Further Integration into Escalating U.S. Warmongering
The use of the term "Made-in-Canada" to describe the 2023 federal budget will have raised many eyebrows in the sense of why would it not be "made in Canada"? The term is clearly used to hide something, which is the true nature of the plans of Canada's ruling elite for nation-wrecking and further integration into the U.S. war economy.
The
falsehood is seen in the analogy given in the chapter of the
budget
dealing with the "Made-in-Canada Plan" which compares Canada's
integration into U.S. energy and critical minerals security with
the
Transcontinental Railway on which Canada was built. "With the
race to
build the global clean
economy already underway," the budget documents say, there is "a
new
national project in front of us: to build our generation's
version of
the Transcontinental Railway -- one that will protect our
environment,
grow our economy, and ensure every single Canadian can share in
the
prosperity we
will create together."
The "new national project" is based on, and in response to, the U.S. strategic plans announced in August 2022 with the Inflation Reduction Act which actually called for Canada to consolidate its status as a secure backyard of the U.S. as part of the attempt by the U.S. to shift away from dependency on China for critical minerals. With this budget, Canada announces that it will provide private businesses $80 billion in tax breaks and other measures to meet Canada's obligation towards this U.S. plan.
Canada's role in this is "to become a clean electricity superpower with a cross-Canada electricity grid that is more sustainable, more secure, and more affordable." It is also to provide the critical minerals: "From the resource workers that mine critical minerals or provide clean energy to the world, to the engineers designing next generation batteries, to the autoworkers assembling the electric vehicles people want to buy, we can ensure that Canadians produce the goods and resources that Canada and our allies will need for generations to come."
This orientation of the budget is brought out with specific reference to the U.S. demand for "friendshoring," which is part of the response of the U.S. to the crisis the "rules-based international order" is facing at home and abroad. The way out is to divide the world between "those who are with us and those who are against us" and target with aggression and sanctions countries that do not submit to U.S. hegemony, making Canada part of a very dangerous escalation of warmongering. The budget considers that this "represents a significant economic opportunity for Canada and Canadian workers" as "Canada can reap the benefits of becoming a reliable supplier of critical goods for our democratic allies."
This is anything but a nation-building project for Canada. It challenges the Canadian and U.S. working class movements to oppose the U.S. war machine and, in Canada, to oppose our integration into that war machine in the name of high ideals. Pierre Chénier, Secretary of the Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L), in an interview with Empower Yourself Now on the challenges facing Canadian workers at this time, pointed out: "In the name of good unionized jobs and a green economy, Canadian workers are being told to support the plans of the Biden Administration in the U.S. the Trudeau government has endorsed and is pushing in lockstep with the intelligence agencies which are promoting the plans of the Pentagon to target China. According to them, China and Russia are the enemies and Canada is safe within the U.S./NATO/NORAD equation.
"Canadians want Canada to be a Zone for Peace. They want Canada to uphold international rule of law, not the U.S. rules-based order whereby crimes can be committed against humanity in the name of high ideals," he said.
Pierre gave the example of the chauvinist stands being pushed onto Canadian industrial workers, miners, railway and transportation workers amongst others. He said:
"On March 28, in anticipation of the federal budget and its subsidies to the rich in the name of green jobs and green transition, the National Leader of the United Steelworkers said something outrageous which all workers should reject because it is not a way forward for either U.S. workers or Canadian workers. In a union press release, the USW President said:
"With his Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Biden committed hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change, invest in infrastructure and explicitly create good unionized jobs. The President knows that Canadian workers and the products we mine and manufacture are critical to making sure he meets his climate and economic goals. The Prime Minister and members of his cabinet have told workers they understand that too. This budget is their chance to deliver."
The press release added, "Along with Canadian aluminum, steel, cement and wood, critical minerals such as nickel, steel-making coal, cobalt, copper, lithium, indium and tellurium are mined and produced in Canada -- with far-lower carbon impacts and by workers often supported by good unionized jobs.
"In addition to calling for improved access to employment insurance and investments to expand health care -- including dental and pharma care, [the USW President] noted that investments in a sustainable jobs plan and a commitment to showcasing Canada's lower-carbon products are crucial, if the government is serious about supporting Canadian workers and earning more exemptions to the U.S. 'Buy America' rules."
The USW President continued: "From promising anti-scab legislation to investing in so-called 'just transition' this government has done a lot of talking about supporting Canadian workers, but President Biden has shown us what real action looks like.
"To make sure that high-quality, family-supporting unionized jobs stay in Canada and that both our countries meet our goals of a lower-carbon economy, workers need the Canadian government to take this chance to earn our continued place as a partner in President Biden's plans." (Emphasis added.)
Pierre also pointed out what the president of Unifor said when she went to speak at the United Auto Workers convention in the U.S. on March 27:
"Just last week I attended an official dinner, welcoming your President, Joe Biden, to Canada. Well me and a few hundred other Canadians.
"President Biden not only brought a message of shared opportunity and unity, he brought a message of solidarity. I don't think the word 'union' was mentioned so many times, in such a positive light, in the history of our House of Commons. It filled me with pride....
"I will say that, from our vantage point, what the U.S. is doing -- and the Biden Administration specifically -- on economic and industrial policy, is quite impressive. I've not seen this level of ambition to on-shore critical manufactured goods, invest in domestic value chains and promote clean tech – from any government, in my lifetime.
"If this is the economic race the U.S. has started, it's a damn good one. And it's one that Canada and the U.S., like most things, will win as running mates. A race that will be won by securing good jobs, with collective agreements, for all. [Emphasis added.]
"A race that will be defined by its worker-centred policies on EV consumer rebates.
"Our members were incredibly relieved to see that the Inflation Reduction Act set a special carve-in for Canada," she said. (Emphasis added.)
Pierre condemned this extolling of Canada as "a partner in President Biden's plans," Canada seeking "to be carved in" the Inflation Reduction Act, "Canada as a running mate" of the U.S. in its "damn good" "economic race."
"Here is a challenge to workers," Pierre said. "A challenge to refute that spirit of appeasement of the U.S. which is not resolving the all-sided crisis in which it is mired, which is deepening by leaps and bounds, and to step up their fight for an economy that serves the needs of the people and is controlled by the people and that contributes to cooperation among the people of the country and abroad.
"The threat is obvious in those speeches because workers are being told that if Canada is not a partner in Biden's plans, their jobs and also their unions are finished. Why not discuss what is happening to unions, jobs and the workers under those plans and how to be effective in providing the problems we face in Canada and what the workers in the U.S., Britain, France, Greece and other countries are facing as a result of the neo-liberal anti-social offensive and the anarchy and violence which prevail as a result of the clash between Authority and Conditions?
"Only the workers themselves should be permitted to speak in their name," Pierre concluded.
This article was published in
Volume 53
Number 3 - March 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M530032.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca