Welcome, friends, to another edition of Economic Update, a weekly program devoted to the economic

dimensions of our lives and those of our kids. I'm your host, Richard Wolk. Today we'll be talking

about unemployment, what the realities of it are, some interesting results from elections, past,

present, and future, the story about who our elected representatives really are. And then finally more about the

inflation and rising interest rates. And in the second half, we'll be joined by Anan Dira Daraadas,

who is an important commentator on events these days and has agreed to join with us.

So let's jump right in.

I want to talk today first about an important strike north of the border in Canada.

In Ontario, 55,000 people, C-U-P-E members, which is the Canadian Union of Public Employees, they are fighting

a very basic strike.

They have fought it now for weeks, maybe months leading up to it.

It's been characterized by the effort of the Ontario government to impose first

in the bargaining sessions and then trying to do it by law, a settlement that involves

two and a half percent for one group of workers per year increase and one and a half percent.

I want to situate that. Two and a half percent for one group of workers, one and a half for another.

Canada's current inflation rate is 11 percent per year.

So offering workers this kind of an increase is a slap in the face.

It means you're guaranteeing them a 10% loss in their standard of living

and their real income if inflation is going up by 11 and you're offering them 1 to 2%. Okay,

the government tried to impose it by an obscure law. There was a reaction in which other unions

came to the fore and threatened a general strike in that province, very important province of Canada.

If they didn't withdraw that law, the government backed down, withdrew the law, but didn't

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