Some of you wonder about my impressions of the Labour Day parade here in Ottawa yesterday. Wonder no more.
I got to the Mackenzie King Bridge about an hour ahead of the noon-hour launch time. Making my way down the staircase on the western side of Rideau Canal and through Confederation Park to Laurier Street, I noticed the gentleman wearing the “Union Thug” t-shirt, a companion of his being interviewed by a reporter for one of the TV services, and across the street, two contingents of people from PIPSC and ACORN Canada. And also, back on the north side of Laurier where I was standing…a ghost bike.
I’d heard of the death that occurred maybe a week or two earlier. That it happened right outside City Hall provoked a particular flavour of earned anger from bicyclists across the Ottawa-Gatineau region. I took some images and then retreated to the new Bistro in Confederation Park. One chocolate croissant and a Coke later, I was ready to move across Elgin Street to wait on the parade to get in order. It took maybe ten minutes past the announced start time, but the Labour Council musicians got going. So did the rest of the procession.
We proceeded in good disarray along Laurier Avenue West to Bank, turning south onto Bank. Given the longstanding history between the New Democratic Party and Labour Day traditions in Canada, perhaps it was a good thing to have what’s now the Jack Layton Building marking that turn. The building started out as an Eaton’s storefront, but has been repurposed several times over the decades, with the upper floors now serving as NDP HQ. I remember they used to operate out of a building on Laurier and O’Connor, now operated by the Embassy of Ukraine back when I moved to Ottawa. But I digress.
The parade was using Bank Street as the southward leg this year, due to the reconstruction and refitting now underway along Elgin Street from Laurier to the Queensway. The turn onto Bank was briefly greeted by a light rain. That was the only real weather problem the parade faced from there to McNabb Park, though.
Lots of kids and a few dogs tagging along, the usual mixture of labour unions as well…although while IATSE and ACTRA were represented, I didn’t see the flags of the Writers’ and Directors’ Guilds of Canada this time out. Considering the slow growth of the media trades in our region, that surprises me in retrospect.
NDP represented? Check. ACORN, as noted earlier? Check. Communist factions? Likewise. City Hall representatives at McNabb Park looking to get opinions about the next revamp of their Official Plan from picnic attendees at McNabb Park at the other end of the parade route? Check.
My one complaint: lack of crowds lining the parade route. Maybe it’s a cultural issue behind that. If you’re not already inclined to empathize with labour unions and their causes, you’re not going to be there. But that’s for another posting.
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