A tragedy in Sault Ste. Marie, the death of Constable Don Doucet in a traffic accident involving a drunk driver, is being used by one labour union as a springboard for media attention:

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has chosen tomorrow, a day on which MPP David Orazietti and hundreds of other Saultites will mourn the death of Constable Don Doucet, to picket outside Orazietti's office.

Gilles Bouffard of CUPE's Ontario regional office in Scarborough advised SooToday.com this afternoon that CUPE-represented long-term care workers from the Davey Home will hold an information picket starting at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow outside Orazietti's office, protesting recent cutbacks at the home and a lack of adequate provincial funding for long-term care services in Ontario.

So what has the local paper, SooToday, decided to do? Will it provide the union the attention it so desperately wants?

SooToday.com News has informed Bouffard that we will be boycotting tomorrow's event out of respect for Constable Doucet's family, friends and the hundreds of grieving peace officers who are travelling to our community from across North America for tomorrow's funeral mass at the Sault Armoury.

A local resident pointed me towards this story, and tells me people are very upset with the union leadership:

[This] story has certainly made me and many other residents of my community angry.

Members of CUPE are going to be picketing our local MPP's office tommorow because Premiere McGuinty is going to be in town.

What is making people angry is that McGuinty is in town to honor a police officer, Constable Don Doucet, who was killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver.

Here's hoping that anger does not boil over. The only thing that could make this situation worse is a confrontation.

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