Dear Editor;
 
Each year on Labour Day we celebrate the contributions that working people make to the communities that we live in, and the nice thing is we more often than not do so on a warm and sunny day. The day is filled with car shows, parades, games, and picnics designed to embrace the entire family. Much like Christmas we do this on one day of the year and somehow we don't have the same enthusiasm and vigour for these principles the other 364 days of the year. This is not to say we forget entirely, but "life" has a habit of getting in the way. 
 
When we celebrate something we often get more of the same; a little indication is the larger and larger turnouts we have for the Labour Day event in Port Elgin each year. We are very good at celebrating our icons and millions of people want to imitate them and be them.  
 
As we struggle through this round of squalls and road closures it occurred to me that celebrating some other successes might be in order. By this I mean the roads people, the people that stayed in at work at Bruce Power for days, the emergency and first responders who either saved lives in this weather or waited for "the call", hospital and healthcare workers, the people that kept our local public services going and local businesses going such that for all intents and purposes life was pretty much normal for most of us, and the many more amazing people that I am willing to bet that I missed. The list is no doubt huge, but each of us knows some of the people we should celebrate.
 
Of course this is not just to-day, but extends to the crews and individuals who do this each and every time things get rough. Takes me back to a phrase I once heard about firefighters; "when everyone else is leaving the building, they are the ones going into the building". Not too different to many of those mentioned above.
 
We celebrate these people as they are our sisters and brothers, union and non-union alike.I know in this 50th anniversary year for the Grey-Bruce Labour Council we will celebrate all working people often. It is the work of all these people that year after year sustains and builds a community and our 50th anniversary will be all about contributions that build and sustain communities. 
 
In Solidarity,
 
Dave Trumble
President
Grey-Bruce
Labour Council, Kincardine