From People's Voice.
A message for the 2011 federal election from the Communist Party of Canada
This federal election will be crucial for our country, and the stakes have rarely been so high. If the Harper Conservatives manage to secure a majority in the next Parliament, it will have catastrophic consequences for working people, for Aboriginal peoples, for women, youth and students, pensioners, new immigrants and racialized communities. Canadians need to defeat this Tory government and end the ruinous, pro‑corporate policies it has inflicted ‑ a critical first step in taking our country in a new, peaceful, democratic, sovereign and socially progressive direction.
Defeating the Tories is paramount in importance. During their two minority terms in office, the Harper Conservatives have attempted to disguise their aims and "soften" their image, concealing their full reactionary agenda from the people. But we've seen enough of their right‑wing program to leave no doubt where they'll go if they get a majority. Over the past five years, they have:
* attacked jobs, wages, pensions and living standards for working people;
* enmeshed Canada even further in an immoral and unwinnable war in Afghanistan, and have now involved us in another dangerous conflict in Libya;
* slashed corporate and wealth taxes for their rich buddies in Big Oil and on Bay Street;
* wildly increased spending on the military and prison construction, while cutting funds to social programs, housing, and Aboriginal peoples; and
* turned Canada into an environmental pariah, obstructing meaningful international treaties on climate change and gutting environmental programs and standards at home.
They have distinguished themselves as the most arrogant, dictatorial and secretive government in Canadian history.
At a time when our economy is still mired in deep crisis, the real Tory agenda is to further drive down wages, impose longer hours and harsher working conditions, smash unions, privatize public assets, and gut universal Medicare.
Unemployment, growing inequality, discrimination and environment destruction are not new ‑ they are inherent features of the crisis‑ridden system of capitalism. But at this crucial moment, the Conservative party ‑ the preferred party of monopoly capital ‑ is the most dangerous threat to peace, democracy, and workers' rights. They must go... now!
The Liberals under Michael Ignatieff present themselves as the alternative. But despite their criticism of the Conservatives, it was the Liberals who began slashing corporate taxes and increasing military spending. In reality, the Liberals also stand for pro‑corporate policies, especially on the economy, militarism, and the 'law & order' agenda. While the Tories are the worst threat to Canada, defeating one big business party in favour of another one is not a solution.
Instead, many working people will consider voting for the NDP, the Bloc Québecois, or the Greens. But while these parties occasionally advance progressive policies, they refuse to challenge the domination of big capital (the banks and large transnationals), or to take a consistent, principled stand against the wars in Afghanistan and Libya.
Dumping the Tories and working to build a powerful and broad People's Coalition of the working class and its allies outside of Parliament can begin to achieve real gains. This is the way to begin moving Canada in a new direction, taking power out of the hands of the transnational corporations.
The struggle for a people's agenda, bringing together labour, the social justice movements, and all other democratic forces, will strengthen the labour & people's mass fightback and help set the stage to elect a majority to Parliament which will stand up for peace, jobs, democracy, sovereignty, and environmental sustainability. The election of MPs genuinely committed to democratic and progressive reform ‑ especially Communists, the most consistent fighters for working class interests ‑ will be a crucial part of this strategy to win fundamental social change.
Another world is possible! Another Canada is possible! We can move towards these goals by uniting the labour and people's movements around a genuine alternative program that puts the interests of the peoples of Canada first, rather than those of the monopolies and big banks.
Vote Communist for real change!
In this election, voting Communist is the strongest message you can send against capitalist globalization and imperialist war. Your vote for a Communist candidate will help make the voice of working people heard in Parliament and open the door for a people's majority which can be the basis of a movement to build socialism.
Our goal is a socialist Canada, in which resources and economic wealth are socially owned and democratically controlled by the working people, not private capitalists. When you go to the polls, get off the treadmill of right‑wing politics. Vote for fundamental change. VOTE COMMUNIST!
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