Freedom Flyer 11

By Joe Matyas
London Free Press

Admitting it was partly a publicity ploy for the Freedom Party, Marc Emery announced Friday a group of volunteers will provide limited free garbage pickup for London homeowners during the strike by city outside workers.

Starting Tuesday, party volunteers plan to pick up garbage in a three- to four-block area of the city each day for at least two weeks, said Emery, a founder of the party.

He said garbage will be picked up on selected streets where homeowners will be informed in advance of the collection.

After collecting the garbage, party members will truck it out to a private dump in Southwold Township and will pay the dumping fee, he said, adding $2,000 has been budgeted for the project.

He conceded it was a token gesture, but said somebody had "to be sympathetic to the forgotten people in this strike - the taxpayers."

Emery denied his party's action would be tantamount to strike-breaking. "Absolutely not. We're doing this free. We're aiming for neighborhoods where there are a lot of old people, people without cars who can't haul their own garbage away. If that's strike-breaking we have a serious problem."

The party may gain publicity out of its action, but it wouldn't be exploiting the situation for political gain, he said.

After making the party's announcement outside city hall, Emery was challenged by a picket, who questioned his motives. He assured the man the party wasn't trying to undermine the strike.

"If you want to build goodwill with the public, you should be joining us."

After the confrontation, Emery said the party would consider stopping its collections if "the situation becomes too intimidating for our volunteers. We would have to reconsider if there was too much union resentment."

Told of the party's plans, Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Gilles LeBel said "what they are doing won't impact on the strike. it's a drop in the bucket. It's not worth commenting on."