Northern Lights, June
2006
by Barry
Weisleder
What the vote to
extend Canada’s Afghanistan intervention reveals
The
narrow non-binding House of Commons vote of 149 to 145 to extend until 2009
Canada’s war mission in Afghanistan was rushed for good reason.
The vote on May
17 occurred in the wake of the death of Captain Nichola
Goddard, the sixteenth Canadian soldier and the first Canadian female to die in
Afghanistan since Ottawa joined the imperialist occupation of that country in
2002.
Public opinion
continues to run in opposition to the 2,200 strong troop intervention, with 54
per cent of those polled across the country against it, and 70 per cent opposed
in Québec.
Conservative
Prime Minister Stephen Harper knows the military and political circumstances
will get worse before they get any better. More soldiers returning home in body
bags and more “collateral” civilian casualties will likely increase hostility
to the mission in which Canadian forces are upholding a regime of drug lords
and war lords in Kabul. (On June 22, at least sixteen Afghani civilians were
killed in an air strike called in to sustain Canadian military operations in Kandahar province.)
The hasty vote in
Parliament also enabled Harper to expose the division in Liberal ranks, while
sharing the responsibility for an intervention that is sure to go sour.
Twenty-four Liberal MPs voted in favour of the Conservative motion and 66
against it.
The most salutary
political effect of this exercise was to expose MP Michael Ignatieff,
the Liberal leadership candidate favoured by key
elements of the Canadian corporate elite who bank-roll the party and dominate
the economy. Ignatieff, a former Harvard professor
who spent much of the past thirty years outside Canada, was already on the
defensive over his support for the United States invasion of Iraq, and for
supporting ‘humane’ torture interrogation methods.
Thus, two things
are revealed. His protestations aside, Ignatieff is
exposed as a hard core imperialist. Secondly, the difference between the
Liberals and the Conservatives is shown to be tactical at best, and minimal in
practice. Let’s not forget that it was Paul Martin’s Liberal government that
began Canada’s Afghanistan adventure, sent warships to patrol the Persian Gulf
in support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and helped arrange the overthrow of
the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and joined the
foreign occupation which continues in Haiti today.
The good news is
that the bourgeois nationalist Bloc Québécois and the English Canada
labour-based New Democratic Party voted solidly against the two year war
extension. Unfortunately, at least in the case of the NDP parliamentary caucus,
opposition to the Tory motion was expressed for many of the wrong reasons.
As NDP federal
leader Jack Layton put it, “This is the wrong military mission for Canada.” After
quibbling for weeks over how often the flag should be lowered at government
buildings to honour dead soldiers, NDP MPs criticized the chain of command (is
it U.S. or NATO-led?), the lack of any definition of mission “success”, and the
lack of an “exit strategy”. Most telling was the argument that the large
commitment in Afghanistan would preclude deployments to places like Darfur (in Sudan) or Haiti.
The major flaw in
this line of reasoning is that it ignores what these interventions, past,
present and future, have in common. They are all about corporate control of
Third World energy resources, future pipelines, pools of cheap labour and
militarism for profit. Increasingly, they also pose deep integration into U.S.
military strategy and operations worldwide.
The NDP vote
against the war extension is a good step. But to be “Canada’s antiwar party”
the NDP must oppose the current military build up, oppose the deployment of
troops abroad, and propose to send doctors, teachers and engineers in place of
tanks, gunners and bombers where humanitarian aid is needed.
Socialists to Take
Antiwar Fight to NDP Convention, Québec City, Sept. 8–10
Over thirty
activists, based in fifteen different NDP constituency associations spread
across southern Ontario, gathered in Toronto on May 20 — their goal: to take
the fight for anti-war, anti-imperialist policies, and for greater democracy
and socialism, to the New Democratic Party federal convention in Québec City,
September 8–10, 2006.
The NDP Socialist
Caucus Conference adopted a package of thirty-three bold policies, designating
sixteen of them as priority resolutions. The latter feature calls for: removal
of Canadian troops from Afghanistan and Haiti, solidarity with Palestine,
social ownership and economic democracy, abrogation of the global corporate
trade deals (FTA, NAFTA, etc.), elimination of university tuition fees, repeal
of the federal Clarity Act, a massive increase in social housing construction,
along with measures to enforce leadership accountability and to strengthen
democracy in the NDP. (See the full package below. The deadline for submission
of resolutions to Federal NDP office in Ottawa is July 10.)
In a separate
discussion on plans by NDP officials to change the party's federal
constitution, SC conference participants approved a structural proposal that
would increase local riding and union representation on the NDP Federal
Council, the highest party body between conventions which meets twice a year.
Decisions on
policies and perspectives were influenced by two informative panel discussions
held during the day. The first was titled “Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan
and Haiti: Where does the NDP stand?” with speakers Ali Mallah,
a CUPE Toronto district V.P. and human rights activist; Mazen
Jaafar, Alternate V.P. - Workers of Colour, Canadian
Labour Congress; and Kabir Joshi-Vijayan,
a young member of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee. The second panel
addressed “The Future of the NDP”, and included Jean Smith, long time NDP and
anti-war activist; Simon Black, past NDP candidate in Mississauga-Erindale; and Willie Lambert, President of the Oakville
Labour Council and currently a candidate for president of the Canadian Auto Workers’
Union.The conference set in motion plans to publish
the SC newspaper "Turn Left", to convene SC meetings at the site of
the federal convention in Québec City, to field SC candidates for NDP federal
executive, and to staff a literature display table and a caucus room at the
major party gathering.
The following
persons were elected to serve on the Ontario component of the Socialist Caucus
steering committee charged with implementing the decisions of the conference
and working in conjunction with other sections of the SC across the country:
Peter Cassidy and Jeff Dickhout (Hamilton Stoney Creek), Betty-Jane Antanavicius
(Guelph), Raychyl Whyte, Tony Crawford and Sean Cain (Oakville), Ross Ashley
(Toronto St. Paul's), Judy Koch (Toronto Danforth),
Elizabeth Byce and Barry Weisleder
(Toronto Trinity-Spadina).
The Ontario
committee will meet on June 25 in Toronto to firm up federal convention travel,
accommodation, publishing and campaigning plans. The participation of all
friends and supporters of the Socialist Caucus in the work ahead is welcome. For
more information, please contact Sean at (905) 849-8585 or Barry at (416)
535-8779.
Poverty in Canada —
“a National Emergency”
Welfare
benefits in most Canadian provinces have shrunk in value over the past decade
and often fail to cover half of basic living costs, says the
United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. “Minimum
wages in all provinces are insufficient to enable workers and their families to
enjoy a decent standard of living.” About 51 per cent of people using food
banks, it also said, are receiving inadequate social benefits.
Concerning
employment insurance, the U.N. body reported “In 2001, only 39 per cent of
unemployed Canadians were eligible for benefits.”
In a separate report,
the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition of business, labour and community
groups, stated that employment insurance eligibility in Toronto stands at 22
per cent. That means 78 per cent don’t even qualify.
In the same vein,
the Toronto task force said hundreds of thousands of Ontario workers are living
in poverty and it would take $4.6 billion a year to overhaul government
programmes to lift them out of it.
The U.N. body
also scored the Canadian state’s discrimination against aboriginal women, and the
fact that poverty rates remain disproportionately high among aboriginal
peoples, African-Canadians, immigrants, persons with disabilities, youth, low
income women and single mothers. The same gap exists when it comes to access to
water, health, housing and education.
In London,
England on May 22, Amnesty International reported that the focus on
‘counter-terrorism’ and public security in developed countries is draining
attention from crises afflicting the poor and underprivileged.
Not to mention
draining funds.
Infant Survival
Low in U.S.
The world’s
superpower ranks near the bottom among developed countries for its survival
rate for newborn babies, better only than Latvia.
Among 33
industrialized countries, the United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland
and Slovakia with a death rate of nearly 5 per 1,000 babies, according to Mary
Beth Powers, a reproductive health adviser for the U.S.-based Save the
Children.
The U.S. ranking
is a direct result of racial and income health-care disparities. Among U.S.
blacks, there are 9 deaths per 1,000 live births, closer to the rates in
under-developed lands than to those in the so-called First World.
Canada’s newborn
death rate, 4 per 1,000, puts it in the middle range, tied with Australia,
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Switzerland and Britain.
Corporate Tax Debt
Climbing
Individual tax
dodgers can’t hold a candle to corporate tax bums. According to the Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA), unpaid federal taxes have nearly doubled to $18 billion
since 1997, and over half of the tax debt owed to the government is from
deadbeat corporations.
Taxes or
late-payment penalties are due on 3.3 million accounts, about 10 per cent of
the total. Of the $18 billion outstanding, the CRA considers $4.7 billion
uncollectible. Which leads one to wonder, how much of that is corporate tax
debt?
For the past
twenty years private enterprises have been the beneficiaries of generous tax
cuts and concessions – the major reason for the humongous government debt. And
Ottawa’s debt, serviced by the banks at exorbitant interest rates, has served
as a handy rationale for cutting social expenditures and for privatizing public
services.
Well, now we know
(once again), that while the rich corporate elite are a tiny sliver of the
Canadian population, they are responsible for the lion’s share of withheld
taxes. Why doesn’t government do unto them as they do to unto tenants who are
deep in rent arrears? Now there’s a practical lesson in the charms of exercising
state power.
Women at Bell Tel Win
$104 Million Equity Fight
It took 14 years,
but almost 5,000 mostly female telephone operators at Bell Canada won a pay
equity settlement worth $104 million. The deal is almost double the $60 million
offered by Bell nearly seven years ago, which the workers rejected. Officials
with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’
Union of Canada report that former and current workers, who are now between the
ages of 35 and 70, will receive between $25,000 and $30,000 each.
The battle
started back in 1992, when the union filed its pay equity claim with the
Canadian Human Rights Commission. A joint union-management study showed that
operators had consistently been earning up to $4 an hour less than workers in
male-dominated jobs assessed the same value. The union won its case at a labour
relations tribunal, but the claim has been the subject of extensive legal
challenges funded by Bell’s deep pockets, including one challenge that went all
the way to the Supreme Court.
The mostly women
workers’ victory is bitter sweet, not only due to the lengthy ordeal, but the
fact that the work force has changed dramatically. Today there are only 300
operators in Québec and Ontario, as Bell cut the jobs of most operators in
2001. But imagine getting this settlement without a union, and without the
vision and stamina needed to dare to struggle and win.
Canada, U.S.
Lag Far Behind Europe in Time Off Work
The
average Canadian worked 1,751 hours in 2004. That’s about 300 hours — or 43
seven-hour days — more than the Dutch, Germans, French or Danes. European
societies are at one end of the spectrum of work time, while Canada, the United
States, Australia and Japan are at the other.
And if
you think higher productivity is the result of longer hours, you’d be dead
wrong. Canada’s gross domestic product is similar to that of many European
countries, and below some. The Irish, for example, work 6 per cent fewer hours,
on average, yet their economic output per person is 14 per cent higher than
Canada’s.
Most
Canadian provinces require employers to provide only two weeks of vacation per
year. Over the past 25 years, European countries added, on average, six
vacation days or statutory holidays, totalling 36 per year. Meanwhile, Canada
actually dropped a day, to 24, while U.S. workers lost two days to fall to 20
days off.
Long
working hours not only fail to promote efficiency, but may also increase the
likelihood of people making mistakes, said Ron Burke, professor of
organizational behaviour at York University’s Schulich
School of Business.
The
last big cut in working hours came 50 years ago, when Canada cut the work week
to five days from six. Michael Huberman, an economics
professor at the University of Montreal concludes that Canadians’ willingness
to work longer hours than Europeans is ingrained in our culture. Another
explanation, according to Ron Burke, is that powerful unions deserve much of
the credit for bringing down average working hours in Europe, whereas the union
movement in Canada and the United States is waning.
In
other words, to get a better work culture, you’ve got to fight for it, just
like the workers’ movement did in Europe. That’s a critical lesson for the
average North American who today must work at two or more insecure jobs to make
the living that one good job used to provide thirty years ago.