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December 24, 2018
2018 Photo Review
Taking Bold Stands in Defence
of the Rights of All and to
Make Canada a Zone for Peace
August
 TML Daily
continues its month-by-month 2018 Photo Review with the struggles waged
by the working
people of Canada and Quebec and the Indigenous peoples in August.
In Ontario, August saw
people in action against the Ford government's intensification of the
anti-social offensive. People mobilized to demand that the government
reinstate the basic
income pilot project. The PC government's Bill 5, which slashed the
number of city
councillors in the middle of the municipal election and eliminated the
City's jurisdiction over
its own governance, met with a wall of resistance from Torontonians.
The government claimed that its victory in
the election gave it a "mandate" to carry out these anti-people
anti-democratic acts. The
incessant attacks on the people underscore the necessity for working
people to work out their
own agenda, so as not to be caught on the defensive and reacting to the
maelstrom of the
Ford government's wrecking and policies aimed at dividing Ontarians.
August is the time every
year when CPC(M-L) marks important occasions in the life of the
Party. August 15 marked the 79th anniversary of the birth of the
CPC(M-L)'s founder and
leader Hardial Bains, an occasion when the Party honours his memory and
that of all the
comrades who have died. August 19 marked the 29th anniversary of the
Party's
historic meeting in
Chertsey, Quebec. Comrade Bains' elaboration of the nature of this
period prepared the Canadian revolutionary forces for what was to come
by analyzing precisely what was unfolding nationally and
internationally at that crucial turning point. This analysis has
continued to serve the Party in good stead during this period of
retrogression marked by grave dangers posed by Anglo-American
imperialism and the great tragedies unleashed on the world's people by
U.S. imperialism -- the numerous wars, invasions, coups d'etat and
medieval violence against the peoples striving for independence and
social progress.
August saw the
continuation of the fight to stop the expansion of the Kinder Morgan
pipeline
and to demand the federal government not proceed with its purchase of
the pipeline. The
month ended with the news that the Federal Court of Appeal had
overturned the Trudeau
government's approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline in a case that
combined multiple
lawsuits by First Nations, environmental groups and the cities of
Vancouver and Burnaby.
This ruling, that the government had failed to properly consult with
Indigenous peoples or
assess environmental considerations, vindicated the people's just stand
to oppose the project. It left the government with a pipeline which it
had no authorization to purchase, and is now legally barred from
expanding, although expansion remains the aim of the supranational
interests dictating the direction of Canada's economy.
Despite the impasse, the government continued to ensure, above all,
that Kinder Morgan's private investors were enriched at the expense of
Canadians. Prime Minister
Trudeau tweeted that the federal
government "stands by the
project and will ensure it moves forward in the right way." The issue
that the Indigenous
peoples and others have put on the agenda through their actions is not
one of finding the
"right way" for the ruling circles to impose their agenda on the people
under the hoax of
"consent," but how the people can exercise decision-making power.
August 2
Liquor Control Board
workers in Quebec hold a one-day strike as part of their fight for an
agreement to end their precarious working conditions. Far from
negotiating such an agreement, the employer is demanding more mobility
and so-called flexibility, in particular more weekend work.
http://cpcml.ca/WF2018/WO0531.HTM#5
Torontonians Say No!
to anti-democratic municipal restructuring
as Ford government rams
through Bill 5, cutting the number of seats on
Toronto
council in half in the
midst of the municipal election campaign.
 
http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2018/W48031.HTM#7
August 6
The workers at the
Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc. continue to mobilize
support for their just cause and to track the damage being done to the
Quebec economy during the lockout through the company's reneging on
payments for the block of electricity allotted it by Hydro Québec.
August 7
Workers at Gander
aerospace facility D-J Composites mark 597 days on
lockout with
a community barbeque.
The company has been running the plant with scabs
since workers rejected company attempts to eliminate seniority rights
and lay off a third of the work force.
 
August 7-10
Actions in a number of
cities and towns demand the Ontario government
reinstate the Basic Income Pilot Project cut by the Ford
government when it came to power. While the project itself fell far
short of guaranteeing the right of all to a standard of living that
befits a modern society, and had been put in place by a government that
refused to stop
the wrecking of manufacturing in Ontario, many activists had fought for
years to gain this small advance in the fight to end poverty.
Lindsay
Cobourg
http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2018/W48030.HTM#9
August 15 - 16
Torontonians hold town
hall meetings to discuss legal
challenges and other ways to stop the Ford government's anti-democratic
municipal restructuring introduced in Bill 5.
 http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2018/W48031.HTM#7
August 17
Monthly pickets in
Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal demand end to blockade of Cuba.
Vancouver
Ottawa
August 20
Casino workers in
Kamloops (below) and throughout the Okanagan continue
their strike struggle to improve their wages and working conditions.
 
August 22
PSAC members and
allies rally outside the federal Liberals' cabinet meeting in Nanaimo
demanding the government deal with the problems caused by the Phoenix
pay system and ensure workers are paid correctly and on time.
 
(PSAC BC)
August 23
Professor Dai
Trang Nguyen launched her book Ho Chi Minh:
Selected Works on Peace,
Democracy and Gender Equality
at the University of Toronto. The
launch was held in the context of celebrations of the 45th anniversary
of diplomatic relations between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and
Canada.
August 24
Demonstration outside
Liberal Party fundraiser in Vancouver demands the federal government
not go through with its purchase of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
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