02) MAY DAY CELEBRATED ACROSS CANADA
Special to PV
This year's May Day actions across Canada were larger and more unified than in the recent past, drawing together sections of the trade unions, students, Occupy groups, anti-war and anti-poverty movements, and left organizations. While small compared to many other countries, the actions were a sharp protest against the Harper Tory government's first year as a majority in Parliament, and a powerful show of solidarity with the striking Quebec students.
In Toronto, there was a single May Day demo, bringing together groups which had previously organized two separate marches. An estimated 2,000 took part, representing a wide cross‑section of the left and social activist forces in the city. The march featured a number of banners from unions including CAW, OSSTF, CUPE, and CUPW.
Following the downtown rally and cultural event, about 400 supporters of Occupy Toronto embarked on a peaceful re‑occupation at Simcoe Park across from the Metro Convention Centre. The action temporarily transformed Simcoe Park into a space for education, conversation, and protest. The park was across the street from the annual general meeting of Barrick Gold, whose CEO Aaron Regent is the highest paid CEO in Canada.
Two days earlier, Toronto's United May Day Committee held a lively celebration at the Steelworkers Hall on Cecil Street, where Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa was among the speakers.
Hundreds of trade unionists and allies rallied in Ottawa, protesting the layoff of thousands of public sector workers in the latest Tory budget.
There were a number of May Day actions in Quebec, with the largest drawing about 4,000 in Montreal, with stronger representation from the Quebec Federation of Labour than in the past, as well as contingents from the CSN/CNTU and various social groups and progressive political parties, especially Quebec Solidaire. While the corporate media ignored this union-backed demonstration, it gave huge coverage to police violence against an evening student rally, and against an anarchist protest earlier in the day.
The Montérégie region held an event honouring the late union organizer Madeleine Parent and the 1946 textile strike. Other Quebec events include a march and cultural event in Quebec City; rallies in Gatineau and Joliette; and a labour-sponsored banquet on the North Shore of Montreal.
About 300 marchers took to the streets of Edmonton on May Day, taking the traditional route down Whyte Avenue on the city's south side. Participating groups included some trade unions, Occupy Edmonton, the Student Worker Action Group (whose members wore the red square in solidarity with students in Quebec), the Communist Party of Canada, and others. Speeches were made by rank and file leaders of the Alberta Union of Public Employees, Postal Workers, and PSAC. Two local NDP MLAs were present, both newly elected in the April 23 provincial election.
Occupy Vancouver and the labour movement joined forces for a rally at the Art Gallery, followed by a march of some 400 to the kickoff of local MayWorks events. Keynote speakers at the rally included BC Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair, and the Federation's secretary-treasurer, Irene Lanzinger.
About 250 took part in the annual May Day walk in Winnipeg, sponsored by that city's Labour Council since 1980. Unions carrying flags at the rally included PSAC, CUPW, CAW, UFCW, and Steelworkers. Student movement leaders passed out red square badges, in solidarity with the Quebec students.
Other May Day demonstrations were held in Hamilton, Halifax, and Calgary.
(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2012, 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.)