Thursday, August 23, 2007

Working Families Coalition Ads

The Working Familes Coalition that aired the "Not this time Ernie" ads in the 2003 provincial election has returned in 2007, but this time the message has changed. In a series of four "Do you remember?" ads the WFC bashes the Tories while clearly indicating support for the Liberals. If you ask me, these ads are not as effective as the 2003 ads, largely because they are so clearly partisan. The ads have already generated an interesting but ultimately baseless complaint from the Tories.

The coalition is also sponsoring a contest similar to the MoveON.org contest in the United States wherein people developed anti-George Bush ads in the run up to the 2004 presidential elections.

Who is behind the WFC? It's unions...

The Chair is Gary O'Neil, Presidentof Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. The other major players include:

Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
Canadian Auto Workers
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Millwrights
International Union Of Operating Engineers Local 793
Painters District Council 46
Ontario Pipe Trades Council

These unions have been alingned with the Liberals for the last several years. You'll notice that some unions like CUPE, USW, CEP, and OPSEU are not involved. They are backing the NDP. It will be interesting to see if the unions loyal to the NDP will be mounting a campaign of their own, or whether they will simply funnel money to NDP campaigns instead.

1 comment:

NO ONE said...

Word on the street in my neck of the woods is that most of the unions who are backing the NDP will be funnelling resources into individual campaigns of their members, and also working to encourage workers to help where support exists.