Tim takes it dry

Where's Eddie Shack when you need him?

Eddie once had the idea that he would be the next Tim Horton. Not on the ice, but in the world 'o donuts. For a few years you saw Eddie Shack donut stores here and there around Ontario, but alas, things never really caught fire for Eddie.

We got the news today that 350 Timmies employees, mostly head office folks with many years of service, got pink-slipped due to the new ownership of the venerable coffee and donut chain. It's all about synergies 'n efficiencies, don't ya know.

Mainly of course it's about making some filthy-rich hedge-fund shit-bags even richer.

So, what do you figure the future prospects are for some loyal employee who has worked at Timmies HQ for the last thirty years? I'd say they're pretty much screwed. Maybe, with a bit of luck, they can get a job passing coffee out the drive-thru window at their local Timmies.

I hit one of those pretty much every time I'm out and about. I'm inclined to boycott Timmies, but here's the problem; the success of the chain was built on the backs of the local franchisees. The gal who has the seven or eight stores in these parts is an incredibly hard-working woman who has a reputation for treating her employees well, and has always been actively engaged in the community. I don't want to boycott her.

If we had such a thing as government for the people, Industry Canada would not have rubber-stamped this deal. We do not have government for the people, however.

We have government for international capital.

The same government that allowed hedgies to destroy 5000 jobs at CP Rail while lining their pockets to the tune of billions.

The same government that allowed Caterpillar to shut down a perfectly viable locomotive manufacturer and destroy 400 well-paid manufacturing jobs in Ontario.

We need government that governs for the people of Canada, not for multinationals, hedge-fund managers, and international finance.

There's an election coming up soon. Obviously we've got to rid ourselves of this loathsome Harper crew. The tragedy is that there are no viable contenders on the horizon. Do you seriously think Trudeau will stand up for Canadian workers? He'll offer more in the way of banal pieties, but that will be that.

Regrettably,  now that the NDP has expunged their roots from their mission statement, I can't see anything changing with Mulcair either.

Canada needs to grow it's own Alexis Tsipras, and soon.