Political Pulse - Fall 2017

First PRIDE in North Bay brings out more than 2000 people
When CUPE Ontario vice-president
Henri Giroux and newly elected
National Northern Ontario Rep,
Amanda Farrow-Giroux began to
organize North Bay’s first PRIDE
march, they never dreamed more
than 2000 people would come out
to celebrate. What began as a plan
hatched after attending Toronto’s
PRIDE, turned out better than they
could possibly have hoped.
“Our community clearly needed
this,” said Giroux. “The outpouring
of support from people of all ages
and all walks of life was truly
inspirational.”
Never ones to dream small, the two
wanted more than a march. They
got the City to approve a flag raising
ceremony and with the help of
others, organized a march followed
by a lakefront family barbeque. The
march closed down streets and the
park overflowed with people
enjoying fun activities and taking
advantage of the information booths
about city services and other
supports for the LGBTQ community.
“I can tell you there were a lot of
tears shed that day. It’s pretty
powerful when people feel
recognized and accepted,” said
Farrow-Giroux. “We feel very
honoured to have played a role in
making this happen. We can’t wait
for next year.”
“It was an honour to attend North Bay’s
first PRIDE,” said CUPE Ontario
President Fred Hahn. “It was a truly
inspiring day.”
Victory for the people of Wasaga. Inspiration for the rest of us.
The people of Wasaga Beach
celebrated a huge victory this
summer after they came together
and successfully stopped their
mayor and council from selling off
Wasaga Distribution Inc. (WDI)
With the help of the Keep Hydro
Public Coalition, local residents
successfully pressured the Wasaga
Beach council to keep and expand
the local public hydro distribution
company which is rated as one of
Ontario’s most efficient hydro
providers with the lowest electricity
cost in the province.
Thousands of residents got
involved, demonstrating their
opposition to privatizing their local
utility. Through talking to their
neighbours, local volunteers put up
over 4200 Keep Hydro Public lawn
signs and collected over 8000
petition signatures from residents
opposed to privatizing WDI.
After months of community
involvement, Wasaga Beach council
voted unanimously to keep WDI
public at an emergency meeting
back in July – a complete about
face from where they started when
the Mayor originally proposed the
plan.
“Wasaga Beach volunteers are a
shining example for the rest of the
province on how we can win back
the ownership of Hydro One
through grassroots campaigning,”
said CUPE Ontario President Fred
Hahn, a member of the Keep Hydro
Public Coalition. “Hydro should be
affordable for everyone, not in the
hands of profit driven
shareholders.”
Political Pulse | Fall 2017 5