02) CANADIAN LABOUR CONGRESS TARGETS HARPER GOVERNMENT
By Darrell Rankin
Hundreds of delegates are expected to attend the Canadian Labour Congress' political action conference, which will plan how to defeat the Harper government, March 21‑23 in Toronto.
The highly managed CLC conference comes at a time when the government is ripping the country apart and selling it part by part. The Communist Party has called for a broad, political action conference for years, and it is important that the most be made of it. Success will be measured by how the conference organizes the fight, especially before the election, not just during the campaign period.
On the positive side, there is a focus on key issues like labour rights (the attack on the Rand formula and the closed shop), the Aboriginal question in the labour movement, creating industrial jobs, equality of women, child care, privatization, and green energy.
Some focus is on rebuilding once‑vibrant coalitions, like those that thrived in the 1980s fighting against free trade and for nuclear disarmament. The new coalitions need to include those entering political life today, activists fighting for Aboriginal rights and the environment, students against tuition hikes, the Occupy movement.
Many CLC affiliates already have their separate campaigns targeting the Harper Tories. The problem for the CLC and this conference is to send a message: Bring these efforts together! Unite, locally and across Canada.
Local and regional coalitions will be a basis for strong Canada‑wide coalitions; these played an important part defeating the Mulroney‑Campbell Tories in 1993, and they are needed now.
Unfortunately, the agenda is heavy on workshops like working with media. No time is available for different movement caucuses to meet. The agenda has little or nothing for anti‑war, environmental or anti‑free trade movements, all historically connected to the labour movement. The lack of travel equalization, income‑related fees, or billets makes it expensive for activists outside Toronto.
The main thing, though, is that the conference is taking place. When hundreds of people start to talk, they can produce the sparks that will push the Tories to defeat.
It will be hard to match the send‑off to the Mulroney‑Campbell government in 1993, when the CLC helped rally 100,000 people on Parliament Hill, through the anti‑free trade Pro‑Canada Network.
Such rallies can and should take place again. The Harper government is carrying out a vicious attack on the labour movement and workers as a whole. The time has come for more thought about stronger measures in the fightback, including work stoppages and political strikes which are now common in many European and Asian countries.
In 1988, the CLC targeted 50 Tory MPs for defeat in one of the Canada's most important elections dealing with Canada‑US Free Trade. The next election is equally important. If the CLC will carry out a similar campaign next election, groups need to sign‑up at the conference and get to work. Time is short.
There is no shortage of political actions to take against the narrow Harper Tory corporate agenda which is leading us to disaster. Developing and mobilizing for a broad, emancipatory alternative, the CLC can help defeat Toryism and its big business agenda.
Darrell Rankin represented the Canadian Peace Alliance at the Pro‑Canada Network, the Action Canada Network and the Solidarity Network.
(The above article is from the March 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)