When the North Bay and District Labour Council holds is annual Labour Day Picnic, council president Henri Giroux is predicting it will be the labour group`s largest ever event. This is a picnic and flag event with the Flag March beginning at 11:30am at the top of Memorial Drive. The march is then followed by the free picnic and barbeque. Giroux says this year`s theme is A Plan for Everyone and Decent Work. The Canadian Labour Congress has been advocating for a national prescription drug coverage program and Giroux says the local labour council is helping with the movement. Giroux says about 3.5 million Canadians don`t make enough money to pay for their prescription drugs and at times have to choose between paying for their groceries or drugs. The second half of the theme, decent work, deals with proposed changes to the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Standards Act. Giroux says the goal here is to introduce change that stops precarious and insecure work from continuing as well as to create the conditions for decent work for everyone.
The picnic is open to all and features huge inflatable slides and castles. There`s also wall climbing, face painting, music and a fish pond. The picnic is September 4th in the grassy area of the city`s waterfront.
