June 21, 2013 - No. 77

National Aboriginal Day

Demand Governments Recognize First Nations'
Rights and Nation-to-Nation Relations!


National Aboriginal Day
Demand Governments Recognize First Nations' Rights and
Nation-to-Nation Relations!

First Nations People Call for Escalation of Activities
June 21 Mass Gathering on Parliament Hill - Idle No More Ontario 
First Nations in Action to Affirm Sovereignty and Rights
High Rates of Poverty for Aboriginal Children

No to Foreign Aggression in the Name of a Political Solution!
Hands off Syria! Hands Off the Middle East! - Windsor Peace Coalition

In the Parliament
The Harper Conservatives' Anti-Worker Spin About "Jobs Without Workers"
- Jim Nugent
The Crown in Parliament Generates More Disequilibrium in Canada, Part Three
- K.C. Adams



National Aboriginal Day

Demand Governments Recognize First Nations'
Rights and Nation-to-Nation Relations!

June 21 is National Aboriginal Day. It acknowledges the First Nations, Métis and Inuit within Canada's boundaries. In recent times, the day has been taken up by Aboriginal peoples as an occasion to vigorously affirm their rights. This year, the day takes place in the midst of a stepped-up struggle by Aboriginal peoples for the recognition of their hereditary, treaty and constitutional rights.

The federal government uses the occasion of National Aboriginal Day to issue token statements that cover up its responsibility to recognize the rights of Aboriginal peoples and deal with the long-standing injustices arising from the negation of their rights. A June 21 statement by Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, says in part:

"Since the founding of Canada, Aboriginal peoples have played a vital role in shaping the country we know today. National Aboriginal Day provides all Canadians with an opportunity to reflect on their contributions, on our shared history, and on the importance of strengthening the relationship between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals that is so fundamental to our identity as a country."

Valcourt's remarks are indicative of how governments treat Aboriginal peoples as a mere adjunct to Canada or just another "ethnicity," as if they are not nations and peoples in their own right which the government is duty-bound to deal with on a nation-to-nation basis. Such remarks cover up the brutal racist treatment and exploitation of Aboriginal peoples at the hands of governments in Canada from the colonial era to the present.

The fight of Aboriginal peoples to affirm their rights belongs to everyone. Workers, women, youth and all the collectives in society know from their own experience that the fight to affirm rights is one fight -- Canada's future lies in the fight for the rights of all! The fight in Canada to guarantee the rights of all, including First Nations' hereditary, treaty and constitutional rights, concerns every worker, senior and youth.

The Canadian state refuses to recognize the peoples' rights and instead does its utmost to recognize only monopoly right. This is leading to a deepening crisis. The situation calls for the Workers' Opposition to work together with the Aboriginal peoples for a profound renewal of the political arrangements in the society and deprive the authorities of their power to deprive the people of their rights. The people themselves must be empowered to take control of their economic, political and social affairs.

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First Nations People Call for Escalation of Activities

Idle No More and Defenders of the Land call on all people to participate as they transition from their "Solidarity Spring" campaign to "Sovereignty Summer" with increased and escalated activities. In March, Idle No More joined forces with Defenders of the Land to launch these campaigns to bring attention to the Harper government's agenda that undermines the rights of Indigenous peoples, Canadian citizens, and the ongoing policies disrupting Indigenous peoples' lives -- such as land claims, third party management, and no free and prior consent to development on First Nations' lands. "We are in a critical time where lives, lands, waters and Creation are at-risk and they must be protected," their statement reads. It continues:

"The Harper government is moving quickly to pass the suite of legislation (C-45, C-428, S-2, S-6, S-8, S-212, C-27, and the First Nation Education Act) that undermines the treaties, our nation-to-nation relationship and Indigenous sovereignty, which is the last stand to protect our lands. Idle No More calls on non-Indigenous people to join Indigenous communities in coordinated non-violent direct actions in the summer. Alternatives will only come to life if we escalate our actions, taking bold non-violent direct action that challenges the illegitimate power of corporations who dictate government policy.

"People have been inspired to engage in creative activities of reclaiming, resurgence and resistance in exercising their Nationhood in ways they see appropriate for them. There has been a historic 'Turtle Lodge Treaty' signing ceremony on Indigenous education, nations have reclaimed sacred spaces and peoples continue to protect their lands from invasion. There is a spiritual energy stirring and a large awakening is on the horizon as we transition to Sovereignty Summer. The spirit in which Idle No More began was through the resurgence of Indigenous laws and it is only appropriate for the resurgence of our spiritual and ceremonial practices -- which are the foundation of our Nations -- to guide us into this transitioning period. The time for Unity and Solidarity is NOW, our future generations are depending on us and asking us to come together to think about what we will leave for them. [...]

"Leading into Sovereignty Summer, Idle No More calls on all people to join in a grassroots gathering for a Public Awareness Campaign in all Cities, Towns, Indigenous Communities and Villages across Canada and Internationally. [...]"

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June 21 Mass Gathering on Parliament Hill

11:00 am: Gather at Victoria Island
11:30 am: Ceremony to welcome Walkers, cyclists
12:30 pm: Leave for Parliament
1:00 pm: Parliament Hill -- speakers, drumming and dancing
3:00 pm: Canoeists arrive -- people can walk down back of
Parliament Hill to cheer them on

4:00 pm: Canoeists go to Parliament Hill
5:30 pm: Event ends

Show your solidarity with First Peoples this solstice at Parliament Hill. Travellers from all four directions will converge on Ottawa with their messages of protection for Mother Earth.

Embrace Indigenous sovereignty through our ceremonies, the wisdom of our speakers, the power of our songs, our drumming and dancing.

The Conservative government has pushed through hundreds of pages of legislation that go against treaty rights of Aboriginal people without consulting First Nations or Canadians. The latest omnibus Bill C-45 is being criticized by Canadians, environmentalists and Aboriginal groups. It's a bill that affects Mother Earth drastically and as stewards of the land and Mother Earth we must stand up against these reforms which are being made under the guise that they will make things better for our society economically and financially when in reality they are detrimental to the life, spirit and longevity of Mother Earth and so to ourselves!

So we ask you to come from wherever you are in solidarity and unity, to bring your prayers, your drums, rattles, voices, regalia and spirits to this event! An event that will bring awareness, education, a sense of unity, responsibility and community to the people!

This will be a peaceful protest, a day for prayer, ceremony, community and enlightenment. Please share this with all your friends across Turtle Island and let's come together as one for the first Million First People's March on Turtle Island! Idle No More!

For full details, see event on Facebook.

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First Nations in Action to Affirm
Sovereignty and Rights

Opposition to Seismic Testing for Shale Gas in New Brunswick

The Mi'kmaq First Nation and their supporters are opposing seismic testing for potential natural gas reserves by Texas-based Southwestern Energy Company (SWN), near the community of Elsipogtog in New Brunswick. SWN exercised its permit to conduct preliminary testing for shale gas exploitation without prior consultation with First Nations, as required by law. Natives and non-Natives alike are concerned that the seismic testing will lead to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of Kent County, much of which is under exploratory lease to SWN.

On June 4, Elsipogtog Mi'kmaq Warrior Chief John Levi and some 65 protesters, including women and children, seized a SWN truck at a gas station and surrounded the vehicle so that it could not be removed from the parking lot. Levi stated that SWN broke the law when they first started fracking "in our traditional hunting grounds, medicine grounds, contaminating our waters."

Protests against SNW's testing have continued since then. A sacred fire was lit and a camp set up at the junction of Highway 126 and Highway 116 West, directly in the path of seismic testing trucks -- or "thumpers" -- that are conducting geological surveys on behalf of SWN Resources Canada. Levi stated that the gathering would remain peaceful, but that the seismic testing would not be allowed to continue beyond the sacred fire.

On June 14, at approximately 7:45 am, when numbers were low at the encampment, SWN seismic trucks, flanked by an RCMP escort, pushed past the blockade. Although protesters were in the middle of a sunrise ceremony, RCMP arrested 12 people who had physically blocked the road.

Protesters are continuing their actions and call for support from everyone.

Occupation of Enbridge Pumping Station near Hamilton

On June 20 at 6 am, people from the Six Nations Iroquois community near Hamilton began an occupation at Enbridge's North Westover pumping station. The action opposes Enbridge's plans to reverse the flow of its Line 9 oil pipeline which would bring Alberta tar sands oil east. The action includes other local residents.

"This is a huge risk, from my point of view, to our lands, our waters and our future generations. It's my responsibility to stand for our lands," said Melissa Elliott, 22, a Tuscarora from Six Nations. "We don't want an oil spill to happen in our territory."

Elliott said the protest is the start of cross-country actions against the tar sands in Alberta and Enbridge's plans to move oil from the west to the east. She said Six Nation's sister communities of Tyendinaga and Akwesasne would be involved in future planned actions.

A statement released by the protestors reads: "We are establishing a camp on Enbridge property in the middle of the Beverly Swamp, the largest remaining forested wetland in Southern Ontario. The health of this wetland is crucial to the health of the Spencer Creek, which feeds Cootes Paradise, the beautiful marshland that forms the western end of Lake Ontario. Protecting the water is vitally important -- once water is poisoned, it can't be undone."

The statement points out, "This is also stolen Indigenous land and is the traditional territory of the Chonnonton people as well as of the Mississagi Anishinabec and the Onondawaga Haudenosaunee. This pipeline crosses the territories of dozens of Indigenous nations along its route, including the Six Nations of the Grand River who have taken an inspiring lead in building resistance to Line 9."

The protestors invite people to come to the site to show their support and also "welcome any donations of food, camping supplies, money, or whatever you think would be useful."

The protest has stopped construction at Enbridge's North Westover terminal, which began following a recent National Energy Board (NEB) ruling approving phase one of the company's planned pipeline reversal. The NEB allowed for the reversal of the oil flow along Line 9A which runs from Sarnia to North Westover.

The second phase of the project, or Line 9B would reverse the flow of oil between North Westover and Montreal.

Pimicikamak Cree to deliver "Friendly Reminder Notice" to Manitoba Hydro

A press release from the Pimicikamak Cree First Nation informed that on June 19 citizens from Cross Lake would arrive at Manitoba Hydro headquarters to deliver their own version of the "Friendly Reminder Notices" that Hydro has sent to many homes in Cross Lake. The notice would be accompanied by the signatures of over 1,000 Pimicikamak citizens in support of the action.

The "friendly notice" is intended to remind Manitoba Hydro of its "legal and moral commitment to ensure that all hydro-affected communities share in the abundant wealth created by the dams."

Since last fall, Hydro has begun cutting off some of the roughly 280 Cross Lake households believed to be on its disconnection list.

"We want to be able to pay our bills," says William Osborne, who speaks for the group, "but we also want Hydro to honour its obligations to us."

Those two things go together the Pimicikamak Cree point out. "When we consented to the hydro project in our homeland, Hydro and governments promised to work with us to address poverty and unemployment," says Osborne, a former Pimicikamak Vice Chief. "If they would have fulfilled these commitments over the past three decades, far more of us would be able to pay our bills now."

Osborne points out that the underlying question is simple: "Who owes who?"

(APTN, CBC, Halifax Media Co-op, Pimicikamak Cree)

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High Rates of Poverty for Aboriginal Children

Half of First Nations children in Canada are living below the poverty line, indicates a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Save the Children Canada, released June 19. The figure reaches nearly two-thirds in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

In the case of Métis, Inuit and non-status Indian children, the poverty rate is 27 per cent, bringing the overall rate to nearly 40 per cent for all Indigenous children compared to 15 per cent of non-Indigenous children living in poverty .

Federally funded on-reserve children face the most hardships compared to those who live off reserve. The federal government funds on-reserve social services, health care, education and income supports.

According to the study, transfer payments for these social services on-reserve have increased two per cent a year since 1996 and are not adjusted for population growth or need.

"The removal of this cap on funding growth and an adjustment of transfers for need could reduce the alarming rate of status First Nations households living in poverty. It is a matter of choice," states the study's executive summary. "The failure of ongoing policies is clear. The link between the denial of basic human rights for Indigenous children and their poverty is equally clear."

The report also points out that Aboriginal children fall behind on family income and access to education, and experiece overcrowding and homelessness, poor water quality and health care, as well as high levels of infant mortality and suicide.

"The Indigenous population is the fastest growing in Canada. With adequate and sustained support these people will become an integral part of society and the workforce -- particularly as baby boomers retire," said Daniel Wilson, Indigenous rights advocate and co-author of the study. "But if we refuse to address the crushing poverty facing Indigenous children, we will ensure the crisis of socioeconomic marginalization and wasted potential will continue."

Nearly $7.5 billion would be needed to bring all children up to the poverty line, states the study. The study examined child poverty statistics from the 2006 census, the most recent data available according to the authors.

(APTN)

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No to Foreign Aggression in the Name of a Political Solution!

Hands off Syria! Hands off the Middle East!

Weekly Anti-War Picket

Saturdays -- 11:00 am-12:00 noon

Corner of Walker Road and Ottawa St.

This week the Windsor Peace Coalition is calling on all justice-minded and anti-war Canadians to oppose Canada's meddling in the affairs of Syria and other countries of that region.

The U.S. and Canadian governments are calling for a political solution to the conflict in Syria. At the same time they are supporting armed groups within Syria with weapons, "non-lethal" war materials and open political support internationally. For Canada and the U.S. it seems the call for a political solution is in reality an attempt to use whatever means necessary to carry out regime change in Syria as part of schemes to undermine any governments or resistance movements which do not submit to NATO domination.

While they talk about a political solution they fan the flames of war in order to use whatever opportunities they can -- political, military, covert or overt to achieve their goal. Meanwhile, the anarchy and chaos this creates is also used to justify foreign intervention with claims that the situation may spill over into neighbouring countries. One of these neighbouring countries, Iraq, has already born the brunt of U.S. crimes against humanity and aggression. Another, Turkey is being used, against the will of its people, to do NATO's dirty work, allowing its territory to be used as a base for armed Syrian opposition forces to organize and launch their attacks from the north. Jordan is being slated for a similar role on the southern border. So who is destabilizing the region?

It is time for the U.S. and Canada to stop meddling in the affairs of the peoples of the world, whether it be in the Middle East or elsewhere. If they are truly concerned about human rights abuses and corruption they should set an example by sorting it out in their own countries instead of using it as a pretext to commit gross violations of human rights internationally.

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In the Parliament

The Harper Conservatives' Anti-Worker Spin About "Jobs Without Workers"


The 2013 budget which the Conservatives just pushed through Parliament before it adjourned has once again revealed that the Harper government has no solutions for the problems of working people. Workers have been suffering from the effects of economic stagnation and mass unemployment for four years. They consider addressing this problem to be the first duty of government. The Harper Conservatives, however, do not even recognize their responsibility. They think it is good enough just to say unemployment is related to external factors beyond their control. The Harperites praise themselves for doing a great job of managing the economy despite the reality of millions of workers unemployed or underemployed in part-time jobs.

The budget process has also revealed that the Conservatives are not even interested in providing solutions to the problems facing working people. What other conclusion can be drawn from the way Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the centrepiece of his budget spin alleged "labour shortages" and "job vacancies" in some sectors and regions? While there are 1.4 million workers without jobs, Flaherty's only concern is "jobs without workers." According to Harper's Finance Minister, employers being unable to fill vacancies at the wages they are willing to pay constitutes a crisis and solving this alleged crisis is a national priority.

The problem of employment was defined as being one of "connecting Canadians to jobs," as if there are millions of jobs just waiting for the unemployed and underemployed to take up, perhaps after a little retraining. This way of defining the problem of jobs is very convenient for the Harper Conservatives and serves their overall anti-worker, anti-social agenda in a number of ways. Besides letting themselves off the hook for four years of economic stagnation and mass unemployment, this definition of the job problem also provides justification for the broad anti-worker offensive of the Harperites.

Slashing EI benefits and criminalizing EI recipients, for example, can be peddled as necessary structural changes to the labour market aimed at "connecting Canadians to jobs." Unions can be attacked as preventing Canadians from connecting with jobs by stifling labour market flexibility. Even extending the retirement age from 65 to 67 is marketed as a way of dealing with predicted "labour shortages" in the near future.

The actual budget measures for "connecting Canadians to jobs" involve a program being rolled out called Canada Jobs Grants. This program will result in the federal government withdrawing $300 million in transfers to the provinces and Quebec under Labour Market Agreements. These funds will then be distributed directly by the federal government through employers. Participating provinces will have to contribute matching funds. Federal transfers of $1.95 billion of EI funds to provinces and Quebec under Labour Market Development Agreements may also be rolled into Canada Jobs Grants as these agreements for federal funding of provincial training programs expire.

It is expected that much of the redirected funding will be nothing more than disguised wage subsidies for employers. Undoubtedly, much of the funding will end up in the pockets of the Harperites' patrons among the Alberta oil and gas monopolies who are said to be suffering the most from "labour shortages" and "job vacancies." Discourse around the Canada Jobs Grants also indicates the program will be used to fund wage subsidies used to sweeten deals the government has on offer to attract investment by other global resource extraction monopolies.

Redirecting training funds may also serve the Harper agenda of weakening unions, especially construction unions. Federal funds, distributed through the provincial and Quebec governments, currently support the apprentice training programs operated by construction unions. Assuming direct control over the distribution of these funds would allow the Conservatives to redirect apprentice training funds to their friends in the anti-union Merit Contractors Association and the yellow union Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) which would give their attacks on the unionized construction workers a big boost. Direct control of these funds will also enable the Harperites to purchase political influence among social service organizations dependent on training funds currently distributed by provincial governments.

Like the entire agenda of the Harper government, the Canada Jobs Grants program is based on fraud, in this case a fraud about "job vacancies" and "labour shortages." The job vacancies Flaherty and the Harper Conservatives are so concerned about are not even on the same scale as the number of unemployed workers. Labour force statistics show that on any given day, there are approximately 200,000 job openings across the country. If every "job without a worker" was immediately filled and there were no new layoffs, there would still be 1.2 million unemployed workers and millions of more underemployed.

Typically, "labour shortages," are identified in the construction trades among both skilled and semi-skilled workers, but these alleged shortages have more to do with the dreams of capitalists who see only six workers lined up for a job opening and wish there were 100 competing for that job. On average in 2012, for every vacancy that opened in the construction sector nationally there were 6.4 workers lined up waiting for that job. This compares to an unemployed worker to job vacancy ratio of 5.5 to 1.0 in all sectors of the economy. The number of unemployed construction workers in Canada in 2012 averaged 107,000 while the number of jobs open averaged only 18,400.

Even in Alberta's booming construction sector the "shortage of labour" is greatly exaggerated. In February 2013, the last month for which figures are available, there were 14,600 unemployed construction workers seeking 4,600 job openings, a ratio of more than 3 workers for every job. During October 2011, the busiest month that year, there were still 8,500 unemployed construction workers and only 3,500 jobs open, a ratio of 2.6 workers for every job. Throughout 2012, the average number of unemployed construction workers in Alberta was 13,000. The lowest the unemployed worker to job vacancy ratio got during the year was 15 construction workers available for every 10 jobs that came open.

There are sectors in Alberta's economy where the job vacancies are greater than the number of unemployed. In the restaurant and accommodation sector, for example, it is reported that there are typically 3,000 more vacancies than unemployed workers. But this situation is clearly not the result of a shortage of skilled workers but the result of a shortage of employers willing to pay the going wage. The Harper government has rushed in to solve the employers' problem by providing indentured hotel and restaurant workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program who have no choice but to accept the wages offered by the employers who bring them to Canada. TFW programs are also used in Alberta to solve the shortage of employers willing to pay the going wage for other retailing jobs and for some manufacturing jobs, such as meat processing.

The anti-worker stand of the Harperites is thoroughly exposed by their use of the hoax of labour shortages to expand the TFW program, which has been increased to a standing force of 338,000 workers last year compared to 141,000 in 2005. The largest single group of workers under the TFW program were 47,445 workers brought in by employers to serve as indentured workers in the restaurant and accommodation sector. The province where the largest numbers of TFWs were employed was in Ontario, where there are 500,000 unemployed workers and where 9.3 per cent of all workers are employed at minimum wage jobs. In construction occupations, the number of TFWs exactly matched the number of job openings in 2012 nationally (18,815 TFWs; 18,400 job vacancies), an obvious attempt to keep downward pressure on construction workers' wages by stabilizing the construction labour force at the current levels of oversupply.

The spin of the Harper Conservatives about "jobs without workers" and their failure to make workers without jobs the national priority exposes them as being attached to the private interests of the dominant monopolies and totally detached from the problems of the working people. Any political party that has such upside down priorities, that does not make ensuring livelihoods the first duty of government, is unfit to govern.

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The Crown in Parliament Generates More Disequilibrium in Canada, Part Three

Part Three of the series, "The Crown in Parliament Generates Disequilibrium in Canada" -- parliamentary discussion on implementation of anti-social Omnibus Budget Bill C-60 follows. For Part One see TML Daily, May 28, 2013 - No. 65; and for Part Two, TML Daily, June 4, 2013 - No. 68.

Part Three
The Harper Government Attacks on Public Sector Workers
Are an Affront to the Entire Working Class


The Harper dictatorship through Omnibus Bill C-60 has declared that it will use its legal authority to dictate public sector wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions. This throws legal contempt on the right of workers to bargain their terms of employment. Harper's aim is to put downward pressure on the standard of living and working conditions of not only public sector workers but also the entire working class.

The Harper dictatorship has unleashed both a legal assault in Parliament with changes to laws affecting trade union rights and a propaganda war to undermine public sector workers and their decades-long battle to win union recognition in law and defend their rights within binding collective agreements.

An important aspect of union recognition is the codification of terms of employment in a collective agreement, which has the status of a legal contract that should not be violated.

When the organized working class defends its collective agreement through actions with analysis, and the owners of capital and their representatives recognize the rights of their workers, a collective agreement brings a certain equilibrium into the workplace. The collective agreement stands against arbitrariness at the workplace. With active enforcement, the rules and standards within the agreement are meant to control and restrict the behaviour of those representatives of owners of capital and managers who disregard the rights of workers.

The experience of front line trade union activists has been that the equilibrium of a collective agreement is constantly under pressure and needs to be defended on a daily basis. This defence of the codified rules of a collective agreement requires not only active resistance during its lifespan but also upon its renewal.

Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

Equilibrium can exist within the class struggle between employees and employers, between the working class and owners of capital and their representatives, but only based on the recognition of the rights of the working class. Disequilibrium arises when owners of capital and their representatives refuse to recognize the rights of the working class. Equilibrium begins with opposition to disequilibrium, when both sides in the social relation agree to rules of conduct and terms of employment within an arrangement that recognizes the rights of the working class.

As owners of capital and employers possess rights of ownership and authority at the workplace codified by the capitalist legal system, the working class in both the private and public sectors is in a dominated antithetical position within the social relation. As a dominated antithesis within the contradiction at the workplace, history compels the working class to organize itself as a conscious collective to fight for the recognition of its rights, security and equilibrium. Equilibrium cannot be achieved without recognition of the rights of the working class. Owners of capital will not recognize the rights of the working class without being forced to do so and held accountable by the organized conscious actions of the working class.

The ebb and flow of equilibrium and disequilibrium reflect both the particular class struggle at a workplace and sector, and the general conditions of the period. The current period of the retreat of revolution has emboldened representatives of owners of capital, including those within the political authority to consider disequilibrium in relations of production to be to their advantage in the class struggle. Seizing opportunities within the period of retreat of revolution, owners of capital, in particular the powerful global monopolies, refuse to recognize the rights of the working class and are imposing retrogression, concessions and disequilibrium. History calls on the working class to defend its class interests and the rights of all through a determined struggle against retrogression, concessions and disequilibrium through actions with analysis. Retrogression, concessions and disequilibrium are not inevitable with the period of retreat of revolution and should be fought with courage, unity and determination not only in their own right as necessary to defeat but to prepare the working class to go on the offensive when this period ends as it surely will and the flow of revolution begins once again.

The Harper dictatorship represents owners of capital who want to take advantage of the period and impose retrogression, concessions and disequilibrium to force down the wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions of not only public sector workers but also the entire working class. If not vigorously resisted with actions for renewal, this retrogression will not only result in a general transfer of added-value from the working class to owners of capital but also will leave the class demoralized, disorganized and unprepared when revolution goes into flow on a world scale, as it must. The transfer or siphoning of wealth away from the working class will be in terms of lower individual wages, benefits and pensions, and the degrading and wrecking of existing social programs such as public health care, public education, injured workers' compensation etc. and general public services. Retrogression can be stopped! It must be stopped with battles for pro-social alternatives for democratic renewal, a new direction for the economy and constant struggles in defence of the rights of all.

Direct Attacks on the Working Class from the Crown in Parliament

Harper's Parliamentary Secretary Pierre Poilievre and others in his government express the dictatorship's contempt for equilibrium and the rights of the working class when they attack not only specific items within public sector collective agreements but collective agreements in general. The dictatorship speaks of collective agreements and workers' rights with derision implying they are impediments to productivity, and an unnecessary and even criminal restriction of economic affairs and trade. This anti-working class sentiment and bias and distortion of the socialized economy lead owners of capital to use not only their economic power to destroy unions and existing collective agreements but also to use the legal authority and the full power of the state machine in Canada, Quebec and the provinces to outlaw and criminalize trade unions and their freely negotiated collective agreements. In addition to Bill C-60 and C-377, for the Harper government and governments in many other jurisdictions the issuing of back-to-work orders criminalizing and ending strikes has become commonplace.

The use of economic and state-organized political might and extortion to destroy collective agreements and deprive the working class of its rights can also be seen in the continuous lockouts imposed on Canadian steelworkers by U.S. Steel and other retrogressive attacks. Global monopolies are shutting down their operations in Canada or partially wrecking them, some which they have only recently seized, while concentrating operations elsewhere within their global empires.

The use of state-organized legal authority to destroy freely negotiated collective agreements and deprive workers of their rights can be seen in the attacks of the Ontario, Alberta and BC governments against teachers and other education workers and in numerous other incidents.

In Parliament, Poilievre routinely expresses his contempt for the working class, trade unions, freely negotiated collective agreements, workers' rights and equilibrium at the workplace. For example, he is quoted in the Hansard describing the Canada Post collective agreement with postal workers and its trade union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, as "a 500-page monstrosity."

From general contempt of public sector workers and their right to legal codified conditions of employment and a certain equilibrium within the contradiction between employer and employees, Poilievre goes further and uses Parliament as a bully pulpit to attack public sector workers and even denounce specific terms within their collective agreements. He uses his position as a political representative of owners of capital within Parliament to announce with unseemly bluster that the Harper dictatorship refuses to recognize the rights of the working class and wants retrogression, concessions from public sector workers and disequilibrium at the workplace.

For example, the Hansard quotes Poilievre saying with utter disregard for the rights of postal workers and economic science, "After bankable sick days, pre-retirement leave, seven weeks of vacation and more, the amount of time the carriers spend delivering mail is only a portion of the time for which they are paid to do so."

Poilievre's diatribe is completely backwards and unscientific. In a modern economy of industrial mass production such as in Canada, workers are paid for only a portion of the time they spend working. Owners of capital and governments claim the rest of their working time and its value as profit, interest, rent, executive salaries and taxes. The claim workers make on the value they create represents only a fraction of the time they work and value they create. If this were not the case, where would the value come from for profit, interest, rent, executive salaries and other claims of the owners of capital and claims of governments as taxes? Contrary to what Poilievre may believe, money does not grow on trees and it does not arise from the bluster of charlatans and parasites. Value and its equivalent representation as money come from the work-time of the working class producing goods and delivering services.

Poilievre should apologize for his slur and say correctly according to economic science: The amount of time the carriers spend delivering mail is far more than the work-time and its equivalent added-value from which they claim their wages, benefits and pensions. The rest of their work-time and its equivalent added-value is claimed by owners of capital and governments.

Poilievre's bias against the working class reflects his class allegiance to owners of capital. He cannot accept the reality that workers are the human factor in the production of the value on which the people and society depend. Work-time of the working class using modern means of production transforms the bounty of Mother Earth into use-value. Postal workers moving mail and parcels from point A to point B are an integral part of the collective effort of the working class in producing the value on which the people and society depend.

Without the present and past work-time of the Canadian working people, no modern Canada would exist. The work of Canadians has built and continues to sustain modern Canada. Poilievre rages against that scientific truth and repeatedly spits out his capital-centred bile: Postal workers and other public sector workers produce nothing; they consume taxpayers' money, he screams in Parliament! They are a drain on the public purse, he rants, along with other anti-worker nonsense.

In a speech in Parliament, Poilievre rages against postal workers as parasites sapping the public purse. Instead of praising postal workers and the immense contribution they make to the collective wealth of the country, disgusting nonsense turning truth on its head dribbles from his lips as reported in the Hansard: "Taxpayers pay" for postal workers' benefits. "The union requires taxpayers to fund" postal workers wages, benefits and pensions. "Who will pay for that [postal workers' pension benefits]? It will be taxpayers, of course." "They [Crown corporations] are dependent on the same taxpayers; the [omnibus] bill amends the Financial Administration Act to empower the democratically elected government to reject labour agreements that abuse taxpayers."

It would seem Poilievre has a guilty conscious as a parasite who has seized a cushy position within the capitalist state machine with a fat pension to boot. He feels compelled to denounce those who actually do the work of the country and produce the value that becomes wages, profits and taxes rather than have the working class pointing fingers at the parasitism and corruption that appears rampant amongst the very rich and their capital-centred politicians, and coming to a collective conclusion of the necessity for a pro-social alternative.

The Canadian working class with one voice denounces Poilievre's hateful drivel. This Harper minion spits on the dignity of the working class, which is unacceptable. This backward thinking and the anti-working class legislation from the Crown in Parliament cause disequilibrium and must be bravely met with actions with analysis to defend the rights of workers and uphold their dignity as the producers of all value and providers of all services. The working class has rights and legitimate claims on the value it produces and services it provides and those rights and claims must be respectfully recognized by owners of capital and their representatives.

(To be continued -- to confront monopoly and state-organized retrogression, the organized and conscious working class movement breaks new ground in this period of retreat of revolution)

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