Errol Black

Errol Black is a retired university professor and current municipal politician in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. He has been an activist with the New Democratic Party for several years. [Helen Fallding, "Plight of the right", "Winnipeg Free Press", 8 November 2000, A10.]

Academic

Black was born in Brandon, Manitoba. [ [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/election/2000Federal/candidates-new/2578.html "Errol Black, New Democratic Party"] , "Election 2000", "Globe and Mail", accessed 15 October 2000.] He is a Professor Emeritus at Brandon University, where he taught for many years in the fields of Economics and Industrial Relations. He is the co-editor of such books as "Hard bargains : the Manitoba labour movement confronts the 1990s" (1991), "A square deal for all : historical essays on labour in Brandon" (2000) and "Building a better world : an introduction to trade unionism in Canada" (2001). He has written several pieces for "Canadian Dimension" magazine, and has done research for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. [Keith McArthur, "Minimum wage hike would affect 63,000", "Winnipeg Free Press", 13 June 1998, A3.] During the early 1980s, Black argued that university president Harold J. Perkins was ruling the university in an autocratic manner, and supported his removal by the Board of Governors. [Richard Cleroux, "Brandon miracle man under fire", "Globe and Mail", 19 August 1983, P1; Errol Black, "Brandon University" [letter] , "Globe and Mail", 16 September 1983, P6.] He later served as president of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations in the 1990s. [Errol Black and Robert Chernomas, "Retirement not the answer", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 May 1995.]

Political views

Black supported reforms to the Ontario Labour Relations Act introduced by the government of Bob Rae in the 1990s, [Errol Black, "New labour act encourages co-operation" [letter] , "Globe and Mail", 27 June 1992, D7.] and strongly opposed efforts to bring "right-to-work" and workfare legislation into Manitoba. [Kelly Taylor, "Iowa woos Manitoba businesses", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 September 1993; Errol Black, "Jobs, not welfare" [letter] , "Winnipeg Free Press", 10 May 1994, A20.] He has also written in support of Canada's public health care system, [Errol Black and Ken Hanly, "Two-tier health plan would cost a lot more", "Globe and Mail", 25 May 1994, A21.] criticized the financial dependence of governments on gambling revenues, [Errol Black, "Gambling in Manitoba: financing the neoconservative agenda on the backs of the poor", "Canadian Dimension", 21 November 1997, 21.] argued for increases to the minimum wage, ["Two views on hiking minimum wage", "Winnipeg Free Press", 14 October 1998, A9.] and lobbied against spending public money on a new arena for the Winnipeg Jets hockey team in the 1990s. [Nick Martin, "Thin Ice wary about victory", "Winnipeg Free Press", 16 August 1995, D1.] He was a particularly strong critic of the governments of Ralph Klein and Mike Harris. [Robert Chernomas and Errol Black, "What kind of capitalism? The revival of class struggle in Canada", "Monthly Review", 1 May 1996, p. 23.]

Councillor

Black was elected to the Brandon City Council in 1998, and has been re-elected two times since then. He won the New Democratic Party's Brandon—Souris nomination in 2000 over Wayne Langlois, and finished fourth against Tory candidate Rick Borotsik. He is considered to be on the left-wing of the NDP, and opposed the party's drift toward the "Third Way" socialism favoured by Tony Blair. [Kim Guttormson, "NDP's dilemma: how far 'left' to go", "Winnipeg Free Press", 29 October 2000, A4.]

In 2001, he introduced a motion for Brandon to adopt one of the toughest anti-smoking motions anywhere in Canada. ["Brandon to explore tough smoking ban", "Winnipeg Free Press", 14 August 2001, A2.] Two years later, he pushed the NDP government of Gary Doer to extend labour rights to farm workers. [Helen Fallding, "Changes urged to help farm workers", "Winnipeg Free Press", 6 February 2002, A6.] Two years later, he called for the establishment of urban reserves in Brandon. [Curtis Brown, "Urban reserves get mixed reaction", "Winnipeg Free Press", 12 September 2003, B3.] In 2005, he wrote a piece criticizing the Doer government's record on labour issues. [Errol Black, "Labour should be nervous", "Winnipeg Free Press", 24 November 2005, A16.]

External links

* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/23/brandonlabour.shtml Errol Black, "Labour in Brandon Civic Politics: A Long View"] , Manitoba History

Electoral record

Footnotes