The AFL’S unseemly boycott campaign

Shopping during the pandemic can be a painful experience, what with the long lines and shortages of many items, but it must be near impossible for those on the far left, who always seem to be boycotting everything under the sun.

Shopping safely using two of the largest online retailers? Out of the question. Name brand sports apparel? No way. Don’t even get them started on anything made in Israel. And if you happen to be a fervent NDP supporter in Slave Lake, Alta., who’s in the market for a new car — well, we wish you the best of luck.

That’s because a new website set up by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) lists no less than three dealerships within a few blocks of each other on 100 Street in Slave Lake, a town of under 7,000, that it wants Albertans to boycott because they allegedly donated money to organizations that supported the United Conservative Party during the past provincial election.

That one of those dealerships only gave $ 1,500 — which is less than the cost of seat covers for a truck — to an organization called Shaping Alberta’s Future doesn’t matter. According to the AFL, its owners, and employees, should be punished for “bankrolling the UCP agenda — an agenda that is kicking Albertans when they’re down.”

Of course, people are free to patronize whatever businesses they choose. And if part of their consideration is political, so be it. But there is something particularly unseemly about a campaign designed to pit neighbour against neighbour, and push for policies that support public-sector workers — who, as a whole, are doing much better than most during these trying times — at the expense of other hard-working Albertans who are being punished because they, or their bosses, may have supported a particular political party.

And we’re not talking about a fringe political movement, but the governing party — a party that garnered 420,857 more votes than the second- place NDP in the 2019 election. In contrast, the AFL, a federation of around 25 different labour unions, represents only around 170,000 members. And odds are that many of those people support the UCP, but are nevertheless forced to finance tawdry political campaigns like this through the mandatory dues that the greedy unions siphon off their paycheques.

Hopefully Albertans will see right through this shameful exercise and make it backfire by supporting the businesses included on the union’s blacklist.