09) WHAT IS TO BE DONE, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR?
By Sean Burton, March 2016
Following Newfoundland and Labrador's general election in November last year, the Liberal Party replaced the Progressive Conservatives which had formed the province's government since 2003.
Liberal leader Dwight Ball campaigned on a vague promise of a "stronger tomorrow". But the trend of his announcements over the last few months has been a message of austerity: Newfoundlanders and Labradorians must accept significant cuts to public services in order to pay the provincial debt of nearly $2 billion from 2015. The drop in the price of oil has been a major contributor to the province's debt. Premier Ball has stated that if the situation remains unchanged, Newfoundland and Labrador's total debt could exceed $22 billion within the next few years.
In addition to asking various departments to look for up to 30% savings, the government launched a public consultation, including public meetings in a number of communities as well as an online forum for suggestions.
One of the more popular and commented-on suggestions was "communist revolution". Local media treated the suggestion as a joke, but it certainly does strike at the heart of the matter.
Premier Ball and his government in general speak as though the people of the province share a collective responsibility for our financial problems. But this is utter nonsense. How could it be true when so many decisions are made without real input from working people?
Beyond that, what makes an iron-ore miner in Lab West or retail clerk in a Wal-Mart responsible for declining ore or oil prices? Obviously working people are not responsible for global market prices or most production decisions; that is the nature of the capitalist system. And governments in capitalist systems are always keen to give breaks to private business. Corporate tax rates are already quite low in this country, and further tax breaks in Newfoundland and Labrador over the last decade have cost billions of dollars in potential revenue.
The hydroelectric project at Muskrat Falls in central Labrador is now estimated at $9 billion, which is $4 billion over the original budget. The project began with little consultation with local residents, but will have a significant environmental impact on traditional Innu land, due to flooding and a danger of increased concentrations of methyl mercury. One premise of the project was that it would allow for the closure of the oil-powered Holyrood Thermal Generating Station. It would seem the province is trading one environmental mess for another at great cost, and residents can expect a significant increase to already high power bills whenever the new generating station comes online.
If the comments seen during the public consultation are any indication, there is an uncomfortable amount of sympathy for Premier Ball's request that we collectively tighten our belts. It is distressing to see presumably ordinary people call to cut pensions and wages, to curb the power of unions, to cut funding for public transit, or to continue reducing the number of schools and teachers. These people have been taken in by the delusion that it is "our" debt to pay and that we should hurt each other in order to save a buck.
Of course, those who comment on social media or at public meetings do not speak for all people in this province. But when people do go against the standard narrative, their positions are not taken seriously in the mainstream media. The idea that we should have a communist revolution was rejected outright - after all, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador couldn't possibly let working people think there might be an alternative way of organizing our whole socio-economic system. Capitalist states do not want alternatives to capitalism entertained.
A communist revolution is not something that Dwight Ball or any political leader can "put on the table". Instead of disparaging such suggestions as jokes and attacking each other with austerity measures, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians should seriously consider just what kind of future we want for ourselves and our descendants. Accepting the system as is guarantees a future with more of the same: jobs lost, livelihoods destroyed, and facilities shuttered because "the market" compels it every few years, along with cuts to valuable public services while a statistically insignificant number of people hoard much of the wealth. The working people of this province must stop fighting each other and recognize our common interests. We must reject austerity, and instead fight for a socialist system which would guarantee a quality livelihood to all people regardless of where they live or what their job is.
Socialism will not appear magically overnight. A government cannot merely legislate it into being, since it entails changes to the very ways in which people live and work. The Communist Party of Canada does not propose a "ideal" or "perfect" world. We believe in creating a better and more sustainable one.
Change should begin with confronting and restricting the power of finance capital, both foreign and domestic, and extending public ownership to key sectors of the economy; redistributing wealth and raising living standards; and sweeping democratic reforms to enhance popular control and administration of Canada at all levels. Some specific actions would include the following:
- Significant increase of taxation on corporate profits and individual wealth
- Controls over investment, exchange, and speculative activities
- Expand workers' rights in deciding workplace, managerial, and investment practices
- Nationalize under democratic control existing monopolies in key sectors including banks, energy and natural resources, transportation, and communication
- Withdraw from all unfair, pro-corporate investment agreements and trading blocs
- Reduce work hours with no loss in pay or service to the public
- Significantly increase minimum rates of pay, pensions, and employment benefits for full-time and part-time workers
- A massive jobs-creation program for unemployed and underemployed people, and guarantee of unemployment benefits for the full duration of joblessness
- Guarantee equal pay for equal work, full reproductive rights, and free and universal child care
- Free, complete, and universally-accessible health care, primary, secondary, and post-secondary education, liveable pensions, housing, and other basic services
- Extend and protect workers' rights to unionize, free collective bargaining, and right to strike
- Free and fair elections: implement a proportional representation voting system, right to recall of elected representatives, and terminate the corporate monopoly of mass media
- A new constitution that enshrines full and equal rights and the voluntary union of all the nations in Canada; eliminate inequalities between national groups
These measures alone will not equate to socialism. The struggle to implement them would be intense, and there we may find our "revolutionary" moment, the decisive break with capitalism, whatever form it may take. The Communist Party of Canada does not struggle alone nor does it assume an automatic leadership role. There must be an alliance of democratic, anti-monopoly, and anti-imperialist forces in society that will fight to build a new land.
Stop listening to the austerity mantra and fight for something worth fighting for! As the old saying goes, there is a world to win!
(Sean Burton was the Communist Party candidate in St. John’s East in the 2015 federal election.)
The above article is from the March 16-31, 2016, 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.)