---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Sam Hammond

The post‑election pot is simmering, and an interesting broth it is. Buzz Hargrove is still the biggest attention getter. His unexpected forced departure from the NDP has certainly set off a lot of pro and con debate. The antiseptic neutralist electoral non‑platform of the Canadian Labour Congress has escaped much criticism as Buzz continues to take flak as labour's bad boy.

     Unless this writer is an exception, there is a lot of confusion on just where labour stood and stands. Of course, everyone claims that their particular tactic kept the Harper Tories from forming a majority government. Ken Georgetti has appointed himself an historical achievement, namely forcing the issues most important to the working people to the forefront of the election debate.

     Really? I suppose any election issue can be viewed as important to working people, but many issues that delegates to the last CLC convention thought were extremely important were virtually buried during the election. It is very strange that resolutions adopted as policy don't even get a reference on the CLC federal election agenda. How about the policies on NAFTA and FTAA? How about getting troops home from Afghanistan and Haiti? How about the crisis of the First Nations peoples and their third‑world existence? How about the loss of the Canadian steel industry to foreign ownership? How about the deep integration policies of Bush & Co? How about voting reform and proportional representation? How about, how about....?

     Apparently the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress has allowed the labour movement to be reduced to a passive spectator. Does anyone know what convention resolutions are for? Are resolutions and policy papers ever to be integrated into program and campaign? Are all the speeches, the anger and frustration, the suffering and urgency of deprived and battered workers poured into the microphones of convention halls to be cast aside, encapsulated into tranquillizers for a benumbed and neutralized leadership?

     There is a real danger that the tactical debate over the federal elections will not really get at the main political‑class problems. For instance, it is very dangerous if large sections of labour view the Harper minority government as a victory. It is very dangerous if significant elements within the most advanced sections of the working class view the Liberals as a "centre" party. This means that the corporate sections of the ruling elite, the capitalist system itself must be centrist.

     Under these parameters, where is the right? Any grade schooler should know that the two parties of monopoly capitalism in this country have been the Liberals and the Tories. Have any others ever ruled federally? From a working class point of view, the election of either cannot ever be viewed as a victory. The prevention of a Tory or a Liberal majority is a relief, but the danger of this minority government becoming the springboard for a Tory majority in the near future is very real.

     This puts the needed debate within the working class into perspective. The election is over, but it was only part of a process that began with the Mulroney Tories, the destruction of the Auto Pact, the imposition of NAFTA, the Liberal deception and boosting of the FTAA, the corporate attempt to dismantle the achievements of generations of working people.

     There subjective side to this history must also be at the centre of analysis and debate. Examples are the massive failure of the Ed Broadbent-led NDP to put resistance to free trade at the heart of its campaign in the historic 1988 elections; the cancellation of the Ontario Days of Action fight‑back by the Ontario Federation of Labour; and the gradual weakening of the labour movements ties and support for social justice movements. These are not tactical but ideological problems.

     This Canada of ours is suffering from the lack of a truly democratic constitution, one that recognises the rights of the Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, and guarantees the collective rights of labour. One in ten children are eating out of food banks because poor parents have poor children. We are being de‑industrialised, deep integrated, sold‑out, bought‑out, militarized, punctuated, hyphenated and generally masticated in the neo‑liberal corporate grinder. The global competitors of imperialism treat this country like an energy/raw material supermarket where the customers set the prices. Meanwhile, our own corporate-controlled state operates as an imperialist abroad. Do we need a fightback program? Is this a bigger discussion than how the NDP should conduct itself in the next election? I hope so.

     Buzz Hargrove is the leader of one of the most influential unions in Canada, and Ken Georgetti is the president of a Canadian Labour Congress that has many fine traditions and immense potential. There are other large unions with experienced leadership, and financial and organizational resources. It is not historically permissible for these powerful unions to flirt with the political representatives of capital. This is a time when labour must consolidate its inner solidarity and unity with programs that will stop business union rivalries, outlaw raiding and re‑dedicate itself to a historical role as an anti‑capitalist, social, working class movement.

     The labour movement must put money and expertise into expanding and nurturing the social movements that can deliver tens of thousands of allies to the anti‑corporate struggle, that can become the new recruits to an expanded labour movement and a resurgence of shop-floor, ground-level political commitment. This can be done by fighting free trade, launching a massive campaign for electoral reform (proportional representation), fighting every inch of the way to prevent private health care, campaigning to restore control over energy and resources.

     This must be broader than the narrow electoral plans of the NDP, although the NDP should be a very important part of it. This requires extra‑parliamentary struggle to force parliament to implement reforms and maintain social programs. This independent labour political action could be a recruiter, a rebuilder and ultimately create a political presence that would make a progressive parliamentary bloc a reality and a springboard to our future. How about it? Is this worth arguing about? Any other opinions?

---

---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Bill Sloan

A local caricature after a Quebec election "debate" in the late '90s portrayed the Liberals, PQ and ADQ grouped behind a rostrum on the "right" side of the stage, while the rostrum labeled "left" was empty.

     No more. There is a new player in Quebec politics. On February 3-5, more than 1000 delegates gathered in Montreal after 18 months of negotiations between the Union des Forces Progressiste (UFP) and Option Citoyenne, to merge into a new social‑democratic party in Quebec.

     Québec Solidaire was chosen almost unanimously as the new name. For several reasons, this new party has the potential to be more than the sum of its parts. Since the 1970s, when a panoply of Maoist organisations burned community groups with their "revolution within the decade" strategy, community activists in Quebec have shown an unfortunate reticence to become directly involved with any political party. Once bitten twice shy.

     The UFP, formed in 2002, was unable to breach this conceptual wall, though it did succeed in uniting those activists willing to join a party, even some Greens. Option Citoyenne, on the contrary, was based in those community organisations. Its "leaders" are Francoise David (ex‑president of the Quebec Women's Federation and the World March of Women) and Francois Saillant (leader for 15 years of the biggest housing rights NGO in Quebec). The UFP had accumulated some 1500 members in its formal party structure, while Option Citoyenne has some 2500. It is much more than a game of numbers, though.

     The wall now appears to have been breached, as hundreds of enthusiastic community activists participated in the convention. But there is an important programmatic difference as well, on the National Question. At the UFP's founding convention, Communist Party delegates proposed what was seen at the time as a "historic compromise". We agreed to the proposal of Quebec sovereignty in the programme, to the extent that it would advance social progress and equity.

     Québec Solidaire has found a way around that sometimes confusing formulation, to allow the party to go forward where the UFP could not. Québec Solidaire declares itself sovereignist, but, said spokesperson Francoise David at the official press conference, the National Question is not a battle station for the new party. This issue will be addressed when necessary, but not today. It is not a pressing issue. Today, Social Issues.

     For example, when asked about the issue of fiscal imbalances, a huge nationalist issue, Amir Khadir (who had been a top UFP leader) stated that the fiscal imbalance that disturbs Québec Solidaire is that between people and big corporations. When asked about "zero deficit," the answer was that the intolerable deficits are the Social and Democratic Deficits, that poverty is what is intolerable.

     If sustained, this approach to the National Question as a question of principle which is in practice put on the back burner will open doors in the immigrant communities which were closed to the UFP. From the way the connection was made during the news conference, it appears that this is a conscious decision.

     When we recall that the only candidate ever elected as a Communist to Parliament, Fred Rose, ran in a Montreal immigrant neighbourhood... Pipe dreams aside, immigrant communities include many progressives, whether they left their homelands as refugees or as immigrants.

     Reaction from the Parti Québécois has shown a dual face. On the one hand, PQ party president Monique Richard, former president of the CSQ (Quebec teachers' union federation), welcomed the new party and hoped that ways would be found to work together. She is one of the group of trade union and social activists (SPQ Libre) who publicly re‑joined the PQ after Jean Charest was elected, to try to bring the PQ back to the left. They haven't had any luck yet; the new PQ leader, André Boisclair, is a Harvard educated conservative.

     The other PQ reaction was almost comical. Former PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau denounced the new party as a divisive force in the sovereignist movement. Even better, an official PQ statement claimed that the new party would divide the "left" in Quebec. This brought smiles all around, as the PQ has not been seen as a "left" party in Quebec, except by contrast with those farther right, since 1981.

     (Sloan was a candidate for the Communist Party of Canada in the riding of Westmount-Ville Marie in the recent federal election.)

---

---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Helen Kennedy

From a leadership meeting on January 25 to local strike votes during the first week of February, CUPE municipal members across Ontario are standing up to the provincial Liberal government's proposal to make democratic control over their pensions impossible.

     By mid-February, CUPE Ontario had a 93% strike mandate and is waiting for a response from Premier Dalton McGuinty. If McGuinty gives third reading to Bill 206, which imposes a structure that is unfair and discriminatory in the governance of OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) Pension Plan, President Sid Ryan will pull the trigger that will see municipal workers, including hydro, childcare, social services, paramedics and school board workers amongst many others, set up picket lines across the province.

     CUPE has been lobbying for over ten years to move their OMERS Plan into joint trusteeship. However, Bill 206 is fundamentally flawed. Joint trusteeship assumes that the union members would have joint say in decisions governing the plan. McGuinty, however, decided to place the association representing municipal employers (those whom we sit across from in negotiations) on the union side of the table.

     In addition, changes to the plan would require a 2/3 majority, something that is non‑existent in any other public pension plan in Canada. The supermajority would make it virtually impossible to make any pension improvements.

     One of the most heinous proposals is the supplemental plans afforded to Firefighters and Police. The high paid, predominantly male members will qualify for pension accrual rates up to 2% when they retire at age 60 under fast‑track supplemental plans covered in the legislation. The majority of members of OMERS, women and lower paid workers, will be capped at a 1.3% accrual rate. And any pension improvements will have to be negotiated and get approval of two-thirds of the members of the board.

     CUPE is demanding that the government stop the bill and create a table where employer, employee and retiree representatives can negotiate a new governance structure.

     Premier Dalton McGuinty and the provincial Liberals made a deal with the province's Firefighter and Police Associations before the last election to give them a legislated supplemental pension plan. To date McGuinty and his henchman Brad Duguid are sticking to their promise - and sticking it to the rest of the CUPE municipal membership.

     If CUPE is forced to take strike action, they deserve full support. Call the Premier, your local MPP and join the CUPE members on the picket lines.

---

---

---

Full support for CUPE Ontario: Withdraw Bill 206

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

The Ontario Provincial Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, meeting on February 17, issued the following statement on the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Service (OMERS) crisis precipitated by the Government's insistence to proceed without negotiation to pass Bill 206.

     The Government of Ontario has departed from norms of pension management already implemented in the successful management structures of both the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and the Ontario Public Service Employees Pension Plan. This departure creates a "Sponsors Corporation" whose authority and structure is unlike anything existing in any pension management scheme elsewhere in the world.

     The required 2/3 voting majority required of this over‑sized and unworkable model is recognized by the government itself as unworkable insofar as exceptions to the procedure are provided for Police and Firefighters in order to meet a two year deadline for their requested reforms. The fact that CUPE members, 100,000 constituting a large majority of plan members, are under different governance rules is discriminatory, a violation of equity principles and a clear provocation.

     The fact that CUPE members also include a majority of lower paid women workers, a majority within a majority, makes the government proposals, and their refusal to negotiate, a gender attack. It is clear that CUPE and its fraternal allies, members of "The Coalition for OMERS Pension Fairness" (Service Employees International Union, Canadian Autoworkers Union, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, CUPE Ontario and the Municipal Retirees Organisation of Ontario) must resist this unjust and discriminatory Bill 206.

     The Communist Party adds its voice to other supporters of the struggle against Bill 206, calls for full labour and public support of CUPE in its job actions and calls for the McGuinty Ontario Government to withdraw Bill 206 and negotiate a fair and manageable replacement with the Unions involved.

---

---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Sam Hammond

People's Voice has been reporting on the Stelco Steel bankruptcy protection fiasco and the trench warfare of vulture capitalism for almost two years. During the past several months I have put off follow‑up articles because of breaking news almost every day.

     Well guess what? There is no end in sight. Confusion is the modus operandi of all combatants except USW Local 1005 and its president, Rolph Gerstenberger. It is no surprise that the only consistent, sensible and factual info comes from the workers and their representatives. The latest is that Stelco and its restructuring guru Tricap (read Brascan, read Brookfield Investments) want to divide the company into nine separate limited partnerships, with at least four registered in Manitoba.

     When Ulysses was trapped in the cave of the Cyclops and scheming to punch out the one eye of his captor, he said his name was "No Man," so the poor Cyclops couldn't tell his godly parent who had blinded him. This was how Ulysses escaped retribution from the gods - "No Man" blinded me.

     Ironically it would probably be better for the public if the "TriCap-Brascan-Brookfield-what next" moniker was just fixed at "Someone". Then we could report that "Someone" is trying to destroy one of the pillars of the Canadian steel industry, betray pensioners, destroy contract conditions and make a lot of money not in any way tied to the production of steel.

     There are many players here, ghostly apparitions in the smog. Every time they appear and disappear they skim off legal, consulting and penalty fees, enough to keep thousands of steel workers' families well looked after for years. Of course that is the one thing not on the agenda.

     Does anyone really believe that dividing a semi‑plundered company into nine limited partnerships is a plan for consolidation and restructuring? Anyone who answers "yes" should stick their dentures under the pillow tonight and wait for the tooth fairy.

     In our new vernacular, "Someone" is setting up a plunder plan that will make it almost impossible for the Ontario Government to protect its $150 million public contribution to the $1.3 billion pension deficit, and to police its condition that the plan be solvent in ten years. "Someone" is also working creative innovations in labour relations and jurisprudence. One of the new nine limited partnerships is "Hamilton Steel Collective Agreements" (registered in Manitoba?), a company which would presumably manage the collective agreements between USW Local 1005 (expiring in July/06) and Bricklayers and Masons Union Local 1 (expiring November/06).

     Wow! An entire limited partnership just to... what? Is "Someone" getting ready to.... what? Who the hell knows, but going on past practice the experience won't enrich steelworkers. The entire labour movement should keep a close eye on this one.

     Okay, so the efforts of "Someone" to plunder and destroy the once primary steel producer in Canada is despicable and dangerous. Is there any good news? Well, judge for yourself.

     Now direct your attention to the goings on next door at Dofasco. This "success story" has enjoyed good press, because it represents the corporate ideal of an unorganized non‑union workforce toiling faithfully for benevolent employers who match the wages of unionized Local 1005 workers. No contracts, no grievances, no breakthroughs in health and safety, and no pension plan. Their much lauded "Profit Sharing Plan" is a misnomer - it's actually a contributory investment plan that pays dividends based on company profits. We will come back to this some other day.

     In the fall of 2005 there was an unfriendly bid by Arcelor, operating out of Luxembourg, to purchase Dofasco shares. The management at Dofasco supported a counter bid by Thyssen‑Krupp operating from Germany. The exhilaration hit dizzying heights as these European giants competed to up the ante. Dofasco management finally supported a bid by Arcelor (the world's second largest steel producer) which rounded out at about $5.6 billion, or $71 a share. This transaction is in the final stages of finalization.

     In 2004/2005 Arcelor made large investments in Rio Tinto, operating in Brazil as the world's largest producer of iron ore pellets. Arcelor's first penetration of the western hemisphere posed the threat of moving some steel production from France, Belgium or Spain to Brazil, where labour is cheaper. The Arcelor purchase of Dofasco creates a bridge between iron ore reserves in Brazil, Canadian steel production, and Dofasco holdings in Canadian iron ore mines (shared with Stelco). It also gives Arcelor entry into NAFTA, with complete access to North American markets and NAFTA guarantees of access to Canadian energy and resources at bargain basement prices.

     Arcelor's triumph at Dofasco had hardly stopped quivering when Asian-based Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel producer, launched an unfriendly bid for a cash purchase of Arcelor. If Mittal was successful, it would immediately sell off Dofasco to the previously defeated Thyssen‑Krupp. Don't ever count out the Fuehrer's former business allies! Mittal's quest is an ongoing political debate in the top circles of the European Union. Europe penetrates the Americas; Asia retaliates. China is in the wings, and American generals are warning Dubya they can't fight on too many fronts. Hmmmm?

     So the dramatic fight for Canada's steel industry evolves in parallel on two stages? Not quite. There is a third stage. Algoma, our smaller third steel producer, is under siege by venture fund investors from New York. Poor Algoma, after years of turmoil and concession, made a pretty good profit and paid out dividends to its shareholders, including the attacking venture vultures. Not good enough though. The New York crowd has gone to court to get about $400 million of the cash reserves which Algoma needs for maintenance and re‑tooling. If successful, they could drive Algoma into financial trauma, which they will help solve by lending back the stolen funds. What a beautiful scheme. Lucky Luciano would eat his heart if he were still with us.

     What observations can we draw from all this disgraceful imperialist cannibalism? First and foremost, if Dofasco is worth $5.6 billion, then Stelco is comparable, and the Steelworkers Union was correct that Stelco's plant and business value far outweighed its debt. This means that the investors who got hold of Stelco for a few hundred million, the Judge of the bankruptcy court, Stelco's senior management and to some extent both provincial and federal authorities are involved in one of the biggest scams in Canadian history.

     Second, the Canadian steel industry is passing into foreign control, as part of a global competition between centres of imperialism who are carving up ownership and access to resources and markets. This is the most serious blow to Canadian sovereignly in generations. The European Union has boasted that it will be the dominant trading bloc in the world by the year 2020. This cannot happen without significant penetration of the Americas, challenging U.S. capital on its own ground. Remember that Wilbur Ross's International Steel Group (ISG) was purchased for cash by Mittal, and that Mittal has a finger in the Stelco re‑structuring as the purchasers of three Stelco moneymakers; Stelwire, Stelfil and Norambar.

     From Asia, from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Belgium, the good old USA and Germany, the knights of imperial plunder charge across the global chessboard. They recruit pawns in Brazil, and send their new conquistadors into the Brazilian hinterland. They get possession of Canadian industry, mining, energy and more than a few acquiescent politicians. This will rebound throughout our economy. It will affect First Nations people who are sitting on or near valuable resources. It will reshape cities like Hamilton and it will certainly enter Canadian political life.

     This is definitely a crime scene, in a big way. We need a Crime Scene Investigation, just like the popular TV show!

---

---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

People's Voice Editorial, March 1-15, 2006

Preparations are in high gear for anti-war actions across Canada and around the world on March 18, the third anniversary of the shameful and illegal war of aggression against Iraq. We urge all readers to take part in building these actions.

     There are a wide range of crucial issues facing us today. Not satisfied with the criminal occupation of Iraq, the US and European imperialists are rattling the sabres for an attack against Iran, using the flimsy pretext of that country's nuclear programme as a pretext for another war. The consequences of such an aggression would be utterly catastrophic. We must send the strongest possible message on March 18th: Get imperialist troops out of Iraq immediately! No war against Iran!

     Here at home, the new Harper government is committed to strengthening support for the US imperialist war machine. The expanding Canadian role in Afghanistan helps the Pentagon by easing pressure on the over-stretched US armed forces. We must expose the racist lie that Canada is simply in Afghanistan to hand out goodies to grateful villagers. The truth is that Canada is fighting a war on behalf of the Bush regime, a war with frightful consequences both for the Afghan people and for Canadians.

     Next, Harper and the Tories must be told in no uncertain terms that the Palestinian people have the right to elect their own leadership. Canada must recognize the new Hamas-led government, and Israel must be pressed to accept UN resolutions which call for an end to its occupation of Palestinian territories. If the government of Canada wants to oppose terrorism on the world stage, it must condemn the state terrorist policies of the US, Britain and Israel. This issue must be front and centre on March 18th.

     Finally, this important date must be used to extend solidarity to US war resisters seeking refuge in Canada. These heroic young men and women are inspiring examples of the best democratic traditions of the U.S. people, in sharp contrast to the ultra-right gang in the White House. Let us demand that the federal government open wide the doors to our country, welcoming all who resist war and militarism in our world today!

---

---

---

Voters demand Emerson resignation

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

Voters in Vancouver Kingsway want MP David Emerson to resign after his move into Stephen Harper's cabinet. The first opinion poll on the issue showed that just 28% of respondents support Emerson's jump to the Conservatives. Over 800 protesters packed a high school auditorium on Feb. 11, and hundreds rallied outside Emerson's constituency office the next day. Plans are underway for a grassroots campaign to force his resignation.

     This solidly working class riding has elected a Conservative just once, during the 1958 Diefenbaker sweep. For the past four decades, the Conservatives have usually trailed far behind the NDP and Liberals. That was the case on Jan. 23, when Emerson won with 43% support, compared to 33% for the NDP's Ian Waddell, just 18% for Conservative candidate Kanman Wong.

     By crossing the floor before Parliament convenes, Emerson devastated Liberal voters and campaign workers, as well as NDP-leaning voters who had cast a "strategic" Liberal ballot to block a Conservative victory. This is the second time Waddell may have been defeated by such strategic voting.

     During the campaign, Emerson repeatedly launched bitter attacks on the Conservatives. In one typical comment, he said on January 16, "Just mark my words ... If they (the Conservatives) get elected, they are going to begin a massive review of programs and a massive set of cuts to government programs. And people are going to say, we didn't ask for this. Mr. Harper didn't say this is what he was going to do."

      "I'm going to be Stephen Harper's worst enemy," Emerson said on election night.

     But many Conservatives were also dismayed by the hypocrisy of their own leaders, who went ballistic last year when Belinda Stronach crossed the floor of the Commons in the other direction. The unease among Conservatives was intensified by Harper's appointment of Montreal non-candidate Michel Fortier to the Senate and then to his cabinet.

     The only voices supporting Emerson come from the British Columbia business sector, and an array of right-wing politicians. That's hardly surprising, given his background. In 1998, David Emerson became CEO of Canfor, one of Canada's largest forestry corporations. The company reported profits of $421 million in 2004, the year he was first elected in Vancouver Kingsway. The second quarter of 2004 alone saw Canfor ring up profits of $165 million. Meanwhile, the west coast forest industry has seen the deaths of hundreds of workers, victims of corporate drives for maximum profit.

     Emerson's corporate directorships have included: Terasen Inc; Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada; Vice‑Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; Chair, British Columbia Ferries; and Chairman and Director of Genus Resource Management Technologies Inc.

     David Emerson is seen by the west coast business elite as a politician who can help drive through controversial infrastructure plans which will generate huge corporate profits, such as the Gateway highway and bridge expansion, and Olympic construction.

     The Vancouver East Club of the Communist Party, and Kimball Cariou, the party's candidate in Vancouver Kingsway, give full support to public demands for Emerson's resignation. Cariou, who is a member of the club's executive, said in a news release:

     "The Emerson scandal proves once again that for the ruling class of Canada, the Liberals and Conservatives share the same basic approach to key economic issues. It is true there are certain differences between these parties; as the most outspoken advocates of closer ties with US imperialism and as bitter opponents of universal social programs and equality rights, the Conservatives were the most dangerous option on the ballot in this campaign. But fundamentally, these parties stand for the interests of the corporate elite, not for the interests of working people. From the perspective of big capital, David Emerson's switch therefore made perfect sense.

     "Mr. Emerson's record is not one of service to the people of Canada and British Columbia. It is a record of service to wealthy shareholders, to corporations such as Canfor which reap huge profits while workers die in the forest industry.

     "The corporate shareholders and CEOs are only a tiny minority of voters. The vast majority of voters are working people, including in Vancouver Kingsway. The experience of the Communist Party during the campaign was that the overriding concern of Vancouver Kingsway voters was to stop the election of a right‑wing Conservative government. In fact, most of the voters we spoke to, on street corners, at Sky Train stations and at public events, did not even know the name of the Liberal candidate, despite the fact that Mr. Emerson has been their MP since 2004...

     "The contempt for voters expressed by Mr. Emerson and the Stephen Harper Conservatives is not new. For many decades, the Conservative Party has been the favoured home of right‑wing, bigoted, arrogant political forces, and especially those sections of the corporate elite with close links to the U.S. resource monopolies which are destroying Canadian sovereignty.

     "David Emerson must resign immediately. The voters of Vancouver Kingsway overwhelmingly rejected the Conservatives on election day, and they must be given the opportunity to do so again. The Communist Party will continue to give full support to the struggle to restore democracy in this riding."

---

---

---

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

International Women's Day 2006 statement from the Communist Party of Canada

On International Women's Day this year, the women of Canada face sharp new challenges to equality rights and gains achieved by decades of struggles. On IWD 2006, the Communist Party of Canada extends full solidarity with women's resistance against the Conservative government's agenda, and with all who work to end exploitation, violence, and oppression.

     While voters did not shift to the right in the recent federal election, the results gave a minority government to the most determined enemies of equality. The Conservatives elected just 14 women MPs, only eleven percent of their caucus. Dozens of Tory MPs were endorsed by bigoted, fundamentalist groups which seek nothing less than to return women to the status of second-class citizens. Their policies would effectively drive many women out of the public realm of the workplace and political life, and back into the private space of the nuclear family home.

     But it is not inevitable that this anti-women agenda will be pushed through. Mass public pressure on Parliament, including on the three opposition parties, can help block the Conservative attack on equality rights.

     Such struggles continue a long and proud tradition of working class movements for a better life. Ever since the first IWD was marked by socialist women's groups in 1911, this day has been an important occasion to mobilize for progress: the right to vote, reproductive choice, trade unions, protections against violence, social programs to provide a measure of equality, opposition to homophobia, racism and xenophobia.

     Today, every gain for social justice is threatened by profit-hungry corporations, fundamentalist groups, and right-wing governments. Working women need a united fightback to defend our rights, and a strategy to achieve a world truly liberated from exploitation, oppression, poverty, war and environmental catastrophe.

The "war on terror" is a war against equality

    On a global scale, women face rising unemployment, ecological crises and regional conflicts. The architects of neoliberal policies also seek to strengthen the institutions of patriarchy, to widen social inequalities and to divide working people.

     US imperialism and its allies are the worst enemies of women's rights. Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, mainly women and children, have died under the illegal US-led occupation. "Liberated" Afghan women still face threats and violence for working outside the home. The flawed recent "elections" in Haiti took place two years after the overthrow (with Canadian participation) of democratically-elected President Aristide, an advocate of genuine women's equality. The women of Palestine live in poverty, while the US pours billions of dollars in aid and arms into Israel. The Bush White House cooperates with patriarchal religious forces in a global offensive against women's reproductive rights. After the restoration of capitalism in the former European socialist countries, women face a stark choice between ghettoized low-wage jobs, or entry into the global capitalist sex trade.

     Here in Canada, women working full-time still earn just 72% of the average male salary. The 2004 recommendations of the federal Pay Equity Task Force will continue to gather dust under the Tories. Harper aims to move quickly to reverse progress towards a Canada-wide child care system, but his $100/month tax credit will not meet the needs of families desperate for high quality, affordable, public daycare. The ongoing shift towards "home care" for the sick and elderly is forcing women to leave their jobs to care for relatives.

     Violence against women remains widespread, yet funding for women's shelters, rape crisis centres, and women's organizations has been virtually wiped out in Canada, while the mass media spreads the lie that "male inequality" is the "new reality."

     Despite Canada's reputation as a world leader on human rights, women have been deported back to Iran, where they face jail and torture for opposing laws against equality. Despite strong evidence that young girls are often forced into "marriages" with much older men at the fundamentalist commune in Bountiful, B.C., governments have taken no legal action.

The problem is the system

    Behind the backlash against women's rights is an economic system based on private ownership of most wealth: capitalism.

     Only capitalists benefit from the systematic oppression of women and minority groups. The transnational corporations super-exploit women as workers, reaping extra profits by paying them lower wages. Women of colour and Aboriginal women face even higher unemployment rates and lower incomes, as well as racist discrimination by the legal system and police. Millions of women are caught in part-time and temporary jobs in the service industry, or home‑based jobs difficult to organize into unions. Some male workers think they benefit from this pattern, but their wages and working conditions are also dragged down by the oppression of female co-workers.

     Women still also do the bulk of domestic labour. While such unpaid labour is not directly part of the cycle of capitalist exploitation, it is essential in the process of raising each new generation of workers. This double burden is a key form of oppression of women under capitalism.

    The Communist Party of Canada believes that the entire working class movement must step up the struggle to defend and expand women's rights. We must all combat the sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant and militarist views promoted by the corporate media and culture.

     Above all, the trade union movement must build on its historic record of defending the social and workplace rights of women. That means more efforts to organize part-time, temporary and contract workers, and the unemployed, so that these workers can raise their living standards and expand their political and economic action. By consistently combating scape-goating, the labour movement can help unite all sections of the working class.

     The women's movement itself remains a vital force in the battles for pay equity, affirmative action, fully paid parental leave, reproductive choice, universally accessible child care, social assistance, and housing for all.

     The Communist Party believes that our daily struggles must be integrated into a long-term strategy. We call for stronger unity of all progressive forces in our communities, schools and workplaces, between and during elections, to help build a People's Coalition. Full women's equality must be a crucial element of the policies which unite such a coalition.

     This strategy could open the way towards a socialist Canada, where the principal means of producing and distributing wealth will the common property of all, and the exploitation of labour will be abolished. Ecological degradation will be replaced by measures to protect the natural environment. Poverty, insecurity and discrimination will be ended. Socialism will finally realize a new society based on solidarity, equality and emancipation.

 
The Communist Party of Canada demands:

* block the Harper government's attacks on equality rights.

* end all Canadian participation in the phony "war on terrorism."

* solidarity with the women of Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Korea and other countries facing imperialist occupation and violence.

* reject the Free Trade Area of the Americas and other forms of capitalist globalization; cancel the external debts of the Third World.

* full funding for quality, public healthcare, education and social welfare systems.

* a universal minimum liveable income.

* a universal, affordable, non‑profit childcare system with Canada-wide standards.

* a shorter work week with no loss in pay and no reduction in public services; full benefits for part‑time workers.

* intensify efforts to organize part-time workers and female dominated workplaces.

* restore and extend employment and pay equity legislation; expand job creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women; remove barriers to EI coverage; expand parental leave benefits to 52 weeks.

* emergency federal action to save working farm families.

* reinstate and expand core funding for equality-seeking women's organizations, including NAC; full funding for grassroots, feminist services to deal with violence against women.

* enshrine within the constitution the rights of Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and Acadians to self‑determination and self-government, and guarantee the full economic, social and political equality of Aboriginal women.

* safe, public, accessible abortion clinics in all parts of Canada.

* allocate 1% of the federal budget to the creation of social, affordable and subsidized housing.

* establish a fair and just immigration and refugee policy.

* protect and expand equality gains by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

* replace the student loans program by student grants; phase out post-secondary tuition fees.

---

---

---

A letter from Venezuela

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

People's Voice has received the following traveller's description of recent events in Venezuela.

The bus swerves and careens through the dense busy swirl of traffic. Hot, noisy; of course it is crowded. Tunes playing. Horns honking. Me trying to keep my sense of direction in the chaotic traffic. It is Saturday early afternoon.

     We are on our way to a meeting. Not just any meeting. Conjure up for yourself a mental image when I say the word meeting. Note the sounds, the agenda. The process, the purpose. Now put that image aside and clear a space in your mind for another.

     The busy uneven street intersects with another one, next to a hill. Curving around, we walk up, cement retaining wall on our left. Curved. Above it is an odd‑shaped bit of land. Steep dry grassy bank rising behind. A tent, enough to hold 50 people, is permanently set up. On the grassy bank, huge canvas images - Simon Bolivar, Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez - looking down on the people below.

     With no design on my part I have stumbled into an invitation to a meeting in the barrio of La Vega.

     The political process boliviariano here is well advanced. And sophisticated. Not a closed meeting. Couldn't be more open. Not a meeting where most of the talk is about making discussions inclusive. This is a meeting in a barrio. Partly philosophical, partly practical. A working class neighbourhood full of people who work hard all week in many different occupations and make very little money.

     It is Thursday night. Florescent light above, hanging from the tent roof. Shining on these people involved in a political process. They call it processo Bolivariano, evoking the almost saintly, revered liberator of South America from Spanish rule two centuries ago, Simon Bolivar. This process is actually written into the new constitution.

     People sitting still, leaning forward. Each speaks in turn. Interest high. Silence around unless bursts of laughter. Women: mothers, elders. Men with rough hands from hard work and others well dressed. Teens with fake gems in their ears. In seven groups they are gathered, dense bunches with a sense of urgency. A couple of hundred in all. I join the tent with the topic banner contraloria social hung on it.

     One after another joins the discussion. A woman is speaking. She is from the barrio. And she is articulate. The words give the concerns away. Repeatedly I hear participar, gentes (people) processo, dessarollo (development), politica (as in the process of political decision making) communidad, compromissio ... Under this tent are about 60 people. Passionate people. One reads Socialismo del Siglio XXI; another sevicios publicos... participation popular...

     It never stops. Politics. You find it in the damndest places. I am not finding it in the forums. Yes it is there, but the social forum is a jumble of many things. Lectures and presentations and chaos in the hallways.

     Where do I find the unexpected? By a fresh squeezed orange juice stand on the sidewalk. The O.J. fellow and an amigo are talking. The friend speaks some English. It is not common here.  Where are you from? Canada, I say. First question. What do Canadians think of Chavez? They all want to know. Always Chavez. He stands above the process in Venezuela like a guardian, a guardian of voices not before heard. I try for support and nuance the path of Canada and the American administration. He smiles. I tell him there are many who love what Chavez is doing. He begins.

     He demonstrates with every statement, his hands emphasizing the verbal points made in competent simple English.

     In the past - with every president - if you have a problem... "Here." And he mimes handing over cash. There is always plenty of cash. Oil cash. You are from the media? You have a problem? "Here." Now we are friends. Business? Same thing. Universities? Cash. The Church? Here, now we are friends. The military. Here. Unions? Here. Here is cash. But ssssshhh! Don't say a thing.

     And the workers get stepped on. And nothing is said.

     What does the Canadian media think about Chavez? They think Chavez is playing a dangerous game, I answer. Yes, he says. Peligroso, because the other player is the United States. The media here all say that Chavez is a communist. He makes friends with Fidel Castro. Chavez is strong. Strong and smart. And committed to the people.

     I accept my freshly squeezed O.J. and draw on the straw. The cold fresh strong sweet acidic orange cools me from the inside. The oranges have been kept in a cooler, like an ice cream freezer. Instantly I am refreshed. He continues.

     Brazil. Brazil is the eight largest economy in the world. Venezuela has a border with Brazil and yet never in the almost two centuries since independence has there ever been a trade agreement with Brazil. Never!

     Venezuela exports oil. But not one litre of oil has ever been sold to Brazil. Until now. Until Chavez. Before now it has always been Miami. Miami. Miami. Not now. Yes! Venezuela sells to the U.S. But it will not take orders from The American Administration. It will not be dictated to.

     I have seen Chavez on Television. On the public channel, mostly. He is an impressive and powerful communicator. And he speaks directly to the people.

     While I have been in Venezuela, he has been to Brazil for discussions of trade. To Bolivia for the inauguration of Evo Morales and the signing of a trade and support agreement with the new government there. To Cuba for the opening of a new Venezuelan centre in Havana and a rally with Fidel. And he has addressed the Social Forum. (I watched it on T.V. I was suffering from traveller's diarrhoea and was in my bed with no energy.) On Feb 4, National Revolutionary Day, he addressed a march of a million people who streamed from the barrios of Caracas.

     In a strange way the most impressive time I saw him was on TV. I was at a small gathering. Representatives from community groups - this time from small rural communities of farmers - were outlining projects for the improvement of their communities that they had decided upon.

     Chavez listens, and talks with the presenters. He speaks of strengthening communities. Of taking responsibility for the projects they have proposed. Of working together. The government commits money for the expenses of the projects. Not giant amounts. Chavez speaks about wanting ordinary people being in charge of the finances of the projects in committees. So the money does not go into individual pockets.

     And then he says something that, in its simplicity, jumps from the T.V. And I quote. Exactly. "NOSOTROS SOMOS ES MAS IMPORTANTE QUE YO SE." "We are is more important than I am."

     A statement philosophical and political that is reflected all over this land. "We are" is more important than "I am."

     Let us struggle together.

---

---

---

One week in Cuba: two significant events

(The following article is from the March 1-15, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Susan Hurlich, Havana

Upon receiving the UNESCO‑International "Jose Marti" Prize on Feb. 3, Hugo Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela, kept over 200,000 people spellbound as he spoke brilliantly ‑ and at  times poetically ‑ in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion.

     Nominated by six Latin American countries, UNESCO unanimously voted that the award go to Chavez, who was warmly embraced by Fidel Castro as he bestowed the honour.

     It was Fidel who spoke about the impressive social programs that the Chavez government has been implementing for the past seven years, such as the Literacy Campaign, which touched 1.5 million people. When the campaign concluded last October, Venezuela was declared free of illiteracy. This was followed by Mission Robinson 2 (up to sixth grade), Mission Ribas (adults completing high school), Mission Sucre (higher education), etc. Similar programs are burgeoning in Venezuela's health care system, such as Mission Barrio Adentro, which takes health care and studies in community comprehensive medicine to the poorest of the poor. As Fidel said, the list goes one and on.

     Chavez spoke mainly about the two intellectual and visionary pillars of Latin American liberation: Simon Bolivar and Jose Marti. If one truly follows in their footprints, he said, the social wellbeing of a people will naturally be front and centre in the concerns of any nation. Chavez weaved in not only Venezuela's history of struggle ‑ talking about such revolutionary patriots as Simon Rodriguez (Bolivar's teacher), Antonio Jose de Sucre, Francisco Miranda and others ‑ but also the history of the entire Latin American continent. He made frequent references to the region's powerful aboriginal history. Evo Morales, he said, as the first indigenous person in the continent to be elected president of a nation (Bolivia), is fulfilling the prophecy of famous Inca leader Tupac Katari, who, just before his death when being quartered by the Spanish conquistadors, said "I am going, but one day I will return in the millions."

     It's refreshing to have a head of state with such a command of his country's and region's history, and who can refer to the heart of this history in his public talks. Not only does Chavez have the vision of a world founded on the principles of justice, dignity and equality, but the commitment to express this vision in practical, day‑to‑day policies.

     As Chavez says, the only true guarantee for the development and future of a nation is an educated, thinking people. It's becoming very contagious in Latin America. Chavez told the story about how Brazilians living in the mountainous areas in the northern part of the country are going daily ‑ by bus, bicycle, car, on foot ‑ to communities just on the other side of the border with Venezuela to participate in classes under Mission Sucre. It's irrepressible ‑ the desire for education.

     And it's all part of the increasing integration slowly but surely taking on more force in Latin America, an integration in which both Cuba and Venezuela play a central role. First Venezuela. Then Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. And now Bolivia, to whom Chavez will donate his US $5,000 award prize to help combat the ravages of the recent floods. All have their own contradictions and struggles, but with significant openings and a concern to put the social agenda up front. In the words of Chavez, this integration could be called many different things: the Alternativa Bolivariana para las Americas (ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas), or the Marti Alternative of the Americas (ALMA). It's perhaps no accident, as Chavez says, that in Spanish, ALBA means "dawn" and ALMA means "soul".

     From February 6th to 7th there was a solemn ceremony at the recently expanded "Jose Marti" Anti‑Imperialist Tribune in homage to Cuban victims of terrorist activities organized, financed or supported by the U.S. government. Cuban youth, dressed in black T‑shirts, hoisted 138 black flags, each with a large single white star in the middle, on new flag poles located in front of the U.S. Interest Section.

     In the words of Carlos Alberto Cremata, president of the Committee for Victims of the Crime of Barbados, "they are white stars over a black background, representing the light of a people that are in pain and mourning for their children and families." Cremata was just a little boy when, in 1976, he learned that his father, co‑pilot of the Cuban airline carrying the country's entire national youth fencing team back home, was killed when his plane was downed by a bomb blast just off the coast of Barbados, killing all 73 on board.

     After the flag raising, a group of relatives and friends of the victims began a 24‑hour vigil, each holding a large picture of their beloved departed family member. These 138 victims represent the 3,478 Cubans who, since 1959, have died as a result of terrorist acts: the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the 1976 Cuban airline bombing, a string of bombings in hotels in Havana in the late 1990s, and more. Another 2,099 Cubans have been disabled in these attacks.

     For 24 hours, in dignity, sadness and determination, they stood. Every 15 minutes, those holding the placards changed. People took part from all sectors of Cuban society ‑ workers, students, elders, artists ‑ and from the mass organizations of women, farmers, the Committees in Defense of the Revolution, etc. In one case, the grown daughter of one of the victims stood with her father's photo from well over an hour, gently kissing his image when she first took it into her hands.

     Throughout the 24 hours, there was a special program on TV, including interviews with family members of the victims, with youth and people from all walks of life, and short clips documenting the many terrorist acts that have taken place against Cuba. For Cubans, the protest is also against terrorism against any people anywhere in the world, including within the U.S. itself.

     Cuba does not want revenge. Cuba wants justice. It is in this light that Cremata and other speakers at the opening ceremony denounced President George Bush's government for wanting to free Luis Posada Carriles, who, along with Orlando Bosch, masterminded the Barbados bombing and many other attacks. Bosch, who was pardoned from other crimes by former President George Bush (the father) today lives in Miami.

---

---

---

---

---

---