The last month has again seen the council being active in a number of areas. The "Organize This" event which we helped sponsor was an absolute success with over 1700 participants taking part at the different venues.

Our council was represented at the Kingston Health Coalition meeting held on January 25th. The Alternative Federal Budget was launched on February 1st and a column was sent to the Whig who have so far not printed it, however it will appear in the next issue of PIC press. The Mel Hurtig fundraiser held at KCVI was also well attended and raised some much needed cash for our community partners. The Eastern Ontario Labour Councils met in Morrisburg and our council was well represented by Peter Boyle, Natalie Mehra and myself.

At the workfare committee meeting on February 3rd a decision was made to continue the workfare ads in PIC press to let the community know about the Workfare Hotline 545-1659. We are sponsoring the ads in conjunction with the Kingston Action Network and the Low Income Needs Coalition. Our council also attended the Kingston Action network meeting held on February 8th where we were thanked for the generous $500 donation to our community allies.

"Labours' Voice in the Community" taped two more shows today. The first one featured Wayne Samuelson , President of the Ontario Federation of Labour giving an update on the affairs of the Federation. The second show featured Gavin Anderson informing the viewers about the activities of the OPSEU area council. Wayne Samuelson will address the delegates at tonights' council meeting reporting on the activities of the Ontario Federation of Labour. We will also have Richard Priestman and Hugh Jenny from Comers who will make a short presentation about Comers and fiscal policy.

The Labour Council will be applying for another summer student placement grant and hopefully will be successful one more time. We have also ordered the Foundation Grant book which may be useful in a number of ways in terms of securing funds.

The Labour Review magazines are here and with the arrival of the proceeds our council is once again solvent. I would remind the delegates that there are still two vacancies to be filled at tonight's meeting and ask that you consider allowing your names to be nominated.

In closing, I would remind you that the federal Liberal budget will be announced on February 28th and I would ask people to consider challenging the results with letters to the editor or by calling Peter Milliken or Larry McCormick.

As always,
In solidarity,

Charlie Stock
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