September 26, 2011 - No. 1

40th Ontario General Election

All Out to Establish a New Direction for Ontario

• Ontario Political Forum
• All Out to Establish a New Direction for Ontario
• 40th General Provincial Election Underway 

Election Issues
• Hudak's Anti-Worker Scheme to "Fix the Arbitration System" - Pierre Chénier
• Ontario Health Coalition Presents Demands - Interview, Natalie Mehra, OHC Director 

Ontario Political Forum

We are pleased to provide you with Ontario Political Forum, a political affairs supplement to The Marxist-Leninist Daily, the national newspaper of the Canadian working class published by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). It is starting publication two weeks into the current 40th Ontario General Election. Its aim is to address the problem that the voice of Ontario workers is mostly missing in the election. While the voice of the workers is missing from the political and economic affairs of the province in general, this is most apparent in politics and the monopoly-controlled media during an election, which is supposed to be a democratic exercise to involve the people of Ontario in taking decisions which affect their lives.

Ontario Political Forum is dedicated to filling that void with a partisan stance in defence of the rights of the working class of Ontario so that it has a tribune which speaks out for its interests. These interests are synonymous with a society that defends the rights of all.

To achieve this, Ontario Political Forum will do its best to report on the matters of concern to Ontario workers, the problems they are facing and how they are striving to provide the problems they face with solutions. Amongst other things, it calls on readers, writers and reporters to identify the blocks they see to these problems being resolved in a manner which favours the working people. We call on you to join the technical and editorial staff by writing, sending your reports, photographs and views and those of others, and distributing the paper to your co-workers, neighbours and friends. Please also remember to assist us financially, which is required to stabilize our work and expand its scope. If possible, we would like to continue this publication after the election as well.

Join Us!

All Out to Establish a New Direction for Ontario

Ontario Political Forum has chosen the theme of a New Direction for Ontario because it has become clear that the old direction for Ontario has led to nation-wrecking on an unprecedented scale.

A good example was provided by federal MP Brian Masse (NDP, Windsor West) when he spoke in the federal Parliament about the problems we face as a result of the changes to Canada-U.S. border security.

Masse said:

"I am concerned that the government has often been too willing to sign agreements that have actually not delivered in terms of the reduction of wait times or the red tape. I would point to one concern in terms of significance, and it is symbolic too because it has affected our tourism, which is that the government tore up a treaty that we had from the War of 1812, which it celebrated. What that did was allow gunboats on the Great Lakes again. We now have gunboats out there that fire 1,200 rounds a minute. I do not know what threat comes from Canada that requires 1,200 rounds a minute. These guns were used in Afghanistan and Cambodia. It is the Browning machine gun in particular.

"That has had a cooling effect in terms of trade and tourism because people do not want to be around that stuff. Blackhawk helicopters have been added and a number of different dirigibles that do spying in Canada. Ironically, these things are not allowed to be used to spy in America, but they were being used to spy into Canada. The most famous one was in Sarnia. The people there went out to moon the balloon because they did not accept that there was a dirigible over top of their homes.

"I have talked to a lot of businesses to put some pressure on the government. There should be some direct measureables about signing those agreements. We signed that shipwright agreement which now allows American boats to come into Canadian waters and arrest Canadian citizens. Interestingly enough, we are not even an equal partner in that particular program.

"The Americans have their state police, their federal police, their customs officials and their municipal police who can now arrest Canadians, but when it comes to us, only our RCMP can reciprocate. Our own good men and women of the customs services are not treated to the same degree. We are not even in the same relationship at the same time." (Hansard, September 19, the day Parliament opened.)

Please note that even though Masse is speaking in the federal Parliament, the state of affairs he describes affects Ontario profoundly. Furthermore, even though matters which concern the Canada-U.S. border are considered a federal jurisdiction, Ontario workers do not think much about the federal government tearing up the Treaty of 1812 -- on the eve of its bicentenary no less! More importantly, what about the loss of manufacturing jobs in Ontario? What about the pay-the-rich schemes of successive governments whereby hundreds and millions of dollars are handed over to the monopolies while the rights of Ontario workers are trampled in the mud? And what about our resources? What is happening to them? And our communities, public services, public spaces, public education and health care, besides many other things? Most importantly, what is happening to our people? Why do we get no sense of what the people think in this election except in their response as targets of attack -- from attack ads which turn their brains to mush, to "issues" it is said they should vote for because polls say this is their number one priority -- as if life is divided into pigeon holes where people are supposed to park their affairs as if this helps "balance priorities." Health care versus an education; housing versus heating; a job for me versus a job for my neighbour...

So what should the people of Ontario do to provide Ontario with a new direction?

The Need for Solutions

We started by checking the dictionary definition for the word "direction":

1. A course along which someone or something moves.

2. The course that must be taken in order to reach a destination.

What then is the course along which Ontario workers are moving? What is its destination? Is it satisfactory? Is it a destination we can call our own? If so, what can we do to get there faster? If not, what destination do we need and what can we do to define it and get ourselves there?

We are convinced a new direction is needed for Ontario and we call on you to join us in the important endeavour of defining this new direction -- why it is needed; what is going on at present that is not acceptable; what harm is it causing and what are the dangers inherent to it? How do these deliberations inform us about what must be done to embark on a new direction?

Ontario Political Forum will strive to be a forum where the workers speak about the problems they and their society face but also what they think can be done about these problems. This alone will provide a new direction for Ontario because once the workers, who are never even asked what they think about the problems they face, start proposing solutions in a collective manner, it will be a whole new ball game.

Join us!

Jane Steeple,
on behalf of the Editorial Board

40th General Provincial Election Underway

The 40th Ontario General Provincial Election is well underway. The election officially began on September 7 with the dropping of the writ and polling day is Thursday, October 6, for a campaign of 30 days.

Potential candidates had until September 15 to submit their nomination forms. As of September 16, there are a total of 656 candidates; 29 of whom are independents, running in the 107 ridings across Ontario. Meanwhile, 21 political parties are officially registered with Elections Ontario. These figures are an increase from the 2007 election in which 599 candidates and 12 parties were registered.

At the time of dissolution of the 39th Ontario Provincial Legislature, the Liberals held a majority with 70 seats while the Progressive Conservatives were the Official Opposition with 25 seats; and the New Democrats held 10. Two seats were vacant, both previously held by Liberals.

Increasing Degeneration of Electoral System and
Consolidation of Anti-Social Offensive

The 2007 election marked the lowest voter turnout in Ontario since 1923 with only 52.1 per cent of registered voters voting. This year, numerous measures have been taken by Elections Ontario to reverse the decline in voting, on the premise that there are obstacles to voting and more people will vote if the process is easier. These measures of course do not address the fundamental issue of people's disenchantment with voting, namely that merely voting does nothing to sort out the problem of the people's empowerment so as to be able to solve the problems they are facing.

Contrary to efforts to increase voting, the big political parties use a process known as micro-targeting, which involves the collection of huge amounts of data about individual voters, to predict how they might vote and sway them toward voting for that party. For a party using micro-targeting, a decreasing voter turnout is favourable because the aim is to maximize only the turnout of the key demographics that will vote for that party. In 2008, the Harper Conservatives' campaign successfully focused on less than half a million voters out of about 23 million eligible voters.

Following the May 2 federal election, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada pointed out that the electoral coup carried out by the Conservatives was engineered through micro-targeting. In particular in Toronto, the Conservatives micro-targeted electors they labelled "very ethnic," resulting in victories in 18 federal ridings previously held by the Liberals. (See TML Weekly Information Project, No. 2 July 16, 2011). It is reported that the main battlefront in the provincial election is also Toronto, with the Harper Conservatives putting their election machine at the disposal of the Progressive Conservatives.

Their hope is to complete a "hat-trick," a reference to adding a Progressive Conservative win provincially under Mike Harris' acolyte Tim Hudak, to the election victories of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford municipally and the Harper Conservatives federally. This would have the effect of each level of this reactionary triumvirate consolidating and reinforcing the anti-social offensive already being waged at all levels of government.

Registered Political Parties in the October 6 Ontario Election

The registered political parties confirmed by Elections Ontario as of September 16 are as follows:

- Canadians' Choice Party

- Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

- Family Coalition Party of Ontario

- Freedom Party of Ontario (Originally registered as the "Unparty Party (Ontario)")

- The Green Party of Ontario

- New Democratic Party of Ontario

- Northern Ontario Heritage Party

- The Only Party

- Ontario Liberal Party

- Ontario Libertarian Party

- Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party

- Pauper Party of Ontario

- Paramount Canadians Party

- Party for Human Rights in Ontario

- Party for People with Special Needs

- People First Republic Party of Ontario (Originally registered as the "Republican Party of Ontario")

- The Peoples Political Party

- Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

- Reform Party of Ontario

- Socialist Party of Ontario

- Vegan Environmental Party

For a list of all the registered candidates, including the 29 independents click here:

http://wemakevotingeasy.ca/media/en/candidates.pdf

Election Issues

Hudak's Anti-Worker Scheme to
"Fix the Arbitration System"

- Pierre Chénier -

Toronto Day of Action for Public Services, April 9, 2011

One of the major aspects of the Tim Hudak Progressive Conservative platform in the Ontario election is a pledge to "fix the broken arbitration system." He is referring to the use of arbitrators to decide collective agreements of mainly, but not exclusively, public sector workers, an increasing number of whom are deemed by law to be "essential." More than 260,000 workers in Ontario fit this description, including the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers, hospital workers and nurses, as well as firefighters and policemen.

As more and more workers' struggles are being criminalized through back-to-work legislation and legislation declaring workers essential makes going on strike illegal, arbitration is becoming increasingly frequent. In certain cases, it is the workers themselves who demand arbitration because they are getting nowhere at the bargaining table and they hope that an independent arbitrator will do them justice.

For a long time now, the politicians of the rich, the monopoly media and various so-called labour relations experts have complained that the rulings of the arbitrators are too costly for the municipalities and the province. Hudak has made this part of his platform.  He has invited Liberal leader, Premier Dalton McGuinty to join him and to stop fearing the public sector unions, which are rapidly being declared by the politicians of the rich the number one enemy in Ontario.

In speeches to organizations representing municipalities, Hudak has said that he wants to amend the Ontario Arbitration Act in three ways. First, he wants to make the ability of the provincial government or a municipality to pay a "dominant factor" in determining an arbitrator’s ruling. It is very common that the ability to pay is provided to the arbitrator as a guideline but those pushing to amend the Arbitration Act say that this guideline is routinely ignored by arbitrators. They refer to arbitrators who have refused to abide by the dictate of the McGuinty government to impose a two-year wage freeze on public sector workers and have granted workers a minimal raise. Secondly, Hudak wants what he calls "local circumstances" to be included as a guideline for arbitrators. This is to address the fact that arbitrators base their rulings largely on  comparable collective agreements of workers from the same sector, so rulings passed in richer municipalities are being imposed on poorer municipalities. Thirdly, he wants the time given for the arbitrator to make his ruling shortened.

The anti-social offensive is being stepped up against the whole working class by targeting public sector workers in particular. Not only are the workers' struggles being criminalized, but it is the governments that are setting the working conditions of the workers. Good faith negotiations are being eliminated and the right of workers to working conditions commensurate with the work they do and to have a say in their determination is negated. The proposal to change the arbitration system so that the governments dictate the content of the arbitrators’ rulings is a step further in this retrogressive direction. The aim is to crush workers' resistance so that privatization and all other aspects of the anti-social offensive can be given free rein.

That the aim is to attack workers can be seen in Premier McGuinty's response to Hudak, that the Ontario government elected on October 6 must be very careful because such a measure could lead to labour unrest. McGuinty is telling the rich that a government led by his party is going to be able to crush workers without their revolt.

The anti-worker outlook of these anti-social warriors is such that attacking workers, especially organized workers, is the solution for just about everything. In addressing municipal authorities, Hudak presented the amendment of the arbitration system as a way to improve the financial situation of the municipalities. When asked by the press what his policy is regarding uploading the municipal services that were downloaded onto the municipalities by the Harris government (of which he was a part), he refused to answer. He said that fixing the arbitration system, thereby attacking workers, will provide more money to the municipalities. 

Hudak said that the amended arbitration system has to ensure that the rulings of the arbitrators result in a fair deal between those whose wages are paid by the taxpayers (the public sector workers) and the taxpayers themselves. He even said that the working conditions set by arbitrators are like bills that taxpayers have to pay and that he has to ensure that the bill is affordable to taxpayers.

Hudak recognizes only taxpayers because he wants to eliminate the concept of workers and the working class who are the producers of the social wealth and have claims on the value they create and the services they provide. He is reducing the issue to one of mere cost -- a financial transaction, a bill to pay -- in order to deny the value that these workers create and for which they have claims that need to be met.

According to Hudak, workers are a cost which must be reduced. According to this view, the majority of taxpayers are not workers who produce goods, provide services and use these services. He is constantly trying to drive a wedge and create animosity between organized workers fighting for their claims on the value they create and those workers Hudak depicts as depressed and hopeless victims of the anti-social offensive. When it comes to the rich of course the argument is different. According to him, when the monopolies are being paid by governments through subsidies or tax cuts, there is no loss to the taxpayers and no bill to foot. He never complains that when the rich receive tax cuts or subsidies and there is less money in the public treasury, the taxpayers have to pay more for social programs.

Hudak also says that the arbitration system has to be fixed so that public sector agreements mirror those of the private sector. The fraudulent argument behind this is that private sector workers have been decimated by the anti-social offensive and the burden of the recession has been shifted onto their backs, while the public sector workers have allegedly been spared up until now. This false propaganda denies the severe impact that the war of the rich and their governments to dismantle and privatize public services has had on public sector workers. It makes the lowering of working and living standards the new norm and demands that whatever protection or say workers still have must be eliminated.    

This must not pass! Workers do not accept that they are to be scapegoated for the financial problems of the municipalities and criminalized. This so-called fixing of the arbitration system is part of the class struggle waged by the rich to crush workers' resistance, eliminate negotiation and have governments decree the workers’ working conditions. It is anti-worker and anti-social and must be firmly defeated.

Ontario Health Coalition Presents Demands

- Interview, Natalie Mehra, OHC Director -

On September 12, over 1,000 people gathered at Queen’s Park for a rally organized by the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC). People came from all across Ontario, including the Greater Toronto Area, the Niagara Peninsula, Sudbury and Cornwall for the rally, which kicked off the OHC’s campaign for the October 6 provincial election, "Public Health Care in the Public Interest: Protect and Expand Public Health Care for Ontarians." To read the full platform, go to www.web.net/ohc/. TML interviewed OHC Director Natalie Mehra at the rally.

Ontario Healthcare Coalition Action, September 12, 2011

TML: You said in your remarks at the rally that OHC is demanding firm commitments from all parties and candidates to defend and expand public health care. Why the emphasis on firm commitments?

Natalie Mehra: We demand firm commitments because of the tough economic times ahead and because the platforms of the Liberals and the Conservatives include tax cuts that are depleting the money that is available for health care. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are advocating tax cuts and most of these tax cuts are for the very wealthy and the corporations. That is a problem especially considering the looming recession. We feel there is not going to be enough money for health care, not even enough to meet the financial targets of the platforms of the Liberals and the PCs.  Right now, even as they are, there is not enough money in these platforms to finance health care adequately. That is why we want a firm commitment now from all the parties, that whatever the economic conditions, they will put aside enough money for health care to cover the needs of the people. We want them to commit now and to be held to account once the election is over. That is why we are presenting demands that must be met by whichever government is elected on October 6.

TML: What are the main demands of your platform?  

NM: We demand that the hospital beds and services that were closed be restored. We demand that the hospitals that have been closed in the Niagara region be reopened and that the closures of rural emergency departments and acute care beds be stopped. To just demand a moratorium on cuts of beds and services would not be enough. Ontario now has the fewest hospital beds per person of all the provinces. Compared with all industrialized countries, Ontario is fourth from last.

Our second main demand is to improve the access to health care services outside of hospitals. We are demanding access as a right to long-term care and home care. The way it is now, once people are taken out of a hospital, they are removed from protection under the Canada Health Act. The health care system does not have to provide the care anymore. The care is very severely rationed and the people are subjected to co-payments. We want a policy with a clear right to access once you are moved out of the hospitals. Long-term care and home care need to be reformed. There has to be a clear minimum care standard in nursing homes and home care. Care provided outside of hospitals has to be built as a public not for profit system.

Our overall demand is to keep health care public and not for profit.

TML: What kind of work is OHC doing to push forward these demands?

NM: The rally today is the kick-off of the campaign. We released our platform last week. We are going to distribute 400,000 leaflets door-to-door, in community centres and everywhere else we can across Ontario. We are organizing many media events and we want to put a lot of pressure on the media so that they take up some of these issues we are raising. We want the media to ask that the party leaders present clear commitments on health care.

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