As of 11 a.m. yesterday, more than 1.5 million people were unemployed in Canada, said the Telecommunications Workers Union.
The numbers were plain to anyone standing along Wellington Street around noon yesterday after the union posted a digital display on the side of a van in front of Parliament Hill.
The National Unemployment Clock offers a real-time tally of job loss in Canada, the union said.
TWU national vice- president John Carpenter said the purpose of the clock is to raise awareness to Canadians that unemployment in this country is a problem.
“The big corporations that are outsourcing overseas need to recognize that we have problem and that they have to bring the jobs back to Canada,” he said.
Carpenter said the problem extends beyond the telecommunications field and to everything from manufacturing to retail, forestry and oil.
After making a stop at the National Gallery of Canada, the clock is travelling to Vancouver, where it will be installed in its permanent home on June 8.
Along the way, street team members will be collecting signatures for a petition that would be delivered to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Labour Minister Rona Ambrose.
