keener in looking after the Ontario workers because the number of Parliament ridings is far more in that province than Alberta. Obviously, the vote bank politics is prompting the government attitude rather than the compassion or humane side of things. The Alberta workers have been left to fend for themselves with very little government support coming forth.

To make matters worse, the EI support to the laid off workers has been very slow to come. There doesn’t seem adequate staff to cope with the deluge of EI applications in Alberta. EI support cheques should start arriving within couple of months of having got laid off, but reports suggest longer waiting period for the laid off workers.

People in the other part of the world may have a perception that in Canada things happen in a non-partisan, fair and equitable manner but in reality that seems to be more of hogwash, complete rubbish. Hypocrisy rules the roost in Ottawa it would appear, securing vote bases for future parliamentary elections seems to be more important than the predicament of the suffering folks of provinces which do not send MP’s in droves.

Shameless self-seeking schmuck politicians do not exist in the developing countries only, they are present in Canada too; the difference may be only in terms of façade or polish that is maintained in this North American country.

One wonders when the conditions would turn around in Alberta, and the thousands of hapless engineers, skilled workers, and other laid off work force would get employment and lead a reasonably un-stressful life. It seems only God can provide some succour to the suffering and the dejected. The question is: when would He decide to shower His Grace!