March 29, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will deliver his second federal budget since the May 2, 2011 election. The monopoly-controlled media are all speculating whether the budget will contain announced budget cuts of $4 billion per year to government services or if the government will speed up those cuts to reach its self-proclaimed wrecking target of $32 billion in cuts by 2014-15. The reduction of services at $4 billion a year or more quickly is explained as necessary to eliminate a government contrived deficit "as planned" or "ahead of schedule." In this way, the Harper government and mass media trivialize the brutal assault on the programs, services and institutions upon which Canadians rely for their way of life. Canadians are left to speculate and take a position on how quickly or viciously the assault on their rights and way of life should occur. Meanwhile, the issue of Who Decides? the crucial matters of state and whether society is to progress or regress in guaranteeing the rights and claims of its members is ignored. State decision-making is kept firmly in the hands of a ruling oligarchy and out of sight, mind and control of the people.

According to statements by Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty, the budget will go much further than just cuts to government spending. It will follow an anti-democratic trend where the budget is used to slip through all kinds of anti-social measures that the government knows Canadians oppose such as Harper's anti-people musings on pensions and refusal to guarantee pensions for all at a Canadian standard or even retain the existing grossly inadequate Old Age Security; changes to immigration to hand over the department to big business interests so they have a steady supply of captive labour both domestic and international delivered to them without company obligations or workers' rights; attacks on environmental and other regulations including the Fisheries Act and mining, because the monopolies demand governments speed up and facilitate regulatory approvals of large projects.

Besides denouncing the "slow or fast" gutting of public services the Harper dictatorship will announce in the budget, the Workers' Opposition has to consider how to oppose the other anti-social measures sneaked into the legislation and importantly how to mobilize the people as an effective force against the overall Harper agenda of putting all the resources and state power of the nation at the disposal of the monopolies to act with impunity to serve their narrow ends such as his recent assault on the rights of Air Canada workers and refusal to defend fired employees of the privatized Air Canada spinoff Aveos.

As has become tradition, the ruling oligarchy keeps secret the contents of the budget even though the entirety directly affects the lives of all Canadians. Secrecy is raised to a virtue instead of denounced as one more dagger in the heart of democracy and the rights of all to discuss and decide. The government and mass media-controlled release of the budget's contents and speculation beforehand are an exercise in disinformation to try and present nation-wrecking and the destruction of public services to pay the rich as positive and even modern and forward looking.

Despite the government's repeated claims that it has a mandate from the fraudulent election for everything it does, the fact remains that the presentation of secret budgets prepared by a select group of privileged members of the ruling oligarchy away from the eyes, ears and brains of the people clearly reveals that the contents will not and indeed cannot reflect the wishes or interests of Canadians and that Harper has zero mandate for anything he does.

Who Decides? remains the issue with the Federal Budget. That is the critical question, not the contrived policy debates over how fast or slow the government goes about arriving at a predetermined anti-social objective of nation-wrecking.

Stop Paying the Rich!
Increase Investments in Social Programs and Public Services!
Who Decides? The People Decide!

Enough Is Enough! Uphold Public Safety
and the Rights of All by Defending
Air Canada Pilots and Aveos Workers

Canada is a vast country that requires a modern air transport system. This necessarily means that those who make this important service possible must have their needs met for a Canadian standard living and working conditions that enable them to perform their jobs to the high standards required. The untenable situation at Air Canada and its former heavy maintenance division Aveos is directly the result of intensifying attacks on the workers by the owners of capital and governments in their service. TML salutes the militant stands being taken by the airline workers to defend their jobs and industry from the predation of the monopolies and calls on everyone to also take up this fight in their own interests to oppose monopoly right and nation-wrecking.

During Air Canada's 2004 bankruptcy protection proceedings, Air Canada workers were told that it would only be through their making concessions that the company would survive. Aveos was created as part of this process, an ostensibly separate company of which Air Canada owns 20 per cent, where the workers continued to perform the same work as before. With the brutal mass termination of the 2,600 Aveos workers, where is this vital work now supposed to take place?

The Air Canada Public Participation Act was passed in 1988 when Air Canada was privatized and requires Air Canada to maintain its maintenance operations in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg. In the Parliament on March 26, Opposition MPs repeatedly demanded to know why the government had not intervened to ensure the law was upheld and what it planned to do to defend the livelihoods of the Aveos workers.

Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore gave the reply, "[W]e have put forward the responsible approach to dealing with Aveos to ensure that the Air Canada Public Participation Act [ACPPA] is reviewed and enforced." What this means nobody knows.

Liberal MP Denis Corderre responded by pointing out that "the Conservatives want to transfer the jobs to a $21-million hangar in Windsor, and the Minister's government is putting $4 million into that. When will the government protect and help families instead of letting a minister take over human resources management for Air Canada? What will the government do to protect those families?"

Meanwhile, Moore revealed the essence of the problem when he added: "Also, we want to ensure that Air Canada remains a healthy air carrier and continues to serve all Canadians."

What the government means by healthy is precisely what worries Canadians. Airline workers point out that the airline was put into bankruptcy by the very same people who grew rich on its dismantlement. Robert Milton was the CEO of Air Canada when it entered bankruptcy. Nearly a decade later he is the nominal head of the shell corporation that is winding down and dispersing the final $300 million of what used to be Canadian taxpayers' money. Air Canada has a present day market value of around $250 million. For his mercenary work, Milton has pocketed some $100 million, roughly 40 per cent of the company's equity value. This is what Air Canada and the government define as a healthy return on investments. For company executives to increase profits for investors and in turn take their cut in the form of obscene bonuses, the workers are made to pay an unacceptable price. It must not pass!

Airline Workers in Action to Hold
Governments to Account

Across the country, airline workers are in action to hold governments to account for what is going on in the airline industry.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local Lodge 1751, representing airline employees at the Montreal International Airport and Jean-Lesage Airport in Quebec City, held a rally on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, March 27.

In Vancouver, Lodge 764 sent a delegation of 14 representatives to Victoria to meet with the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation and with the Leader of the Official Opposition and members of his caucus to keep jobs in BC and to demand that the Federal Government uphold the terms of the ACPPA and force Air Canada to operate their required maintenance bases in Canada.

"We will be asking them to join with the governments of Manitoba and Quebec and the Cities of Montreal, Mississauga and Winnipeg in calling on the Harper Government to uphold the law and enforce the terms of the ACPPA," said the call out. They will also be joined by former Aveos workers to make known to BC legislators how the Aveos insolvency has affected them and their families.

On March 26, a delegation of airline workers led by Jean Poirier, General Chairperson of IAMAW District 140 Eastern Region, met with Transport Minister Denis Lebel regarding the Aveos workers. Following the meeting, the delegation expressed great disappointment with the Minister's response that the matter would go for study by a parliamentary committee, while the Aveos workers have been thrown into the street.

On March 23, IAMAW Lodge 714, representing airline workers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario rallied at the Manitoba Legislature to defend the rights of the 2,600 Aveos workers brutally terminated by the company on March 19. Meanwhile, the ground crew workers in Toronto courageously held a wildcat strike on March 23 to defend their unjustly suspended coworkers (see TML Daily, March 23, No. 41). On March 22, airline workers in Calgary demonstrated at Prime Minister Harper's constituency office and also held an information picket at the Calgary Airport. On March 21, machinists rallied at the National Assembly in Quebec City to defend the Aveos workers. On March 14, the machinists demonstrated in front of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to oppose the Harper government sending their labour dispute with Air Canada to the CIRB to try and prevent them from taking action to defend their rights, working conditions and public safety.

Air Canada Pilots Launch Court Challenge
of Federal Legislation

Air Canada pilots are asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to rule that federal legislation passed last week, forcing them to fly and accept a contract imposed through arbitration, contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Our pilots are professionals with the freedom to associate and bargain collectively under the Canada Labour Code," said Captain Paul Strachan, President of the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA). "The Harper government's bill clearly violates their rights and should be struck down by the courts."

The pilots also argue in their application to the court that the legislation forcing them to fly conflicts with their legal obligations under the Canadian Aviation Regulations, which prohibit pilots from flying if they have any reason to believe they are unfit to properly perform their duties.

"All professional pilots have a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to assess their own fitness for duty before taking control of an airplane containing hundreds of passengers, all depending upon the pilots for their safety," Captain Strachan said. "The legislation attempts to override that responsibility and compel pilots to fly by threatening them with fines of up to $1,000 if they do not report for duty. This is not only a legal issue, but also a public safety issue that should concern all passengers."

The pilots ask the court to declare the legislation unconstitutional and order that any contract imposed under arbitration is null and void. The complete application to the court is available at www.acpa.ca.

"We are confident that the rights afforded to all Canadians under the Charter will be upheld and the court will restore fundamental justice," Captain Strachan said.

The Air Canada Pilots Association is the largest professional pilot group in Canada, representing the 3,000 pilots who operate Air Canada's mainline fleet.

Fighting to Defend Their Interests,
Air Canada and Aveos Workers Are Defending
All Workers and the Canadian Economy

- New Horizons*, March 25, 2012 -

The events of the past couple of weeks have confirmed our analysis at the end of last year that nothing had been resolved at Air Canada. Not only has nothing been resolved but the Harper dictatorship has strengthened the Company's determination to resist any attempt by workers and pilots to defend and improve their working conditions that will allow them to fulfill their duty to ensure the health and safety of Canadian travellers.

The criminalization of our struggles by the Harper dictatorship on behalf of Air Canada has emboldened the other monopolies and employers across the country in the intensification of their anti-worker, anti-social offensive that we are witnessing in every sector of the economy. It has clearly exposed that Harper and his gang are interested only in listening to and serving the interests of those monopolies.

The hypocrisy of trying to portray their actions as defending the Canadian economy is even further exposed when one looks at its response to actions by Aveos or Caterpillar and countless other companies who have simply closed their doors throwing thousands of workers into the streets. Workers fighting for Canadian-standard wages and working conditions so they can support their families and continue contributing to society are painted as a threat to the economy, while throwing workers into the streets with no prospects of a continuing livelihood or decent retirement are "private business decisions." It is clearly the Harper dictatorship that is responsible for any attacks on the Canadian economy and not the workers who have built the economy.

And the history of Air Canada has shown that it bears its share of responsibility in these matters. The break-up of the national airline to sell off the profitable parts showed that those who had seized control of the Company were not interested in Canada's aviation needs or the well-being of the workers in this sector. They were interested only in maximizing their profits and Air Canada employees have been paying ever since.

The criminals in this story are not those who are defending our dignity by confronting Lisa Raitt or protesting against the Aveos closure. It is the governments and their monopoly masters who have brought about this chaotic disequilibrium that must be fought for the crimes they are committing.

We must put an end to this anti-national, anti-social behaviour. We must strengthen the workers' opposition and establish a new direction for the Canadian economy. We have no other choice. Our current and our future well-being depend on it.

Demonstration by Air Canada machinists at Trudeau Airport last year, March 16, 2011, to oppose threats by Aveos to
layoff workers and send work abroad. They also called on the government to uphold the law and defend their jobs.

* New Horizons is a publication from and for airline workers, particularly In-Flight Service workers. The publication can be reached at newhorizons@videotron.ca.

(Photos: IAMAW)

Quebec

Government to Blame for Destruction of Manufacturing

- Normand Chouinard -

Rally against the closure of the Goodyear Tire plant in Valleyfield, Quebec, February 3, 2007.
"What's the use of having governments?"; "Charest! The multinationals are ready to close Quebec..."

At a time when the Charest Liberal government, in power since 2003, is turning a blind eye to the massive destruction of manufacturing, the working class is told to "pay its fair share" without even the smallest political gesture to save or at least halt factory closures. It is part of the same logic being used against the Quebec students.

While letting the monopolies bleed the economy with impunity, the Quebec Liberals continue to promote their Northern Plan and speak about "creating wealth" in a manner which explains nothing. The Workers' Opposition rejects this nonsense. For the working class, creation of wealth means continued industrial production. For individual workers, this means going daily to a productive workplace and having a productive day. All factory closures go against this aim and block the creation of wealth.

Workers from the former Shell refinery in Montreal rally to save their jobs at the 2010 Quebec Federation of Labour Convention. Eight hundred direct jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs were lost when the refinery closed.

According to the latest statistics, more than 3,000 industrial jobs have been lost recently in the greater Montreal area alone. Pfizer: 150 jobs; Metro: 150 jobs; Johnson and Johnson: 126 jobs; Mabe: 740 jobs; Astrazeneca: 132 jobs; Aveos: 1,800 jobs; Transcontinental: 250 jobs; Komatsu: 180 jobs; Electrolux: 1,600 jobs; Shell: 800 jobs, etc. The numbers are harsh but real. According to the Quebec Institute of Statistics, the manufacturing sector's share of the Quebec economy has gone from 22.9 per cent in 2000 to 16.1 per cent in 2011. In 10 years the Quebec manufacturing sector has lost nearly seven per cent of its industrial capacity, i.e., its capacity to produce wealth for the economy. This does not take into account that this sector is operating at about 70 per cent of its capacity.

This crisis in the manufacturing sector is simply unsustainable for a modern economy. The latest budget from Finance Minister Raymond Bachand contains no measures to boost the manufacturing sector and increase the ranks of the working class. Here are the measures in the Bachand budget to help the manufacturing sector: additional support for exports including a three-year $600,000 agreement between Export Quebec and the Manufacturers and Exporters of Quebec; the establishment of a refundable tax credit to help small and medium-sized businesses to diversify their export markets; and adding $6 million for information technology in small and medium-sized businesses. The budget also puts an unspecified amount of money toward training labour, new measures to stimulate exports in the textile, forestry and agricultural sectors and establishes a new tax credit for investment in the mineral processing sector. There is also a tax credit on payroll taxes for older workers. None of these measures included in the budget restrict the right of monopolies to do as they please with the economy. What use are stimulus packages for the textile industry when for more than a decade the Liberals have let factory after factory close? How will stimulus packages for exports in the forestry sector stop monopolies like Resolute Forest Products (AbitibiBowater), White Birch and others sabotaging and closing productive operations, demanding concessions from the workers and stealing their pensions? What use are stimulus packages in the agricultural industry when these same governments are negotiating free trade agreements with Europe and Asia which jeopardize the principles of supply management in several agricultural sectors, and which will weaken entire sections of our food industry?

The Bachand budget does not have the aim of increasing industrial production. For example, in Montreal, out of a population of 1,886,481 inhabitants, the total number of jobs is 930,000. Within that number only 155,670 people work in manufacturing (food: more than 14,000; beverages and tobacco: more than 42,000; textiles and clothing: 25,000; chemical products: 11,000; electronics and computers: more than 10,500; transport equipment: 17,000, etc.). The unemployment rate in Montreal in February 2012 was 9.2 per cent compared to 7.8 per cent in 2009, nearly 170,000 people who aren't participating in creating wealth. In Quebec, the unemployment rate is 8.4 per cent and only 522,335 people are industrial workers. This is a steady declining trend.

A government that really wants to stimulate the creation of wealth will first assist the working class, the class that produces the wealth and will put in place measures that will protect it from the monopoly predators and their anti-social decisions. It will restrict monopoly right to close productive operations, demand concessions from the working class, steal their pension funds, pillage the public treasury and damage the environment. The Liberal government should be held to account for its ineptitude to defend manufacturing.

(Translated from original French by TML Daily)

Demand Justice in Mexican Activist's Assassination

No More Criminal Conduct and Complicity
Between Canadian Mining Company
and Local and State Officials

- Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining -

On March 15 our Comrade Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez (leader of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley Coordinator -- CPUVO -- Oaxaca) was murdered, presumably by thugs of the Canadian mining company Fortuna Silver Mines, and Rosalinda Canseco and Andres Vasquez Sanchez were also injured.

They were returning to their city of San José del Progreso in Ocotlán, Oaxaca, after a dialogue with officials of the government of Oaxaca state with the intention of obtaining answers to the problems created by the mining company, when they were attacked by thugs at the crossroads of Santa Lucia, Ocotlán and Bernardo Vazquez was shot down.

The Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA) demands justice from the state and Mexican federal government in this calculated murder of one more community activist; whose voice, in this case, represented the just demand to put an end to the violations of rights committed by the Canadian mining company Fortuna Silver Mines, as well as the corruption accepted by the Mayor of San José del Progreso [Alberto Mauro Sanchez] and the alleged collusion of state officials.

We request that the National Commission of Human Rights, as well as the Congressional Federal Legislators, intervene in the case and promote the investigation of the murder and the attempted murder committed against these Oaxacan citizens, because the previous crimes against Bernardo Mendez Vasquez and Bety Carino, linked to the infamous duo of mining companies and state government corruption have gone unpunished.

We again demand that state officials fulfill their obligation to investigate thoroughly and impart justice. Their credibility is exhausted and the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable of providing justice promptly is again in doubt.

Public opinion is becoming increasingly informed of the frequent illegal conduct of mining companies, as well as the complicity of government officials with those mining companies but the demand to put an end to that behaviour and the impunity that encourages and prolongs it is also steadily increasing.

No more crimes against social activists fighting for justice!
Uniting our voices, let's put an end to impunity!
Fortune Silver Mines get out of San José del Progreso, Oaxaca!

National Coordinators, Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining

(Translated from original Spanish by TML Daily)

Read The Marxist-Leninist Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca

The Issue Remains: Who Decides?

The Issue Remains: Who Decides?

Enough Is Enough! Uphold Public Safety
and the Rights of All by Defending
Air Canada Pilots and Aveos Workers

Airline Workers in Action to Hold
Governments to Account

Air Canada Pilots Launch Court Challenge
of Federal Legislation

Fighting to Defend Their Interests,
Air Canada and Aveos Workers Are Defending
All Workers and the Canadian Economy

Government to Blame for Destruction of Manufacturing

No More Criminal Conduct and Complicity
Between Canadian Mining Company
and Local and State Officials

The Issue Remains: Who Decides?

The Issue Remains: Who Decides?

Enough Is Enough! Uphold Public Safety and the Rights of All by Defending Air Canada Pilots and Aveos Workers

Airline Workers in Action to Hold Governments to Account

Air Canada Pilots Launch Court Challenge of Federal Legislation

Fighting to Defend Their Interests, Air Canada and Aveos Workers Are Defending All Workers and the Canadian Economy

Government to Blame for Destruction of Manufacturing

No More Criminal Conduct and Complicity Between Canadian Mining Company and Local and State Officials

Enough Is Enough! Uphold Public Safety
and the Rights of All by Defending
Air Canada Pilots and Aveos Workers

Airline Workers in Action to Hold
Governments to Account

Air Canada Pilots Launch Court Challenge
of Federal Legislation

Fighting to Defend Their Interests,
Air Canada and Aveos Workers Are Defending
All Workers and the Canadian Economy

No More Criminal Conduct and Complicity
Between Canadian Mining Company
and Local and State Officials