British Columbia Federation of Labour

The B.C. Federation of Labour is calling on the Campbell government to develop a job creation strategy and stop public service cuts that are leading to job losses all across the province.

Unemployment numbers released today by Statistics Canada show BC is still in the grips of the economic recession. BC lost 13,000 jobs in October and has lost nearly 52,000 jobs in the last 12 months.

"Gordon Campbell's policies ignore the real economic hardship that many British Columbians are facing," says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour. "The government has ignored the collapse of the provincial forest industry. Public service cuts across the province are leading to the loss of thousands of good paying jobs. The loss of manufacturing jobs in the province will only be made worse by government policies such as the decision to have much of the manufacturing work on the new BC Place roof done outside the province and outside the country."

"The Campbell government keeps telling us BC will come out of this recession fast. They keep telling us the Olympics will lead to an economic bonanza. This comes as little consolation to BC families who are dealing with job losses right now," Sinclair added. "The stock market rally and signs of a jobless recovery are doing absolutely nothing to help unemployed workers. Worse still, government policies are creating even more job losses."

The Federation is calling on the provincial government to halt and reverse all public service cuts, implement a made-in-BC procurement policy, develop a strategy to rescue the forest industry and increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour.

For more information: Evan Stewart, Director of Communications (604) 430-1421.