The following articles are from the September16-30, 2020, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper.

1. Communist Party campaigns for EI reform, jobs and wages
2. Horgan NDP riding high in the polls, but for how long?
3. Teachers in Ontario: Back to school, back to struggle
4. New Brunswick Communists not on ballot, but still campaigning in election
5. Trade unions call for Cuba’s medical brigade to receive Nobel Peace Prize
6. Peace Congress: “Restore democracy in Bolivia now!”
7. World Peace Council: No peace while circumventing the Palestinian people
8. Privatization – the next big shoe to drop? (Editorial)

Communist Party campaigns for EI reform, jobs and wages

This is a moment of extreme danger and challenges for our planet. The pandemic remains a deadly threat, climate change has not been halted, imperialist wars continue to rage, and fascist forces are on the rise. Here in Canada, governments and bosses want workers to pay for the deepening economic crisis.

Seven million workers in Canada were unemployed last spring. Eight million people relied on CERB to survive and others scraped by on EI or social assistance. Savings are gone, people are drowning in debt just to put groceries on the table and keep the lights on. Tens of thousands aren’t able to pay their rent or mortgage and are facing eviction. More and more small and not-so-small businesses are going bankrupt or are swallowed by big corporations, whose profits increased by 30% this year.

And it’s not over.

Today 4.5 million people depend on CERB, during the worst economic crisis since the Dirty Thirties.

The Liberal plan to replace CERB with EI will exclude almost 75% of the unemployed who don’t qualify for EI under the current rules. Of those who do qualify, 80% will see their benefits reduced. Nearly 25% will receive just $100 to $200 per week, while 30% will receive an average of $312 per week – just over half of what they received with CERB. Only 16% of those who qualify for EI will receive more than $500 a week.

Women will be especially hard hit. Over 60% of women who are eligible to move from CERB to EI will see a drop in income. Of CERB recipients who are not eligible for EI, 57% are women.

More than 3 million people – 1.2 million of them women – will be without jobs or income at the end of September.

The Liberal plan for tiny extensions to EI is completely inadequate to the unemployment crisis workers are now facing. Real EI reform is essential.

EI Reform

Unemployment insurance was won by unemployed workers in BC during the 1930s. Fed up with the federal government’s slave labour ‘relief camps’, they launched the On-to-Ottawa Trek in 1935, demanding unemployment insurance and jobs.

Workers today need to take mass action to get the EI reforms so urgently needed now or face a life of subsistence on social assistance or as a precarious worker in the new jobless economy. 

• EI must be non-contributory and cover all unemployed workers including first-time job-seekers
• EI benefits must continue for the full duration of unemployment

• EI benefits must be set at 90% of previous earnings

Raise Wages and Incomes

EI reform is urgent, but other help is needed to ensure that all working people can live in dignity and security.

• Substantially increase pensions, and drop the pension age to 60
• Raise the minimum wage to $20 across the country

• Introduce a Guaranteed Annual Livable Income to replace and increase subsistence level social assistance

Who Should Pay?

Liberal governments raided the Employment Insurance fund in the 1990s to provide huge corporate tax cuts and contribution holidays to employers. Now, fewer than 40% of workers who pay into the fund are eligible to collect benefits.

This is the result of corporate greed, aided and abetted by governments that delivered massive corporate tax cuts, cut the corporate tax rate, dispensed corporate bailouts, and allowed corporations and the rich to hide their wealth in tax havens.

Today corporations must pay up, and Parliament – under pressure from labour and the public – must make them do it. 

• Increase wealth taxes, a capital tax, capital gains taxes, and inheritance taxes on the very rich, to provide the funds needed to increase and expand EI benefits
• Nationalize the banks and insurance companies – the most profitable corporations in Canada

• Get out of NATO and cut the bloated military budget by 75%, to redirect billions to civilian spending and jobs

Jobs Now!

The real solution to unemployment is jobs – good jobs that generate higher wages and living standards, a stronger economy and more revenue for public services and social programs. Workers must press governments to adopt full employment policies.

• Expand public services and social programs – free universal childcare; Medicare that includes long-term care, pharmacare, dental, vision, and mental health care; postal banking
• Enact a 32 hour work week for 40 hours pay
• Reverse privatization and nationalize key sectors of the economy
• Build 1 million units of social housing and rebuild aging municipal infrastructure and housing
• Build publicly-owned renewable energy and affordable electric vehicle industries

• Get out of the USMCA free trade deal and enact plant closure legislation with teeth

Working People Won’t Pay for the Crisis

Big Business and their Conservative and Liberal allies want working people to pay for the $343 billion cost of the COVID crisis. They say CERB and EI benefits make people lazy. What they really mean is that the unemployed should be forced to work for minimum wage or less – driving wages everywhere down and corporate profits up. They want to bust unions and get rid of regulations that protect workers. They want to privatize social programs and services, and big cuts to corporate taxes.

Minority government provides a stronger chance at winning reforms to help the unemployed and the whole working class. But the labour and democratic movements will have to mobilize and pressure the NDP, Greens and Bloc Quebecois to demand the Liberals deliver these reforms. Without mass pressure, these parties will all continue their embrace of policies that benefit Big Business.

Communist Party and a People’s Recovery

Communists are actively engaged in the fight for a people’s recovery, for immediate action to provide stable incomes to the unemployed and to create good jobs and services for working people. To do this, we have to curb unbridled corporate power in Canada. We need fundamental change that puts people’s needs before corporate profits, that guarantees the rights of workers, women, Black and racialized people, 2S/LGBTiQ+ and youth, as well as the national rights of Indigenous people, Quebec and the Acadians. 

The real alternative to corporate power is socialism – working class political power – where working people, not corporations, are in the driver’s seat. It’s gaining more and more support across Canada today. 

Capitalism brings mass and permanent unemployment, impoverishment and misery, militarism and police violence at home, war and coups d’états abroad. It doesn’t have to be this way. United, working people can make the fundamental change we need.

It’s time.

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Hands off Belarus – no foreign interference, no imperialist coup

The Communist Party of Canada denounces the interference in the internal affairs of Belarus, by the United States, European Union and NATO countries. The Party calls on the Canadian government to immediately stop its involvement in the campaign to destabilize the country, and to normalize relations with the elected government of Alexander Lukashenko.

Official reports indicate that the presidential election held on August 9 was clearly won by Lukashenko, who was supported by many progressive forces including the Communist Party of Belarus. Opposition candidate SviatlanaTsikhanouskaya received only 10 percent of the official vote yet has claimed victory and called for a transfer of power. Within hours of the election, Tsikhanouskaya met with US First Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and announced a “Coordination Council” to mobilize anti-government protests.

The election was observed by international monitors, and Sergei Lebedev of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) described it as “legitimate” and “in accordance with the law, … competitive and public.”

Notably, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declined to send an observer mission. The OSCE has cited a number of contradictory reasons for not participating. It stated in July that it would not send observers because of the COVID-19 pandemic, then claimed that it was not invited (it was, by both Belarus and the CIS mission) and subsequently complaining that the invitation was late (the election was announced in June).

The European Union, United States, Canada and Britain immediately declared the election fraudulent and said they would recognize Tsikanouskaya as the victor. All have cited the lack of OSCE participation as a major factor in their conclusion, although none has mentioned the OSCE’s flimsy excuses or offered any evidence to support their claim of fraud. Instead, they have resorted to repeating the mantra of Lukashenko as the “last dictator in Europe” and making references to “Soviet style” tactics.

On August 17, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Champagne issued a statement demanding new elections and “a thorough investigation to be conducted through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.” He also indicated that he has spoken personally with Tsikhanouskaya and assured her of the Canadian government’s support.

The same day, Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff issued a statement reflecting similar demands.

Amid the constant flow of condemnations, accusations and effective calls for “regime change,” one question is not being considered – why is Western imperialism currently so preoccupied with Belarus?

The current campaign of destabilization is rooted in a long history of opposition to Lukashenko and, more importantly, what he represents. Belarus is the only former Soviet republic that has not succumbed to the massive neoliberal campaigns of privatization, social program cutbacks and foreign domination of the economy that devastated the working classes of Eastern Europe following the overthrow of socialism in the early 1990s. While Belarus is no longer socialist, the country maintained a high level of state ownership over key industries and production, as well as many of the social gains from the socialist era. It has also retained a large degree of national sovereignty and independence, resisting ongoing pressure from the EU and NATO. This reality is the main reason for Lukashenko’s enduring popularity among the Belarussian people, even in the face of concessions to capitalism.

The United States escalated its aggression against Belarus with the 2004 Belarus Democracy Act, which provides funding to anti-government organizations and bans loans to the country. Alongside this, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has stepped up its funding for US-oriented, anti-government groups. The NED, founded by the Ronald Reagan administration in 1983, is financed by the US government and has been instrumental is nearly every US-backed regime change operation in the past 30 years. Last year, the NED had at least 34 NED project grants in Belarus, all dedicated to building anti-Lukashenko groups and networks within the country.

While Lukashenko represents a barrier to imperialist plans in Eastern Europe, Tsikanouskaya’s platform was a clear program for integration with EU and NATO imperialism. The opposition which she leads has called for a massive selloff of state-owned enterprises to foreign and private interests, commodification of land, privatization of housing and health and cutbacks to social programs. This is the same aggressive neoliberal program that was presented to Yugoslavia in 1999 in the form of the Rambouillet Accord, and which led to NATO’s ten-week bombing campaign when the government refused to implement it. It is also reminiscent of the factors behind the 2014 coup in Ukraine, when Western imperialist governments actively promoted anti-government demonstrations that included fascist forces, to drive the country into the EU-NATO fold and facilitate the further encirclement of Russia.

While mainstream media has focused exclusively on anti-government protests, it has ignored large demonstrations in support of Lukashenko – a dishonest narrative that has been opportunistically parroted by some labour and left-wing voices in the West. Public support for Lukashenko is so strong that it has forced anti-government forces to alter their demand from calling for immediate regime change to asking French President Emmanuel Macron to mediate a process leading to Lukashenko’s resignation.

As the US and EU ratchet up their interference and threat of intervention, the risk of violence and war increases dramatically. The imperialist aggression against Yugoslavia resulted in the widespread destruction of social and industrial infrastructure, the deaths of 2000 people and the displacement of 200,000 more. Interference in Ukraine by the US, EU and NATO produced violent and deadly pogroms against Russian-speaking Ukrainians, trade unions and left-wing political groups. It also provided training, material aid and political legitimacy to resurgent fascist movements in Ukraine.

The Communist Party of Canada sends its solidarity to the working class and people of Belarus, especially the Communist Party of Belarus, who have actively struggled against neoliberalism and imperialism for three decades and who now must struggle against overt interference and aggression.

We call on the Canadian government to respect the international legal principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, by immediately ending its support for the US and EU-led campaign of destabilization and restoring full diplomatic and economic relations with Belarus and its democratically elected government.

The Communist Party also encourages trade unions, peace and progressive organizations in Canada to oppose foreign interference, including from Canada.

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Horgan NDP riding high in the polls, but for how long?

PV Vancouver Bureau

(Note: this article was published prior to the BC provincial election call)

With 13 months left until the British Columbia election scheduled for October 2021, Premier John Horgan's minority NDP government is among the most popular in Canada. But a year is an eternity in 21st century politics. Public opinion can change faster than the proverbial Canucks fans jumping off the bandwagon after a lopsided loss.

Horgan's poll numbers are the result of several factors since the NDP took office three years ago. One is quite simple – the previous sixteen years of the BC Liberals and their relentless support for the rich at the expense of working people and social programs.

A new book by former cabinet minister George Abbott is a timely reminder of the Gordon Campbell era, when cuts to social spending in BC dwarfed the austerity attacks launched by the Harris Tories in Ontario during the mid-1990s. Usually considered a "moderate" under Campbell, Abbott explains that when the Liberals took office, they acted on the neoliberal argument that a 25 percent tax cut for millionaires and corporations would generate explosive economic growth, easily compensating for any revenue losses to the provincial treasury.

Stating the obvious, Abbott says that the tax cut caused a $4.4 billion deficit, which was covered by wholesale slashing of social programs, public education and health care. The victims were teachers, hospital workers, students and young people in dire need. Campbell's grateful millionaires poured their new wealth into condo purchases, driving up housing prices and homelessness. British Columbia is still reeling from this disastrous austerity drive, making the NDP and their Green partners in the legislature look not so bad in comparison.

Horgan and his cabinet have also benefitted from a relatively steady response to the coronavirus pandemic. They were smart to make provincial health officer Dr. Bonny Henry the main public face of the government, avoiding the temptation to hog the camera. As long as infection numbers remained lower in BC than in other large provinces, this strategy has worked well.

But now, those numbers are rising fast, and Dr. Henry warns the province is on a "precipice.” The government made things worse this summer with a series of changes around its school re-opening plans – in large part forced by the NDP's stubborn refusal to scrap the Liberal tax cuts which still make it impossible to adequately fund real human priorities. When the re-opening was announced in July, it hardly appeared to be just a directive for school boards to start classes in September, without providing the resources necessary to ensure the safety of students and staff or to reduce class sizes.

The BC Teachers' Federation and public education activists pushed back hard, only to meet strong resistance from Education Minister Rob Fleming, who was responsible for the government's hardline stance in last winter's collective bargaining with the BCTF. Under major pressure, Fleming had to be more flexible around school re-opening details like masks, physical distancing and remote learning. But this was only after his ministry was caught trying to downplay a massive screw-up of final marks for the 2019-20 academic year, negatively impacting the post-secondary applications of thousands of students.

The K-12 fall term starts on September 10, but nobody can predict how many students will be in class. School boards are in the dark about provincial funding, which is based on enrolment, and unable to guarantee teacher hirings and placements for the academic year. The recent federal announcement of extra funding for public education may eventually help address some problems, but this badly bungled process puts everyone going into classrooms at greater risk.

Another piece of grim news for Premier Horgan this summer was the revelation that the controversial Site C dam faces yet another staggering escalation in construction costs. "Geotechnical issues" may boost the megaproject costs by another $4 billion or so from the estimated $10.7 billion in 2017, a figure which was double the original guess when the dam was announced by the Campbell Liberals.

Energy Minister Bruce Ralston says that BC Hydro is undertaking a full “rebaselining” of the budget and construction schedule, but the next update on cost projections won't be ready until "later this fall.” Ralston blames the Liberals for starting construction without an independent review of Site C by the utilities commission.

But it was the newly-elected Horgan government which angered critics of the project by moving ahead in late 2017, after failing to consult adequately with economists, engineers, Indigenous peoples and environmentalists, and despite predictions of huge cost over-runs, technical problems and construction delays. Many believed at the time that the project was mainly a way to provide affordable energy to big resource corporations in northern British Columbia, and 2200 temporary construction jobs.

George Gidora, leader of the Communist Party of BC, says the latest news reinforces the party's call to halt "the destructive, expensive and unnecessary Site C dam project on the Peace River.” The CPBC will have several candidates on the ballot next fall.

Green Party house leader and leadership candidate Sonia Furstenau said bluntly, “it’s time to cancel Site C.”

But the government is sticking to its 2017 position, that after so much money has been spent "the taxpayers" will want to get something for their investment.

Trends such as falling global energy demand and prices indicate that this boondoggle is increasingly a sinkhole for British Columbians. The taxpayers may indeed eventually "get something" – a massive pile of concrete and dirt across the Peace River, flooding valuable farmland, and producing over-priced energy and billions of dollars in debt for BC Hydro. If that does happen, the NDP will long be remembered for wading ever deeper into the "big muddy," despite ample warnings of a major fiasco.

It's far too early to know if these developments will affect the outcome of the 2021 BC election, but NDP supporters have good reason to be nervous.

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Teachers in Ontario: Back to school, back to struggle

PV Ontario Bureau

With two million students and hundreds of thousands of education workers returning to schools across Ontario, the provincial government is still refusing to enact health measures that would limit the health risks of the ongoing pandemic.

Teachers and education workers, students, parents and public health professionals are united in their calls for the province to provide the funding and direction necessary to reduce class and cohort sizes and find additional public space for use by schools to allow for necessary physical distancing.

In late August, Ontario’s four teachers’ unions filed formal appeals with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) saying that Ontario’s plan for September “does not take every reasonable precaution to protect workers,” as required by health and safety legislation. Prior to the request for OLRB intervention, teachers’ unions had demanded that the Ministry of Labour require the Ministry of Education to set standards around “physical distancing, cohorting, ventilation, and transportation.”

“Schools and classrooms are unique workplaces, with upwards of 30 people sharing small spaces,” said Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario President Sam Hammond in a joint press release. “Smaller class sizes would help make schools safer. Should teachers and education workers not be able to expect at least the same standards and precautionary measures as have been put in place in stores, offices and other spaces across the province?”

The government has fallen back on the fact that the return to in-person learning is not mandatory and that parents and students can choose either online or in-person education. However, the lack of government support, both financial and social, and the phasing out of the limited supports that were available means that millions of workers have little option but to return to work. Some office workers are able to work from home, but front-line workers, who more often have lower wages and are disproportionately racialized and gender oppressed, have either never stopped going to work or are being forced to return. The reopening of schools, especially elementary schools, is necessary to facilitate this for working families.

Doug Ford announced in early August that there would be a return to in-person classes. Since then, teachers and education workers and their unions have been clear on their demands to reduce class sizes to allow for physical distancing in overcrowded classrooms. Public health officials agree with this approach, including the Hospital for Sick Children report that the government has supposedly been using as their model for reopening schools.

Despite all this, Ford’s response has been to publicly attack teachers and their unions for speaking out, and to block school boards’ efforts to reduce class sizes. He has said that the unions “just want to fight” and recently lashed out at the public high school teachers’ union president, saying that he would rather listen to doctors than the union president "with a degree in English literature who thinks he is a doctor." Notably, epidemiologists continue to maintain that physical distancing is a central tool in the fight against COVID-19, so most would agree with the unions and not with Ford.

In fact, despite some parents being able to accommodate keeping students at home, in-person classes are being combined in order to maintain large class sizes. This is because the provincial government is maintaining its education funding formula which is mainly tied to the number of students in a given classroom.

In an effort to subdue growing criticism from teachers, parents and students, the Ford government announced $500 million in additional funding. This money was actually money from reserves that had already been committed to other areas. The federal government’s announcement of $2 billion for the country as a whole has still not been enough for the Ford government to mandate lower class sizes.

All this begs the question of why the Ontario government is so resistant to providing the funds necessary for a return to school which allows for smaller class sizes, physical distancing and other measures that would significantly reduce the risks.

The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) addressed this in a recent statement. “At a time when capitalist governments around the world are spending trillions to bail out the banks and keep stock prices high, a few billion for safe education pales in comparison … Pandemic or no pandemic, they are committed to cutting funds to public education and introducing further privatization of education at all levels. Doug Ford is opposed to smaller class sizes, even as a temporary measure, because the capitalist class he represents is opposed to public education.”

In 2019, the Ford government tried to increase class sizes which would have resulted in 25 percent fewer teaching jobs over a three year period. Additionally, they tried to bring in four mandatory online courses per student, which would have meant more layoffs and a further deterioration of the quality of education.

The Communist Party sees the current struggle as being tied not only to last year’s attack on public education, but to decades of underfunding and privatization. “Just as COVID-19 underlined the massive damage done to the healthcare sector through decades of capitalist austerity this spring, the pandemic is now highlighting the real costs to the cuts to education this fall. Large class sizes, poor ventilation and deferred maintenance are all symptoms of the underlying problem: Ontario’s public education system has been starved. Students will continue to suffer until there is a new, needs-based funding formula to provide adequate and guaranteed funding, from provincial general revenues, to public schools and education programs.”

Last winter’s rotating strikes by teachers have not been forgotten. Education workers and their unions managed to build broad public support in their fight against the government and this resulted in the defeat of many of the worst attacks, despite the strikes being stopped by the onset of the pandemic.

As students and teachers head back to class, the struggle for students’ learning conditions and teachers’ working conditions are now intertwined with the health of us all.

*******

New Brunswick Communists not on ballot, but still campaigning in election

Communist Party, Fredericton Club

With the sudden calling of an election by Progressive Conservative premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick faces the possibility of a Conservative majority government – this is a bid for unchecked power.

A majority would give the Conservatives a free hand to carry out their preferred economic agenda – an agenda of austerity which would place the costs of the pandemic and recession squarely on the backs of working people while maintaining corporate profits at a high level. In the present situation of economic difficulty for most working-class people, where we see rising unemployment, falling wages, bankruptcies, collapsing living standards, and increasing homelessness, an austerity agenda would be a disaster. It would push incomes lower, while leaving government support for those thrown out of jobs or homes even weaker than it is now.

New Brunswickers need the opposite of austerity: they need policies that support and empower workers, and that limit the enormous and disproportionate wealth and power of large corporations and capital.

While we aren’t on the ballot in this election, New Brunswick Communists are campaigning for a program that puts people before profit.

Job creation

Decades of neoliberalism have dismantled our industry in New Brunswick. We have housing shortages, food insecurity, crumbling infrastructure, and not enough schools and hospitals. We can create jobs by addressing these needs.

We must build 25,000 units of affordable social housing; rebuild the shipbuilding industry; and nationalize mining, fishing and telecommunications industries.

We need to rapidly expand fibre optic network across the province; and achieve food security by investing in agriculture, building community gardens and turning municipal ornamental gardens into food gardening spaces.

We can create jobs while expanding social programs and public services, by building new public hospitals, clinics and schools, using green technology; creating a universal public childcare system that’s free to users; and building public infrastructure, making municipal bus services free and creating a publicly-owned intercity transit service.

Public ownership, democratic control and workers’ rights

Capitalist monopolies dominate the province’s industry and news media, leaving little power to the public and workers. We need to put major corporations, like the Irving and McCain businesses, under public ownership and democratic control.

We must enact a Labour Bill of Rights guaranteeing the right to strike, picket, organize and free collective bargaining. With this, we need strong plant closure legislation, anti-scab legislation and improved employment standards for all workers.

Raise wages, pensions and EI

Now more than ever government assistance is needed to protect workers and their families from financial ruin. While other parties promote “economic recovery”, they give away billions in tax dollars to big businesses; it is clear that “economic recovery” only means recovery for the profit-hungry corporations at the expense of the workers.

New Brunswick Communists call for increasing EI benefits to 90 percent of former income for all unemployed workers, for the full duration of unemployment. We are also campaigning for a universal guaranteed annual livable income indexed to inflation, increased public pensions and a $20 minimum wage, and a reduced work week with no loss in take-home pay.

Police reform

The senseless and tragic murders of Rodney Levi and Chantel Moore by the RCMP rocked the province. Premier Higgs offered nothing beyond a glib statement of regret, and he refused to commit to a formal Indigenous-led inquiry when he met with First Nations leaders.

We need to defund, demilitarize and disarm most police units, and create an independent civilian oversight body of police in New Brunswick, with real legal power to act upon its findings.

We demand an end to racial profiling and the protection of Acadian and Indigenous rights.

Women’s and 2S/LGBTiQ+ rights

Communists recognize that access to quality public childcare should be a universal right. We are deeply concerned about the imminent closure of the Fredericton abortion and trans health clinic, Clinic 554. We are campaigning for guaranteed and universally accessible abortion and reproductive health services; a universal system of free, quality public childcare across New Brunswick; guaranteed pay and employment equity; and funding for Clinic 554 and more safe public healthcare spaces for the 2S/LGBTiQ+ community.

Tax reform

The current tax system is unfair. Decades of neoliberal austerity have moved the burden of taxation off the corporations and onto the backs of workers. It’s time to put the burden of taxation back on big businesses – we need to enact progressive taxation based on ability to pay.

This means doubling the provincial corporate tax rate to 28 percent, taking action on corporate tax avoidance and repatriating tax revenue lost over the last thirty years due to tax-dodging and hiding money in tax havens.

It also means eliminating taxes on incomes under $40,000 and removing education from the property tax.

Healthcare

After decades of austerity and neglect, New Brunswick’s healthcare system is inadequate. Long wait lists for surgeries, general practitioners and mental health services are causing avoidable deaths. New Brunswick Communists are campaigning for new public hospitals and clinics, a repeal of regulation 84-20 that bans abortions outside of hospitals and funding for Clinic 554.

We need to expand Medicare to include long-term care, pharmacare, dental, vision and mental health care. We also call for increased wages and improved working conditions for healthcare workers, including long-term care workers.

Environment

Currently 55 percent of our power comes from fossil fuels and over 15 percent comes from nuclear energy. Communists advocate a rapid and massive conversion of our power capacity to renewable energy and decommissioning existing fossil fuel power plants. This guaranteeing workers in the fossil fuel and nuclear industry – like the Belledune coal-fired power plant, the Point Lepreau nuclear station and the Saint John refinery – with jobs in green energy and industry.

We need to enact emergency legislation to slash carbon emissions and end carbon ‘credits,’ and impose heavy fines and jail terms on corporate polluters. We call for nationalization of energy and natural resources – including Irving’s Saint John oil refinery and pulp mill, and Irving’s large timber freeholds licenses – and for forests to be democratically managed as a publicly owned and community resource. 

Education

Our education system is crumbling. As classroom sizes increase and as rural schools close down, teachers are working harder. For many people, post-secondary education is inaccessible. Furthermore, COVID-19    remains a real and valid concern for everyone. The province must invest massively in the public education system, build new schools and renovate existing ones, and provide the needs-based funding required to re-open public schools safely.

Communists call for an end to streaming and for expanded curricula to include labour, Black, Acadian and Indigenous history. We need to restore local democracy and autonomy, through locally elected and accountable public school boards.

Post-secondary education should be free and student debts cancelled.

Rights of nations in Canada

The human, land and resource rights of Indigenous peoples must be recognized and upheld; it is unacceptable for governments to continue being accessories to a brutal and unjust colonial past. Acadian rights must be protected as well, and anti-French bigotry must end.

To move forward, we must uphold treaty rights, as outlined in the Peace and Friendship treaties, and achieve a just settlement of Indigenous land claims by recognizing their inherent rights relating to their unceded land and its resources. Furthermore, we need to enact in provincial legislation the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to free, prior and informed consent to development.

Recognizing the right to self-determination of Indigenous and Acadian peoples means genuine support for their full participation in the economic, social and political life of the province, including the right to education and services in Indigenous languages and French where numbers warrant. Bilingualism in New Brunswick needs to be defended and expanded.

Communists are campaigning for improved social, educational and employment opportunities for Indigenous and racialized peoples, heavy penalties on discriminatory hiring and housing practices, and a full, independent and impartial investigation into the deaths of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi.

The struggle doesn’t end at the ballot box

The issues in this election will still be here on September 15.  A people’s coalition of labour and its allies can be built to stop the Tories and the right-wing. The need for people’s unity and a counter-offensive after the election will be more urgent than ever.

Such a movement can win radical reforms like the ones above. Those policies will not solve all of the working people's problems, but they will provide immediate improvements and show a path forward to our ultimate goal of socialism.

Socialism means the political power of the working people – not the corporations – to make the key decisions. It means workers in control of the industries they work in and of their own labour power. It means an economy democratically controlled by all, not by transnational corporations   and a handful of the super-rich scrambling for bigger and bigger super-profits. It means the highest respect paid to principles of equality – for women and all gender oppressed, for racialized peoples, for all nations. It means an end to the plunder of Indigenous lands. It means an end to imperialist wars.

Another world is possible – and urgent.

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Trade unions call for Cuba’s medical brigade to receive Nobel Peace Prize

On August 1, the World Federation of Trade Unions issued an open letter to its affiliates, friends and workers of the whole world, calling for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Health Contingent. The contingent was founded by Fidel Castro to provide emergency medical assistance around the world, and it sent medical workers to many countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WFTU letter reads:

“The World Federation of Trade Unions salutes its members, friends and simple workers around the world who have been struggling day by day for their survival, for the defense of their labor rights, for having a human life in the midst of unprecedented pandemic conditions.

“The workers of the capitalist countries, since the outbreak of the pandemic, not only have been counting their dead, but also have seen in the most blatant way the inhumanity of the bourgeois governments, which without any hesitations did not take effective measures for the protection of the people, so that the big capital, the bosses, would gain even more. The countless dead in the USA, Brazil, Italy and Colombia, as well as in other countries, are witnesses to the crimes of their governments against their own peoples.

“However, despite the pain and grief, we workers have proudly seen the solidarity and selfless spirit of the heroes of the working class, of the medical personnel who are waging the battle against the pandemic on a daily basis across the planet.

“With that in mind, we consider as the highest expression of humanity and internationalist solidarity the contribution made with selflessness by the Cuban medical brigades that for 60 years have been providing services in almost the whole world with an altruistic, solidary and humanitarian work; in particular the Henry Reeve Contingent, founded by Fidel, with the purpose of saving lives in times of disasters, epidemics, pandemics and other events that require Cuban medical and paramedical assistance.

“For this reason, we consider it very important that the affiliated organizations of the WFTU, each militant union, demand that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to the International Health Contingent “Henry Reeve” of Cuba! In this way, the prize will be awarded to a group that truly contributes and works for the good of humanity and not for the objectives of the imperialists. At the same time, a global response will be given to those who cannot accept that a small and blocked country in the target of international imperialism can offer such a great service to humanity.

“Therefore, we call upon every union to send solidarity resolutions, statements and declarations, in which it will demand that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to the Cuban Medical Brigades, via the following e-mail: info@wftucentral.org All documents will be published on the WFTU website.

“Long live international solidarity!”

Many trade union organizations around the world have echoed the call. These include trade union bodies from Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Australia, Chile, Philippines, Greece, Somalia, Uruguay, Turkey, Canary Islands and Nigeria.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued the following statement, which is posted on the CUPW and WFTU websites.

“Representing the over 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, we salute again the remarkable humanitarian solidarity exhibited by scores of Cuban medical workers serving humanity selflessly all over the planet. For over 60 years, Cuban medical brigades have provided care to some of the most marginalized with altruistic humanity. In particular, we recognize the Henry Reeve Contingent founded by late President of the Cuban Republic, Fidel Castro Ruz “with the purpose of saving lives in times of disasters, epidemics, pandemic and other events that require Cuban medical and paramedical health.”

“We fully support the call for Nobel recognition and declare our conviction that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to the Cuban International Health Contingent. They represent the very best of humanity. Unlike large corporate health care systems who profit off human illness and hoard patents that could serve humanity. Instead, they profit and commodify human life. The Cuban medical brigades often work in the worst of conditions and sacrifice their own welfare for the greater cause of healing communities; especially those that have been missed. This pandemic reveals again the need for human cooperation, sharing and compassion to confront the challenges to healing our world.

“We enthusiastically thank these brave workers. They elevate us all to a better place and show us what is possible. Their act of selfless solidarity reveals a value that deserves recognition, magnification and amplification. You serve this troubled world well. At the very least, they deserve global recognition for their sacrifice and hope they provide for so many.

“We fully support the call for Nobel recognition and declare our conviction that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to the Henry Reeve Contingent, also known as Cuban International Health Contingent.”

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, based on nominations received from qualified nominators. Nominations are received until February of the year of the award.

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Peace Congress: “Restore democracy in Bolivia now!”

PV Staff

As the people of Bolivia continue their struggle against the coup regime headed by Janine Añez, the Canadian Peace Congress is calling for an immediate return to democratic conditions in that country.

Well before the presidential election in October 2019, which Evo Morales won with 47 percent of the popular vote, right-wing opposition leader Carlos Mesa hinted that he would not accept the results. Immediately after Morales’ victory, US imperialism and the Organization of American States (OAS) claimed his Movement Toward Socialism Party (MAS) government had engaged in electoral foul play and vote-rigging.

The Peace Congress notes that, “the OAS charges of fraud gave a green light to violent opposition attacks on President Morales, his family, and other MAS leaders and property.” In an effort to prevent further bloodshed, Morales agreed to hold new elections, but this did not satisfy imperialist interests. Instead, the Bolivian led a coup d’état by forcing Morales and MAS members to resign. Janine Añez, a senator from the right-wing opposition, appointed herself “Interim President” until new elections are held.

In late February, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a comprehensive study that states, “the statistical evidence does not support the [OAS] claim of fraud.” The OAS immediately dismissed the MIT report as “unscientific” and continues to turn a blind eye to the ongoing waves of repression from police and right-wing paramilitary groups.

Despite this violence, support for Morales and the MAS has remained strong. This is especially true among the working class, poor and Indigenous people. MAS presidential candidate Luis Acre holds a commanding lead in opinion polls; in response, the coup government has repeatedly postponed the elections which were originally scheduled for May 2020.

Workers, trade unions and social movements across Bolivia have rejected the coup government’s stalling tactics and have repeatedly called for early elections to be held. On August 3, they launched a general strike demanding the “immediate removal of the coup-installed government” and democratic elections. Their peaceful protests were met by renewed attacks and charges of “sedition and terrorism” have been filed against many MAS leaders.

While the mass mobilizations ended when a law was passed that guaranteed the election will be held by October 18, 2020, the Peace Congress warns, “the danger of a military coup d’état to prevent a MAS victory remains very present.”

The Canadian Peace Congress is insisting that there be no further delays in holding democratic elections in Bolivia, and that independent international monitoring take place prior to and during the vote. The Congress is also calling for all imprisoned labour, Indigenous and social activists to be immediately released and all “sedition and terrorism” charges to be dropped, and demands that the Canadian government end its support for the coup regime in Bolivia.

“We urge all peace, Indigenous, labour and other democratic organizations and movements across Canada to speak out in support of the struggle of the Bolivian people for democracy, social justice and Indigenous rights.”

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World Peace Council: No peace while circumventing the Palestinian people

PV Staff

In a statement regarding the agreement reached between the United Arab Emirates and Israel the World Peace Council insists that peace in the Middle East can only be achieved through a solution based on the rights of the Palestinian people.

The WPC also warns that it is not possible to circumvent the Palestinian people’s rights through bilateral or tripartite agreements.

The full statement follows:

“The World Peace Council stresses the centrality of the Palestinian issue for peace in the region, and its firm position that the Palestinian matter is the crucial issue in the Middle East conflict.

“Commenting on the  Israeli-UAE agreement to normalize relations between them, under US auspices, we underline that peace in the Middle East will only be achieved by resolving the Palestinian issue on the basis of UN resolutions, international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Such a solution must guarantee the complete Israeli withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967, the independence of the occupied Palestinian state within the borders of the June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital and the guarantee of the right of Palestinian refugees to return in accordance with UN Resolution 194.

“The WPC reaffirms that any circumvention of these rights through bilateral or trilateral agreements that do not guarantee these conditions will not be in the interest of peace and stability in the region and cannot serve the peoples of the region. This is visible especially these days where we witness heavy Israeli bombing of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which we strongly denounce and condemn.

“The WPC reiterates its full-hearted solidarity with the just struggle of the Palestinian people in order to achieve these goals, against the imperialist plans in the region.”

The World Peace Council was formed in 1949, to unite the peoples of the world in the struggle for peace and disarmament. It presently has 99 member organizations from countries throughout the world.

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Privatization – the next big shoe to drop?

Editorial

Until COVID-19 triggered the current economic crisis, the “great economic meltdown” of 2007-08 was the largest, most widespread and protracted capitalist crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In response to that deep recession, ruling circles of finance capital and their governments around the world used state treasuries to bail out corporate losses to the tune of tens of trillions.

In Canada, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper announced it would spend around $30 billion to stimulate the economy, overwhelmingly in the form of corporate bailouts.

At the time, this paper noted that working people risked being hit twice by the meltdown. First, through massive job losses, lost pensions and increased poverty; and second, through the severe austerity measures that we expected governments to introduce in order to pay for the bailouts. We warned that, without a massive and militant mobilization of the working class and its allies, this second shoe would drop and cause deeper immiseration for working people and their communities.

Sadly, we were correct in our estimation. The austerity shoe did drop, and it led directly to an enormous shift of wealth from the working class to corporations and the very rich. Corporate profits needed only 15 months to recover and pass pre-crisis levels, helped along by the government’s neoliberal austerity policies. Just ten years later, quarterly corporate profit had jumped nearly 100 percent and reached historic highs. On the other hand, average hourly wages for workers increased by only 8 percent when adjusted for inflation.

Fast forward to 2020 and the situation is many times worse. The drop in production and employment is far deeper and much vaster. The increase in public debt is in the area of $400 billion – more than ten times what it was in 2008.

This begs a very serious question – What tools will the government use to pay for the crisis this time? The enormity of the expense, combined with the depth and duration of mass unemployment, suggest that capitalism cannot rely on “simple” austerity measures. The second shoe to drop will have to be a whopper if the government wants to find a corporate-friendly way out of the COVID-related debt mess.

In all likelihood, we will see an aggressive drive toward privatization – a massive sell-off of public lands, infrastructure and services to the biggest corporate profiteers. The reasoning for this will be that governments need a huge cash injection to pay for the costs of the pandemic and economic collapse. We’ll be told that corporations can develop badly-needed public infrastructure much quicker and manage public services much more efficiently than governments can, especially cash-strapped ones.

Already, government and corporate leaders are pumping the Canadian Infrastructure Bank as an ideal vehicle for the next P3 (“post-pandemic privatization”?) bonanza. They’re eyeing everything from health to public parks to utilities to communications infrastructure.

But this would a huge step backward for the working class, representing a massive loss of wealth, democracy and transparency. Privatization is a giant barrier to everything from good jobs and incomes, to climate and environmental justice, to gender and racial equity, to justice and sovereignty for Indigenous peoples.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. A strong and militant resistance from the working class and its allies can block this kind of corporate recovery and force a different direction. Labour can draw on and learn from examples in its own history – the On-to-Ottawa Trek in 1935, the cross-Canada general strike in 1976, Quebec’s Common Front strikes and the province-wide protest movements against the provincial governments of William Bennett and Mike Harris, and many others.

To stop the next big shoe from falling, workers and the labour movement will have to fill their boots.

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