09) STOP THE WITCH HUNT AND SMEARS IN TORONTO

Statement from the Communist Party (Ontario), Aug. 15, 2011

     The Communist Party is considering legal action, including a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal regarding Toronto City Councillor George Mammoliti's witch‑hunting at City Hall, and his attack on the public's right to free political expression and association - rights guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

     Mammoliti is a member of Mayor Rob Ford's Executive and an aggressive advocate for Ford's agenda of privatization and confrontation with the city's labour and democratic movements.

     Mammoliti has attacked more than 300 City Hall deputants, asserting they were members of the Communist Party, after they stayed through the night and into the early hours to oppose the KPMG proposals to eliminate "gravy", including the closure of libraries, old age homes, 2,000 subsidized child care spaces; ending funding to cultural and arts groups including Caribana and Pride events, ending AIDS related funding, increasing transit fares and reducing service, and more.

     Mammoliti has attacked Councillors who also oppose the cuts, alleging they are members of the Communist Party and that opposition to the KPMG cuts stems from Communist Party membership.

     While the Communist Party is opposed to the cuts and is fighting them, opposition to this agenda includes members of almost all parties, save the Tories, and people who are not members of any party. Suggesting otherwise is a smear - something Mammoliti is expert at.

     This is a witch‑hunt aimed to intimidate widespread and growing public opposition to the levelling of public services and programs in the city, and to frighten Councillors into silence and stampede them into voting for deep cuts and privatizations against the demonstrated wishes of the public.

     Mammoliti is attempting to do what Joe McCarthy did in 1950s USA - crush free speech and free political association in an effort to crush opposition to this administration's far‑right political direction... Red‑baiting is part and parcel of this administration's attack on public services and on labour and democratic rights. It's a package. It's a dangerous combination that threatens all Toronto residents, and must be challenged.

     With this in mind, the Communist Party is exploring legal action including a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, and is urging the labour and democratic movements and all those who support democratic and civil rights to speak up and demand an end to the witch hunt.

(The above article is from the September 1-15, 2011, 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.)