MAY DAY 2011: TAKE THE ROAD OF CLASS STRUGGLE

May Day 2011 statement, from the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada

This year's May Day celebrations across Canada take place just before a critical federal election, and prior to two critical labour events. The 26th Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress opens on May 9 in Vancouver, followed by the 63rd Congress of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) in Montréal. As we send solidarity greetings to all Canadian workers on May Day, the Communist Party also salutes our sisters and brothers around the planet on this International Day of working class solidarity.

Today we are in a period of aggressive imperialist wars, a time when global capitalism is mired in a deep and multifaceted systemic crisis, expressed in economic stagnation and decline, environmental degradation, increasing assaults on the labour and democratic rights of the people, and every other aspect of modern life. It is more evident than ever that capitalism is incapable of solving the problems of the world. So‑called "reforms" which put more burdens on the backs of working people will only create more misery and deepen the next round of economic crises. Fundamentally different solutions must be found, based on meeting the interests of the people and the environment, and defeating the corporate drive for maximum profits.

Here in Canada, the May 2 election campaign has seen a surge in actions by youth, working people, Aboriginal peoples, women, seniors, and other Canadians, responding to the threat of a possible Conservative victory. As our Party has warned, a Harper Tory majority would escalate its attacks on jobs, living standards, social programs, pensions, labour and equality rights and civil liberties. It would accelerate the sellout of Canadian sovereignty and the environment, and the integration of Canada into the militarist, aggressive global agenda of U.S. imperialism. For these reasons, the labour and democratic movements have made the defeat of the Harper Tories as the critical first step in forging a new direction for the country and its peoples.

But whatever the balance of forces in the next Parliament, the fight to defend the interests of the working class must be intensified. Even if the big business drive for a Tory majority is blocked at the polls, it will take a huge mobilization by the working class and its allies to compel the next Parliament to reverse the neoliberal policies imposed by both Liberal and Tory governments in recent decades.

After May 2, the main focus of the class struggle in Canada will return to the extra‑parliamentary arena, to our workplaces, campuses and communities across the country. Big capital has no intention of slowing its drive to take advantage of the economic crisis by wringing further concessions and rollbacks from both organized and unorganized workers. As the Vale Inco and U.S. Steel cases prove, the transnational corporations are determined to cut wages and strip the pension rights of private sector workers, and to trample Canadian sovereignty in the process. Public sector workers at the federal, provincial and municipal levels also face sharpening attacks on their wages, benefits, working conditions and collective bargaining rights.

On this May Day, it is crucial to strengthen the working class fightback which is gaining momentum. The heroic resistance of the Hamilton steelworkers locked out by US Steel is a beacon for their sisters and brothers across Canada, and the labour movement must build much wider solidarity with this struggle. Just weeks ago, over 50,000 trade unionists and their allies marched through the streets of Montréal in a powerful display of mass opposition against the reactionary policies of the Charest Liberals. On April 9, some 10,000 rallied in Toronto against the attacks of the McGuinty Liberals and the union‑bashing privatization agenda of Mayor Rob Ford's regime at City Council.

These and other examples show that workers in Canada are increasingly prepared to take the road of class struggle which is building across the capitalist world.

The past year witnessed the biggest upsurge of huge general strikes in the past century. Sparked initially by the general strike actions called by the All‑Workers Militant Front of Greece (PAME) against the dictates of the European Union and the IMF, workers in country after country of Europe and Asia have walked out by the millions to protest the imposition of vicious policies designed to enrich the corporations while destroying social gains achieved through decades of progressive struggles.

Inspired by these class battles, other sections of the international working class are moving into action. The workers of Tunisia and Egypt have played critical roles in defeating reactionary, pro‑imperialist regimes in their countries. The workers of Wisconsin and other U.S. states have mobilized enormous rallies to fight back against the drive by Republican politicians and their corporate backers to strip away collective bargaining rights.

This militant strategy must be the path for Canadian workers to follow. May Day 2011 must be a day to step up our efforts to make the organized working class a more powerful, unifying force in the struggle to roll back neoliberal governments and the corporate agenda. It is also a day to press the leadership of the trade union movement to move into wider action.

Whatever the outcome of the federal election, the Canadian Labour Congress in particular must assume its responsibility to advance the interests of workers across the country, to project strong leadership in the streets and workplaces. "Business as usual" tactics - simply issuing speeches and news releases, or calling for only the most timid measures to ameliorate the fall in living and working conditions in Canada - are woefully insufficient to build the fightback workers need today.

The CLC and CSN conventions will be an important measure of the top trade union leadership and the rank and file. Unity of the labour movements in Canada and Québec around strategies to move in such a militant direction is critical. Unfortunately, it appears that much of the attention at the CLC will be focused on internal matters, such as structural changes which will sharply limit the ability of labour's rank and file to influence and set the movement's course of action. We urge delegates to reject this step backwards, and to instead demand that the CLC advance a program for mass, militant action, including a call to convene an emergency meeting of all trade unions and their social allies to work out a common fightback program against the offensive of big capital and its governments.

On May First, the Communist Party of Canada extends our warmest solidarity to all those in struggle against imperialist war and aggression, and for a better world of peace, democracy, equality, and socialism. Long live May Day! Workers of all countries, unite!

(The above article is from the May 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.)

IWD 2011 - Let’s make it another glorious day of struggle!

In the coming days the workers of all generations, particularly the young workers, will celebrate once again the International Workers’ Day (IWD) on May 1st.The IWD celebrations have been and are, more than ever, important moments of struggle of the workers of the entire world. In our days, when imperialism is unveiling in an even more clear way the irrational and unjust nature of the capitalist system, tearing apart in months achievements of decades of struggle of the workers and historical progress for mankind.

In the framework of the current international capitalist crisis, the dominating class has taken all steps to attempt to smash the rights of the workers and youth, implementing an agenda that had long before been planned and which has now the arguments and tools to implement. Particularly the young workers are suffering of this limitless attack with their rights destroyed, increasing of the already massive rates of youth unemployment, low salaries and widespread to practically all young workers of precarious contracts or with no contracts at all. All this can only be overcome through the reinforcement of the struggle and, necessarily, of the class trade union movement - essential tool of the workers and their struggles for now and for the future!

Furthermore, it is important to underline how in this context the monopolies and other big economic groups keep having millions and millions of euro and dollars of profits, which are not only huge, as they are increasing more and more, proving that the sacrifices demanded to the workers, peoples and youth are nothing but a strategy to reach the increase of profits and intensification of the exploitation.

In this context, WFDY calls upon all its member and friendly organizations to take the streets on the next IWD and, together with the class trade unions, make this day yet another glorious day of struggle that means a reinforcement of all the struggles to come until we are able to defeat these policies and imperialism itself!

Release Joaquín Pérez Becerra immediately!

The World Federation of Democratic Youth has received the news about the capture and deportation from Venezuela to Colombia of the journalist Joaquín Pérez Becerra, director of the web page ANNCOL, which is based in Sweden and published with the permission of the country’s national government. Joaquín has left Colombia for more than 20 years, as a political refugee, after many threats to his life, when he was member of Unión Patriótica, managing to survive the genocide dealt against this left wing group. Since then, he has lived in Sweden, country of which he has been given the nationality.The imperialist government of Colombia, full of blood of the constant murders of the heroic Colombian people (particularly the youngsters) in its hands, accuses him of being a member of FARC as part of the great scheme of the proofs taken from the computer of Raul Reyes, in a strategy that has been used to accuse people inside and outside Colombia and even governments like the one lead by Hugo Chavez, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It is know by everyone that Joaquín Pérez Becerra is no terrorist and he was not even ever a member of FARC as the Colombian intelligence and Government want to make the world believe, as part of the witch hunt promoted against all critics and opposition of the regime. We express our worry even for the life of this comrade, since that in Colombia there are no guarantees to the physical integrity or security of the revolutionaries.

On behalf of all its member and friend organizations and the whole progressive youth of the world, WFDY demands the respect for life and civil and political rights, proceeding guarantees and immediate release of Joaquín Pérez Becerra. We call for the international solidarity in all spaces possible so that he is released and may return to Sweden, country where he lives.

An Appeal for Your Support

Dear Friends,

The outcome of the May 2 election spells great danger to working people if Big Business is successful in driving the country to the right, and into the deadly clutches of a Tory majority.

Canada is still reeling from the economic crisis and recession that cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs, and cut the real wages, pension rights and living standards of millions more.

This country would be unrecognizable after a full term of a Harper majority carrying out the corporate agenda.

But the majority of voters do not support the Tories. If the trade unions, the anti-war forces, and all democratic movements can mobilize against the neoliberal agenda and the threat of an extreme-right government, working people can dump the Tories and block the right.

There is a hunger among working people for real and progressive change, expressed in determined public opposition to the dirty war in Afghanistan, the protests by 40,000 Canadians against the G8/G20 Summit last June in Toronto, and anger against the Harper government’s drive to shut down free speech. The public mood is for more democracy, not less; and for real change, not reaction.

The Communist Party is campaigning for a new direction that puts people’s needs ahead of corporate greed. We are contesting 20 seats across Canada to advance a “people’s alternative” that can begin to overcome the devastation wrought by neoliberal policies and governments over the past three decades. Every vote for the Communist Party is an unmistakable demand for new policies that put people before profits, and place peace, disarmament, jobs, democracy and sovereignty at the top of the agenda.

We are a small party, but we have big ideas. Ideas that the Tories and Liberals want to suppress in this campaign. Ideas that the NDP no longer talks about, such as public ownership of the energy industry, and an end to Canadian participation in imperialist wars.

Wherever Communists have been elected, past and present, they have effectively exposed and opposed the corporate agenda. We have fought for alternative policies, and worked for the broadest unity inside and outside elected office.

Our candidates are fighting for a different kind of Canada, for fundamental change to end corporate control, and open the door to socialism and working class power. For the Communist Party, another world is not only possible – it is urgent.

Unlike the “major” parties, we do not receive a penny of financial support from the state. Instead, we depend on our supporters to help raise $45,000 for our campaign – printing, travel, and other expenses. Your contribution can make a huge difference:

a $400 contribution will cost you $100 after the federal tax rebate, collected when you file your income taxes for 2011

a $300 contribution will cost you $75

a $200 contribution will cost you $50

a $100 contribution will cost you $25

We hope that we can count on you to be generous, even during these tough times for working people. Whatever you can donate, big or small, it will help the Communist Party’s fight for new policies and a new direction.

If you can volunteer, please contact your local Communist candidate, or call our central campaign office at 416-469-2446.

We have more work than we can handle, and you can help us to reach out to millions of voters with our unique message.

Please accept our appreciation for your contribution to the Communist Party’s campaign. We can’t do it without your support!


For Peace and Progress,

Miguel Figueroa,
Leader
Communist Party of Canada

Media release: Afghanistan facts

Communist candidate rejects misleading accusation on Afghanistan, states truth about NDP policy
At the Rossbrook House all-candidates debate on April 12, NDP Winnipeg Centre candidate Pat Martin accused Communist Party candidate Darrell Rankin of being “not factual” about the NDP record on Afghanistan. Martin unfairly attacked the candidate through the misrepresentation of important facts. “I am not saying Mr. Martin is a liar, but voters should not believe a word he says about his party’s position on Afghanistan,” said Rankin.

Pat Martin’s accusation against the Communist Party in Winnipeg Centre continues to be the subject of public discussion, for example on the Winnipeg Centre Liberal candidate’s website.
“I am repeating through this statement what I said at the meeting, that the NDP voted with the Conservatives to defeat a Liberal motion in 2007 that would have ended Canadian combat operations in Afghanistan in February 2009,” said Rankin. “The vote might have toppled the Conservative government, countless Canadian troops and Afghans would still be alive, and the threat of a Conservative majority government would be diminished because of principled cooperation on the pivotal issue of war and peace.”

“Instead, the NDP followed the path of narrow parliamentary opportunism to defeat the Liberal Party.”

Martin offered to speak with Rankin and others at the forum who raised different issues after the forum, but left immediately on adjournment. “I am ready to discuss this matter with Mr. Martin at any time,” said Rankin.

“Actions speak louder than words about the NDP’s position on Afghanistan, in Parliament and where the NDP has power, such as in Manitoba,” said Rankin. “It was pointed out at the forum that the NDP provincial government had a sign in front of the Legislature to “support the troops,” which actually means to support the war, and that it had school children sign yellow ribbons in schools to glorify the occupation of Afghanistan.”

The Communist Party campaign in Winnipeg Centre adds:

- We are aware only of two motions made by the NDP about Afghanistan in the House of Commons since 2001, both were made in 2007, and both were “to begin to withdraw” and “to begin withdrawing Canadian Forces… from the counter-insurgency mission in Afghanistan.”

- Both motions failed to call for immediate withdrawal and allowed for troops to have a non-combat, training role in Afghanistan.

- What matters is that Parliamentary motions have the force of law and must say what is actually intended. The wording of the NDP motions is the most important criteria for people to understand the actual position of the NDP.

- By this measure, it took the NDP Parliamentary caucus eight months to violate the September 2006 NDP Convention resolution for Canada to leave Afghanistan immediately, a resolution that had the support of 90 per cent of delegates.

- These motions are more important than any other position by the NDP since 2001.

The Communist Party will always defend its record of speaking the truth about Canada’s foreign policy regardless of the source of the attack.

For further information, please contact the Communist Party campaign in Winnipeg at (204) 586-7824 or 792-3371.



Manitoba Committee, Communist Party of Canada
387 Selkirk Ave. Winnipeg, MB R2W 2M3
cpc-mb@mts.net; (204) 586-7824

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Media release: Nature before profits

Communists release more detailed environment policy

To mark Earth Day, the Communist Party of Canada released a more detailed set of proposals designed to protect the environment. “The major opposition parties including the Green Party base their policies on “market-based” tinkering with the “real costs” of human economic activities. But the Communist Party argues that capitalism itself, a system based on the extraction of maximum profits, is inherently a threat to human survival,” the Party said in a statement.

The goal of the Communist Party is public ownership of key industries and resources, which they say would allow for democratic control and economic planning to protect the interests of working people and the environment.

“In recent years, the corporate-backed Harper Tories have made Canada a key opponent of serious measures to tackle the deepening global climate crisis. The Communist Party demands emergency action on this issue, as well as support for reparations to countries affected by capitalist-driven climate change,” the Party said.

The Communist platform calls for legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions, including a phase-out of coal‑fired plants. Rejecting the claim that such measures will “kill jobs,” the Communist platform urges investments to create jobs through renewable energy and conservation programs, including:

* more stringent vehicle emission controls,
* expanded urban mass transit,
* the elimination of fares by subsidizing fare collections
* funding high‑speed rail lines,
* the development of a fuel-efficient Canadian car.

Radical change is advocated in the Communist platform, aiming to remove the private profit motive as the driving force behind economic decision-making. The platform renews the Party’s call to adopt a People’s Energy Plan, including public ownership and democratic control of all energy and natural resource extraction, production and distribution.

In the short term, the Communists call for a 100% tax on the windfall profits of the oil monopolies, and to “stop and reverse the privatization, deregulation and break‑up of public energy utilities.”

The Communists urge a freeze and reduction of energy exports to the U.S., and instead propose to expand shared power flows among provinces through an East‑West power grid. The Party opposes any new development of the Alberta tar sands, and calls to close these operations within five years. Jobs should be guaranteed for workers in more sustainable industries at equivalent wages, and compensation provided for Aboriginal peoples and communities affected by the tar sands. The Party opposes the Enbridge and Mackenzie Valley pipelines, and oil and gas exploration and shipping on the west coast. It calls for a moratorium on the development of shale gas resources in Quebec.

To protect working people hard-hit by declining incomes, the Communist Party supports restoration of the “two price” system, with higher prices for energy exports, and lower prices for domestic uses, especially home heating.

On other environmental issues, the Communist platform includes a ban on “biofuels” derived from feed grains; heavy fines and jail terms against polluters and destructive corporate practices, such as clear-cutting, in‑ocean fish farming, and deep‑sea draggers; and no industrial development in parks.

The Communist Party also calls for action such as income supports to defend family farms and protect Canada’s food sovereignty. The Party’s platform urges stronger action to support organic farming: reduce the use of antibiotics, fertilizers, and pesticides, a ban on “terminator” seeds, and mandatory labelling of genetically‑modified food products.

Media release: Communist Party Jobs Program

Communist Party Calls for Full Employment Strategy, Nationalized Industries

Public Investment and Shorter Work Week, Not Corporate Tax Cuts

Campaigning in Vancouver today, Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa issued a strong call for a full employment strategy that would generate millions of jobs, preserve and rebuild Canada’s industrial economy, and improve working conditions for all.

“Despite daily reports from big business and their minions in government that the economic crisis is over, there is still no recovery for working people in Canada,” said Figueroa. “With nearly two million people who are still unemployed, and over a half million well paid manufacturing jobs that have been wiped out, it is a disgrace that the Harper government and its corporate backers have the audacity to tell workers to keep our heads down, give more concessions to the bosses, and wait for “better days.” It is time for a jobs strategy that puts people’s needs before corporate greed.”

Recent analysis from Statistics Canada demonstrates that corporate tax cuts do not lead to capital investment or job creation. “But, at a time when the economy is still mired in deep crisis, the real Tory agenda is to fill corporate coffers by further driving down wages, imposing longer hours and harsher working conditions, smashing unions, and privatizing Medicare and public assets.”

The Communist Party platform includes calls for:

* Full employment, through increased manufacturing jobs and a 32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay.

* Raising the minimum wage to $16 per hour and increasing EI benefits to 90% of previous earnings.

* Doubling of the corporate tax rate, and elimination of taxes on incomes less than $35,000

* Nationalization of the banks and insurance companies, and the steel, auto and mining industries.

The complete Communist Party election platform is available at www.votecommunist.ca.

Miguel Figueroa is campaigning in Vancouver today, with local candidate Kimball Cariou (Vancouver Kingsway). On April 19 he will be in Burnaby and Surrey with George Gidora (Burnaby-Douglas) and Sam Hammond (Newton-North Delta). To arrange interviews contact the B.C. regional campaign office at 604-254-9836, Sam Hammond via cell phone at 778-918-8470, Kimball Cariou at 604-255-2041, or the central campaign office at 416-469-2446.

The Communist Party of Canada is the second oldest political party in Canada, with a long and proud history in the forefront of working class and progressive struggles for peace, jobs, democracy, sovereignty and social programs. In 2003, the CPC won a historic victory for democracy in Canada, by successfully challenging draconian changes to the Elections Act that required parties to field 50 candidates in elections or face deregistration and seizure of assets.

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Media release: Communist Party Protests Exclusion from April 20 Debate on Democratic Reforms

Fair Vote? Maybe Not, Eh?

The Communist Party of Canada has been excluded from participating in an important debate on democracy, on April 20. The event, organized by Fair Vote Canada and Canadians Advocating Political Participation, is titled “Our Parliament is Dysfunctional” and is being held at St. Paul’s Church in Toronto (227 Bloor Street East) at 7 pm.

The CPC has issued the following statement and is encouraging all supporters of democracy to attend the debate and to insist that the organizers include representatives from all parties.

*********************************
Just Like Parliament,
THIS DEBATE IS DYSFUNCTIONAL !!
(BUT YOU COULD HELP FIX BOTH…)

The organizers of this meeting, Fair Vote Canada and Canadians Advocating Political Participation, have decided to limit participation to only the four largest political parties in English speaking Canada.

This excludes many parties whose ideas are key if the public discussion during this election is to be full, broad, and critical. This is an outrageous move by groups that claim to advocate for democratic changes to our electoral system.
A Fair Vote means democracy!
Democracy and equality mean inclusion. We reject two-tier democracy!

One of the parties who has asked to participate in this debate is the Communist Party of Canada, the second oldest party in Canada. The Communist Party should participate in this debate because:

* The Communist Party is a member of Fair Vote, who participated in its founding conference.

* The Communist Party has campaigned for decades to have Proportional Representation in Canada, to make Canada’s electoral system more democratic, more representative and more responsive.

* In 2003, the Communist Party won a historic victory for democracy in Canada, by successfully challenging draconian changes to the Elections Act that required parties to field 50 candidates and pay a non-refundable $50,000 in each election, or face deregistration and seizure of assets.

But, despite this strong record of fighting for democracy, and the same kinds of electoral reforms that Fair Vote and CAPP propose, the Communist Party is being excluded from this debate on democracy. Ironically, parties who have repeatedly blocked democratic reform – and who voted for the Elections Act changes that we fought – are enjoying a position on the podium, and the chance to repeat their sorry excuses for maintaining the exclusive, undemocratic, elitist status quo.
Your vote is important. Democracy is important.
Tell the organizers this must be an inclusive, democratic debate.

The Communist Party of Canada stands for democratic electoral reform:

* Proportional representation in all federal and provincial elections

* Right of voters to recall elected representatives

* Significantly reduced spending limits on election campaigns

* Lower the voting age to 16

* Ensure equal opportunities for all candidates and parties in candidate meetings, televised debates and media coverage

On May 2, cast the strongest vote for peace, jobs, democracy and sovereignty!

www.votecommunist.ca

Authorized by Official Agent CPC

Media release: Communist Party Calls For Withdrawal of Troops, Military Spending Cut

Communist Party Calls for Withdrawal of Canadian Troops from Afghanistan, Libya

Military Spending Should be Reduced by 75%, Money Used for Social Programs

Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa is campaigning in Edmonton today and tomorrow, raising the CPC’s demand for Canada’s immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan and Libya, and a 75% reduction in military spending.

“The Harper Conservatives are the most reactionary, aggressive, militaristic party of the big corporations,” said Figueroa. “They have committed an appalling amount of public money to the military budget – $21 billion in 2010/2011 alone – and they have submerged Canada’s foreign policy into the aggressive, imperialist policies of the United States and NATO. The war in Afghanistan, which Canada entered under the Liberals, continues to be an immoral, costly and unwinnable disaster that Harper has continually extended despite poll after poll that show Canadians want the troops to be withdrawn. It is time for a new foreign policy for Canada, one that is based on peace, sovereignty, respect for international law and solidarity.”

The Communist Party has also denounced Canada’s intervention in Libya. “Humanitarian intervention is being used as a pretext to provide the US and NATO with carte blanche to attack Libya and install a military and political presence that will secure imperialist interests in the region,” Figueroa noted. “This will put the people there at greater, rather than lesser risk.”

The Communist Party platform includes calls for:

* Canada to immediately withdraw from Afghanistan and Libya.

* Canada to oppose the occupation of Iraq, and any US or NATO aggression against Iran or North Korea.

* A reduction of 75% in Canada’s military spending.

* A new Canadian foreign policy based on peace, disarmament, sovereignty and respect for international law.

* Canada’s immediate withdrawal from NATO, NORAD and other military alliances.

The complete Communist Party election platform is available at www.votecommunist.ca.

Miguel Figueroa is campaigning in Edmonton today and tomorrow, with local candidate Naomi Rankin (Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont). He will be at the Farmers’ Market in Old Strathcona at 11:30 am on Saturday and speaking at the Mill Woods Recreation Centre from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Sunday. To arrange interviews, call 780-465-7893, or the CPC central campaign at 416-469-2446.

The Communist Party of Canada is the second oldest political party in Canada, with a long and proud history in the forefront of working class and progressive struggles for peace, jobs, democracy, sovereignty and social programs. In 2003, the CPC won a historic victory for democracy in Canada, by successfully challenging draconian changes to the Elections Act that required parties to field 50 candidates in elections or face deregistration and seizure of assets.

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Media release: Communist Party of Canada Calls for Nationalization of Energy, Natural Resources

Public Ownership Basis for Sound Economic, Environmental, Social Stewardship

Campaigning in Calgary today, Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa reiterated the CPC’s “Energy Plan for People” which calls for the public ownership and democratic control of all energy and natural resources, closure of the Alberta tar sands, emergency measures to slash greenhouse gas emissions, and massive increases in urban mass transit.

“Our world – and our country – are entering a period of grave dangers,” said Figueroa. “It’s an era of potentially devastating climate changes, widespread hunger and chaos, all linked to the unchecked growth of fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and wars to control oil reserves. In response, the Communist Party of Canada rejects market based solutions, like carbon taxes or cap and trade schemes, which essentially allow environmental degradation to be bought and sold. Instead, we propose far-sighted and radical policy changes, requiring a courageous struggle to take urgent and decisive action. In short, we call for the adoption and implementation of a People’s Energy Plan for Canada.”

The Communist Party energy platform includes emergency and long term action:

• Nationalize all energy and natural resources.

• Closure of the Alberta tar sands.

• Slash greenhouse gas emissions, phase out coal-fired plants and terminate reliance on nuclear energy, with preservation of well paying jobs.

• Invest in solar, wind and other renewable energies.

• Expand urban mass transit and eliminate fares.

The complete Communist Party election platform, including the People’s Energy Plan, is available at www.votecommunist.ca.

Miguel Figueroa is campaigning in Calgary today, with local candidate Jason Devine (Calgary East). He will be speaking from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre (1320 5 Avenue NW). To arrange interviews, email Jason Devine at jason@votecommunist.ca, or contact the CPC central campaign at 416-469-2446.

The Communist Party of Canada is the second oldest political party in Canada, with a long and proud history in the forefront of working class and progressive struggles for peace, jobs, democracy, sovereignty and social programs. In 2003, the CPC won a historic victory for democracy in Canada, by successfully challenging draconian changes to the Elections Act that required parties to field 50 candidates in elections or face deregistration and seizure of assets.

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Media Release: CP condemns racist comments

Communist Party candidate Drew Garvie condemns Marty Burke’s racist comments towards Aboriginal peoples

“I am appalled by Marty Burke blaming Aboriginal peoples in their struggle against forced impoverishment and Canada’s colonial legacy,” Drew Garvie said today. “The Conservative candidate let his true colour show when he clearly implied that Aboriginal communities are misspending funding and that if there is anyone to blame it is the people themselves. In fact, the opposite is true,” Garvie said.

At an all-candidates debate yesterday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School Burke stated that funding was “flooding” into aboriginal communities, and then followed up with “I just wish it was a little better spent when it got there.”

“The Harper Conservatives have done nothing to alleviate poverty in general and Aboriginal poverty specifically,” Garvie said. The Communist Party of Canada is calling upon Marty Burke to formally apologize to Aboriginal communities in Canada and for other Parties to speak out about Burke’s comments until they are retracted.

“The federal government must take emergency action to improve living conditions, employment, health and housing of Aboriginal communities.” Garvie said. The government must also recognize and respect Aboriginal nations’ right to sovereignty and self-determination.” The Communist Party of Canada demands the Canadian state and corporations ‘pay the rent’ for stolen lands and justice denied, including:



* remove all vestiges of colonialism from federal legislation;
* fast and just settlement of all land claims, including natural resource-sharing agreements without extinguishment of inherent Aboriginal title;
* immediately end the discriminatory cap on education and health funding for treaty First Nations.

“We’ve come to expect this thinly veiled bigotry from Mr. Burke and the Party he represents,” Garvie said, noting that Marty Burke came under fire for similar racist comments before being declared the Guelph Conservative candidate. In a letter to the editor in 2005, Mr Burke criticized the appointment of Governor Generals Adrienne Clarkson and Michaelle Jean by saying that Canada is running out of “visible minority, immigrant, former CBC commentators with odd husbands,” Burke said.

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More information: Email: drew@votecommunist.ca Cell: 519 767 8411 Web: www.votecommunist.ca Authorized by the Official Agent CPC


BACKGROUNDER: Conservative policy attacks Aboriginal people

To Canada’s shame, 114 First Nations communities remain under Drinking Water Advisories and 49 water systems are still classified as high risk. When the United Nations General Assembly declared “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation” to be a human right, the Harper government abstained and joined a small minority of countries not supporting the declaration.

Life expectancies for Aboriginal peoples (including First Nations and Metis) are 5-7 years below the rest of the population; infant mortality rates are 1.5 times higher than the average; the suicide rate of Aboriginal youth is six times higher than the Canadian average, and the tuberculosis rate – a reliable yardstick for poverty – is 8 to 10 times higher.

Drew Garvie sees Mr. Burke’s racist and sexist statements as connected to Conservative Policy:

“This is the same kind of thinking that has lead the Conservative government to try to cut the funding of the First Nations University and to follow through with the funding cut to the ‘Sisters in Spirit’ campaign’s efforts to end racialized violence against women”.

The Harper Conservative government has perpetuated Canada’s colonial legacy by persistently attacking Aboriginal people’s organizations. In addition to land reclamation and negotiation struggles across the country, like the Six Nations people in Caledonia, other examples include:

* Tearing up the Kelowna Accord;
* unilaterally appointing, this February, a consumer safety group to scrutinize who is considered a Metis;
* continuing the 1996 two per cent cap on funding increases to the federal Post-Secondary Student Support Program (which falls below inflation);
* blocking and stalling on land negotiations and redressing violations of treaty rights;

and denying core funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, First Nations University and the National Women’s Association of Canada’s “Sister’s in Spirit” campaign.

In response to justified public outrage, the Harper Conservatives allocated $10 million “to address the issue of missing and disappeared Native women,” but re-directed this funding in November 2010 away from the Sisters in Spirit campaign, and instead towards repressive policing efforts.

“The Prime Minister refuses to even acknowledge a past that has included theft of lands, genocide and forced assimilation” Garvie said, referring to Harper’s 2009 statement where the Prime Minister said Canada has “no history of colonialism”.

Media release: Communist Party Calls For Federal Housing Program

Housing is a basic human right, but remains in state of crisis across Canada

Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa has unveiled the CPC’s housing platform, including the call for an immediate and massive campaign to build thousands of publicly-owned social, cooperative and non-profit housing units, and to repair and upgrade existing stock.

“Right across the country, housing is in a state of crisis,” said Figueroa. “Despite the reality that millions of people are in desperate need of housing, this has not been a key election issue during the past 20 years. Shamefully, Canada sits alone among developed countries, as the only one that does not have a federal housing strategy. Successive Canadian governments have left housing to the private sector, placing developers’ profit interests ahead of this basic human right.”

The Communist Party housing platform includes emergency and long term action:

* An immediate and massive campaign to build thousands of publicly-owned social, cooperative and non-profit housing units, and to repair and upgrade existing stock. Such a campaign would provide desperately needed housing and create thousands of jobs – for every unit of housing built, 6 spin-off jobs are created.

* A Federal Housing Strategy, which would include the establishment of federal-provincial-municipal land banks and real rent controls.

* A ban on evictions, mortgage foreclosures and utility cut-offs due to non-payment that is related to unemployment (including strikes and lockouts).

* Tenant control over housing, through meaningful tenant representation at elected housing boards.

The complete Communist Party election platform, including the housing platform, is available at www.votecommunist.ca.

Miguel Figueroa is campaigning in Winnipeg today, with local candidates Darrell Rankin (Winnipeg Centre) and Frank Komarniski (Winnipeg North). To arrange interviews, contact Darrell Rankin at 204-586-7824 or 204-792-3371, or contact the CPC central campaign at 416-469-2446.

The Communist Party of Canada is the second oldest political party in Canada, with a long and proud history in the forefront of working class and progressive struggles for peace, jobs, democracy, sovereignty, and internationalism. In 2003, the CPC won a historic victory for democracy in Canada, by successfully challenging draconian changes to the Elections Act that required parties to field 50 candidates in elections or face deregistration and seizure of assets.

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Vancouver sinks, Harper fiddles?

People’s Voice Editorial

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected that global sea levels will rise at least 28 cm by the year 2100. But according to Dutch researchers, “regional variations” mean that cities such as New York and Vancouver face higher rises. Indeed, many scientists believe the IPCC’s figure is a huge under-estimate.

The potential flooding of much of Vancouver (including the suburb of Richmond and the city’s airport) is just one negative consequence of global warming. A new Environment Canada report, published in Geophysical Research Letters, warns that Stephen Harper has done little to prevent “dangerous” climate change. The study suggests global greenhouse gas emissions “must ramp down to zero immediately” to avoid a 2 C rise in the planetary temperature. Allowing temperatures to climb more than 2 C could wipe out thousands of species, melt Arctic ice and trigger a rise in sea level of several metres.

Environment Canada scientists were not available for interviews – not surprising, since their boss treats such news as a firing offence. But the hypocrisy of the Harper government is obvious. While the Conservatives agree at international meetings to help keep warming below the 2 C threshold, they promote expanded use and exports of oil and coal that drive up emissions.

As University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver says, “We have to start transforming our energy systems now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, now. We should be weaning ourselves from our dependency on oil, not trying to expand it as fast a possible.”

Any other course of action will likely result in the deaths of millions of our children and grandchildren. Conservative candidates should be warned that their “family friendly” party already has the blood of future generations on their hands.

People’s Energy Plan for Canada

Our world – and our country – are entering a period of grave dangers, an era of potentially devastating climate changes, widespread hunger and chaos, all linked to the unchecked growth of fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and wars to control oil reserves. In response, the Communist Party of Canada proposes far-sighted and radical policy changes, requiring a courageous struggle to take urgent and decisive action… in short, to adopt and implement a People’s Energy Plan for Canada.

The cost of energy – at the gas pump, to heat our homes and to power our industries – is foremost on the minds of Canadians. Prices have skyrocketed, seriously cutting into the living standards of working people. At the same time, there is growing awareness and concern about the harmful impact of reliance on fossil fuels on our domestic and global environment, particularly with respect to climate change, and about the deadly wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, waged largely to secure U.S. imperialist domination over energy resources. The outcome of this debate is central to the entire future of Canada and its sovereignty, and to the very future of our planet.

From Canada’s earliest days to the present, energy policy and development has proceeded for the most part in a completely unplanned way, driven by the anarchy of so-called ‘market forces’ and the interests of giant energy monopolies. When governments have intervened – through the establishment of ‘crown corporations’, the construction of massive hydroelectric projects and the formation of public utility companies, etc. – they have done so primarily to underwrite the huge investment costs of constructing energy infrastructure (using public funds) which is too risky and/or expensive for even the largest of the private energy giants.

The end result of this sorry history has been to fatten the balance sheets of the largest energy monopolies – especially Big Oil – while depleting non-renewable resources and fleecing working people both directly (through ever higher prices) and indirectly (by using public funds to subsidize oil & gas exploration, by cutting corporate tax rates, by reducing electricity rates for big industry, and other sorts of corporate gifts and subsidies).

Never has the scale of this corporate rip-off been more astronomical than today. As oil and natural gas prices, along with electricity rates, go through the roof, the profits of the energy giants have swollen beyond all imagination. In the first half of 2008 alone, the five biggest Canadian-based oil giants – Husky, Petro-Canada, Suncor, Encana and Nexen – raked in profits of more than $12 billion. Even this obscene level of profit-taking pales in comparison to those of the global oil monopolies – ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Total. ExxonMobil alone made US$40.6 billion in profits in 2007 – about US$1,300 of profit every second of the year.

Canadians have every right to be damn angry about this unprecedented gouging at their expense, and about Canada’s military participation in US war-making to control energy.

What’s more, people are increasingly aware that the institutionalized reliance on the consumption of fossil fuels also threatens the very liveability of our planet. They understand that it is precisely the enormous profitability of fossil fuel production and consumption which leads the energy monopolies (and the pro-corporate governments which serve their interests) to obstruct every effort to seriously reduce emission levels of ‘greenhouse’ gases.

For a Comprehensive, Integrated Energy Plan for Canada

Canada today requires a comprehensive, integrated energy policy – one which ensures the security of energy supply to meet the needs of our people and promotes the overall economic and social development of our country, while protecting and enhancing our environment.

The most decisive aspect of such a policy – the cornerstone upon all other measures must rest – is the public ownership of energy, from its primary production/extraction and refinement through to its distribution and sale. Any meaningful transformation of the energy “system” is impossible without wresting control from the private energy monopolies – both domestic and foreign-based – and returning that ownership and control to Canadians, including the Aboriginal peoples whose lands have been ravaged by Big Oil.

It is naïve in the extreme to hope that providing incentives will somehow encourage the energy monopolies to “reform” themselves. Even the imposition of government regulations to constrain their behaviour will have little effect. Such approaches have not worked in the past, and they are doomed to failure now and into the future.

The imposition of a “carbon tax”, a “cap & trade” system, or some combination of the two regimes – variations of which have been introduced in some provinces, are currently the topic of sharp debate by the federal parties. Similar strategies in place in Europe and elsewhere have achieved some minor emission reductions, but fall far short of achieving their purported objectives. The “cap & trade” system allows “dirty” or heavily gas-emitting companies to “pollute and pay,” justifying their criminal environmental actions. Such systems will leave intact the wide gap between the rich and poor countries, and global monitoring of “cap & trade” plans is utterly inadequate. Meanwhile, studies have shown that the current proposals for a “carbon tax” place a disproportionately higher burden (in terms of the impact on net income) on low-wage and poor people than on the wealthy. At best, these concepts are of questionable promise; at worst, they divert attention from far more urgent measures. In effect, both these concepts turn the environment into just another commodity. They rely on market mechanisms to induce lower emissions, while leaving fundamental ownership and control in the hands of the same corporations which are principally responsible for the degradation of our environment in the first place!

That’s why the demand for public ownership under democratic control is central to any genuine strategy to solve the energy crisis in favour of Canada and its peoples.

Of course, the big private monopolies which control the industry, along with their defenders and apologists in government and the mass media, will scream “heresy!” But many countries around the world have successfully nationalized their petrochemical and other energy resources and production – Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, and even Iraq, to name only a few. Placing Canada’s energy sector under public ownership and democratic people’s control will be a massive and complex undertaking, requiring a united and resolute struggle against the vested corporate interests which stand to lose out. But if the peoples of other countries have won public ownership of this most essential resource, the Canadian people can as well!

Public ownership is necessary to ensure that energy wealth benefits Canadians as a whole, instead of enriching a tiny minority of the super-rich. It is also central to the struggle to regain and preserve Canadian sovereignty, and it is an absolute prerequisite to transforming patterns of energy production and consumption.

Energy & Sovereignty

A People’s Energy Plan for Canada is a vital ingredient in ensuring our country’s sovereignty now and into the future. Its achievement must begin with immediate steps to stop and reverse the erosion of sovereignty which has already taken place under successive pro-big business governments – both Liberal and Conservative – over the past two decades or more.

Why is this necessary? Because of the onerous terms imposed by the so-called “trade” agreements which Canada has entered into – first the Canada-U.S. Trade Pact (1988) and then NAFTA (1994). Take the issue of energy exports, for instance. Under the terms of the NAFTA Treaty, Canada is “legally” prohibited from restricting the rate of exports of petroleum and other energy to the U.S., even if reserves of Canadian energy must be protected for our future needs. Left in place, this NAFTA clause will drain Canada’s energy to the last drop and kilowatt to fuel the voracious appetite of the United States military-industrial complex.

Furthermore, the odious Chapter 11 of NAFTA grants U.S. corporations legal rights to sue Canada if their profits – both current and future – are adversely affected by government policy. This makes it virtually impossible for any federal government, acting upon the democratic will of its people, to nationalize foreign corporate holdings in this country.

The current follow-up to the NAFTA Treaty is the euphemistically-called “Security and Prosperity Partnership”. The SPP process, involving negotiations to further integrate the economies of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, would further undermine what remains of Canada’s fragile sovereignty. The SPP calls for a “continental energy and natural resources pact” which would grant U.S. monopolies even greater guaranteed access to our energy supplies by creating an integrated marketplace.

Canada must extricate itself from this corporate-imposed legal straightjacket by giving immediate notice of intent to abrogate (withdraw from) the NAFTA Treaty. Canada must also terminate participation in the SPP negotiations.

Energy and the Environment

A central feature of a People’s Energy Plan for Canada must be the firm commitment to fundamentally transform the system of energy production and use, especially (but not solely) through dramatic overall reductions in greenhouse gas emission, air pollution, and radioactive waste. Such a transformation must include (among other measures):

a sharp decrease in reliance on fossil fuels in favour of significant public investment in research and expansion of renewable (and non-damaging) energy sources such as solar energy, wind power and other forms of energy (tidal, geothermal, biomass, etc.);

a massive investment in low-cost, publicly-subsidized mass transit systems in our urban centres, and inter-city, high-speed rail service to reduce reliance on private automobile and air travel (which together contribute most to climate change-causing emissions);

the imposition and strict enforcement of substantially higher emission-control standards on vehicles sold and used in Canada, and the establishment of a publicly-owned “Canadian car” industry using new, non-polluting technologies;

an end to coal-fired power generation stations;

a permanent moratorium on new and proposed nuclear power generation stations, and the phased closure of existing nuclear facilities;

a massive public investment program to environmentally retro-fit small businesses and existing housing stock – especially low-income and public housing – and higher energy-conserving standards on all new housing;

terminate feedgrain-based bio-fuel production, which yields dubious benefits in terms of composite environmental impact and decreases the stock of arable land for food production;

cancel the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline and prevent any new oil & gas projects in the Artic and Subarctic tundra. Curtail other North-South projects in favour of the expansion of East-West pipe and electrical transmission lines as part of the development of an East-West power grid to serve the energy needs of the entire country;

cancel further expansion of tar sands projects, and the phased reduction of current facilities as export licences expire and as Canadian domestic reliance on bitumen/refined oil gradually declines;

a moratorium on additional offshore oil and gas exploration and operations off Canada’s coastlines and phase out current operations, based on growing evidence of their harmful environmental impact; and

a substantial Canada-wide program of mixed reforestation to replenish our depleted forest stands, reduce soil erosion and enhance CO2 absorption.

Energy and Canadian Economic Development

A new People’s Energy Plan must not jeopardize Canada’s overall industrial economic development. Indeed, the absence of such an integrated energy policy, together with other harmful corporate actions and governmental neglect, has contributed in large measure to the decimation of Canada’s industrial base over the past two decades. Industrial development is a cornerstone of any country’s economic health, of the maintenance and improvement of workers’ living standards, and the preservation of its sovereignty.

A People’s Energy Plan is a critical tool for the re-industrialization of our country from coast to coast to coast. Experience has shown time and again that skilled and high-paying employment in manufacturing is not only beneficial to the workers in those industries. It also creates countless more jobs in services, trades and related sectors in communities across the country; it helps raise the wage rates of workers in general; and it strengthens the capacity of the working class as a whole to intervene as a class to improve the economic, social and political rights of all Canadians.

The winning of a People’s Energy Plan is the only way to ensure the security of energy supply to power the expansion of environmentally-responsible industry, and its achievement is therefore in the interests of all working people.

Energy and the Rights of Aboriginal Peoples

A People’s Energy Plan is inextricably linked to the struggle to overcome the legacy of more than five centuries of plunder of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, including the ongoing theft of oil, gas and hydro power from their traditional lands and waters. Such a plan is crucial to achieve the genuine equality of Aboriginal peoples in Canadian society and to guarantee their national rights.

This plan would benefit Aboriginal peoples in several ways:

because present and future energy development on Aboriginal lands (both surface and sub-surface) should proceed only with their full knowledge and consent, on fairly negotiated terms;

because the development of a Canada-wide energy and power grid would provide stable and secure supplies of energy to the Aboriginal peoples, especially in rural and Northern communities which currently have poor if any access to energy;

because it would lower the domestic cost of energy to those communities;

because it would generate massive revenues, a significant part of which should be used to compensate Aboriginal peoples for the “under-development” and the outright thievery of their lands and resources over many generations.

Energy and the Provinces

Under current constitutional arrangements, provinces maintain primary control over natural resource (including energy) development on their territories. This delineation of powers poses a major legal and structural obstacle to the implementation of a new People’s Energy plan for Canada. But it is our view – shared by the majority of Canadians – that crucial decisions over energy development should primarily rest with the Canadian people as a whole, not with the sectional interests of provinces. The sole exception should be Québec, which constitutes not just a province but also a nation within Canada.

We call for the widest possible public consultations on this constitutional change, which should be negotiated by governments and the Aboriginal peoples, and approved at the earliest possible time, along with equitable agreements on federal/provincial sharing of the wealth generated through extraction and development of energy resources.

Energy and a Foreign Policy of Peace

The energy issue is closely connected to Canada’s foreign and defence policies, including our participation in the dirty war in Afghanistan. The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are motivated in large part by the drive of U.S. ruling corporate circles to dominate and control energy resources in the occupied territory itself (as in Iraq), or in adjoining regions vital for the transmission of resources (as in Afghanistan). These are not the first aggressions carried out under other pretences, but driven primarily to serve imperialist ambitions, nor are they likely to be the last.

Canada must categorically reject the use or threat of military aggression to secure access to energy or other natural resources. An inherent part of a new People’s Energy Plan for Canada is the unconditional defence of Canadian sovereignty over its own vital energy resources; we must also fully respect the sovereign rights of other states and peoples to control their own resources.

A People’s Energy Plan would contribute to the world-wide struggle against militarism and war. Military armaments and standing armies are heavily reliant on – and incredibly wasteful of – energy resources, both nuclear and non-nuclear. In fact, the arms race and the maintenance of nuclear arsenals constitute the single greatest threat to humanity, to the environment and to the very survival of the planet. Canada should speak out forcefully against this grave danger and in favour of peace and universal nuclear disarmament. Canada can contribute in a concrete way to this cause by immediately ending its participation in the occupation of Afghanistan, by withdrawing from NATO and Norad, by speaking out forcefully against any and all violations of the UN Charter and international law, and by cutting its own bloated (and growing) military budget, and by redirecting those resources to peaceful and socially useful purposes.

Implementing the “People’s Energy Plan”

We need a broad people’s movement to launch a political struggle to win and implement a People’s Energy Plan, a struggle which will likely involve many pitched battles and partial victories along the way. The first steps should include the following immediate measures, in addition to the policies addressed above:

The rollback (and then capping) of retail energy prices, especially for home heating;

Reversal of the Harper Conservative government policy to renege on Canada’s Kyoto Accord commitments and its opposition to mandatory post-Kyoto targets;

Withdrawal from the NAFTA Treaty; termination of Canada’s involvement in the SPP process;

Imposition of a 100% “Windfall Profit Tax” on the large oil & natural gas corporations (both foreign and Canadian-based) so that the billions in super-profits which these corporations are amassing due to high world prices can be used for public investment;

Renationalization of Petro-Canada and privatized utility companies such as Ontario Hydro, Nova Scotia Power, and others;

Re-establishment of a two-price system for oil and gas, with reduced rates for domestic use and higher (world price) rates for exported energy;

Legislation of a shorter work week with no loss in pay, which would create more jobs for Canadians and reduce fossil fuel consumption at the same time.

The centrepiece of the People’s Energy Plan is public ownership through nationalization, and the democratic, popular control of energy resource extraction, production and distribution. It is around this pivotal question that the most intense battles will be fought. But its achievement will be decisive in breathing real content into the entire plan, (1) because nationalization and the resulting access to the enormous wealth it generates are necessary to publicly finance the other investments and transformations elaborated in the plan; and (2) only through the sweeping nationalization of Canada’s energy resources will it be possible to break the economic and political power of the giant monopolies – the fiercest enemies of energy democratization.

At every stage in the struggle, and with every partial demand that we advance, we must keep our eyes focused on the strategies and tactics needed to win the “main prize” – Canada’s energy for the needs of the people, and under the ownership and control of the people.

Expensive Killing Machines

The Harper government clings to the claim that Canada can purchase F‑35 fighter jets for $75 million each. But defence analysts agree that this number is bogus, and does not include the cost of parts, weaponry, and decades of maintenance.

When the F-35 purchase plan was announced in 2008, the Harper government said the total price tag for 80 jets was in the $9 billion range. By last year, that jumped to $16 billion for 65 jets. More recently, Pentagon experts have estimated that the total costs of the program could hit $29 billion over 30 years.

Speaking on April 5, Winslow Wheeler, of the Centre for Defence Information in Washington, told a press conference on Parliament Hill that “nobody on this earth” is going to end up paying $75 million per jet. The cost will be more like $148 million, he said.

“This airplane is nothing to write home about,” Wheeler told an event organized by the Rideau Institute. Even if the F-35s end up performing “as advertised”, he warned, the model is still “a gigantic performance disappointment…. You’re getting an underperforming airplane for a huge amount of money.”

The planes are still being manufactured and tested, and will have to go back to the factory for upgrades and fixes that will add to the final cost, said Wheeler, who worked for more than thirty years for Republican and Democratic senators and for the U.S. General Accounting Office.

While the opposition parties argue that the purchase should involve an open bidding process, their position ignores the real problem: the fighter jets have only one purpose. Built by the U.S. transnational McDonnell-Douglas, these are not “defensive” weapons, and they are completely unsuited for search and rescue operations.

With its large payload capability, the F‑35 can carry far more weapons than the C‑18 fighters they will replace. According to Wikipedia, the F‑35 comes with a wide range of deadly armament: the GAU‑22/A four‑barrel 25mm cannon (400 rounds); up to two air‑to‑air missiles and two air‑to‑air or air‑to‑ground weapons; two 1,000 lb. bombs; a maximum of eight Small Diameter Bombs; Brimstone anti-armor missiles; and cluster bombs. At the expense of being more detectable by radar, many more missiles, bombs and fuel tanks can be attached on four wing pylons and two near wingtip positions. Solid‑state lasers are being developed as optional weapons for the F‑35.

G20 spending continues to outrage Canadians

People’s Voice Editorial

The Conservative strategy of appearing as champions of “law and order”, careful spending and open government took a direct hit on April 11, with the release of a “bombshell” confidential report from Auditor‑General Sheila Fraser about “pork‑barrel largesse, dubious spending and misinforming Parliament.” Whether the pro-Tory corporate media will use this news to spank “Bubble Boy” Stephen Harper is highly doubtful, but the contents are stunning.

According to the Globe and Mail, the draft report says the government misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50 million G8 slush fund that lavished money on questionable projects in Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding. The minister, the mayor of Huntsville, and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort which hosted the summit, chose 32 projects to fund, ranging from $100,000 on a gazebo, to $1.1 million for sidewalk and tree upgrades, and $194,000 for a park, all an hour’s drive distant from the summit. Add to this the earlier revelations that hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into “security preparations” which amounted to mind-boggling violations of civil liberties in Toronto, and a clear picture emerges.

If ever a Canadian government could be fairly accused of corruption, enormous waste, arrogant contempt for taxpayers and Parliament, utter disregard for the rule of law, and obsessive secrecy, this is it. Little wonder that opinion surveys show that nearly three-quarters of voters who don’t favour the Tories are deeply frightened by the possibility of a Harper majority. As the saying goes, Canadians should be “be afraid… be very afraid.” Then they should get out and vote to dump Mr. Harper on May 2.

Communist Party of Canada offers unique political perspective (Georgia Straight)

From Georgia Straight.

A federal election is a brief period of intense partisan debates, but also a time to reflect on the fundamental issues facing Canadian society, and the entire world. The Communist Party of Canada has a unique perspective to offer in this campaign.

Our political outlook is based on “people before profit”. We call for a “People’s Alternative” to defend the immediate and long-term interests of working people and the environment. At a time when millions of Canadians are out of work or stuck in dead-end jobs and poverty, we need policies to create good jobs and raise living standards. Instead of slashing taxes on corporate profits, we need stronger universal social programs, expanded health care, and better public education. We need a guaranteed livable income, and pensions which allow everyone to retire with dignity, not a wider gap between the rich and the rest of us. Instead of bigoted attacks on civil liberties and minorities, we need to expand democratic rights and social equality. Not least, instead of spending tens of billions on F-35 jets and other murderous weapons systems, we need to invest in social housing and urgent improvements in the disastrous living standards of aboriginal peoples.

The main danger in this election is the threat of a majority for the Stephen Harper Conservatives, the most reactionary, aggressive, militaristic party of the big corporations. Defeating the Tories on May 2 would be a welcome step towards reversing Harper’s right-wing policies and the sellout of Canada’s sovereignty. But simply electing the pro-business Liberals will not change much. And while the NDP, Bloc Québécois, and the Greens advance some progressive policies, these parties reject any challenge to the basis of right-wing economic policies and imperialist war—the private profit system known as capitalism. The latest proof was the unanimous vote in Parliament to back the NATO war against Libya, a war aimed at control of energy resources, despite all the self-serving propaganda about “humanitarian intervention.”

It’s time to unite our efforts to achieve more fundamental change. The Communist Party calls for a genuine People’s Coalition, bringing together the labour movement, aboriginal peoples, environmentalists, anti-war groups, women, students, seniors, immigrants, the LGBT community, defenders of civil liberties—all those who are resisting the attack by the Harper Tories and the big corporations. In our view, such a coalition could launch a decisive struggle to defeat the power of big capital and its parties, first in the streets and workplaces of Canada, and then in Parliament itself. If the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt can overthrow dictators, then Canadians can certainly block the right wing here.

The Communist party makes no secret of our long-term goal. Capitalism is destroying the people and the natural environment of our planet, and it must be replaced. Our aim is a socialist Canada, a society based on the common public ownership and democratic control of productive wealth. Only an economic system which removes the deadly cancer of private profit can begin to tackle the multiplying crises which face our country and our world.

On May 2, we urge you to defeat the Harper Tories. Use your ballot to demand jobs, social progress, democracy, equality, peace, and global environmental justice. In B.C., your strongest vote is for the Communist candidates—including Kimball Cariou in Vancouver Kingsway, George Gidora in Burnaby-Douglas, and Sam Hammond in Newton-North Delta.

Miguel Figueroa is the leader of the Communist Party of Canada.

Corporate Tax cuts do not create jobs

One of the most enduring myths of modern capitalism is that corporations invest the savings from tax cuts back into their operations, thus creating jobs, expanding the economy, and generating even bigger revenues for governments.

From this perspective, governments should keep slashing corporate taxes, presumably right down to zero. If the tax cuts of recent years continue, that state of nirvana will be reached in twenty years.

An exaggeration? Hardly. In 2000, the combined federal-provincial tax rate was just over 42%. A decade later, this figure has fallen to 28%, and Stephen Harper would cut it to to 25% by fiscal 2013. Do the math yourself.

Of course, zero taxes on corporate profits would ultimately raise (cue sounds of calculators beeping)…. ZERO dollars in government revenues. That leaves Jo Average, the working class taxpayer, footing the entire bill, on top of generating the profits created for the bosses through the exploitation of her labour. There’s obviously something wrong with this picture, unless you happen to be one of our corporate masters.

But you don’t have to be a Marxist to poke holes in the corporate tax cut swindle. Even the Globe and Mail recently reported that “Canadian companies have added tens of billions of dollars to their stockpiles of cash at a time when tax cuts are supposed to be encouraging them to plow more money into their businesses.”

Analyzing Statistics Canada figures, the Globe and Mail found that “the rate of investment in machinery and equipment has declined in lockstep with falling corporate tax rates over the past decade. At the same time, businesses have added $83 billion to their cash reserves since the onset of the recession in 2008.”

During some periods of history, capitalists do invest in expansion of their business operations. As the Globe and Mail argues, “from 1960 until the early 1990s, corporations invested almost every penny of their after‑tax cash flow back into the business.”

This argument omits reference to the resulting growth of the “reserve army of the unemployed.” In their competition for higher profits, capitalists drive up the rate of exploitation of their workforce. Their main tactic is increase the proportion of corporate spending on machinery and equipment, to reduce labour costs. Not surprisingly, the average level of unemployment among Canadian workers rose dramatically during these “golden years.”

Now, the Globe and Mail reports, “investment in equipment and machinery has fallen to 5.5% in 2010 as a share of Canada’s total economic output from 6.8% in 2005 and 7.7% in 2000.”

In other words, tax breaks and handouts to big corporations have failed to live up to the predictions of neoliberal economists and right-wing politicians. The gap between the rich and the working class is at record levels, over 1.5 million Canadians remain unemployed (according to understated official figures), funding for social programs, health and education is under constant attack, and corporate CEOs and shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.

Need more proof? Another study, released on April 6 by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, shows that “after a decade of corporate tax cuts, the benefits to Canada’s largest corporations are clear but the job creation payoff for Canadians hasn’t materialized.”

The study tracked 198 companies on the S&P/TSX composite index from 2000 through 2009. Those 198 companies are making 50% more profit and paying 20% less tax than they did a decade ago. But in terms of job creation, “they did not keep up with the average growth of employment in the economy as a whole. From 2005 to 2010, the number of employed Canadians rose 6% while the number of jobs created by the companies in the study grew by only 5%.” (Note: the total population rose 5.5% during those years, so employment gains were minimal, and largely part-time.)

If those 198 companies paid the same tax rate as they had in 2000, federal and provincial governments would have collected an additional $12 billion in revenue in 2009.

The CCPA’s conclusion: “Canadian governments are losing $12 billion a year to 198 of Canada’s biggest companies, who are making 50% more profit and paying 20% less in income tax while creating fewer jobs than the average.”

Our conclusion: the well-being of working people is too important to leave in the hands of profit-hungry corporations. Restoring the federal corporate tax rate 30% – about the levels of a decade ago – would be a good first step to provide governments with the revenue needed to tackle urgent social problems in Canada.

Communists campaign on hamilton picket lines

The leader of the Communist Party leader was in town Monday to help Bob Mann’s campaign in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek. Miguel was last in town marching with the “People vs. US Steel” rally a few months ago, organized to support the 900 locked-out Local 1005 members, as well as 9,000 retirees whose pensions will be de‑indexed if US Steel has its way. Today he returned with Bob, also a retired Steel worker, to the 1005 picket lines to make the lock-out and the government’s abysmal record an election issue.

The Communist Party has condemned the actions of US Steel, including the companies demand to exclude new hires from the defined benefit pension plan. (In a 2007 letter to union members, US Steel had promised to properly fund and protect the plan, because unlike others, it understood the value of good pensions to employees. Clearly, this letter was just part of a cynical propaganda campaign to convince Canadians to support the foreign takeover of Stelco operations. The cost of the purchase was $1.2 billion – the exact cost of the pension plan.)

Nationalization under public control is what governments at all levels should be addressing and implementing, says the Communist Party. This must include key sectors: basic steel, energy and natural resources, banking. Further, this must include production of a small, fuel-efficient, environmentally sustainable Canadian car, as part of a transportation plan to build rolling stock in Canada.

“Canada has a right and an obligation to build up the industrial base of the economy in the interests of Canadians,” the Party said in a statement. “To kick-start a recovery in the real economy, we must create jobs, and raise wages, living standards, and purchasing power.”

According the Party, since governments don’t represent Canadian interests, or Canadian workers, escalating mass, independent labour political action must force governments to act. The Communist Party is calling for the expanding action of the whole community and the whole labour movement to win the struggle in Hamilton. “1005′s struggle is being fought on behalf of working people everywhere,” the Party said.

After the campaign visited the picket lines at the U.S. Steel plant, Dan Nolan with the Hamilton Spectator newspaper interviewed Miguel.

Why do you feel the Communist Party is still relevant?

“We think the issues that we are addressing, the environment, peace, the impact from the economic crisis, the mass bailouts to the rich, the fact that youths and pensioners are still struggling … We think that by injecting our ideas into this election campaign it will set a basis for what happens after May 2.”

What keeps you going as leader of this party?

“It’s part of the Marxist perspective that there is quantitative and qualitative change … Communists have been dubbed as hopeless optimists. I certainly prefer to live my life in an optimistic way, rather than as a pessimist.”

What is your ideal of a Communistic system for Canada? The Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea?

“The most important thing is for the people themselves to decide … We’re not abandoning the certain basics of socialism. For instance, you cannot have a truly democratic, equitable and just society when you have the main means of production owned by the capitalists who pull all the strings. They pull all the strings on Bay Street and Parliament Hill responds like a trained seal.”

Why not throw your lot in with the New Democratic Party?

“The NDP is not socialist … It’s social democratic. They consider themselves to be better managers of capitalism than the current neo-conservative or neo-liberal parties. They want capitalism with a human face. We, on the other hand, are anti-capitalist … This is a system that is based on private ownership and based on exploitation.”

Are you going to watch the royal wedding?

“Oh yeah, right! Let’s stop the presses because all these other things like the earthquake in Japan or the bombing of Libya … they are already giving long-term forecasts (on TV) for what the weather will be like that day. All these other things are secondary … Please, I’m sorry. I will be in Ottawa (that day) campaigning for the Communist Party.”

Fighter Jets: Sticker Shock?

By Kimball Cariou, candidate in Vancouver Kingsway.

Last June, I wrote an article for the Georgia Straight online website about the skyrocketing costs of purchasing new F‑35 Joint Strike Fighter jets from U.S. munitions giant Lockheed Martin. At the time, the news had just broken that the price tag had jumped from $3.8 billion for 80 F‑35s when the deal was first proposed back in 2008, up to $9 billion for just 65 jets, plus another $7 billion on “ancillary costs” such as future parts and maintenance. The total price tag had more than quadrupled within just two years! Now we understand from Pentagon figures that the total cost of this purchase over a thirty‑year period is expected to hit $29 billion, a staggering sum for a country with serious social and economic problems.

Just three years ago, the individual jets were priced at $47.4 million each. Now the price for each jet, plus parts and maintenance, has jumped over $400 million, at a time when the Harper Conservatives are slashing social program spending. And it gets worse. The original plan by the Conservatives was to replace the Canadian Forces’ current fleet of CF‑18 fighter jets. Since then, $2.6 billion has been spent to upgrade the CF‑18s.

A Commons committee has investigated the purchase of the new fighters, including the price tag and whether Canada actually needs these weapons. Eyebrows were quickly raised over the news that there would be no other bids for the contract. Another controversy has focused on the fact that the F‑35 Joint Strike Fighter is a single‑engine aircraft, unsuitable to patrol the Canadian Arctic. (The CF‑18s have two engines, which many pilots consider an important safety feature.)

But the NATO war against Libya has raised even more serious issues over this massive boondoggle. With its payload of heavy armament, the F‑35s are useful for only one purpose: to engage in modern warfare, bombing “enemy” nations.

A year ago, a survey conducted by Leger Marketing asked “With Canada’s military role ending in Afghanistan next year, what should the focus be on the government’s military spending?” Almost 60 percent agreed with this answer: “Canada should take a peace dividend and cut back on military spending to focus on other more pressing social issues at home.” Only 28 percent of respondents wanted to “sustain or increase spending on the military because security in a post‑9/11 world is of the highest priority”.

Yet according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “the Canada First Defence Strategy, unveiled by the Harper government in 2008, promises that Canada’s military spending will continue to grow by an average of 0.6% in real terms (adjusted for inflation) and an average of 2.7% in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation) per year from FY 2007‑08 to 2027‑28″.

Total spending over the 20‑year life of this plan would likely be in the $415‑440 billion range (2009 dollars), or about $13,000 per Canadian, surely enough to cause us to rethink the quaint notion that this country’s military spending is negligible.

Imagine what could be done with the $29 billion in savings by scrapping the F‑35 deal! To give just a few examples, the public transportation systems of Canadian cities could be provided with 10,000 fuel‑efficient new buses for just $5 billion. We could restore the start‑up cost of the cancelled national child‑care program, for another $5 billion. To build 30,000 social housing units, at a cost of $200,000 each, would take another $6 billion ‑ an investment which would immediately save millions spent by provinces and municipalities on emergency services for homeless people. The federal government could provide free post‑secondary tuition for 50,000 students annually, for a total of about $8 billion over three decades. That would still leave another $5 billion for urgent needs such as providing clean drinking water to indigenous communities, or emergency aid to countries hit by natural disasters. These initiatives would create jobs, lower greenhouse‑gas emissions, and reduce provincial government spending.

But Canada is governed today by a party which opposes these urgent priorities. The Harper Conservatives deny the environmental crisis, reject the concept of public childcare, and refuse to fund social housing.

In effect, Canada is ruled by a minority regime which places top priority on war‑making at the expense of the people. When we go to the polls on May 2, Canadians should send the message to all parties in Parliament that the shocking fighter‑jet purchase plan is a scandal and must be scrapped immediately.

Media release: CPC Leader in BC

Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada, will campaign in several B.C. ridings later this month, as part of his April 12-20 election speaking tour across western provinces.The Communist leader arrives in Vancouver on Monday, April 18. He will speak at a public forum at 7:30 pm that evening, at the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, together with Vancouver Kingsway CPC candidate Kimball Cariou. The next day, Figueroa will campaign with Burnaby-Douglas candidate George Gidora; from 12 noon to 1 pm, they will meet with students and staff in the Academic Quad Building at Simon Fraser University. From there, Figueroa will head to Surrey, to campaign with Newton-North Delta candidate Sam Hammond.

The Communist Party is fielding 20 candidates across the country in the 2011 federal election. The party is calling for the defeat of the Harper Conservatives and for the election of a strong block of progressive MP’s who are committed to real economic and social development for working people.

Announcing the Party’s campaign, Miguel Figueroa said, “Five years of misrule by Stephen Harper prove that a Tory majority would bring deeper involvement in U.S. wars, inaction on the economic crisis and the global environment, and new attacks on Canadian sovereignty, democracy, equality, and living standards. We need policies for people’s needs, not corporate greed. The Communist platform is based on key objectives of peace, jobs, sovereignty and democracy, and we propose a combination of emergency and long-term policy solutions.”

Communists running four candidates in Quebec

The Communist Party today announced that it will be running four candidates in Québec in a concentrated strategy on Montréal ridings.

The candidates, who have all been nominated and designated by the Returning Officer, are:

* Bill Sloan, Westmount – Ville-Marie
* Marianne Breton Fontaine, Hochelaga
* Sylvian Archambault, Laurier – Ste-Marie
* Johan Boyden, Outremont

The party will be running an intensive campaign in Hochelaga, and placing hundreds of election signs across the city demanding immediate withdraw of the Canadian military from Afghanistan, breaking diplomatic relations with Apartheid Israeli, and to put people before profits on May 2nd and vote Communist.

The Party held an campaign school on the weekend after joining the major cross-Canada mobilization against the war in Libya. Party members marched holding a street-wide banner calling for Canada out of NATO.

In addition to the demand for an independent Canadian foreign policy based on peace and disarmament, the Communist campaign in Québec will also be raising the issue of creating jobs, full employment, free education, public childcare and a democratic immigration policy.

The campaign is calling to rescind the “Clarity” Act and recognize the national rights of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec to self-determination, up to and including secession.

The Communists propose that the people draft and adopt a new, democratic constitution based on an equal and voluntary partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Québec, and English-speaking Canada.

Already the campaign has fielded a number of media interviews, made several new contacts, and is well on its way to raising several thousand dollars from supporters. On April 3oth, Miguel Figueroa will speak in Montréal at the Greek Worker’s Association hall on Parc Avenue which is also the campaign headquarters.

Contact the campaign:

5359, avenue du Parc
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2V 4G9
Téléphone : (438) 338-8890
Courriel : pcq@cpc-pcc.ca
Internet : http://www.votonscommuniste.ca/