02) ONTARIO COMMUNISTS PREPARE FOR ELECTION

PV Ontario Bureau

            Ontario Communists are getting ready for a spring election, as provincial Conservatives try to smear the Liberal minority government with charges of criminal corruption.

            "It's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black", said CPC Ontario leader Liz Rowley, describing the last Tory government in Ontario as one of the most corrupt and reactionary ever.

            "The Liberals' biggest crime is carrying through the Tory agenda, after decisively defeating it at the polls 10 years ago" she said, "and if that's not criminal and corrupt enough, look at the what the Tories are planning to do to working people if they're elected again this year!"

            "You can kiss labour and democratic rights goodbye" she added, referring to Tory leader Tim Hudak's plan to eliminate the Rand Formula and introduce right to work for less laws in Ontario. That cost them votes and seats in recent by‑elections, forcing Hudak to drop it from his election platform, "but he hasn't dropped it off the agenda where it's still top of the list", said Rowley.

            "The Tories are the greatest threat to working people in this election, but the Liberals are no solution," Rowley added. "The Liberals want an across the board public sector wage freeze and so do the Tories. Even the NDP supports a wage freeze though they don't support legislation ‑ or at least they didn't a year ago. Only the Communist Party is opposed to these attacks on labour rights, wages and living standards, and only the Communist Party is fighting to raise wages, pensions, incomes and living standards, create good jobs in industry, manufacturing, forestry and construction, and expand public services and social programs, public ownership and democratic control."

            Among other demands, the CPC (Ontario) will campaign to substantially increase the minimum wage to $19 (the minimum livable wage), introduce a livable Guaranteed Annual Income, and to expand the Canada Pension Plan by substantially increasing benefits while dropping the (voluntary) pension age to 60.

            The party calls for a strong well‑funded, and universal Canada Pension Plan, to provide livable defined benefit pensions to all Canadians, not a patchwork of plans that fluctuate with the markets.

            "This election is about bread and butter, jobs, and democracy ‑ all the important things that none of the Big Business parties and wannabes can or will deliver", said Rowley. "Curbing corporate greed and meeting people's needs requires working class parties with big ideas, and big movements to push those big ideas forward.  This election, send a message: vote Communist for people needs, not corporate greed."

(The above article is from the April 16-30, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist 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.)