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March 4, 2017 - No. 7 In Memory of Wendell Fields
• Presentation
to
Standing
Committee
of
the
Ontario
Legislature
In Memoriam Wendell Fields We express our deepest sympathies to Wendell's comrades and friends and his brothers, sisters and other family members. We all take solace in knowing that their loving care and attention permitted Wendell to leave us knowing how profoundly he was appreciated and the social love and affection he inspired in so many. Wendell was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, on August 26, 1957. When Wendell was 10 years old, his father Corporal Hugh Fields and six other paratroopers based in Canadian Forces Base Petawawa were killed in a night-time training exercise when a sudden change in winds blew them off course, and they fell into the Ottawa River and drowned. This tragedy was to cause the family great hardships in the following years as Wendell's mother Eileen struggled to look after herself and her five young children. From an early age, Wendell took responsibility to contribute to the family's well-being, working the kind of low-paying jobs typically open to young people. From this experience, he formed a consciousness of the problems arising from the relationship between the society and its members and their well-being and the question of social responsibility. Politics was to become a defining part of Wendell's life. Wendell became involved in the work of the Party as a young man when he and his family were living in Cambridge, Ontario in the 1970s. He was listening to the University of Waterloo campus radio station and heard about the Anti-Imperialist Alliance, the youth and student branch of CPC(M-L). He was immediately drawn to the work of the Party to organize the workers to oppose the shifting of the burden of the economic crisis onto their backs -- the struggle at the time to Make the Rich Pay, which later became focused on the struggle to stop governments from paying the rich at the expense of the peoples' well-being. Wendell joined in the unfolding struggle at the university over the student newspaper, the Chevron in 1977. Students rallied to defend freedom of the press when the student council shut the paper down because it disagreed with the student press being open to all political views and opinions, including those guided by Marxist-Leninist theory. After Wendell joined the Anti-Imperialist Alliance as a community youth activist, he went on to participate in the struggles against state-organized racist and fascist attacks, such as the opposition to the formation of the Tactical Swat Squad in Kitchener-Waterloo, and the harassment and persecution of CPC(M-L). He was amongst those who contributed to the defeat of the state's attempt to frame Comrade Hardial Bains on the trumped up charge of "aiding and abetting an illegal immigrant" after the political police raided a party research centre in Kitchener-Waterloo. He became a member of the Party in 1979. Wendell worked as a moulder in a plastics factory in Cambridge in the early eighties and never missed an opportunity to stand in solidarity with other workers fighting for their rights. In 1984, while supporting striking workers at a Canada Trust branch office in Cambridge, he was arrested and charged with "assaulting police" when the police violently attacked the picketers to enable cars to cross their picket line. Wendell initiated a criminal charge of assault against a police officer who had injured him in the arrest. During his testimony as a witness at the officer's trial, Wendell was questioned about his membership in CPC(M-L). When he refused to answer on the ground that it was irrelevant to the fact that he had been assaulted, the judge demanded he answer the question or be jailed for contempt. Still Wendell refused whereupon the judge cited him for contempt of court and jailed him. Wendell appealed the verdict and was vindicated when the Ontario Court of Appeal decided that he had rightfully refused to answer and that his contempt conviction should be overturned. This decision set two precedents and was written up in Martin's Criminal Code. Wendell waged an informed ideological offensive against the legislation of the anti-social offensive, exposing the retrogressive direction that was destroying the very conception of a modern society and its responsibility towards its members. He fought to elaborate a pro-social program in the face of the attacks on the rights of the workers and the most vulnerable sections of society. Wendell lived by the mottos that Our Security Lies in the Defence of the Rights of All and that No Means No! He refused to go along with the marginalization of any section of the people, be it on the basis of their political beliefs, race, national origin, gender, religious beliefs, social status or ability. Wendell also stood with the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory against the illegal encroachment of their lands at Caledonia and participated in the struggles of the disabled for their rights and dignity, as well as in many other battles. Wendell was a candidate of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada in the 1997, 2000, 2011 and 2015 federal elections and highlighted the need for the people to fight for their political empowerment. In his statement made on cable TV to the people of Hamilton during the 2015 federal election, he pointed out among other things: "For all the working people of the Hamilton area, for the many thousands of retirees and for the good of the entire community -- we need to recognize the need for political renewal so that we can empower Canadians and not have political parties form governments which reduce citizens and residents to spectators of decisions taken in the boardrooms and corridors and back alleys. We need a new direction for the economy that is set by and for the people in which they have the decision-making authority to halt the destruction of everything they have built." He also ran as an independent candidate in the 1999 Ontario elections and was a mayoral candidate in Hamilton for the 1997 municipal elections calling for mechanisms to be brought into being so that Hamiltonians could exercise political decision-making power over the affairs of their city. As an activist in Hamilton, Wendell stood with steelworkers from the first day of their epic fight against the legalized theft under the CCAA perpetrated by Stelco in 2004. Rolf Gerstenberger, President of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada and former President of USW Local 1005, recalls: "Wendell moved to Hamilton around 1987 when the New Hamilton Weekly was started. He volunteered to help with the distribution, helping to deliver New Hamilton Weekly to stores and apartment buildings. In those days we printed 140,000 copies paid for with advertisements and distributed for free so it was no small feat to distribute them in a timely manner. Our project would not have succeeded without Canada's unsung heroes like Wendell. "Wendell was an avid reader of political literature and an active participant in the Party's programs and never hesitated to volunteer for various projects. He fought all his life to affirm the rights of all by virtue of being human, and it was a rare demonstration in Hamilton that Wendell did not participate in. He was active in the anti-war movement and in opposing the U.S. imperialist domination of Canada. He was one of the stalwarts in Hamilton fighting for the rights of the most impoverished. And of course the steelworkers knew Wendell for he attended all their rallies, demonstrations and events." All those who knew Wendell and worked with him will forever treasure his uncompromising fidelity to his principles, his revolutionary communist spirit, as well as his warmth and comradeship. When Wendell was undergoing medical treatment, one of the staff asked him, "What would you like to do more than anything else?" Without hesitation Wendell answered, "I want to overthrow this man-eating system and build a society fit for human beings." This was the spirit that characterized Wendell throughout his life as a communist fighter for the rights of all and for the new world being born. In a letter to Wendell shortly before he died, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of CPC(M-L) wrote: Dearest Wendell; On behalf of the entire Party I send you our most profound revolutionary communist greetings, social love and appreciation for your contribution to building the New in Canada and the fight for peace and justice internationally as well. One of the things that always stands out for me is your steadfast refusal to permit the most important concerns of the people to be marginalized or dismissed. You did this by putting your own self on the line time and time again -- standing up to the cowardly powers that be as they paraded as democratic and humanitarian and tried to present those like you, who fight to humanize the social and natural environment, as extremist, fringe and dispensable. Dear Wendell. Never ever under your watch has that ever succeeded. You addressed public consultations and meetings. You ran for parliament as a worker politician. You joined forces to build the technical base of the Party and non-Party press. You stood with the Party and modern communism through thick and thin. You even set two legal precedents in defence of the rights of all, especially the right to conscience. You have made us so proud time and time again. The spirit of modern communism has your name on it, Wendell Fields. It is an inspiration like no other. Ever Yours
Presentation to Standing Committee of the Ontario Legislature on Justice and Social Policy, 1999Comrade Wendell Fields actively participated in the struggle of the working class and youth of Ontario against the anti-social offensive of the Harris Conservative government. As the "common-sense revolution" of Premier Mike Harris unfolded, attacking the rights and well-being of the workers and particularly targeting the most vulnerable with its cuts to social funding and criminalization of the poor, Wendell was unflinching in his conviction that society is duty-bound to take care of its members by recognizing and affirming the rights of all. As part of this work, during the period of Harris' second majority government, Wendell appeared on November 29, 1999 before the Standing Committee of the Ontario Legislature on Justice and Social Policy along with two other members of Hamilton Against Poverty to speak out against Bill 8, the "Safe Streets Act, 1999." The full text of Wendell's intervention follows. ***My name is Wendell Fields. I'm a member of Hamilton Against Poverty. For over a year now the government and monopoly media have been engaged in a well-financed campaign of misinformation and fear-mongering about the youth, the poor and squeegee kids being a safety hazard. Once a climate of fear has been established, it's used to justify putting in tough legislation as the solution to criminalize the poor and the youth. Why did the government not consider that they were creating a hazard to Ontario society and people when they cut or reduced social programs, when they cut or reduced health care, when they cut or reduced education? Squeegeeing and panhandling are one result of these measures. It's a problem of society. The "bad behaviour" of panhandlers and squeegee kids is promoted to ensure that the substantive issues are not raised. Why there's a need for squeegeeing or panhandling to make a living for oneself is not addressed, nor is it even a consideration of those who draft this legislation. What the problems facing squeegee kids and panhandlers are is not considered. It doesn't occur to some people to investigate and address this. Why do people beg? Why do people squeegee? Why does Ontario society not take all human beings and their well-being into account? Why is the sole concern of the Ontario government to make monopolies competitive on the global market? Why does this government not recognize that it has a social responsibility to all the members of Ontario society? Today, when the government's role is to do everything to ensure corporations' maximum return on their investment dollar in the global market, it is abandoning the Ontario people to destitution by removing funds from health, education and social programs. This is also done in the name of having a strong economy, one in which the provincial debt has increased almost two times, from $39 billion in 1989 to $105 billion. There's your strong economy. When the youth try to survive by offering a service for a voluntary donation -- a tip, if you will -- by cleaning car windows, a service once done by gas station attendants, they do so out of necessity because Ontario society is not organized in a manner which guarantees that their needs are met. What do the youth and poor have? What is the level of education they're receiving? Do they have access to recreational facilities? Do they have food? Do they have shelter? Do they have warm clothing? Does the government, when drafting legislation, take these factors into consideration? There are very real social, economic and political problems facing Ontario society and this arbitrary legislation to force the youth to toe the line, shut up and accept their lot in life will not solve these problems, and pretending these problems of society don't exist won't wash either. Unemployment and destitution face youth daily. In an attempt to solve this problem with some squeegeeing, they try to solve a social problem facing them. For this they're held in contempt, criminalized and attacked. The fact of it is that the youth do have the right to think, to organize and to have a livelihood despite the attacks they face from this old society. Squeegeeing is actually working for some money, trying to survive. For this the youth are criminalized. When conditions exist where their rights as human beings or the collective rights of youths are denied, certain things occur. When their rights to a livelihood, shelter, education and so on are violated, they will aggressively demand and affirm that society has a social duty, a social responsibility to guarantee their needs to live as human beings. They will organize themselves into squeegee squads and work for some money to buy food, and establish their own work rules. There is nothing wrong with the behaviour of the youth. They are simply demanding to live. They are not the troublemakers. To hide the fact that this old Ontario society is unable to sort out any problems facing society, there are those who seek to create a diversion. Small businesses face economic difficulty. Big businesses like Eaton's go under and are gobbled up by the competitors. The economy cannot provide for everyone. Only the rich and the debt payments are considered. An economy which has not and cannot provide and guarantee human rights for the people is not a strong economy. What sort of strong economy creates a destitute people? To divert from this, beggars and squeegee kids are set up as being the problem. They are attacked and scapegoated. Their problem is this old society and its economic system. When the squeegee kids and others in society organize themselves to defend their rights, they're considered a problem, a concern for the rich corporations, banks, a concern of this government. Cleaning the streets of beggars and squeegee kids and those who fight for their rights does not show the warmth of the Ontario people. Squeegee kids and beggars are marketing for tourists and tourist dollars just what type of great province Ontario actually is. They show to a monied tourist just what kind of strong economy Ontario has. Squeegee kids and beggars show what the natural destination for people is once health, education and social programs are cut, reduced and eliminated. Hiding this won't heal this festering wound of decay. When legislation is imposed on the youth and the poor without the beggars' and squeegee kids' participation, in the name of "for their own good" or "for the good of society," then such rules will not be respected nor will such rules be defended. The youths' spirit of resistance will be inspired and this is what will get them through the coming desperate straits. They will take the responsibility to organize themselves in order to fight for a society to recognize and guarantee their needs and rights, and for a society to meet these claims made upon it. These are the real people, these are the real heroes of Ontario and of Canada, these are the people to which a democratic society will listen. Just on a question of democracy, a fundamental, democratic principle is that 50 per cent plus one of a vote is a majority. There is no political party in power on the basis of near this number of votes. The present Ontario government is in power with less than 25 per cent of the eligible voters' vote. It really doesn't have any legitimate democratic right to govern us. In Defence of the Right to ConscienceWendell Fields dedicated his life to defending the rights of the working people and even joined the Party in 1979 as part of a battle waged by the youth at that time in defence of freedom of speech and expression. One of his greatest causes was to defend the right to
conscience. The courage with which he did so became clear in 1984
when he stood up to the badgering of a judge of the Ontario Court
who threatened him again and again that if he did not answer a
question about his political affiliation he would be found in
contempt of court and jailed. Wendell was jailed for 30 days -- a
sentence which was later overturned on appeal. Wendell refused to answer the question on grounds that it was irrelevant to the case, in which a police officer was charged with assaulting him during a strike in July 1984. The defence lawyer for the police tried to insinuate that Wendell's beliefs somehow justified the police assault against him and insinuate that he belongs to a criminal organization. This is exactly what is being done today to criminalize all the forces across the country who want problems of the economy, environment, nation-building, resource extraction, social and political policy and war and peace discussed publicly. The state finances so-called right wing extremists to spew hate and commit violent acts. It then blames those who defend the cause of justice and rights, accusing them of also engaging in hate crimes, all to outlaw the right of all members of the polity to speak or defend just causes. Wendell won his case in 1986 on appeal and the case Regina
v.
Fields set two legal precedents. TML Weekly is
publishing extracts from the transcript in which the defence
attorney and then the judge asks Wendell over and over to state
whether he is a member of the Marxist-Leninist Party and Wendell
refuses -- a great courtroom defence of freedom of conscience and
defiance of injustice. ***
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With profound sorrow the
Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) informs you that our Comrade Wendell Fields
died on the afternoon of March 1 at 1:55 pm. Wendell learned of
his cancer a little more than two short months ago. Despite its
severity, he never flinched; he marched on. Five short weeks ago,
on January 21, despite his illness and pain, he joined the
marches of millions of people in the United States, Canada and
other countries following the inauguration of the new U.S.
President. He wrote a sign calling for the defence of women's
rights and the rights of all and to Renew the Resistance! Renew
Canada!
In 1987, after being laid
off from his job in Cambridge,
Wendell moved to Hamilton, which became his home. In his new
location he contributed to the work of the non-Party mass press
helping to establish and distribute New Hamilton Weekly.
Besides constant work of the Party, Wendell also became active in
Hamilton Against Poverty (HAP), which he participated in
thereafter. With other HAP members, Wendell organized opposition
to the Harris government's anti-social offensive. He and his
comrades never stopped their resistance, as succeeding
governments at all levels have continued the anti-social
offensive with a vengeance.
This government represents
a certain type of society which
refuses to recognize that the people of Ontario have the right to
a livelihood, the right to a free, quality education, the right
to 24-hour recreational centres, the right to their own social
consciences. In the 19th century, with the logic of the
criminologists and social workers in Canada, it was promoted that
aggression appears to be an innate human impulse. Poor families
were not guaranteed food, shelter, education or income support,
which led to malnutrition and starvation. Under such conditions,
the youths were forced to steal food and other household
necessities in order to biologically survive and to sustain
themselves and their families.
This legislation seeks to create an
atmosphere where the
youth question nothing, where they don't think for themselves,
where they consider themselves criminals and have no bright
future. It is the spirit of the youth to have their own
conscience, their own thinking, and to be exuberant, rebellious,
to have a spirit of resistance and rebelliousness against the
status quo. This is a factor, this is a symptom of being
youthful, and this cannot be quashed by this legislation.
One hundred and six years ago, the
first International Women's Day was celebrated to focus on the call for
peace issued by women in Europe prior to World War I. International
Women's Day is in fact from its beginning imbued with the spirit of
proletarian internationalism because it is centred on the striving of
women for their emancipation in the context of the emancipation of the
entire working class and oppressed peoples. Women have always stood in
the forefront of the struggle for rights, peace, and the progress of
society. This shows that the question of women's fight to affirm their
own rights is inseparable from the issue of political power and the
fight of the working people to exercise leadership over the society,
build their own institutions and put an end to exploitation, oppression
and war.
In response to this
development, Prime Minister Trudeau
boasted during a federal cabinet retreat in Calgary: "I've been
on the record for many years supporting [Keystone XL] because it
leads to economic growth and good jobs for Albertans." Trudeau's
remarks seemed intended to convey the impression that Trump's
reversal of President Obama's opposition arose in part from
Trudeau's insistence the pipeline be built. It appeared to many
as a desperate attempt to reverse the image of a man who
callously said an unemployed energy worker in Edmonton did not
deserve full unemployment insurance benefits because the city's
rate of unemployment did not warrant it.
The capacity of pipelines
approved or under review exceeds
anticipated production to fill them. Together, Keystone XL, the
recently approved Trans Mountain and the Enbridge Line 3
replacement would increase pipeline capacity by about 1.8 million
barrels per day (b/d). The Energy East project would add another
1.1 million b/d, for a total of 2.9 million b/d. This contrasts
with the oil industry's estimate that oilsands production will
grow by between 850,000 and one million b/d by 2025, which in
turn is based on oil prices rising or at least remaining at
current levels. But production levels are bound to increase in
the U.S. shale fields of the Bakken Formation (North Dakota) and
the Permian Basin in west Texas where vast amounts of oil are
available through fracking and profitable even at today's market
prices. Also, Trump is escalating Obama's policy of encouraging
U.S. oil production.
This wealth is invested
according to the narrow private
interests of the owners of capital. Not only is ownership and
control mainly outside Canada, the added-value workers produce
generally follows the ownership out of the economy. Any amount
that remains is not used to diversify the economic base. Rather
than being invested to put an end to boom and bust and guarantee
the well-being of the people, the over-reliance of investments in
oil and gas and particularly in extraction for export of raw
resources exacerbates the recurring crises and leaves the people
and their economy vulnerable and insecure.
Which way forward? Workers
are very well aware that continued reliance on the export of energy,
mainly unprocessed bitumen from Alberta, is no road to prosperity. The
problem to be solved is that the working people are not the ones who
make the decisions, and the proposals discussed are only those
presented by the oligopolies and suit their private narrow interests
and the strategic aim of U.S. imperialism to secure a guaranteed source
of oil and other natural resources for its insatiable armed forces.
Not only are the employment
numbers inflated, they are
impossible to verify. Even more significant is that the
calculation of "direct, indirect and induced jobs" is based on an
all or nothing scenario. Either accept the decisions made by the
oligopolies as to the direction of the economy including heavy
reliance on investments to extract and ship diluted bitumen, or
nothing. Those who challenge this logic are dismissed as
unreasonable and opposed to economic development. Even existing
alternatives to the export of unprocessed bitumen are not
discussed because the oligarchs and their political
representatives do not allow them to be discussed.
The government invited the
energy oligopolies to submit
proposals and then chose two for its Petrochemicals
Diversification Program. Together, they will receive $500 million
in grants from the state treasury on completion of the two
facilities, which will process propane extracted from natural gas
making plastics products propylene and polypropylene.
How can health care,
education, seniors' care, care for the
most vulnerable, transportation and other infrastructure and a
host of necessary social programs, public services and
manufacturing of a modern society be financed when those
companies consuming the social wealth those sectors produce
refuse to pay for it but instead demand to be paid for the right
to use them and to take added-value out of the economy for use
elsewhere? These pay-the-rich schemes such as the high-sounding
Petrochemicals Diversification Program are profoundly irrational
and backward, and exacerbate the contradictions, tensions and
social conflicts within the economy and society dragging them
down into insecurity and recurring crises.
The experience of workers
in Quebec and the rest of Canada is
that when a company is obliged to pay for damages caused to the
environment, it always tries to pay the least it can, not to
return damaged, contaminated, degraded or polluted sites to
beneficial use and compensate all who have been affected. When
all judicial recourses have been exhausted, the company will
declare bankruptcy under commercial law so as not to be forced to
pay for the full damage it caused.
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Rob Ashton, President of ILWU Canada said, "This is to
protect families of our nation. [...] If [corporations and the
government] have an ability to break us and to tear us down, who is
going to protect those seafarers that are coming to our shores, who is
going to protect them when they need to be protected? Who is going to
protect the marginalized workers who are brought into this country as
slave labour because they are not paid properly, they are not allowed
to become Canadian citizens? It is us as Canadians who have to rise and
stand up against those who want to do harm to our people and to those
they are bringing to our country and they treat like slaves. And how do
we do that? We stand up and fight back."
Terry Engler, president of ILWU Local 400 pointed out, "Workers fought to bring in regulations to cover those workers, to bring regulations on safety, on crew sizes, to protect our security. This protects our environment because we are able to say 'you cannot do that here.' We have seen what happens around the world when corporations are allowed free rein. If we lose cabotage, if we don't have regulations and inspectors, which they need more of, our world will be destroyed far worse than it is now."
Workers pointed out that a main goal of deregulation
and
privatization is to smash the resistance of unionized workers and
smashing unions as a line of defence of the working and living
conditions of Canadians. The militant stand of workers made it
clear that ports, airports, waterways and everything else
required for the modern economy on which Canadians depend belong
to the people and the society, not private interests.
(Photos: Docker Podcast, ILWU)
Nation-Wrecking Reform of Canada's
Transportation System
Federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau is
spearheading
a reform of the Canada Transportation Act (CTA) and
Canada's transportation system. The stated aim is to make his
strategic plan Transportation
2030 part of the Trudeau Liberal
government's goal of "making Canada competitive on global
markets."
From April to September, 2016 the Minister of Transport held consultations on five themes: Safer transportation; Trade corridors to global markets; Green and innovative transportation; The traveller and waterways; Coasts and the north.
Changes to the CTA are
expected to be implemented in the
coming months and years. For this, the Minister of Transport is
using as a guide what is commonly called the Emerson Report. The
Harper government commissioned a review of the CTA in June 2014.
David Emerson, a former member of the Harper government cabinet
chaired the committee mandated to do the review. Liberal Minister
Garneau tabled the Emerson Report in Parliament on February 25,
2016. In a number of speeches, he said that the report was
"excellent" and would serve as a guide to the reform of the
CTA.
Workers in the transportation sector have been raising the alarm, warning Canadians that the Trudeau government is about to adopt nation-wrecking recommendations from the Emerson Report. They point out the report's disturbing demands for deregulation and privatization of transport services and infrastructure, and the increased imposition of user fees. The report recommends the privatization of airports and ports, and the opening up of cabotage rights for internal waterways to European vessels, many of which fly European "flags of convenience" and have wages and working conditions far below accepted standards. The report also recommends legislative changes to increase foreign ownership limits to at least 49 per cent for air carriers operating commercial passenger services and to 100 per cent for airlines operating all-freight and specialty air services. In a recent speech, the Minister of Transport said as a first step he is planning to implement this year the Emerson recommendation to allow an increase of foreign ownership of air carriers to 49 per cent.
Thesis of the Emerson Report
The Emerson Report is entitled "Pathways: Connecting Canada's Transportation System to the World." The report is 286 pages with 230 additional pages of appendices. It begins with a letter to former Conservative Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt, followed by thirteen chapters: Points of Departure; Governance; Linking Trade and Transportation; The North; Innovation; Climate Change; Access and Accessibility; Rail Transport; Air Transport; Marine Transport; Canadian Transportation Agency; Summary; Recommendations.
The report defines Canada as a trading nation, depending on international trade for its prosperity. It says: "What has not changed over many decades, and will probably never change, is the fundamental reality of Canada as a large northern land mass with a comparatively small population. We are a nation dependent on international trade to support a uniquely attractive quality of life and standard of living. We share the North American continent with the world's most dynamic economy, the United States, and with one of the more dynamic developing economies, Mexico. North American integration and collaboration is both a reality and a necessity, whether for economic, security, or environmental purposes."
This Canadian nation, states the report, is now facing a world in turmoil, and its fate is linked with its ability to annex itself to this world in crisis and to compete within it. A basic tenet of the report is that Canada cannot be master of its own destiny on the basis of a pro-social sovereign and diverse economy under the control of its people, where international trade acts as an additional support to the independent internal economy.
Instead, as a dominated
trading nation, which does not even
own or control its basic sectors, it cannot control the demand or
prices for its resources; it has no say over economic development
and must leave such decisions to unknown "investors" who must be
enticed to invest with guaranteed promises of big scores. This
trading nation, at the mercy of the global market, cannot protect
itself from the inevitable cyclical crises within the imperialist
system of states dominated by the U.S. Empire, both from the
generalized economic crises such as erupted in 2008 and from
sectoral crises such as the current one of market prices for
energy resource commodities and others below their prices of
production.
The report says, "Since the last Review, changes in global markets, technology, security threats, environmental vulnerabilities, and the patterns of economic growth and development within Canada have reinforced a reality of the twenty-first century: we live in an intensely interconnected world that is constantly rocked by change, much of it unanticipated....
"While Canada's 36 million people thrive from our interaction with the 7.3 billion people in the world, we are a modest global force, responding to, but largely unable to control global events. The fact that connectedness to the world economy provides life-giving oxygen to the Canadian economy has two critical implications. First, the role of transportation and logistics -- the efficient movement of people and goods -- has become increasingly critical to international competitiveness. In fact, transportation logistics and supply chain efficiency is now seen by various research organizations as more important to global competitiveness than duties and tariff rates. Second, turbulence and change beyond our borders permeate quickly and deeply into the economic life of Canadians. A major challenge, therefore, is to develop our capacity for rapid adaptation to natural disasters and other predictable disruptions, as well as to emerging trends and changes that are hard to foresee and largely beyond our control.
"Global security issues will also continue to play a role in shaping transportation and trade linkages. Creeping military and nuclear capability, coupled with religious, ethnic, and territorial tensions, will limit flows with some countries and expand them with others. Adaptive transportation systems will require increasingly sophisticated security arrangements integrated into the chain of movements."
Once all this is accepted as a truism, the only prospect for Canada is to become a global hub for global trade amongst the world oligopolies. What Canada mainly brings to the table is its abundance in natural resources, which it exports to the global markets.
"The extent to which slowing economic growth, volatile markets in Asia, and slumping commodities prices have buffeted Canada's economy and public finances over the past year is a strong reminder that ours is a small, open economy, more likely to be influenced by global events than to shape them. And though the value of our dollar has declined recently and interest rates are low -- which helps to improve Canada's cost competitiveness in international trade and encourages new investment -- Canada should not base its economic growth forecasts on this situation remaining static. Over time, global development will continue to drive demand and competition for agricultural products, as well as energy and other natural resources. Subject to our ability to capitalize on new markets, these commodities represent huge export opportunities, and all are intense users of transportation."
It flows from this that Canada participates in this venture by making sure that its transportation system is driven by what the report calls "competition," "market forces" and "commercialization," and by privatization of national assets, deregulation of policies and increasing use of user fees. The entire country is to be transformed into a giant supply chain for the transportation of mostly raw and semi-processed goods to the global markets while annexed within fortress North America dominated by a U.S. imperialist government of police power both internally and internationally.
This agenda proceeded from the Harper government's enthusiastic support of full North American integration demanded by the U.S. political and business elites.
In October 2014 a task force report issued by the Council on Foreign Relations outlined the agenda for such a plan. The Task Force was co-chaired by David H. Petraeus -- retired U.S. Army general, ex-Director of the CIA and now chairman of the KKR Global Institute, and Robert B. Zoellick -- former president of the World Bank Group and chairman of Goldman Sachs' international advisors.
The report points out that the Security and Prosperity Partnership initiative -- a series of meetings of the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments to promote measures to bring the economies and security arrangements of North America under U.S. imperialist control -- "fell far short of what is urgently needed -- a true North American transformation." The transformation required is described in great detail: "The task force believes that today's challenge is to envisage a North American vision, frame a concept of North American policy aims and cooperation, and make this policy agenda a priority.
At that time the Harper government immediately budgeted over $70 billion in public funds for what was called the National Policy Framework for Strategic Gateways and Trade Corridors, including the New Building Canada Plan, to build on the infrastructure needed to create a fully integrated North American economy in the service of oligopoly interests.
Instead of being centres of economic development where people can make a living by building a diverse, balanced and pro-social economy under their control and the majority of value workers produce remains in the community and becomes available for sustained and diverse economic development, the regions become gateways and corridors for the benefit and adventures of the global oligopolies over which people have no control.
As it stands, the oligopolies are owned and controlled in the centres of the financial oligarchy and other than the value workers reproduce for their own wages and benefits, the majority of added-value workers produce flows out those gateways and corridors to the private coffers of the oligarchs, to the centres of the financial oligarchy in New York, London and Frankfurt. This leaves Canada's economy extremely vulnerable to global economic crises, to price changes of major commodities, such as the turmoil caused with lower oil and potash market prices, to a fall in global demand for uranium, copper, coal and other resources, and to specific sectoral attacks such as the current unfolding U.S. state-organized attack on Canadian softwood lumber production.
On Governance
The Emerson Report advocates all-out deregulation and privatization of the transportation industries so that nothing comes in the way of private corporations manipulating the economy for their narrow self-serving interests. To ensure this domination by the oligopolies without restrictions, the report demands the Canadian state play a greater role in what it calls building the supply chains into a national chain, making sure that all assets are put at the disposal of empire-building.
The report states, "Unlike jurisdictions such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union Canada does not have an ongoing private-public sector framework that considers the entire national system and is geared to strengthening its contribution to economic prosperity. Divergent but critical interests such as infrastructure investment, research, innovation, and the environment need to come together with a transportation focus. While Transport Canada is the main entity responsible for the sector, there is no mechanism to integrate the breadth of interest in transportation across departments, sectors, or in terms of federal-provincial dialogue.
"The goal should be to
embed these policies in a national
framework that builds and optimizes the transportation system
over the next 20 to 30 years. The strategy would identify
investment needs in trade-enabling infrastructure, describe the
proper regulatory and policy environment, and provide long-term
stability for investments and investors in the system."
The report details a process where global private interests increasingly assume direct state governance in the sense that they become the decision-makers of what is to be privatized and deregulated, how the value workers produce is to be distributed, and all other issues of importance.
"The Review recommends that Transport Canada lead the development of a clear performance and evidence-based National Framework on Transportation and Logistics in collaboration with the provinces, territories and industry" and "new governance arrangements based on a public-private sector collaborative approach." It continues: "Including the private sector in priority setting as a key source of knowledge and expertise would also improve outcomes. Important investment decisions would be evidence-based, transparent and intended to maximize results."
The report makes no secret of the aim it pursues of handing all power to the private interests of the oligarchs who own and control the social wealth available for big investments. This includes the pooled savings of the working class over which the financial oligarchy has control.
"The Review recommends that the Government of Canada act to attract increased private sector financing for transportation infrastructure projects by:
"a. using the Transportation Infrastructure Plan and Projects Pipeline ... to identify national priorities (and assets that could be considered for privatization) and to highlight those projects and initiatives that may be of interest to private sector investors;
"b. working with institutional investors and pension funds to consider additional tools or mechanisms to attract and leverage private investment in transportation infrastructure. This will involve:
"i. ensuring existing financial, policy and regulatory frameworks do not unnecessarily discourage private sector investment in Canadian transportation projects;
"ii. legislative amendments to remove any barriers, such as the restrictive investment regulations on pension funds;
"iii. encouraging and assisting private financial institutions to establish managed transportation infrastructure investment funds in which private investors (small and large) could reduce risk by pooling funds and investments;
"iv. adopting policies and stable, predictable regulatory frameworks that de-risk investor cash flows and inspire greater confidence among institutional investors in P3 and private infrastructure projects.
"Finally, it would foster a healthy exchange of ideas and expertise: members could participate in bilateral fora, such as the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council, which was created to increase regulatory transparency and coordination between the two countries."
Gateways and Corridors
The Emerson Report devotes a lot of attention to gateways and corridors as key elements of the supply chain. It defines them in the following way:
"'Gateways' are major convergence points for the international flow of people and cargo. They are the marine ports, airports, and Canada-U.S. border crossings (by land, international bridges, or waters) that serve as points of entry to and exit from Canada.
"A 'trade and transport corridor',
according to the World
Bank, is a coordinated bundle of transport and logistics
infrastructure and services that facilitates trade and transport
flows between major centers of economic activity. A trade and
transport corridor may include transfer points, such as
intermodal and distribution centres, where goods are changing
hands or being transferred from one transport mode to
another."
The report recommends further activation by the public-private governance structures of the existing gateways and corridors: the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, the Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor Strategy, and the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor.
The report says the conditions of global trade are fluctuating, markets are volatile and crises occur that more or less idle these huge infrastructures and yet it sees no other direction for the economy than to continue in the same way. This direction means privatizing and expanding the existing gateways and corridors, building more of them and seizing more land in advance to prepare for even greater expansion.
The report says: "The Review recommends that the Government of Canada establish a National Corridor Protection Program within the next five years, with Transport Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, and provincial governments as partners. The purpose of this program would be to:
"a. protect trade and transport corridors. Efforts should include, but not be limited to, identification of potential corridor alignments and rights-of-way requirements, consultation with stakeholders and the public, and acquisition of required land along the corridor;
"b. protect critical industrial land parcels for gateway facility expansion, with the aim of creating an inventory of, and preserving, port-related industrial areas that could be used to accommodate future trade growth."
The Review also recommends close collaboration with the provinces and territories to:
"c. add to the registered titles on the parcels of land that are located in close proximity to an existing or an established future trade and transport corridor;
"d. partner with municipal governments and the private sector to improve sound-barrier and anti-vibration standards in building bylaws for residential developments in neighbourhoods adjacent to an existing or future trade and transport corridor."
The report calls this
submission to the empire-building
projects of the global oligopolies "nation-building." This
attempts to hide the desperation of selling-out the country to
global investors over which the people have no control. It covers
up the recklessness of committing the nation's assets and the
capacity to work of Canadian workers to the reckless schemes for
big scores of the financial oligarchy and the inevitable economic
crises and commercial wars of a world serving competing narrow
private interests and empire-building.
The Emerson Report is not a basis for reforming and improving the Canadian transportation system or any legislation governing it. The report is a deplorable attempt to put the entire transportation infrastructure and services, and ultimately the natural resources of the country and the work-time of workers at the disposal of the crisis-ridden adventures of global oligopolies for profit, domination and empire-building. It deprives Canadians of their right to build a national transportation system that serves nation-building and a diverse self-reliant independent economy in a truly modern pro-social way to guarantee the well-being of the people and humanize the social and natural environment.
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca