The Spark!

   (The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Labour Day 2007 Message from the Central Trade Union Commission, Communist Party of Canada

This Labour Day, 2007, the non-corporate strata of the Canadian population, most of whom are working class, are poised on the cusp of a social haemorrhage potentially more terrible than the Depression and suffering of the 1930s. The emerging blueprints for social plunder on the drafting boards of neo-cons, inspired by  US imperial corporate agendas and served by aspiring neo-pawns in Mexico and Canada, are a dire threat to our sovereignty, our jobs, our social programs and world peace. The over 250,000 manufacturing jobs lost since NAFTA (50,000 since January this year), and the loss of more than 20,000 forest-related BC jobs in the last twenty years, are merely an indicator, the tip of the iceberg of the social blood-letting on the agenda if the corporate plans are not derailed.

     The Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Autoworkers, United Steelworkers the Teachers, CUPE, Canadian Energy and Paperworkers and others have launched a Manufacturing Jobs Campaign in response to this crisis as it plays out. After years of rest, this is an inspiring effort that brought over 40,000 into the streets of Windsor and several thousand to Parliament Hill, and numerous smaller local protests. But the very nature of the campaign, its impetus, begs for escalation, for a renewed militancy, unity and new responses. This poses the essential challenge to labour in the next few years; the response will be the decisive factor determining the future of labour in Canada, and even the future of the Canadian state.

     The leaders of the CAW have repeated over and over that the ills of the Auto industry cannot be resolved at the bargaining table. This can be expanded to the challenges facing the entire working class in this country. The problem is not cyclical, not the old traditional treadmill of up and down, boom and bust. The intrinsic crisis of the capitalist system at this stage is so acute that even their own economists are warning of problems so large they are dangerous for them - but tragic and life-threatening for us. Their modus operandi has always been to download the repair bill on workers. War, famine disease and ecological disaster is the cost we pay for their global life-style. Will we do this forever? As Frederick Engels said so many generations back, "you can be the hammer or the anvil."

     The Canadian economy has been steadily growing for 25 years, and labour productivity has risen in the last twenty years by over 50%. Yet a steadily growing economy with rising labour productivity has provided to the working people only stagnation of real wages for thirty years, and corporate profits never seen before in history. The unemployment figures in this new scenario do not tell the story. The indicators to watch are losses in manufacturing, the de-industrialisation of the country, the shift to energy and raw materials for export, and the transfer of jobs to low-paying non-unionized service sectors. This why the growth of poverty parallels the growth of the economy and of labour productivity. This is essentially the capitalist system; anyone who loves it better be prepared to starve for it, to slave for it and deliver the next generation to it.

     The dangers are apparent and escalating. These dangers wear different cloaks depending on the geographic, political or industrial sector: woodlands, extraction, manufacturing, engineering or service, public or private, the attack is on. But these cloaks are woven from a common cloth. This is the fabric of NAFTA, of Deep Integration, the North American Union, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the fabric of the US corporate imperial agenda for the Americas. The Manifest Destiny of Imperialism.

     These cloaks in our country are worn by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives - mostly representatives of Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart, General Motors, Home Depot, Shell, Canfor, Suncor and others. Some Canadians, eh? Add to this the local quislings appointed by the Tory Cabinet, and they can accurately be labelled the in-house reps of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. Their job is to eliminate borders and install a common security blanket complete with its own continental passport, military and policing apparatus around North America. This is to eliminate any impediment whatsoever to the ability of capital to move freely, plunder at will and extract the most profit from our resources and our labour. Not one of them are elected, and not once has this been discussed openly in our Parliament.

     By the time this is read the summit at Montebello of Stephen Harper, George Bush and Felipe Calderon will be history. The Security and Prosperity Partnership will be more advanced, and the executioner's axe will hang closer over our quality of life, our national cultures and our sovereignty.

     Where can we turn but to our working class and social institutions? If the Communist Party of Canada, the social democrats, the progressive forces of Québec, various left formations and the First Nations have not found common ground, can we allow this to continue?

     If many of our best young social activists have searched for expression and fight-back outside the ranks of organized labour, because to them, rightly or wrongly, labour appeared to be asleep, can we allow this to continue? Labour must recruit youth. It must stop turning its back on young workers because they work in small poorly paid enterprises and don't provide enough dues income. Young people must defend labour because it is the instrument of struggle and resource they need. This sword has two edges, and both need to be sharp. This is one family, and at our working class table our children should eat whether they are profitable or not.

     There is no question about the ability of the Canadian working class to fight. We have per capita the most hours lost to strikes in the industrialized countries. Rarely, perhaps not at all since the 1930s, has there been a major strike lost because the workers have exhausted their ability to fight. The losses have been from poor leadership, poor ideology, a misunderstanding of the issues or outright collaboration.

     If we want to mend our movement we must look to where it is broken. The labour movement is the heart and soul of the working class, the organized and most advanced section. We cannot allow divisions in labour to neutralize the fighting potential of its membership. Labour must struggle for the unity that is needed, especially restoring partnership with the social justice movements and the First Nations struggle, escalating its anti-war agenda, and creating a dynamic that will attract the best of our youth. Under these conditions the unorganized will seek labour out and demand entry like they did in the '30s and '40s. This is how we can rebuff the corporate agenda, reach out for unity with our sisters and brothers abroad, and start the movement for the kind of society we want and need!

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

According to Liz Rowley, CPC (Ontario) leader, a minority government is an increasingly likely outcome of the October 10 provincial election.

     "Polls show the Liberals have a slight edge over the Tories, with the NDP in third place and remarkably large support for `other' parties, some of which is for the Greens, but not all," she said. "It shows the public continues to distrust both the Big Business parties, that the NDP is still being punished for the Rae government. Support for the `other' parties tracks the work of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform and seems to be an indicator of public interest in voting reform, and for political alternatives to the status quo."

     "A minority that isolates the Tories and puts hard reigns on the Liberals, would be a big improvement over the status quo," said Rowley. "Of course, the big breakthrough would be the election of Communists and left-wing Greens, which will be more likely with the passage of MMP in the referendum."

     As it is, voters are left with the option of jumping from the Liberal frying pan into the Tory fire, said Rowley, noting Ontario voted Liberal in 2003 because of promises to reverse virtually everything the Harris Tories had done. This included promises to reverse P-3 hospitals, a new funding formula for public education, improve access to universities, protect public services, and fund municipalities.

     "Those promises were cancelled two weeks before election day, when McGuinty signed the pledge not to raise taxes, produced by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Voters had no idea what this would mean. But they do now," she said. "The Liberals have rolled out Tory policies for four years. The faces change, but the corporate, right-wing agenda rolls on. No wonder people are cynical."

     In this election, the same scenario seems to be playing out. Liberal promises to fund health care, education, cities and social services are attacked as "broken promises" by the Tories, whose leader John Tory studiously avoids any hint of policy.

     As the possibility of a minority government becomes more set, the Tories have fallen back on former Ontario Premier Bill Davis' wedge strategy to edge out a victory. Almost 25 years ago, Davis cut a deal with the Catholic bishops to extend full funding to Catholic schools up to Grade 13.

     Now, Tory leader John Tory is trying the same ploy. Wrapping himself in the flag of "equal rights", it seems Tory has made a deal with a vocal coalition of fundamentalist Christians, Muslims and Jews, who are demanding funding for all religious schools in the province. Will those votes deliver the Tories to government? John Tory seems to think it will.

     While the Tories tack to the right, the Liberals are tacking to the left. But as the polls show, at least up to now, voters aren't buying it.

     An aggressive campaign by the labour and people's movements for progressive policy and electoral reform can help block the drive to the right by the Big Business parties. An aggressive campaign by the NDP will also help.The Greens have come out in opposition to funding any religious schools, including the Catholic schools.

     The Communist Party, which for decades has campaigned for a single, universal and secular public school system open to all irrespective of religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or race, will run up to ten candidates.

     "We will campaign hard in every riding we contest," said Rowley. "We have strong progressive policies, a political agenda that has peoples' needs at its core, and a strategy for progress that hinges on unifying the labour and democratic forces around policies, parties and candidates working together in coalitions inside and outside the legislature. The passage of Mixed Member Proportional representation will make this much more possible. PR is a system the Communist Party has championed for decades, and MMP is a model of PR we are strongly supporting today.

     "We are also very pleased to put forward a slate of candidates with deep roots and a strong track record in their communities. We are delighted that a third of our candidates are first-time candidates; a third are under 26, and three are members of the Young Communist League. Shona Bracken and Johan Boyden are running in Toronto Danforth and Toronto Centre, and Drew Garvie is campaigning in Guelph. Several are active in student organizations and labour youth committees.

     "We are pleased to be running in St. Catharines for the first time in many years, and that labour columnist Sam Hammond will be our candidate there. Dave McKee, a printer and former Executive member of the Canadian Peace Alliance will be campaigning in Davenport. Veteran labour activist Bob Mann will once again campaign in Hamilton, fighting for manufacturing jobs, wages and pension rights, and universal healthcare. Stuart Ryan, another labour veteran, and prominent activist in Ottawa's peace movement, is campaigning again in Ottawa Centre.

     "And I am campaigning in Brampton for the first time, in two-tier Tony Clement's former riding, where P-3 hospitals were test-tube birthed at the Osler hospital. I'm delighted to make the links between Tory, Tory and Tony Clement. And we won't forget McGuinty!" she said.

     Other Communist nominations are pending.

     (Toronto-area readers are invited to meet the local Communist candidates on the evening of Sat., Sept. 29, at the Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave., Toronto. For information call 416-469-2446.)

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

Thousands of people rallied against George Bush, Stephen Harper and Felipe Calderon during the "Three Amigos" summit at Montebello, despite a concerted campaign by politicians and the mainstream media to downplay the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" as nothing more than tidying up government regulations.

     The largest rally took place on August 19 in Ottawa, where opponents of the SPP from across Ontario and Quebec gathered to condemn the deal as a plan to speed up the process of North American integration.

     On the next day, demonstrators headed to nearby Montebello, where 4,000 police and troops were stationed. Earlier, the courts had struck down plans by the Canadian and U.S. military to impose a draconian 25-kilometre "security zone" around Montebello, but the Summit was heavily guarded, and the Council of Canadians was never allowed to hold its planned forum on the SPP at a nearby location.

     At Montebello, protest leaders were prevented from delivering a petition signed by more than 10,000 people. The RCMP had previously told the Council of Canadians that the petitions could be delivered just outside the gates of the Chateau.

     "This is clearly not a security concern but a political prohibition," said Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. "This is yet another strong message from the Conservative government that they are not willing to hear the concerns of Canadians on the Security and Prosperity Partnership."

The Council and many other groups are demanding that the Harper government cease all SPP talks until the agreement is brought before parliament and the public.

     Anti-SPP actions were held in some three dozen communities across Canada, ranging from forums to pickets to rallies. One of the largest, organized by Vancouver's StopWar peace coalition, No One Is Illegal, and the Council of Canadians, drew some 600 people to the Art Gallery, shutting down Robson Street for over an hour.  Meanwhile, the suspicious actions of several "protesters" at Montebello indicated that the police were using provocateurs in an attempt to spark confrontations.

     A Canadian Press story dated August 21 reads as follows:

     "Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que. Such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged agents provocateurs have been caught on camera.

     "A video, posted on YouTube, shows three young men, their faces masked by bandannas, mingling Monday [Aug. 20] with protesters in front of a line of police in riot gear. At least one of the masked men is holding a rock in his hand.

     "The three are confronted by protest organizer Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. Coles makes it clear the masked men are not welcome among his group of protesters, whom he describes as mainly grandparents. He urges them to leave and find their own protest location.

     "Coles also demands that they put down their rocks. Other protesters begin to chime in that the three are really police agents. Several try to snatch the bandannas from their faces.

     "Rather than leave, the three actually start edging closer to the police line, where they appear to engage in discussions. They eventually push their way past an officer, whereupon other police shove them to the ground and handcuff them.

     "Late Tuesday, photographs taken by another protester surfaced, showing the trio lying prone on the ground. The photos show the soles of their boots adorned by yellow triangles. A police officer kneeling beside the men has an identical yellow triangle on the sole of his boot....

     "Veteran protester Jaggi Singh said ... four of those arrested are known to organizers and are genuine protesters.

     "But we see very clearly in that video three (other) men being arrested ... How do (police) account for these three people being taken in, being arrested? Where did they go?" Singh said. "I have no hesitation in saying they were police agents ... and they were caught red-handed."

     "Singh, a member of the Montreal-based No One is Illegal, believes the agents were meant to provoke a confrontation and give the police an excuse to use some of their `toys,' such as tear gas and rubber bullets.

     "To a certain extent it's self-fulfilling logic. You provide police with this kind of equipment and they end up using it and one way to justify it is to plant some people that toss a rock or two."

     The YouTube video of the suspected provocateurs can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow.

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Sean Burton

One hundred more manufacturing jobs can be added to the over 250,000 already lost across Canada in the last few years. Corner Brook could once claim to be an industrial centre of sorts in Newfoundland, boasting a large pulp and paper mill, a cement plant, and a wallboard gypsum plant. The cement plant closed well over a decade ago, and now the gypsum plant is joining it.

     The plant's owners, Lafarge, announced without warning early in July that they were closing the facility. The workers and the entire community were taken completely by surprise; many people thought the plant was doing well enough to get by. But according to Lafarge, diminishing markets and stronger competition forced them to make this difficult decision.

     The plant employs just over fifty people. Another fifty, primarily those involved in the shipping of the product, will also lose their jobs. A month later, the Williams government had yet to offer any serious commentary.

     The only major industry left in Corner Brook is the pulp and paper mill owned by Kruger, which directly employs almost one thousand people, and hundreds more indirectly. The mill has often told its employees and the public that it is having hard times, in spite of being one of Kruger's most profitable operations. The mill recently shut down one of its main machines for two weeks in an effort to stay "financially stable."

     This is only the latest in a series of industrial shutdowns in Newfoundland (and across Canada). The Stephenville pulp and paper mill owned by Abitibi Consolidated closed two years ago, and the other large mill in Grand Falls-Windsor closed one its main machines around the same time. The Williams government continues to act tough in the eyes of many Newfoundlanders, but this province still faces declining population due to the lack of stable, well paying jobs which workers can't get from Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire. Newfoundland and Labrador has oil, minerals, and other resources at its disposal, so there is no reason why our smaller cities and towns should be faced with such decline.

     This October, Newfoundlanders will go to the polls. Will voters back "Danny boy" to deliver the goods in the future? The answer is almost irrelevant, since the local Liberal and NDP opposition are lagging far behind Williams and his "fighting Newfoundlander" mystique. Meanwhile, another hundred people must figure out where in Canada they will have to move to support their families.

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Stephen Von Sychowski

On August 31, Canada will lose 102 more unionized industrial jobs when Molson Coors closes its brewery in Edmonton, Alberta. Workers at the brewery went on strike at the end of May to fight back against the company's campaign to force a two-tier wage and pension system and to cut back time off. They have kept up their valiant fight since then, and were told at the end of July that the brewery would be shut down and that there was no way they would stop the closure, even if they accepted the company's unreasonable concession demands.

     "We did everything in our power to prevent this from happening, but the company did not seem interested," says CAW 284 President, Garth Sanderson in a press release posted on their website. "This brewery has been around for 102 years and I can't believe it is about to close ...I don't know what the workers will do."

     Is Molson Coors trying to send a message to their workers around the world that they shouldn't expect to stand up for themselves and get away with it? Or have these 102 hard working Canadians jobs just become "unprofitable" for the fat cat owners of this U.S. Corporation?

     Yes, that's right, U.S. Corporation. But what about "Molson CANADIAN", "I am CANADIAN" and "Molson Hockey Night in CANADA"? Well, actually Molson retired its famous "I am Canadian" slogan in 2005. Perhaps even they were ashamed to keep using it after merging with U.S.-based Adolph Coors Co. (no comment on the first name) in July 2004, ending the existence of Molson as a Canadian corporation. At this point the Molson family owns only 50% of a controlling trust in the company. At any rate, neither the American nor the Canadian capitalists involved in this merged beer monopoly seem concerned about the needs of their workers in Edmonton.

     So, on May 30, the workers set up pickets and began calling for a boycott of Molson products. Of course CAW 284 deserves our support, as does any worker who stands up for their rights and interests against the boss. If Molson Coors Co. feels it is unable to provide jobs with decent and sufficient working conditions for its employees, it should be brought back under Canadian control through nationalization, with public control and a new contract that satisfies the needs of the workers.

     Then at least it could justify those "patriotic" ad campaigns, "eh". As for Molson "Canadian", isn't it about time to tell them to go to hell with all their anti-worker activities and misleading phony patriotism, or at least back to the U.S. where they come from? Then again, after six years of the Bush regime, who could tell the difference?

     During the strike, when progressive Albertans and supporters of the striking workers around the country went out for a brew, they stayed clear of Molson Coors products out of respect for the union's call for boycott. Next time you swing by the liquor store, or head down to the pub, keep those 102 now unemployed workers in mind. They are among the most recent victims of the de-industrialization and sellout of our country by capitalism.

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

Maybe it was appropriate that the federal cabinet shuffle coincided with the season finale of the popular TV show, "So You Think You Can Dance." Mired in the polls, Stephen Harper hopes that his little two-step routine will convince Canadians that the Conservatives really can sparkle on the big stage, instead of stomping on our toes. His problem is not a need for "better communicators," but the reality that most Canadians reject his far-right agenda. Not surprisingly, the inept Gordon O'Connor is gone as defence minister, but as long as Canadian troops are dying and killing in Afghanistan, his replacement Peter MacKay will not be able to shift popular opinion on this horrendous imperialist war. Having trashed the Wheat Board during his term as Agriculture Dictator, Chuck Strahl Is now in charge of Indian Affairs, ready to use his minuscule supply of charm to convince Aboriginal peoples to surrender their inherent national rights for some cash. Then there's Bev Oda, the former minister for Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, where she alienated a wide swath of voters by attacking both culture and gender equality. Ironically, Oda is how the minister for International Cooperation.

     The cabinet shuffle also coincided with Mr. Harper's latest stand in defence of Canadian sovereignty, against those dastardly Russians with their titanium flag. Harper has made a career out of integration into the U.S. empire, and his bravado stands in sharp contrast to the continentalist project known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

     Harper's pathetic public relations efforts emphasize that he has never had a popular mandate to carry out his neoliberal, sellout, reactionary agenda. The Tories are vulnerable, and the opposition parties and the people's movements must step up efforts to drive them out as soon as possible. Stronger popular resistance during the fall session of Parliament can help create better conditions to force the government to go to the polls. This is no time to sit back and wait for the Conservatives to sink beneath the weight of their rhetoric. It's time to step up the heat!

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

Vancouver's right-wing civic government stubbornly keeps its municipal and library workers on the picket line, after most other Lower Mainland municipalities have settled with their employees. Mayor Sam Sullivan and his fellow NPA councillors keep grandstanding, hoping to defeat striking CUPE members. Instead of bargaining in good faith, the NPA wastes taxpayers' dollars on phony "surveys" and partisan media ads. While other regional municipalities negotiated critical local issues, Vancouver refuses to discuss issues such as the pay equity sought by library workers. The GVRD contract pattern is based on five-year deals and 17.5% pay increases, yet Vancouver city council sticks to its 16.5% offer, while also conducting a deceitful poll hinting that the CUPE strikers are refusing 17.5%. Local citizens paid the bill for the city's Ipsos-Reid poll, estimated at about $100,000.

     Then the city placed expensive newspaper carried ads filled with blatant falsehoods. For example, the ads claim that CUPE employee benefits include 51.1 annual paid days off - a figure which includes statutory holidays and earned time accumulated by working extra hours and days.

     Now civic officials say that the strike could drag on for months. This is clearly a tactic designed to turn the public against the strikers, especially if community schools will remain closed in September.

     The NPA wants Vancouver to be known as a "world-class city." To merit that lofty title, Sam's gang should be prepared to pay their hard-working employees the level of wages and benefits which are necessary to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet. We urge full support for the CUPE strikers - if you live in Vancouver, get on the phone or send an email today to the mayor and councillors, demanding that the city stop foot-dragging and reach a deal now!

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

August 21, 2007 - The Aboriginal People's Commission of the Communist Party of Canada, and the Central Executive Committee of the CPC, condemn the violations by the Canadian state of the democratic rights and civil liberties of Shawn Brant, who on August 10 was denied bail on charges resulting from events during the June 29, 2007, Aboriginal Day of Action. We join with others in demanding that Shawn Brant be released immediately and allowed to rejoin his family pending his day in court, and that he be allowed to freely express his views and participate in political activities, in particular the just struggles for reclamation of indigenous lands. We also express our full solidarity with the community at Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory asked for wide support of Shawn Brant's bid for win bail. Finally, we voice our outrage that after centuries of theft of aboriginal territories and violation of nation-to-nation treaties by the Canadian ruling class, the full power of the state is brought to bear, not upon those who profited from these injustices, but against those who courageously stand up to demand their rights and to effectively mobilize Aboriginal peoples and their supporters. It is not Shawn Brant who belongs in jail; it is those who stand in the way of justice, freedom and equality!

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

As the Harper Conservatives shuffle the deck and polish their image in preparation for a federal election (or perhaps hoping to stave off a trip to the polls), People's Voice wants to remind Canadians why it's so crucial to drive the Tories out of office. Here are 52 important reasons, in no particular order, raised by a wide range of groups, from the Canadian Islamic Congress to anti-war groups to Xtra.ca to the Communist Party. No doubt many readers have other equally valid reasons to dump this wretched gang of ultra-right, warmongering, corporate toadies. Email your favourite reason to defeat Harper's Tories to http://pvoice@telus.net, and we'll print more in a future issue.

1. The occupation of Afghanistan

The Conservatives are expanding Canada's expensive and bloody military mission in Afghanistan, and recently voted down (unfortunately together with the NDP) a Liberal motion in Parliament to end participation in the U.S.-led occupation by the currently-scheduled deadline of February 2009. Canada's military presence in Kandahar is making life more perilous in that region, and the US-led NATO occupation forces are propping up one set of warlords without making a significant difference in the lives of women and ordinary Afghan civilians. To date, over 60 Canadians and thousands of Afghans have died in this tragic war, which has cost Canadian taxpayers over $4 billion.

2. Military spending up, social programs down

Harper has promised a $5.3 billion increase in military spending over the next five years, while at the same time cutting $1 billion from Canada's frayed social safety net. For example, the Youth Employment Strategy, which helped more than 50,000 young people find jobs last summer, was slashed by one-half, $17.7 million was cut from core adult literacy programs, and a $9.7 million program that encouraged adults to volunteer was eliminated.

3. Accountability promises broken

One of the Conservatives' original "five priorities" on taking office was an accountability law to make governmental business more transparent. But the Tories have done exactly the opposite. Stephen Harper insisted that members of the Press Gallery sign a waiting-list to ask questions, and he has even muzzled his own ministers to prevent them from speaking out. In mid-October 2006, Ontario Conservative MP Garth Turner was expelled for criticizing party policy, and most recently, Nova Scotia Conservative was also expelled for voting against the federal budget.

4. "Green Plan" gets thumbs down

The federal government's so-called "Green Plan" has met with angry opposition from scientists and environmental organizations. Released last April 26, the strategy relies on "intensity targets" that allow actual emissions to rise for several years. According to the plan, Canada won't meet its Kyoto targets until 2025, not the original 2012 date. The plan is "a national embarrassment," said David Suzuki. "Calling this plan a strategy is actually giving it far too much credit. It's a sham, and a complete abdication of our international commitment... By abandoning Kyoto, Prime Minister Harper is dragging Canada's name through the mud. He's thumbing his nose at all the countries that are well on their way to meeting their targets and at the majority of Canadians who want to do the right thing." Suzuki called for support of Bill C-30, the original Clean Air Act initiated by the Conservatives. After going through an extensive multi-party revision, C-30 is now considered a much more comprehensive and robust plan to fight the growing threat of global warming.

5. Loopholes for oil sands

The Polaris Institute warns that Baird's proposals for "intensity based targets" to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are "flawed and full of loopholes." As the Institute's Tony Clarke stresses, "intensity targets" will only set GHG limits per barrel of oil, and will not account for the enormous expansion in the Alberta oil sands industry, which produces over a million barrels of crude oil every day, most of which is exported directly to the United States. Gigantic equipment is used to strip away trees, muskeg and top layers of earth followed by deep open pit mining and sub-surface in-situ steam methods to get the bitumen which is then melted to extract the oil. The process requires the burning of relatively clean natural gas, emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Currently, annual emissions from tar sands production amount to 27 million tonnes. By 2015, to meet rapidly rising U.S. demands, crude oil production from the sands is expected to multiply four to five times, and resulting GHG emissions will rise to 126 million tonnes.

6. No incentive for public transit

A $2000 tax break for those who buy fuel-efficient cars may sound like a good idea. Hybrids are a more environmentally-sound choice than simple gasoline models, but there are better alternatives. There's no incentive in the last federal budget to take public transportation, bike or live close to your work. The plan may actually discourage downtown living, allowing suburbs to mushroom while downtown cores rot.

7. Politicizing selection of judges

On Feb. 15, 2007, Stephen Harper acknowledged he wants to appoint judges who will promote his law-and-order agenda, calling into question the independence of Canada's judiciary. "We want to make sure we are bringing forward laws to ... crackdown on crime... We want to make sure our selection of judges is in correspondence with those objectives," Harper said. Conservative appointments to the board that recommends new judges have included twice-defeated Conservative candidate Mark Bettens, a firefighter with one year of school at Cape Breton University and no discernible expertise in law, and Harper's friend John Weissenberger, who later resigned from the committee to take a job on Parliament Hill.

8. Attacks on civil liberties

On Feb. 15, 2007 the Harper government tabled a motion to extend "anti-terror" provisions in place since 2001. The sweeping Anti-Terror Act, implemented under the Martin Liberal government, included a "sunset" clause of five years on provisions enabling "preventive arrests" without specific charges laid and on and compelling witnesses to undergo "investigative hearings." The extension of these draconian clauses was defeated by an opposition coalition on Feb. 28, 2007. However, Harper's caucus continues to indulge in a smear campaign against opposition MPs who are reluctant to completely scrap human rights.

9. No-fly list without checks and balances

    Ottawa's Passenger Protect program - or no-fly list - raises serious alarm bells about privacy, individual liberties and the potential for government abuse. Worse, the names on the list are shared with Washington. Many names are on the list due only to similarities with the names of alleged security risks.  

10. Racist toward immigrants

On several occasions Harper has made inflammatory and insensitive remarks about immigrants. In January 2001, he said that ridings held by Liberals west of Winnipeg are comprised of recent Asian immigrants who "live in ghettos, and who are not integrated into western Canadian society." Now that his party is in power, Harper has deported designated "illegal" workers - including Portuguese tradespersons doing skilled labour in the Toronto construction industry - some of whom have been in Canada for more than a decade and have school-aged children. In February 2007, a small town in rural Quebec compiled a list of "standards" that it expects potential immigrants to observe, including one that forbids "killing women in public beatings or burning them alive." The Tories stayed mute despite this ignorant and inflammatory mis-interpretation of Islam.

11. Canada's sovereignty for sale

     Canada's sovereignty is being jeopardized by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, a plan that seeks to harmonize some 300 critical areas of legislation and regulation. To achieve those ends, business and political leaders from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. have been meeting in secret. Implementation of the SPP will result in lower standards for security, air safety, the environment, health care and labour rights. Leading up to the Montebello Summit in August, the federal government cooperated with the U.S. military and police to impose a security perimeter around the event, where Harper, Bush and Mexican president Calderon discussed ways to advance the SPP agenda.

12. Nothing on Iraq disaster

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which violated the most fundamental principles of international law. Nearly half a million Iraqis have fled their homes and registered for government aid. Even though most Iraqis feel their situation was better before the U.S.-led invasion, Harper, who supported the American-led Iraq War in 2003 even before becoming PM, has said nothing about the disastrous military occupation of that country.

13. Ignoring war resisters

Canada has granted asylum to only 14 of 740 U.S. refugee claimants in the past three years - all of them babies born in the United States to foreign couples. All claims filed by U.S. Army war resisters have been rejected, even as the Iraq disaster rages on.

14. Pro-Israel at all costs

Stephen Harper has offered unequivocal support for Israel, even after its July 2006 bombing of the village of Qana in,Lebanon and the Israeli killing of a Canadian military observer. Unlike most countries, Canada refuses to call on the Israeli government to desist from acts of aggression against neighbouring states, to respect the rights of Palestinians, and to withdraw completely from the territories occupied since 1967, in violation of international law and of numerous UN Security Council resolutions. In February 2007, the Conservatives established a pro-Israel lobby group called the Canadian Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus, launched in concert with Israeli Knesset Christian allies.

15. Support for occupation of Palestine

In 2006, MP Wajid Khan went on a fact-finding mission to the Middle East. Whatever he found regarding conditions in the West Bank and occupied Palestinian territories has been ignored and/or suppressed by the Harper government. There has been no change in Canada's official support of Israel's state-sanctioned policy of terror and oppression against Palestinians. The Harper government was the first to join the U.S.-led boycott of the democratically elected Hamas government, withholding vital aid and funding. 

16. Tacit support for threats against Iran

Iran has the right under international law to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes, and the IAEA has found no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran. According to estimates by U.S. intelligence agencies, Iran (assuming that it wanted a nuclear weapon, which its government denies) is ten years away from having the ability to make one. The U.S. propaganda campaign against Iran has been characterized by disinformation of the same kind that marked claims about Iraq's so-called "weapons of mass destruction." Yet as U.S. threats escalate toward military action, Canada has said nothing in response. Nor has Harper cautioned Israel about its planned aggressive action - even after ultra-right wing Strategic Affairs Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, announced that Israel will go it alone, if necessary, to confront Iran.

17. Corporate profits at record highs

Corporate pre-tax profits now account for a record-high share of Canada's national income - 14.6% of GDP compared to a 25 year average of 10%. Pre-tax corporate profits in the second quarter of 2006 were $196.1 billion, compared to $183.7 billion in the same quarter of 2005. Yet the corporate tax-rate was cut from 28% in 2000, to 21% in 2006. The Harper government has the strong support of both domestic and foreign (mainly U.S.) corporations, and a Conservative majority would act in the interests of big capital, not the working class of Canada.

18. Two-tier health expanding

Federal governments have done little to stop the attack on universal Medicare led by the provincial governments of BC, Ontario and Alberta. This is rapidly creating two-tier health care, a system which preys on the desperate and allows the rich to buy their way to the front of the line. The attack is two-pronged, aiming at public delivery as well as insurance (Medicare). Public pressure stopped the two-tiering Copeman clinics in Ontario and halted the "Third Way" in Alberta, but the Harper Tories have not used the Canada Health Act as a tool to block the creeping privatisation of health care.

19. Safe-injection site threatened

A June 2007 poll showed that 63% of British Columbians (and 73% of Vancouver residents) support the extension of the federal licence for InSite, the only facility of its kind in Canada, which allows drug users to use clean needles to inject their own drugs under a nurse's supervision. The facility operates under a legal exemption of the Canadian Criminal Code. That exemption is set to run out in December 2007, and the Conservatives, under pressure from the Bush administration and other right-wing "drug war" advocates, refuse to indicate whether they will extend it. Health advocates warn that closure will result in higher numbers of deaths, and the faster spread of communicable diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis-C.

20. Afghan prisoner abuse

Canadian troops in Afghanistan are required to adhere to Geneva Convention rules, which require that prisoners captured and transferred to the Afghan police are treated humanely, not abused or tortured. Despite this legal obligation, news emerged last spring that detainees turned over by Canadian troops are beaten, clubbed, whipped and shocked. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which Ottawa asked to supervise prisoners, is short on staff and has been denied access to some detainees. Harper and then-Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor dismissed the report as "rumours and allegations," but it was clear that the government was trying to orchestrate a cover-up.

21. Stronger ties with California

Just when you thought Canada was already too close to the U.S. empire.... in June 2007, "Canada's New Government" joined an Alberta-led trade and investment mission to California. Key events included roundtable sessions with venture capitalists, a panel on about nanotechnology commercialization, and "a celebration of Canada's 140th birthday with distinguished Canadians living in California." Rona Ambrose (now Federal minister of Western Economic Diversification) and Doug Horner (Minister of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology) met with industry representatives on a mission to "support increased collaboration between innovators on both sides of the border..."

22. Focus on the Family links

It lasted only a few months, but Darrell Reid's appointment as then-environment minister Rona Ambrose's chief of staff in September 2006 sent shivers up the spines of even moderate Conservatives. Reid was the head of Focus On The Family Canada from 1998 to 2004, an ideologically anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-abortion group with connections to the leaders of the US Christian right. Founded in 1983, Focus On The Family Canada is affiliated with the US evangelical group, Focus On The Family, headed by James Dobson. Though the Canadian organization has little influence outside of rural enclaves and evangelical churches, its US parent is seen as a major influence on the Republican Party and politics generally.

23. Tearing up the Kelowna Accord

Stephen Harper cancelled the Kelowna Accord, negotiated under the previous Liberal government to help bridge the gap between First Nations peoples and other Canadians. In April 2006, three months after Harper won his minority victory, finance minister Jim Flaherty (a former Mike-Harris era MPP) unveiled his first budget, with an $800 million hole where phase one of the $5.1-billion Kelowna Accord was supposed to be. Despite many shortcomings (such as failure to address the urgent needs of off-reserve Aboriginal people), the agreement represented the largest payout to First Nations in Canada's history.

24. Mercenaries for Afghanistan

The US has spent the last ten years privatizing its military operations, turning over critical responsibilities to so-called "security contractors" such as Blackwater USA. This change has been roundly criticized for its high costs and profiteering, poor working conditions for employees, and the lack of accountability to the public. Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day has raised the possibility of Canada hiring a similar rent-an-army. "To get the best system delivery at the best price, there's a possibility for the private sector there," according to Day.

25. Women encouraged to stay home

The Harper government clearly wants to keep women at home. Its 2007 budget disproportionately rewarded married couples where one partner earns most or all of the income. These breaks shift the trade-off for women who are already at home in the direction of staying there, and even rewards partners who work part time for quitting to stay at home. Their $100/month "child care benefit" for children under six does virtually nothing for moms who work; the plan is aimed at those already staying at home with their kids. Can you say "social engineering?"

26. Major cuts for CBC?

Canadians have been warned that the CBC is on the chopping block if Harper gets a majority. In May 2004, he raised doubts about the future of those parts of the CBC where there is a commercial alternative, in particular its English TV arm and CBC Radio Two. His comments have been echoed by cabinet minister Tony Clement, who questioned the necessity of the CBC during the party leadership convention. A Conservative majority could spell the gradual shrivelling of the Canadian cultural production industry, putting thousands of artists, performers and technicians out of work.

27. North American Union underway

Dozens of regulations are being quietly altered to help integrate Canada with our neighbours to the south, without public consultation. Up for grabs are the Canadian energy policies, drug laws, federal food regulations, and much more. At a 2006 meeting in Banff, public safety minister Stockwell Day and defence minister Gordon O'Connor met with the military, political and business elite to discuss how to open the Canada-US and US-Mexico borders. Notes obtained through US freedom of information laws outline fears that further integration, similar to that of the European Union, would not be well received by the citizens. Their solution? Integration by stealth, with the harmonization of food, drug, transportation and energy regulations which do not require parliamentary approval.

28. Re-open marriage debate?

In the fall of 2006, after the Conservatives lost their bid to reopen the same-sex marriage debate, religious leaders like Dave Quist (Focus On The Family Canada) and Joseph Ben-Ami (Institute For Canadian Values) called for a Royal Commission On Marriage And The Family, claiming that gay parents are "hazardous to children." Given that Harper owes Ben-Ami and Quist for selling his other policies (replacing the child-care plan with tax credits, raising the age of consent, gutting Status Of Women Canada), don't be surprised if this idea re-surfaces under a Harper majority as a way to set the stage to reverse same-sex marriage rights.

29. Cities blanked in 2007 budget

City finances are the problem of the provinces, Harper and the Conservatives said on the release of their 2007 budget. While Ottawa is the key player in efforts to fix Canada's crumbling urban infrastructure, the Conservatives have ignored calls for cities to collect a portion of the gas tax, among other things. With the ongoing downloading of programs, cities have reached a financial crisis point. The Conservatives did not elect any MPs from major cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver in the 2006 election.

30. Stacking the Immigration Board

Jean-Guy Fleury, chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, resigned last March after the Conservatives moved to stack the board with Tory partisans. Harper had let vacancies on the 156-member board grow from 5 to 60, Fleury told Parliament's immigration committee, leading to a mounting backlog of claims. Before Harper took power, IRB members were not appointed by politicians, but now they are. Such policy is at the discretion of the Prime Minister's Office, so Harper doesn't need approval to appoint the committee's members.

31. Fundamentalists grab nominations

In the January 2006 election campaign, dozens of far-right religious fundamentalist Conservative candidates were on the ballot. Some got elected (Jason Kenney, Cheryl Gallant), but many others did not, such as Vancouver-Sunshine Coast candidate John Weston and Christian Legal Fellowship president Cindy Silver. If such Conservatives join Kenney and Gallant to form a Harper majority in the next Parliament, the religious right well be in an extremely powerful position.

32. Press access to PMO limited

After winning a minority government in January 2006 (in part due to the mainstream media's support), Stephen Harper indicated that his office would not handle the press in the traditional manner. Eventually, he said he would not speak to the "anti-Conservative" Parliamentary Press Gallery. Harper has spent much of his time in office avoiding scrutiny by the media, and keeping a tight rein on his cabinet ministers.

33. Repeal of hate law urged

Stephen Harper voted against the addition of gays and lesbians to hate propaganda laws in 2004, and Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew) says the amendments should be repealed. Harper said at the time that "the term sexual orientation is legally vague." Gallant told reporters that the term included pedophiles, and should be repealed. She claimed that the whole Conservative caucus agreed with her, although others in the party officially denied it. Gallant never lets a sleeping dog lie, so expect this issue to resurface if the Conservatives pick up a majority.

34. RCMP arrests whistleblower

While in opposition, Stephen Harper liked "whistleblowers" who lifted the lid on Liberal misdeeds. But in office, he wants to intimidate public service employees who would rat him out. The RCMP led one Environment Canada employee out of his Ottawa office in handcuffs. Environment Minister John Baird defended the action as following up on a possible breach of the public services' code of ethics. A spokesperson from the Climate Action Network called it "a witch-hunt."

35. Harper "personally opposed" to abortion

Stephen Harper has never said that he won't end women's right to choose, or that he would leave second-term abortions alone. He's never said he wouldn't require mandatory counselling for women who choose to end a pregnancy. What he has said is "A Conservative government in its first term led by me will not be bringing in abortion legislation or sponsoring an abortion referendum." That's what he told CTV in 2004 after his health critic, Rob Merrifield, said mandatory counselling would be a good thing for women who get an abortion.

36. AIDS conference snubbed

Stephen Harper was absent when 20,000 activists, scientists and politicians descended on Toronto on Aug. 13, 2006, for the largest AIDS conference ever held. Participants were demanding major contributions under the banner "Time to deliver." The fallout of Harper's absence snowballed after conference co-chair Dr. Mark Wainberg criticised the PM during opening ceremonies. A sheepish Harper later used a photo op with billionaire Bill Gates to pledge an $111-million initiative to find an AIDS vaccine.

37. Status of Women slashed

Status of Women Canada (SWC) was the only government arm to address gender inequalities at a cross-Canada level, financing research and policy development through advocacy. When Stephen Harper made his first billion dollars in cuts, the operating budget of Status of Women Canada was slashed by $5 million, or 40 percent. The Conservatives also announced that the SWC Women's Program will only finance direct, local initiatives, and barred funding for projects that include advocacy for equality. According to the Canadian Feminist Alliance For International Action: "The current terms and conditions aim to provide `direct' and `local' assistance. This is very much based on a charity model which ignores the systemic issues behind the problem at hand. Instead of providing analysis and aiming for legal change the current approach privileges a case by case basis, almost as if women's poverty and violence against women were exceptions, aberrations to the norm. This approach is not meant to result in any significant change and does not challenge the status quo."

38. Criminalizing youth sexuality

Health and legal experts told the Parliamentary justice committee last winter that Conservative Bill C-22, raising the age of consent from 14 to 16, is dangerous. It will create extra barriers to accessing contraceptives, abortions and sexual health information for young people, and is unlikely to change their behaviours. C-22 has been condemned by every major LGBT community lobby group, and by the Canadian AIDS Society, Planned Parenthood and the youth-led Age Of Consent Committee. Yet the Conservatives appear happy that C-22 will limit young people's access to condoms and abortions. Judging by Conservative rhetoric, there may eventually be legal efforts to raise the age of consent to 18.

39. Charter Challenge Program nixed

The Harper government axed the Court Challenges Program, which allowed many cash-strapped organizations to launch language and equality appeals based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For example, the LGBT community and their allies won equal marriage rights through the courts in BC, Ontario, and Quebec. When the former Liberal government sent questions on this issue to the Supreme Court in 2004, Court Challenges Program funding helped ensure that affected groups could make the legal case that marriage equality was a Charter issue. The Charter extends some protections against the infringement of basic human rights, whether by people, corporations, or governments. But equal treatment is out the window if only those with big bank accounts can go to court. Maybe that's why Brian Mulroney's Conservative government killed the program in 1992. Jean Chrétien's Liberals revived the program two years later. A Harper Conservatives majority would make it nearly impossible to revive the program again.

40. Jobs vanish while Tories fiddle

Another 89,000 private sector jobs disappeared in May and June 2007, including 25,000 in the manufacturing sector, according to Statistics Canada. Under pressure from the rising Canadian dollar and other factors, manufacturing has shed over 250,000 jobs over the past five years. This is a crisis with grave implications. The number of Canadians who want to work but do not have a job stands at over one million. The economy is losing higher-paying, full-time jobs, forcing workers into lower-paying, insecure, part-time employment, usually in sales and services. The declining quality of work is affecting millions of Canadian families. So what is the Harper government's response? Expand the temporary foreign worker program, increasing the "reserve army of the unemployed" with the goal of driving down wage levels to increase corporate profits.

41. Omar Khadr still in US jail

On June 4, charges against Omar Khadr, the 20-year-old Canadian imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, were dismissed. A military judge tossed out the charges (laid years after Khadr's capture in Afghanistan at the age of 15), because prosecutors accused him of being an "enemy combatant," rather than an "unlawful" combatant. As an enemy combatant, Khadr should have been held under the Geneva Conventions, not locked up under horrifying conditions without adequate legal counsel or proper charges. The U.S. will appeal to the Court of Military Commission Review - which does not even exist yet. Meanwhile, Omar Khadr is back in solitary detention, and he could well face many years in this Kafkaesque nightmare. When he was captured, Omar Khadr was a child caught up in a whirlwind not of his making. Shame on the government of Canada for not demanding his release.

42. Keeping the agenda secret

If the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP) deal is so crucial, why are the Harper Conservatives so reluctant to debate it in Parliament? A new study by the corporate-financed Fraser Institute claims that the SPP and other agreements are "the best way to maintain an open border with the United States and safeguard our trade relationship." But the Institute's own figures show that in 2005, the U.S. already received 78% of Canadian exports, and was the source of 65% of our imports. The total value of such trade was $709 billion, about 52% of Canada's annual GDP. The Fraser Institute wants that process to accelerate towards "deep integration," leaving Canada with a flag and Parliament buildings, but probably not our own currency, and no real sovereignty over our economy, social programs or foreign policy. Yet the Harper Tories prefer to keep us in the dark. On May 10, Conservative MPs shut down parliamentary hearings on the SPP, while University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer was testifying that Canadians will be left to "freeze in the dark" under plans to integrate energy supplies across North America. MP Leon Benoit, Tory chair of the committee on international trade which was holding the hearings, ruled that Laxer's testimony was not relevant. When opposition MPs overruled Benoit, he "adjourned" the meeting and stormed out.

43. Students hit by Tory cuts

Because of federal government cuts and changes to funding criteria, many students looking for employment over the past summer were out of luck. In many communities, the changes meant that tourism and local service groups such as food banks took a hit. The Tories claimed they wanted to ensure money reached "worthy groups". But who are the "worthy" students? Those who already have money and do not have to rely on summer employment? What are the "worthy" groups? Obviously not historic sites or food banks. The fact is simply that the Tories aren't interested in the future of youth.

44. Manipulation of farm vote

The Conservatives forced an inconclusive referendum of western Canadian barley producers on March 29, 2007, misleading many farmers to believe that they could sell barley to either the CWB or on the open market. Including such an option as one of three choices on the ballot was a deceptive device to imply a non-existent "middle way" between single-desk selling and no single desk selling of barley. But the final tally showed that by a margin of almost three to one, farmers supported one of the two options which included single-desk selling of barley. Predictably, the Conservatives spun the result the way they wanted, ignoring the real views of farmers.

45. Bullets, bombs, jails and spies

The Tories' 2007 budget revealed an increasing emphasis on the authoritarian side of the capitalist state - the military, prisons and police. This is the so-called "crime and terror" agenda, an attempt to win votes by fanning the fears of Canadians. One of the most significant spending increases was another huge boost in military spending, which is on the way to the $20 billion-plus range. An extra $200 million was earmarked for Canada's part in the NATO military occupation in Afghanistan. Another $106 million will be spent on federal jails, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service budget will be topped up by $80 million. This is a budget to pour taxpayers' dollars into bullets, bombs, jails and spies.

46. Money channelled to wealthy

Speaking for the Canadian Labour Congress, President Ken Georgetti pointed out that Jim Flaherty's March 19, 2007, budget "unfairly channels more money to wealthy individuals and profitable corporations... (and) greatly erodes the federal government's capacity to improve the quality of life of working people, families and communities." The CLC noted that the budget increases the lifetime capital gains exemption for business owners by $250,000 immediately and maintains the tax cuts previously scheduled for corporations. "The new packaging of the Conservatives should not fool Canadians," said Paul Moist, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. "Underneath these new promises is their true agenda: to weaken national social programs and diminish the role of public services in Canada. The government is abandoning its leadership role by having no conditions or federal accountability requirements linked to the additional transfers. This budget takes it one step further and encourages greater privatization of public services."

47. Budget sparks Aboriginal protests

The March 2007 Tory budget stirred up a storm of protest among Aboriginal peoples. "Today's budget was supposed to contain something for all Canadians, but today, First Nations are beyond disappointment," said Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "We don't see any reason to believe that the government cares about the shameful conditions of First Nations... Nowhere is the fiscal imbalance more apparent than in the critical under-funding of First Nations health, child welfare, education, housing and infrastructure. No other Canadian citizen has had to endure a two-percent cap on funding that has now lasted for over a decade. Our population continues to grow and the poverty gap continues to widen. Today's budget only contributes to the imbalance by providing $39 billion over seven years to the provinces, without any comparable attention to First Nations."

48. Security Certificates remain

On Feb. 23, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against "Security Certificate" provisions which allow the Canadian state to imprison foreign nationals as "suspected terrorists" - without being able to hear the case against them. In the case of Charkaoui v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), the Court found that the procedures under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act violate Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice." The Court gave Parliament a year to come up with a procedure which does not violate the Charter. Until then, the current process remains in place. The Supreme Court did not abolish Security Certificates, which allow the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to declare that a permanent resident or foreign national is "inadmissible on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, serious criminality or organized criminality." So while several detainees have been released, there is still room for the federal government to abuse this process in future, and the Harper Tories can be counted on to use such loopholes to undermine civil rights and freedoms.

49. Appeal of Matlow ruling

In an appalling display of contempt for electoral democracy, the Harper government has appealed the Matlow ruling. Last fall, an Ontario Superior Court judge upheld a complaint by several small federal political parties that the law granting $1.75 per vote annual grant only to parties which receive over 2% of the total vote is discriminatory. As the historic legal victory by the Communist Party of Canada in the Figueroa case made clear, such discrimination against parties on the basis of size is illegal, and this appeal will undoubtedly fail in higher courts. But the intended effect is to make such challenges so expensive and time-consuming that citizens will refrain from taking on governments. The situation brings to mind the real Golden Rule: "Those with the gold make the rules."

50. Attacks on Canadian Wheat Board

On July 27, 2006, federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl held a roundtable meeting in Saskatoon on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board, announcing that his government would not be bound by Section 47.1 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act, which prohibits any changes to the marketing of grain in Western Canada unless supported by a producer vote. Strahl issued a gag order prohibiting directors and staff of the Board from defending the CWB's role, and replaced two directors with partisan patronage appointments. On Oct. 17, 2006, in the middle of the CWB election, Strahl ordered the removal of 36 percent of Western Canada grain growers (16,269 farmers) from the list of eligible voters: victims of flood, drought, or bad harvest weather, and farmers who were in the middle of a crop rotation, or still had crops in the bin. Even so, farmers returned pro-CWB directors in four out of five districts. Saying what he can't do with legislation, he will do with regulation, Strahl stacked the CWB with political appointments, and replaced Board CEO Adrian Measner, a 32-year veteran of the organization, with a Harper "yes man." To this day, despite the parliamentary defeat of a bill that would strip the CWB of its single-desk authority, and a recent Supreme Court ruling against the government's actions, the Tories refuse to halt their attack on the Wheat Board. Why? Follow the money: as farmers lose power, the transnational grain companies gain access to cheaper grain. For the Harper Tories, profits for big corporations trump the laws of Canada and the interests of prairie farmers every time.

51. Anti-scab bill defeat

Legislation to ban the use of scabs during labour disputes involving federal public and private sector workplaces covered by the Canada Labour Code, was defeated on March 21, 2007. Introduced by BQ MP Richard Nadeau (Gatineau), Bill C-257 was supported by labour activists across the country. After the bill passed second reading, employers started putting pressure on Parliament. More than 100 union members took part in a three-day lobby organized by the Canadian Labour Congress in the three days leading up to the final vote. But in the end, 29 Liberal MPs and 20 Tories who had voted yes at Second Reading switched to ônoö at Third Reading.

52. Cutbacks for museums

The $4.5 million Museum Assistance Program was canned by the Tories, in favour of a $5-million 2-year program to hire summer students, which the Canadian Museums Association calls an initiative "stemming more from electoral preoccupations than from an analysis of the museums' priority needs." Also, the Portrait Gallery Of Canada, which helps museums put their pieces on tour, has been left out of future federal budgets entirely.

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Health Reporter

An "epidemic of fatness" is hitting North America. A new study getting lots of attention in the corporate media and the blogosphere says the real problem is your fat friends. But maybe this finding tells us more about the new business of "fat profiteering" and the rising poverty levels than anything else.

     Published in the New England Journal of Medicine in early August, the study analyzed data from an amazingly large social network - 12,067 people - who had been closely followed for just over thirty years. The finding? When a friend becomes obese your odds to get fat go up by 57 percent!

     Of course, there are many other fatness factors. The International Obesity Task Force (a group of NGOs linked to the World Health Organization) for example, points to almost twenty causes of obesity on several levels.

     The Task Force starts with international factors, like globalization of markets and media advertising, as well as national/regional factors, such as access to social security, and manufactured/imported foods. There are also community factors - public transport and public safety - and work/home/school factors such as worksite food and activity, and the accessibility of leisure activity and facilities.

     But wait - NGOs focused on fatness? Why so much interest in obesity? For starters, obesity is on the rise across North America, having doubled in the in the past two decades, and is leading to rising health care costs. (Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, strokes, cancer, kidney failure, asthma, arthritis, and even blindness, mental health problems, and falls.)

     In the US (where working people are still fighting for single-tier public healthcare) corporations are worried about obesity - especially the lost profits it causes. According to the American National Business Group on Health, obesity is costing "$13B annually in direct health costs combined with the costs of disability, absenteeism and lost productivity."

     They needn't worry too much, though, since as Michael Moore's new film points out, being slightly overweight is the way many US HMOs disqualify eligible people from health insurance coverage.

     In fact, there is far more interest in obesity by business as an investment opportunity. Merrill Lynch, which released a report on the topic in June 2007, says fat profiteering is booming in the areas of weight loss, exercise, medication and surgical procedures aimed at treating high blood-pressure or related problems.

     According to the Canadian Rx Atlas, cardiovascular and cholesterol drugs account for about 40 per cent of total Canadian prescription drug spending. Biovail Corp. of Mississauga evaluates the U.S. market for drugs to control blood pressure at $19.5 billion Canadian. At home, Biovail says, the market is valued at $4.1 billion.

     Plus there is the fatty fast food industry. "Gaining weight is good for business," a recent editorial in Science Magazine commented. "Food is so overproduced that [rich countries] have far more than they need."

     One corporate attempt to solve that crisis is advertising. Six of the top 20 US advertisers are food companies, according to Dr. David Dunne, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto. Dunne points out that marketing is one of the top reasons for child obesity, not the least because of advertising pop, candy, and fast food in public schools.

     Junk foods are also often cheaper than healthier alternatives while a fruit and vegetable diet is more expensive. "The Paradox," says Dr. Adam Drewnowski, Professor of Medicine at University of Washington, "[is that] saving on food costs will lead to more energy dense diets, with greater potential for overeating. Obesity [is] an economic phenomenon. People are fat because they are poor."

     Back in Canada, studies by initiatives of various Canadian Health Institutes have all shown that child poverty is linked with child obesity. Lisa Oliver, a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, even found socio-economic statistics can be used to predict child obesity rates.

     Oliver's study found that kids from neighbourhoods with more unemployment, less income and less education were more likely to be overweight or obese. Those same children are less likely to participate in organized sports and their parents are more likely to say there aren't safe spaces, like parks, for kids to play in nearby.

     Housing and transportation costs also typically take precedence over food and exercise costs. More than half of children who live in Canada's poorest neighbourhoods, according to Oliver, were either overweight or obese. That compares to about a third of kids from the richest neighbourhoods.

     In Hamilton, for example, a city with 16 neighbourhoods that rate as poor (where over 40 per cent of residents have a low income), 34 per cent of residents are overweight and 18 per cent are obese. A recent article in the Hamilton Spectator pointed out that some of these poor neighbourhoods don't even have a grocery store.

     These are very class-biased facts. With about 45% of Canadian adults overweight or obese (according to the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey), obesity is a clearly social problem, and part of the growing gap between rich and poor.

     Maybe Weight Watchers should start advocating for a 32-hour work week with no loss in pay, a guaranteed minimum income, and raising the minimum wage to $15/hour. But right now it looks like the food and drug companies are going to keep getting richer, while we just heavier. Did somebody say protesting was a good way to lose weight?

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Daryl Shandro, Sudbury

Since George Bush's announcement that troop numbers in Iraq would increase, the trickle of American war resisters seeking sanctuary in Canada has become a steady stream. Starting in about April, calls from the few large receiving centres (Vancouver and Toronto) became more frequent and urgent.

     The Toronto chapter of War Resisters Campaign, while supporting the national office, many resisters and their families, facilitating and leading political lobbying and preparing for a Supreme Court application and hearing, have decided they can house and support no more resisters at this time. By May, an urgent plea for smaller centres to ready their communities to receive new refugee claimants was made, and by early July War Resister Support Campaign chapters in Ottawa, Kingston, Hamilton and London accepted their first Resisters and within weeks were full-up.

     If we are to take our roles seriously as anti-war activists, we cannot make any of these Resisters choose between homelessness and public apathy in Canada, or zealous prosecution or involuntary service in the commission of war crimes in Iraq, possibly resulting in their own death. We must accept and support these people.

     Like many other regional centres, our organization in Sudbury has, for more than two years, organized speaking engagements, tours, film nights, and petitioned and lobbied our politicians. Since we will very likely soon have our first resident resister, we are experiencing a great deal of collective anxiety. How will we pay for this? What if the resister becomes desperately lonely or is a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder? Can we find sufficient and ongoing housing, a lawyer, and mental and physical health services?

     In Sudbury our response was to have a recently arrived resister, Steve Yoczik, come from Toronto to speak to interested locals and our group about his decision to come to Canada, and to answer to our many logistical concerns. Lee Zaslofsky (national coordinator of the War Resister's Support Campaign) came as well.

     Steve Yoczik is a candid, smart, funny guy. Listening to him brought back childhood memories for me of a fictional M.A.S.H. character, Corporal Klinger. While in training he discovered that he had been recruited for an already moribund military job and was destined for general infantry deployment in Iraq (and further that the military was continuing to deceitfully recruit and train for this occupation with intentions of deploying every trainee in the same fashion). Steve waged a concerted bid to be kicked out of the army. Over a period of months, he deliberately failed between 50 and 100 physical tests. When it became obvious that the officers would not file three consecutive failing reports so as to have his status reviewed, Steve started to fail to appear for the tests and was flippant, if not outright insubordinate, if these absences brought any reproach. Steve figures he was gone for a while before anyone realized that he was AWOL. He found out about the War Resisters Support Campaign in Canada through a friend - a model soldier and US patriot who disagreed so strongly with the war in Iraq that he fled to Canada rather than participate in it. With only one passed physical between him and Iraq, Steve had to make the same choice.

     The War Resisters Support Campaign is easier to find than it was two or three years ago. As well, the recruitment requirements in the US have led to a host of unacceptable practices becoming the order of the day. Many of the latest Resisters to arrive are those who have been involuntarily "called back" to serve in Iraq after prolonged periods in civilian life, the so-called "back door draft". Documented dishonesty around recruitment efforts in schools, and about the consequences of rethinking deferred enlistment agreements, have spawned campaigns to keep the military out of many U.S. high schools. The American public is disenchanted with the "war on terror", and supporting War Resisters has become a known and valuable anti-war political movement. And with the U.S. economy poised for a downturn, many more young Americans are at risk of being hoodwinked through the "poverty draft" and deceitful recruitment practices.

     Here in Canada, many of the first resisters to come across the border are now at a point in the Immigration and Refugee hearing processes where they are at risk of being deported before Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey can take their case to court, raising the crucial question: can "mere" foot soldiers can use the illegal status of the war to underpin their refugee claims?

     Meanwhile the Campaign continues to lobby for the political solution: these War Resisters must be given sanctuary under a separate immigration category, much like the US war resisters of the Vietnam era received under the Trudeau government.

     In Sudbury we are now fielding a serious inquiry every week from War Resisters. These are people "checking into" Toronto and then moving to their host city within hours or days. They are calling from Germany (military hospital) and bases all over the continental U.S., and they are coming. In Toronto the serious inquiries are about three a week; arrivals, both anticipated and unanticipated, are becoming more and more frequent.

     For more information about the War Resisters Support Campaign or to offer assistance of any sort, please go to http://www.resisters.ca/.

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(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The United Steelworkers (USW) is campaigning to inform consumers about struck wood products at Home Depot outlets across Canada. Steelworkers and their supporters were out leafletting in over a dozen cities and towns on Aug. 18 to convince consumers not to purchase wood products labelled by Western Forest Products, Interfor and Weyerhaeuser (Cedar One).

     Over 7,000 USW members have been on strike since July 21 against Western, Interfor and other employers over working conditions, including those affecting health and safety. Since 2004, many employers, backed by a BC-government-legislated collective agreement, have imposed work days of 12-16 hours, when hours on the job and travel time are factored together.

     Since January 2005, more than 65 BC forest workers have been killed. Last year a coroner's jury confirmed that unsafe shifts and contracting out have increased the likelihood of injuries and fatalities. The union says that a consumer boycott of the labelled products can help win a safer, better forest industry in BC, and one that provides quality products.

     Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with over 2,100 stores. Last year it had over US $90 billion in sales.

     Speaking in Port Alberni before the Home Depot actions, USW leader Leo Gerard, who flew in from the union's international headquarters in Pittsburgh, said "We need to win this battle by bringing this industry to its senses - not its knees." With no talks scheduled, Gerard warned the strike will be "long and bitter" if a settlement isn't reached soon.

     This is the first coastal forestry strike in B.C. since the Steelworkers took over from the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers union (IWA). The dispute is focused on issues such as shift scheduling, overtime and severance pay.

     Bill Routley, president of Steelworkers Union Local 1-80, based in Duncan, has told the media that the strike may last until next year because the companies refuse to bend on scheduling. "We are on the opposite ends of the pole in terms of philosophy, and when you have an issue people are dug in on, there's just no way."

     The union says that the companies' right to impose schedules without consultation has robbed families of normality and created unsafe conditions and long hours in physically demanding jobs for workers. Putting profits first, the companies refuse to retreat on "flexibility to reduce costs".

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