Federal aid package not enough, say Quebec unions

Quebec unions and a forestry industry group have lambasted the federal government's $1-billion aid package for single-industry towns and other communities hit by economic upheaval, announced Thursday.

The head of the Quebec Federation of Labour, the province's biggest union, accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives of playing politics.

"Making this amount, which is insufficient from the outset, available on a per-capita basis across the country is tantamount to saying that the Canadian economy is the same out West as it is in the East, which is certainly not the case," said Michel Arsenault.

"It's the same as if Alberta got $120 million (about 15 per cent of the money) in the event of an ice storm in Montreal even if Alberta wasn't affected by the ice storm."

Quebec's portion of the $1 billion is about $220 million, a figure Arsenault dismissed as paltry, arguing the province's forestry industry alone needs $1 billion.

Jacques Gauvin, a spokesman for the Quebec Forestry Industry Council, also expressed disappointment with the announcement.

"One billion dollars over three years for the entire country strikes me as insufficient, especially as we don't know the split between the manufacturing sector and the forestry industry," said Gauvin. "The forestry crisis is so major that it deserved special attention.

"The federal aid was a long time coming. We wanted it to be decisive and logical with regard to the crisis. But what the minority government has given us is a plan that is conditional on surviving the [Tories'] budget."

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe also blasted the aid package as insufficient and said the Tories should be using money from the government's huge budgetary surplus to help struggling communities.

He accused Harper of playing political games by linking the plan to the next budget.

"Mr. Harper should realize he's got more responsibility than being the leader of a party. He's the Prime Minister of Canada."

Claudette Carbonneau, the head of the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), urged Premier Jean Charest and his counterparts to tell Harper at their meeting on Friday that the aid package just isn't good enough.

"Business groups, union organizations and the Quebec government have all spoken with one voice on this subject," Carbonneau said.