June 2004

THE ECONOMY: ISSUE #1 FOR WORKERS

IT'S NO EXAGGERATION to say that the Communist Party of Canada's election platform is in tune with the demands and alternatives raised by a wide range of labour and people's movements - and with the needs of workers.
The CPC platform leads off with crucial economic issues. For the vast majority of working class Canadians, the defining reality of our time is the assault by corporations and governments on jobs and the social safety net. Cities and towns from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island are being devastated by plant closures, de-industrialization, and "structural adjustment." In Hamilton, steelworkers at Stelco are the latest targets in a long list of shutdowns and closures of major manufacturing operations tearing the guts out of their city. Other examples include autoworkers at GM in Ste. Therese, Quebec, woodworkers across British Columbia, fish plant workers on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
In every case, when capitalist crisis hits an industry, the interests of shareholders are protected, while the rights of workers and our families and communities come dead last.
Think about it: over a decade after the supposed "triumph of capitalism," almost two million Canadians are out of work or have given up looking at any given time. Unemployment remains a permanent feature of our system, despite rapid advances in technology which could improve working conditions and shorten hours for everyone. Instead, high-tech has become a nightmare device to speed up production, increase the profits generated by workers, and to ravage the environment.
And it gets worse. In the pursuit of maximum profits, the same capitalists are pushing privatisation, contracting out, and other schemes to destroy public assets and social programs. There is a desperate need in Canada for more teachers, more healthcare and childcare workers, more social housing, and yet all these vital areas are starved of funding by governments intent on handing out tax breaks to millionaires.
In this campaign, the Communists propose a fundamental economic alternative to these policies, including:
* Reverse the "deep integration" of Canada into "Fortress America" by abrogating NAFTA.
* Build the industrial cornerstones of Canada's wealth-producing economic base.
* Increase the "value-added" component of resource exports to secure jobs and investment.
* Stop capital flight and "runaway plants."
* Legislate a 32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay and no loss in services.
* Stop the theft of the Employment Insurance fund, and set benefits at 90% of previous earnings for all unemployed.
* Reverse the privatization of Air Canada, PetroCanada and CN Rail.
* Stop privatization and contracting-out of public services.
* Put electricity, banking, and the insurance system under public ownership and democratic control.
* Expand and improve social services, Medicare and pensions.
* Increase taxes on the corporations, and eliminate taxes on incomes under $35,000/yr.
If you think these policies are worth your vote, the CPC also needs your help in this election. Call 416-469-2446 for information on how to volunteer for the Communist campaign!

© 2004 Communist Party of Canada