This article was written by former Sudbury lawyer and MPP in October, 1977, in response to the then recent massive layoffs of 2,800 local workers by Inco. Ironically, some of the issues in his column will resonate with the recently laid off Xstrata workers in February 2009. The more things change, the more they stay the same! – Stan Sudol

Once upon a time Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers of America was the vehicle for economic security of 18,000 hourly rated workers in Sudbury. Those were the salad days of high employment which marked feverish exploitation of the magnificent geological structure disposed, it is said, on the Sudbury basin by a vast errant meteor a couple of billion years ago.

It hosts 14 metals and the one most talked about is nickel and that is probably why the complex came to be known as The International Nickel Company of Canada Limited. But it is now an age of efficiency, the acronym is its phylactery, and the name perforce has been shortened to Inco Ltd.

Dave Patterson, young in years and not yet hardened against the realities of life, is president of the union, which by slow and steady attrition numbers only 11,000 these days.

As one listens to him speak in public one senses that his idealism is intact. He conveys genuinely and humanely the reflection of sorrow and uncertainty which beset 2,800 workers and their families who have received an impersonal slip attached to their time cards which told them tersely that their jobs no longer existed.

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The following profile was originally published in the South Side Story – a Sudbury weekly paper on January 2005.

He was called the “northern gadfly” and was one of Sudbury’s most flamboyant and successful criminal lawyers.

Elmer was born in Cobalt and began his law practice in Sudbury after completing his studies and serving in the Royal Canadian Navy. He ran in the provincial election of 1959 and was elected liberal member of the Ontario Legislature. He was defeated by Bud Germa in the 1977 election and by Floyd Laughren in 1981.

Elmer had a lot to say about everything and no one has been able to match his speeches in the legislature. The press, who spent their time listening to so many boring speeches in the legislature, were all ears when Elmer spoke.

Whether they agreed with him or not, Elmer’s eloquence made the newspapers more often than not. When word got around the legislature that Elmer was giving a speech, people would start flocking to listen because they knew he would always have something interesting to say. In fact, one of his speeches was used as a test for people who were applying for a job at Hansard (the official record keepers). They were required to edit and transcribe it properly in order to get the job.

As can be expected, Elmer had a lot of opinions on a lot of subjects that ranged from comments made on the official dress of judges and lawyers (he thought the black robes should be discontinued because he thought they made the judges and lawyers look like Batman) to his belief that Canada should abolish its ties with the monarchy. What matters is that his colourful speeches, inundated with his great sense of
humour, made people listen and take a greater interest.