PING!
Posted on 01/18/2007 5:11:41 PM PST by buccaneer81
Reservist picks Afghanistan after NB Power denies leave
Article Tools Print DANIEL MARK WHEATON TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL Published Thursday January 18th, 2007 Appeared on page A1
A military reservist who nominated NB Power for an award for supporting the Canadian Forces has resigned after the Crown corporation refused him a leave of absence to deploy to Afghanistan.
Maj. Sean Courty took the career hit in order to lead a team of soldiers from across Atlantic Canada who are leaving within three weeks for Kandahar on a six-month mission.
"I had to make a difficult decision," Courty said. He left the job the first week of June and is now unemployed and awaiting deployment.
Courty was a security official at NB Power's Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and a member of the plant's emergency nuclear response team.
The 33-year-old officer has been a reserve member for the last 14 years and had been training for the Afghanistan mission for months.
"The Canadian Forces had invested a lot into my training and I had travelled on multiple international courses to make sure I had the skill set to lead this team."
Courty, who travelled to Afghanistan in early December to prepare for the upcoming mission, said he believed his employer had agreed verbally to a leave of absence. However, when he formally requested a leave of absence in writing, he said his request was denied.
NB Power declined interview requests on the topic Wednesday.
"Each request is assessed on an individual basis and NB Power does not comment on individual applications for privacy reasons," Janice McNeil, NB Power's director of communications, stated in a prepared text.
Courty's team will work on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan by working with non-profit organizations and international military forces. The team will replace a group of Canadian soldiers already doing this task.
Federal legislation requires employers to "reinstate members of the reserve force" if they are called out in an emergency - "an insurrection, riot, invasion or armed conflict of war."
The voluntary mission Courty is taking part in for the reconstruction of Afghanistan does not qualify as an emergency under the federal Public Safety Act.
The provincial government grants individual employees leaves of absence on a case-by-case basis, said Christina Winsor, a spokeswoman with the Department of Human Resources. Winsor said the policy, which applies to non-union employees of the civil service, does not apply to Crown corporations, which have their own policies.
Marc Belliveau, a spokesmann with the Department of Energy, which oversees NB Power, said he doubts Energy Minister Jack Keir was aware of Courty's plight. Belliveau said Keir may investigate the situation.
Ironically, the Canadian Forces Liasion Council named NB Power the most supportive provincial employer of the Canadian Forces in 2005, thanks to a nomination by Courty.
Courty's union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 37, has filed a grievance on his behalf.
Union representative Ross Galbraith said NB Power could use Courty's skills.
"Sean is going to gain a lot of experience while he is away," he said.
"The solution I'd like to see NB Power look at is offering him a job when he comes back to Canada. I think that that's the right solution here, to take advantage of the experience he has gained."
Major Richard Gower, who represents the Canadian Forces Liaison Council, said the group is asked for help from up to 50 reservists each year who are unable to get time off work.
The volunteer council, which aims to boost the number of reservists across the country, mediates work disputes between reserve force members and employers.
Gower said 90 per cent of cases similar to Courty's are resolved without a job loss.
NB Power has at least one statement of support for the Reserve Force on file with the CFLC.
Courty said he is pleased to be able to represent Canada. He took part in a similar mission in Haiti three years ago.
His team expects to depart for Afghanistan in late January or early February.
Courty, a married father of two, said his wife, Danika Savoie-Courty, is supporting him.
"Obviously she'd rather that I would be here but she knows that this is the life, the job, the career that I chose and at the end of the day, for all the right reasons, she supports everything about it."
Courty said he has other business opportunities waiting for him when he returns to Canada.
PING!!
I'm assuming NB Power is run by a bunch of anti-war leftists.
That would describe half of Canada.
It describes nearly half of America.
ESGR, Eh?
Maj. Sean Courty, you have grit.
You are a brave and honorable individual and the loss of you job from an un-honorable employer will not harm your career.
I salute you.
PING!
Big Bump for allies like this!
Sorry, It has been brought to my attention that posted a duplicate article after yours. I'm not sure how to remove it.
NB Power is also extremely paternalistic. In making this decision, they have smeared themselves in the worst way, but you can bet that at the base of all this, is a phone call between NB Power and some party hacks in NB's Liberal Government, who detest Prime Minister Harper's success on the war in Afghanistan.
What we see is liberal "back lash" against anyone who supports Conservative Prime Minister Harper's Afghanistan policy. The liberals of New Brunswick take anyone's support of the conservative Federal Government's current Afghanistan Policy personal and up close.When they can get in a dig, they do it like a bunch of Liberal Mafiosos, which they are.
I hope that NB Power is keel hauled in the popular press for their unpatriotic actions. It is not possible for anyone to boycott their product, they are the only act in town. But perhaps a few well placed spanners in the works by patriotic Canadians , at a few of their generating plants might show them the unpatriotic errors of their Liberal Mafia ways.
SHAME ON THEM!
Thanks for the background information.
Political correctness, Canadian style. Haiti is a French speaking country. Must not upset les francophones in Canada.
Heh, my father was also a lifer there. You provided all the info needed.
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