If one were to listen to the words Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, speaks, one might believe that he represents oil workers.
As many as 35,000. In Ontario and Alberta. Some in Northern Alberta, although his union declines to specify exactly how many. And he says it as often as he can.
But if one were to consider his actions -- which speak louder than words -- one would draw another conclusion entirely. Dave Coles emphatically does not represent these workers; not in anything but his job title.
Instead, Coles is spending the time he should be spending representing these workers showboating and endearing himself to the anti-oilsands movement. In doing such, he's actively pitting himself against the jobs and the interests of these workers he represents.
Whether it's accusing Alykhan Velshi, the Indian-Canadian founder of the Ethical Oil institute of producing an ad with "racist overtones". Interestingly enough, he elaborates on this position with a complaint about the Iraq War, choosing to say nothing substantial about the ad itself.
Whether it's citing job security concerns that don't quite stand up to scrutiny. Coles has described the pipeline as a "job killer" and says that he opposes shipping "raw bitumen" to the United States. Travis Davies of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers points out that 60% of the bitumen produced by the oilsands is already upgraded in Alberta.
The Keystone XL pipeline stands to create 900,000 jobs in Alberta.
Not only is Coles thumbing his nose at the jobs the oil workers he purports to represent have today, he's also thumbing his nose at the 900,000 jobs the pipeline would create.
Dave Coles' actions speak louder than his words. He doesn't represent Albertan oil workers. He's too busy pandering to the anti-oilsands movement that would gleefully put them out of work, not caring a whit whether or not they can put food on the table for their families.
It's not hard to imagine a number of CEP members in Northern Alberta paying close attention to the activities of their union President and wanting his resignation. If they aren't, they should be.
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