Buy locally or apply to Wal-Mart for welfare…
Last night, at the Ralph Thorton Centre, a depressing but quite possibly real future was presented for our community:
- empty (more) storefronts on Danforth, Gerrard, Queen St.E.
- the vibrancy of our community hitting all new lows.
- the average wage in the retail sector falling. Local entrepreneurs of all ethnic groups forced out of business. More pressure on government for social assistance.
- growing numbers of working-poor people who can only afford to shop at Wal-Mart.
- we can’t see them but exploited children and adults, in far corners of the world, work for pennies fabricating the items for sale at “everyday low prices”. We can’t see it, but tonnes of carbon are emitted to bring these items here.
- thousands of cars, bringing their carbon and noxious emissions, to our lovely waterfront in the Portlands.
see www.waltown.com
If you dispute the above, then please explain how ‘is our community different from many hundreds of others in North America and thousands around the world?’
One answer is that together we will force politicians at all levels of government to hear our voices, to see the big picture, say “no thank you”
| — Charles Battershill on 2007 Mar 15 in Portlands development, Social justice & diversity |
I too was very depressed to hear that Wal-Mart has targeted our community. No matter how many minimum wage jobs they provide, or cheap products from China, it will not make up for the damage to our local businesses. To say nothing of the traffic and pollution this will cause in our community.
Where do I sign up to fight this?
Sean Conway of the Ralph Thornton Centre has offered to host the group to fight Wal-mart. He can be reached at 416-392-6810. You might also contact Paul Young of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre who has been heading up the group so far. He can be reached at 416-461-1925. Pablo Vivanco of Councillor Fletcher’s office arranged for the screening of the movie and is heavily involved as well.