Tonight's meeting begins a new chapter for the labour movement in Kingston as we begin a new century of "Fighting Back". The council continues to be very active regarding numerous issues. We have actively been working with the Kingston Health Coalition and the Ontario Health Coalition in trying to raise awareness about the severe cutbacks of the Harris government.

The council has created a Workfare Hotline (545-1659) to expose the unfairness of this arbitrary program. We have partnered with the Kingston Action Network and the Low Income Needs Coalition to pursue all avenues in opposition to this mandatory repulsive program. The council has placed an ad in the PIC press and Posters are being distributed all over town to inform people of the Hotline. The council thanks Natalie Mehra and Peter Boyle for all their hard work regarding this action.

We worked with the Kingston Action Network to promote Mel Hurtig's visit to KCVI on Saturday January 15th. He spoke to the issue of child poverty, the topic of his latest book "Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids" This event was a fund raiser for our community partner KAN . Thanks to those who attended.

The Labour Council now has the ability to send Community Broadcast Faxes with 274 contacts on our list. Please keep this in mind when your union or community allies are planning an event.

We taped two more Labour's Voice in the Community shows tonight. The first featured Irene Harris Executive Vice-President of the Ontario Federation of Labour talking about Long Term Care. The second show with Sarah Dobb from the Polaris Institute spoke about the "Globalize This" conference.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who volunteered their time for council activities this past year and to ask delegates to please support those who choose to stand at tonight's election.

As always,
In solidarity,

Charlie Stock
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