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April 21, 2018 - No. 15
Ontario General
Election to Be Held June 7
Intervening in the
Ontario Election
- Enver Villamizar
-
PDF
  
•
Learning
from Experience -- the 2014 Provincial Election
- Mira Katz -
Speaking Out in Northern
Ontario
• Our Resources Stay Here!
- David Starbuck -
• Ring of Fire Chromite-Nickel
Deposits
• Coming Events
Earth Day
2018
• All Out to Humanize the Natural
and Social Environment!
Opposition to Kinder
Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Project
• No Consent -- No
Pipeline!
- K.C. Adams -
• Who Decides? The People Decide!
- Peggy Morton -
• Canadians Stand Together with One Voice
Cuba Holds Opening
Session of Newly Elected
National Assembly of People's Power
• Congratulations to the Cuban People on the
Successful
Culmination of Their Historic Electoral Process
• Revolutionary Continuity, Renewal
and Unity
- Isaac Saney -
• Celebration of 57th Anniversary of
Proclamation of
Socialist Character of the Cuban Revolution
• "El Ultimo Mambí," a Song for
Raúl
Ontario General Election to Be Held June 7
Intervening in the Ontario Election
- Enver Villamizar -
Ontarians are once again on the eve of a general
election.
A scenario not dissimilar to the one imposed in the 2014 election
is unfolding. The track record of the Liberals in Ontario
has caused so much damage that the Liberal Party has to pull out
all the stops to get itself re-elected while newspapers quote
polls to show the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) in the lead. The
Liberals are once again
pointing to the dangers of electing the PCs who now have Doug
Ford, known as a right-wing fanatic, as their leader. The spectre
is raised of a Donald Trump for Ontario and all that that is
supposed to entail. There is no dearth of media opinion and
polls which present his victory as a done deal, especially
since the so-called alternative is divided between the Liberals
and the NDP.
As a result, once again attempts are being made by
Liberals with the help of social forces at their
command within the workers' and people's movement, to
discredit and get rid of the NDP. Provincially, as is also done
federally, the Liberals are adopting positions put forward
by the workers' movement often associated with positions
of the NDP, such as the demand for universal pharmacare.
The Liberals see the NDP as splitting the
"left-wing
vote." This suggests that the Liberals are "left of centre" to cover up
that, right down
the line, their positions are straightforward
neo-liberal pay-the-rich corrupt scams that systematically
destroy social programs or privatize them, destroy
manufacturing, sell out the resources of the province and
integrate Ontario into the U.S. war machine.
The NDP, for their part, are accused of
betraying NDP
values. An example of this is the accusation that they forced the 2014
Ontario election by turning down a
fraudulent "progressive" Liberal budget. Federally in 2015 they
campaigned to balance the deficit. They are now trying to
outflank the Liberals by promising to go even further than them by
expanding neo-liberal versions of pharmacare and childcare
and introducing new programs such as publicly-funded dental
care. Commentators claim this shows that the NDP is "going back
to its left-wing roots" to get elected and that given Wynne's
unpopularity as a leader it could work or position the NDP as the
"left-wing" in a PC minority government. The Liberals have yet to
release their
platform but will no doubt seek to do what they can to pursue "an
affirmative action" program to not be
outflanked.
The ruling elite continues to create a feeling
that if there were only two parties, a straightforward
two-party contest could be held and stability restored. In this
framework, getting rid of the NDP is a must for Premier Kathleen Wynne
just as it is for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau federally. To achieve
this, a
discourse is pushed that the Liberal Party stands for
social justice, that it is a party which "balances" the interests
of the rich and those of the poor and that on this basis, the interests
of what is
called the "middle class" are somehow served. It also allegedly
"balances" the interests of the economy and those of the
environment, as well as security and rights. Thus, the rich, the
poor, the middle class, activists for social justice and the
environment and those who uphold the restoration of
inherent Indigenous rights -- in short, everyone -- should vote
Liberal because that is the "balanced approach," the sensible way
to go. And, more and more, this approach is said to
be in the national interest.
 This is countered by the
PCs who point to all the Liberal
corruption and opportunism, which working people hate, and declare
that they will do what it takes and make the hard
decisions required for the economy to thrive. The fact that their
policies are lethal and in the service of the same neo-liberal
supranational interests which the Liberals serve, is totally
obscured. Both parties pursue privatization to benefit
private interests in health care, education, social housing and
other public services, presenting this as a solution,
while eliminating regulation and information which serve the
polity.
Discussion on what to do about this, how to empower the
working people so that they can exercise control over the economy
and the decisions that affect their lives, is obscured by the
overall framework provided by the ruling class and the electoral
system. This framework creates an outlook which claims that if
people want to make their vote count, they must choose one of these
parties of the rich to represent them. That is what
freedom is all about.
Today, the Marxist-Leninists repeat the call they gave
in
2014 for the working people to stand for their own independent
politics by supporting candidates who represent their demands and
contribute to expressing a collective rejection of the
anti-social offensive. They should not line up behind party platforms
they have played no
role in setting and will have no control to apply.
In 2014, the Marxist-Leninists explained that the
alternative at
that time was "to make sure that while the PCs could not form any
government, the Liberals could also not form a majority
government." This was grasped by those forces that clearly
activated the human factor/social consciousness in the election.
Those forces took a vigorous stand against the austerity agenda
of both the Liberals and PCs and, because they intervened as an
organized force, they were able to combat the disinformation
campaign that sought to sow confusion as to how they should cast
their ballot. Instead of following these parties, they cast their
ballot in a manner that favoured their interests to hold
governments to account.
 So too today, the
Marxist-Leninists are calling on the workers
to champion their own demands in the elections. Work inspired by
the experience of different sectors of the working class is being
carried out in the form of meetings, open mics, panels, articles
and all kinds of activities where the working people speak for
themselves about the matters which concern them. This will go a
very long way to not permitting the self-serving political
parties and media to declare that these political parties'
platforms represent what people want. Let the people speak for
themselves without being humiliated, reduced to begging the
parties to integrate their demands into their platforms.
Besides calling on Ontarians to go all out to make
these
actions successful, the Marxist-Leninists also call on
Ontarians to go all out to support independent candidates who are
coming forward to champion the real demands of their collectives.
Ontario's working people are making many efforts to empower
themselves to oppose the vicious destructive anti-social
offensive which leaves them fending for themselves. It is
these efforts which represent something new and fresh and deserve
everyone's support.
Let us put our full weight behind this movement for
empowerment which will culminate in the democratic renewal of the
political process so that the people become those who hold the
decision-making power and can wield it in their favour.
Learning from Experience --
the 2014 Provincial Election
- Mira Katz -
The last Ontario general election was held on June 12,
2014. In that election the Liberals obtained the votes of only 20
per cent of total eligible voters but captured 59 seats and
formed a majority government.[1]
They won the election by mobilizing the Liberal
social base in the workers' and people's movement to raise the
spectre of a kind of armageddon should the Progressive
Conservative Party led by Tim Hudak win the election. In other words,
it
was presented as a fight between good and evil, a matter of life
and death. The threat of 100,000 public sector job losses if
Hudak was elected was used to terrorize the electorate, and
especially public sector workers, into giving up their own
thinking. This hysteria was viciously pushed in the workers'
movement by Liberal moles to stampede working people into voting on the
basis of fear, rather than in a manner that affirmed their
rights. Coupled with the demonizing of the NDP as traitors to the cause
of social justice for not supporting
the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending and expansion
of Ontario's private debt in a fraudulent Liberal minority
budget, thus forcing an election, created a framework for
claiming that the only viable choice for working
people was to elect the lesser of evils, Kathleen Wynne.[2]
Following the election, the Marxist-Leninists pointed
out
Kathleen Wynne won the election "because the ruling circles
decided she was their best bet to keep the working class in check
in the coming period." They explained how this win was achieved
by the ruling elite.
The endorsements [for the
Liberals] of
prominent members of the ruling elite,[3]
coupled with a massive
disinformation campaign by the Liberal base within the workers'
movement resulted in the Liberals receiving their majority
government. The
disinformation campaign promoted Kathleen Wynne as the
alternative to Tim Hudak. It declared the Liberal budget to be
progressive and Andrea Horwath as betraying NDP values for
forcing the election by turning down a 'progressive' budget. All
the crimes of the Liberal McGuinty/Wynne government as concerns
the privatization of social and public services, attacks on
public workers, especially teachers and education workers and
continuous pay-the-rich schemes magically disappeared and were
attributed to the Hudak PCs.
 These Liberal government
crimes greatly contributed to the
destruction of manufacturing in Ontario. Its attacks on the wages
and working conditions of teachers and education workers, health
care providers and other public sector workers, as well as
against the most vulnerable, including injured workers are
tearing apart the social fibre of the province, wrecking the
economy and pushing down the living and working conditions of the
working class. The disinformation campaign turned the reality
upside down creating a singular spectre of Hudak as the enemy and
presenting the Liberals as the saviours of Ontario working
families. A kind of Stockholm Syndrome gripped these Liberal
social forces within the workers' movement. They promoted
affection for the Liberal government, which just months earlier
was assaulting the working class movement and during the election
campaign kidnapped a section of the working class movement on
behalf of the ruling class. They called on everyone to fall in
love with their kidnappers who would save them from the evil of
the Hudak Conservatives.
Before and during the
election, the Marxist-Leninists
worked
hard to oppose this disinformation that the role of working
people was to pick "a lesser of two evils." They pointed out that
all year long, the people unite in action to press their own
demands and do their utmost to defeat the anti-social offensive
and turn things around so that the crisis is resolved in their
favour, not in favour of the private interests of the rich. Then,
come an election, the people are supposed to lay aside their
demands and split along the lines of the sectarian interests of
parties, over which they exercise no control whatsoever. The
parties do not in fact represent the demands of the people but reduce
the
electorate to a role of lobbying them and pleading with them to
include at least one of their demands in their election
platforms. It is absurd.
The Marxist-Leninists called
on the people not to split
their
ranks along party lines but to vote in a manner which expressed
their opposition to the anti-social offensive. In the 2014
election, this meant not permitting the Liberals or the
Conservatives to form a majority government. By so doing, the
point would be underscored that no party which serves the rich
could claim a mandate for its pay-the-rich schemes and the people
would stand a better chance to hold them in check.
This call was very
successful where it was taken up as a
guide to organizing the working people to take up their own
independent politics as in Windsor. In Windsor-Essex, a
former Liberal stronghold, not a single Liberal was elected and
the Liberal Cabinet Minister who was promoted as a star candidate
was defeated in the riding of Windsor West -- the only
Liberal incumbent to have lost a seat in that election.
Attempts to split the workers' movement, to keep the Liberals in
power, with threats and blackmail that without a Liberal government the
sky would fall were routed and the vote of a majority
of workers, no matter which party their unions or others
were calling on them to side with by voting "strategically" to
defeat Hudak's PCs, expressed a collective opposition to the
anti-social offensive.
This anti-social offensive has been pushed by every
party in
power and in the opposition since the neo-liberal anti-social offensive
was
unleashed and Mike Harris of the PCs declared Ontario "Open for
Business." It is important this history be reviewed to debunk the
fraud once and for all that these parties in the service of the
rich represent the public interest in any way and that they give
the workers a choice between progressive
and reactionary called "left" and "right."
In government each of these parties has in its own way
destroyed any vestiges of a public authority with the exception
of its police powers. Police powers refer to the concentration of
power in the hands of an executive to decide whatever they want
with impunity. The parties form a mafia-style cartel which
divides the polity by providing everyone with an identity to
which they allegedly belong. The identities are based on all
kinds of criteria such as social status, national origin,
religion, gender, colour of skin, state of health and abilities,
union affiliation -- anything but being citizens who belong to
a polity. Thus profiled, what opinion is held by each of
these ghettoized collectives is declared on their behalf.
All of
it covers up that equality can only exist if equal membership is
recognized in a body politic and the people can speak for
themselves about the matters which concern them and what they
think should be done about them. In the absence of addressing the
body politic and its concerns and involving the membership of the
polity in discussion on the aim they want for society, the system
which brings political parties to power pits all individual and
collective interests against each other and against the general
interests of society. The contest for power becomes cutthroat and
individuals and their collectives who resist this dictate are
criminalized.
The working people must not permit political
discourse to be shut down. They can do so on an even broader scale by
speaking out about their own concerns. The
working people must act in their own name, not mark their ballot
so that others are authorized to act in their name.
Develop the Independent Politics of the
Working Class!
Empower Yourself Now!
Notes
1. In the 2014 election, the
Liberal Party went from a
minority government with 49 seats to a majority government with
59 seats. Voter turnout was 51.3 per cent, with 4,705,484 citizens who
were eligible to vote abstaining. The Liberals were elected with
20 per cent of eligible votes. Most of the Liberals' 10 new seats
were gained at the expense of the PC Party which went from 37 to
27 seats. However it also came at the expense of three key NDP
seats in downtown Toronto (Trinity-Spadina, Davenport, and
Beaches-East York). The NDP was able to maintain its 21 seats as
a result of taking two PC incumbent ridings in addition to the
defeat of a Liberal cabinet minister in Windsor West.
Elections Ontario indicated following the 2014 election
that
unofficial results showed that 29,442 voters opted to formally
decline their ballots at the polling booth, the highest number
since 1975. It also said that 12,124 citizens cast unmarked
ballots, while 22,687 ballots were rejected by officials at the
time of counting.
In that election, 3,816 Ontarians voted for 14
independent candidates, a drop from the 9,021 who voted for 36
independents in the 2011 provincial election.
2. See report on 2014 election
results in Ontario Political Forum, June 13,
2014.
3. For example, Wynne received
an 11th-hour personal
endorsement from Michael McCain, President and CEO of Maple Leaf
Foods and a Royal Bank board member, amongst other positions he
holds. In a letter to the Globe and Mail (where the
Thompson clan had officially endorsed Hudak), McCain made it very
clear where the ruling circles stand.
McCain wrote, "As a pragmatic business leader who cares
about
our social commitments in addition to fiscal responsibility, I am
prepared to be clear that a more balanced approach is warranted.
[...] The PCs 'million jobs plan' just isn't credible, and won't
have a positive outcome for the Ontario economy. In fact, I
believe it is dangerous."
Speaking Out
in Northern Ontario
Our Resources Stay Here!
- David Starbuck -
 
Working people in Ontario are discussing those things
which concern them that should be issues in the upcoming
Ontario elections. Open mics, discussion forums, articles,
op-eds, panels and meetings are being held in various places to
discuss matters which are really important to the working
people.
One of the matters of concern to Ontarians as the June
election approaches is how politicians of the rich are jumping on the
resources in the region of Northern Ontario called the Ring of Fire to
announce all sorts of pay-the-rich schemes, that go against the
peoples'
interests. The Indigenous peoples' right to decide what happens on
their territories is summarily dismissed. So is the right of the people
of Ontario to set the direction they want for the economy. This
includes the fundamental issue of how to engage in economic development
that benefits the people, and what should be done with Ontario's
plentiful
resources while respecting Indigenous peoples' hereditary rights and
protecting the natural environment.
For communities in Northern Ontario, the natural
resources of the region are a part of everyday life and integral to the
economy of the region, as are the questions of who controls those
resources, how they are to be developed and used, and for what purpose.
This is the case with the mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire, and
chromite -- a key component of stainless steel production -- in
particular. While various people with agendas that serve private
interests claim to defend the interests of Northern Ontario, only
discussions amongst the working people themselves are legitimate forums
to work out what needs to be done. Instead, working people are reduced
to the role of spectators to the shenanigans of so-called major
political parties competing for their votes.
In this vein, the newly-elected leader of the Ontario
Progressive Conservatives (PCs),
Doug Ford, in a conference call March 16 with the Sudbury
Star, said that the PCs will "stand up for the North" by rapidly
developing the Ring of Fire.
"We are going to start building the roads and the
infrastructure," said Ford. "There's billions of dollars waiting
up there. If I have to bring in the first bulldozer with Vic
[Fedeli, Nipissing PC MPP] on it, I will do it ... It's going to
benefit [not just] local people, but all people in Ontario. This
is equivalent to the oil sands in Alberta. We have chromite
waiting to be mined and we can't get to it ... It's beneficial
for everyone -- the First Nations, other towns across all the
North ... Everyone is going to benefit. Everyone is going to see
the prosperity from building the infrastructure, our ability to
put in the roads, get the roads built and the infrastructure ...
Let's cut all the red tape, the bureaucracy, and get shovels in
the ground."
As quoted by Soo Today, Ford said developing
the
Ring of
Fire would be a new PC government's first
priority. "I come from the private sector. You have to deliver a
project, have to achieve it on time ... Everyone understands the
urgency of this. There's a mine up there with $60 billion [worth
of chromite and other minerals] in it. We're going to start
working on this immediately."
Noront Resources, the largest mining company active in
the Ring of Fire, is planning to build a ferrochrome refinery to
process concentrate from the Ring of Fire, which would create 350
direct and 150 indirect jobs. It has invited Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie,
Timmins and Thunder Bay to put forward proposals to build the refinery
in their cities, in effect creating a bidding war amongst these cities
as to which one can offer Noront Resources the greatest incentives to
locate in their community.
 KWG Resources is another
mining exploration company with an extensive stake in the Ring of Fire.
It says the way to get the project to proceed is to locate the
ferrochrome refinery in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (across the St.
Marys River from its Canadian namesake) and integrate the Ring of
Fire into Trump's war preparations and program to "Make America Great
Again!"
The company attempted to hold an event in Toronto on
April 5 "to
review the virtues of making ferrochrome in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,
for a new North American stainless-steel supply joint-venture with
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario." Ontario PC Party Leader Doug Ford,
Conservative MP and Critic for Innovation, Science and Economic
Development Maxime Bernier, and Missanabie Cree Chief Jason Gauthier
were invited. However, conflicts among competing monopoly groups and
their political representatives, prevented the event from taking place.
KWG Resources President Frank Smeenk, media
earlier reported, said that the
protectionist attitude of U.S. President Donald Trump "provides a
good opportunity to look at options of joining forces to make
stainless steel and stainless steel primary products there [Sault
Ste. Marie, Michigan] because we have advantages to other places
in the world." Locating a plant in the United States would ensure
the U.S. government would provide a market for the raw materials
and deals could be brokered for the benefit of the U.S. and for
Ontario, Smeenk said. With the proximity of Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario, to the United States, it makes sense to have some of the
processing completed in the United States, he argued.
"This is not untypical of trade between our countries and that in
turn translates to billions of dollars to make the business go
and that is something we should keep in mind," he said.
KWG Resources is interested in partnering with the
United States to take advantage of President Trump's "America First"
approach to international trade. Smeenk wants Ontario PC Leader Doug
Ford to take up the concept and talk to Trump. "We're looking at the
big picture. Now is the right time for an eventual new premier of
Ontario to talk to the president of the United States who has a
different attitude on how to trade with the world and see what we can
do to get Wall Street engaged in the Ring of Fire, on a much bigger
picture than was originally contemplated," he said. Smeenk said he
believes creating a value-added plant on the U.S. side of the border
will engage Trump. "I anticipate there would be some enthusiasm on
Trump's part. He's a deal maker and you have to be prepared to
negotiate deals."
Officials of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario deny knowledge
of KWG Resource's plan. Mayor Christian Provenzano said "nobody has any
idea what this project is and there has been no discussion with us
about a joint venture ... To me, if you're going to have an event like
that you should be reaching out to the people who are stakeholders and
we haven't heard from anybody ... From the city's perspective, the city
is of the opinion that it would be in the best interest of Northern
Ontario that production happen in Northern Ontario."
 The attitude of
politicians like Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford and capitalists like Frank
Smeenk is typical of the age-old attitude of private monopolies and
their political representatives to the land, resources and people of
Northern Ontario. The monopoly capitalists and their representatives in
government see only great wealth that can be torn out of the ground and
taken to southern or foreign markets without regard for the welfare of
the people of Ontario -- Northern Ontario in particular -- or the
environment. To them, Northern Ontario is not a home to be protected,
merely a place where, as Doug Ford says, "There's billions of dollars
waiting up there."
This outlook has been true since the days of the
Hudson's Bay
Company, which made their employees return to England at the end of
their careers; through the time of the Montreal Mining Co. (mainly
British capital), which in 1849 began mining operations without a
treaty authorizing them to operate on Indigenous lands; and the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway across Northern Ontario in
the 1880s to link the infant Canadian state with the West and the
Pacific Ocean without regard for the interests or concerns of the
people
of Northern Ontario, particularly the Indigenous peoples; and
throughout the 20th century when foreign monopolies like Inco and
Falconbridge (now Vale and Glencore) extracted hundreds of billions of
dollars of wealth. The promise that this wealth would "trickle down" to
the people of the North never materialized and the cost to the health
of miners and to the natural environment has been enormous.
Doug Ford and Frank Smeenk promise more of the same at
an accelerated pace. They are encouraging the further integration of
Canadian mineral resources into the U.S. war machine. In this, they are
echoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who pleaded, successfully, for an
exemption to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum on the grounds that the
Canadian steel and aluminum industries constitute part of U.S. national
security interests and Fortress North America. Construction of the
ferrochrome refinery on U.S. soil to process Canadian chromite greatly
reduces the possibility of a strategically important metal going to
China, and provides a secure source of chromium, a key war commodity,
to the U.S. war machine, which has no other source of chromium in the
Americas.
There is absolutely no
mention of Ford planning to
consult with Indigenous peoples in the region or to respect their
wishes. He
wants to get on with developing the Ring of Fire "immediately." He
wants to "cut all the red tape, the bureaucracy, and get shovels in the
ground." We can conclude that Doug Ford would be a premier who will run
roughshod over the rights of Indigenous peoples without taking the time
to
consult and accommodate because the private interests he represents
want to speed up the process of their expropriation. He has no regard
for the right of Indigenous communities to free, prior and informed
consent, grounded in international law, in respect of decisions
affecting their homelands.
The decision on whether and
how to proceed with the development of the Ring of Fire belongs to the
people of Ontario on the basis of their right to be informed about how
decisions affect the people of the North, both the Indigenous peoples
and the peoples from all lands who have come to live and work in the
North. An extremely important part of those decisions is how to develop
the Ring of Fire resources to benefit the people of the North and their
social and natural environment. Clearly, exporting chromite concentrate
(the least processed form which can be economically transported) for
refining in the U.S. does little to foster the economic development of
Northern Ontario or the rest of the province. The main potential value
in a resource is in its refining and in the manufacture of finished
goods. Export of chromite concentrate adds very little to the economy
of Ontario or Canada while it opens up the North to environmental
degradation and the disruption of traditional ways of life.
Our Resources Stay Here!
Ring of Fire Chromite-Nickel Deposits
Click to enlarge (M. Lehan)
The rich and their political representatives continue to
covet the "Ring of Fire" chromite-nickel deposits in Northern
Ontario. The Ring of Fire is said to possess more than $100
billion in mineral resources. The cartel parties vying for
election in Ontario see this as a huge bonanza, an opportunity
for Ontario to get out of crisis. A chromite refinery was to be built
north
of Capreol, in the City of Greater Sudbury, and Sudbury-based
mining supply companies would use the development of the Ring of
Fire as part of their expansion in the global mining
industry.
The development of an inorganic resource such as
chromite --
from extraction to processing to its manufacture into finished
goods -- can only take place once. Finished products can be
recycled but this will not assist to develop a long-term viable
industry in the region if the products are exported and recycled
elsewhere. An inorganic resource is limited and once exported
cannot support further generations of workers. This is unlike the
development of organic resources such as forests, farms and
fisheries. In the case of those endeavours, with careful
husbandry, crops can be taken year after year, and an economic
base can be developed that will support generations.
The fact that mineral ores can only be developed once
means
that it is vital for the Ring of Fire to be developed right, and
not necessarily quickly, if the people of Northern Ontario are to
reap any economic benefit from the development.
First, none of the parties that are so eager to develop
the
Ring of Fire mention that chromium is a strategic materiel and
that the development of the Ring of Fire serves the interests of
the U.S. war machine. Chromium is vital in producing
stainless steel and superalloys which have significant military
applications, including armour and jet engines. There is no
commercially viable source of chromium in the Americas and the
main producing countries (Kazakhstan, India and Zimbabwe) are not
securely in the U.S. zone of control. The establishment of a
large-scale chromium production facility in the Ring of Fire and
Northern Ontario solves this supply problem for the U.S.
imperialists and facilitates their ability to wage a protracted
war.
The alternative is to develop the Ring of Fire in the
service
of civilian production to meet the material needs of people in
the course of their daily lives.
 Second, the lands on which
the Ring of Fire lie and the lands
needed to access these mineral riches are the traditional
territories of several Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous peoples in
this
part of Northern Ontario are isolated and suffer numerous social
and economic difficulties as the old traditional economic base
and social structure has been displaced. The mineral riches of
the Ring of Fire provide an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to find
a path to economic renewal but their rights must be respected.
There can be no legitimate economic development of the Ring of
Fire without the informed consent of the Indigenous peoples of the
area. This includes the right of the Indigenous peoples to veto the
development if they do not believe that it is in their
interests.
Third, the Ring of Fire must be developed in harmony
with the
natural environment. The development of the Ring of Fire opens up
access to a huge area totalling half of the landmass of the
province. This land consists of sub-arctic tundra transitioning
to pine forests. It is environmentally sensitive and the
construction of mines and transportation facilities, as well as
the release of oil and chemicals, constitute
a long-term risk to the environment.
Fourth, the workers of Northern Ontario, especially
those in
the small towns and isolated communities in which so much of this
economic activity will take place must also have their rights and
interests protected. This not only includes establishing Canadian
standard wages, benefits, pensions and health, education and
social services but also finding ways to ensure the long-term
viability of these communities once the Ring of Fire is played
out. This necessitates long-term planning to ensure that some of
the benefits arising from the Ring of Fire are used to establish
new, sustainable industries in the area that will support the
population.
In order for the people of Northern Ontario to ensure
that
the Ring of Fire is developed in the interests of the people of
Northern Ontario, Canada and indeed the world, the people of
Northern Ontario must become the decision-makers.
Coming Events
Ontario Elections
Hamilton
The Role Workers Are Playing to
Empower
Themselves in the Upcoming Ontario Election
Sunday, April 22 -- 1:00-4:00 pm
Organized by
Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L), for information 416-253-4475
Barrie
Speakout on Matters of
Concern in Ontario
Election
Thursday, May 17 -- 5:00 pm
Painswick Branch, Barrie Library -- 48 Dean Ave.
Hosted by the
Barrie District Injured Workers' Group
May Day
Windsor
Speaking for Ourselves -- Annual
Workers' Roundtable
Sunday, April 29 -- 10:00 am-4:00 pm
547 Victoria Ave
Hosted by the
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation District 9,
and Greater Essex Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario
Facebook
Rally and
March
Tuesday, May 1 -- 5:30 pm
City Hall Square
Hamilton
It
Is
Time
to
Put
Workers
First
in
CCAA Law -- Rally
Tuesday, May 1 -- 3:30 pm
Federal Building, 55 Bay St. N.
May Day Project (Bill Good
and Friends)
Tuesday, May 1 -- 5:00 pm
Play at This Ain’t Hollywood, 345 James
St. N.
Local 1005 MANA Workers have been locked out for
five years
For information: uswa1005.ca
Mississauga
Street Festival
Tuesday, May 1 -- 1:00-2:30 pm
Pearson International Airport -- Terminal One Departures Level
Organized by
Toronto Airport Workers' Council
Facebook
2018 Justice Bike Ride
Organized
by
Ontario
Network
of
Injured
Workers'
Groups
Elliott Lake
Welcome
Reception
Friday, May 25 -- 7:00-9:00 pm
Lester B. Pearson Civic Theatre
Massey
Jim
Hobbs
Memorial
Ride
&
Presentation
Saturday, May 26 -- 7:00 am-3:00 pm
Ride from Elliot Lake Miners' Memorial Park on Highway 108 North
to Massey and District Arena, 455 Government St.
For information on all Justice Bike Ride
events click here.
Earth Day 2018
All Out to Humanize the Natural
and Social Environment!
 
On Earth Day, the world comes together to demand that
proper
attention be paid to Mother Earth. Measures must be taken to
overcome the destructive effects of climate change and end
destructive practices of the monopolies such as clear cutting,
abusive mining practices, contamination of lakes and oceans, the
privatization of water and all the other abuses which are
increasing as a result of neo-liberal anti-social and
anti-national agendas.
 The urgent need is to
reverse this alarming destructive
trend. It can be done by restricting and depriving the monopolies
and the governments in their service of their ability to pollute,
destroy, super-exploit, trample on the sovereign rights of Indigenous
peoples and wage war for self-serving aims. The working people
must unite people from all walks of life to become an organized
force which takes stands in defence of the rights of all. To make
sure the working people do not become an organized force, Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government
will guarantee Kinder Morgan's investment to remove the "legal
uncertainty" it says it faces. He declared that guaranteeing
foreign investments in Canada is a matter of national interest
and that his government will "balance" the environment and the
economy. All of it serves to make sure the people
cannot organize effective resistance to the private interests that show
no concern for the environment, the rights of Indigenous peoples and
the people's right to decide.
The
"balance" the Prime Minister talks about is smoke and mirrors
because the interests of the natural environment can only be
protected by the people, not private interests. The natural and
social environment cannot live in harmony without opposing government
pay-the-rich schemes.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
opposes the
use of the serious issues of the environment and the economy to
justify expropriating the Indigenous peoples and going against
the expressed desire of the people on projects such as Kinder
Morgan, especially when it is done in the name of "national
interest." This association is to make sure the people play no
role in determining the decisions which affect them and so that
the issue of climate change is also not sorted out in favour of
humanizing both the natural and social environments. There is no
Chinese Wall between the interests of the environment and the
economy but they cannot be harmonized by continuing the
expropriation of the Indigenous peoples who are the stewards and
protectors of Turtle Island and holders of sovereign rights to
this vast land. The Indigenous peoples have never relinquished their
sovereign hereditary rights and bravely continue to defend Turtle
Island
from the indignities of colonial pillage and ruin. On Earth Day
let everyone demand that governments enter into new arrangements
that honour Indigenous peoples' sovereign rights to the land of
their ancestors.
 Mother Earth is one of the
two pillars of all social wealth,
the other being the work of working people. Modern society cannot
be built without consciously upholding the dignity of both.
Harming either Mother Earth, working people or Indigenous peoples
leads to the ruin of society.
To uphold the dignity of Mother Earth means to bring
social
consciousness to the fore within the socialized economy.
Activating the human factor/social consciousness to negate the
anti-human factor/anti-consciousness is the order of the day.
Only if working people themselves have a say-so and control over
the production and distribution of social product can the serious
problems facing Mother Earth and our societies be provided with
solutions.
A significant act on Earth Day is also to denounce the
U.S.-led wars of aggression and occupation, and the U.S. war industry
which is the biggest polluter in the world. Denounce the Canadian
ruling elite which has deployed the men and women of Canada's
military to participate in the U.S. wars of occupation and NATO
and UN missions carried out in the name of peace and
peace-keeping.
 The federal and provincial
governments, no matter what party
is in power, have shown that they fully identify with the narrow
stance of private interests and the demands of the war government
in the United States. To serve these interests and speak about
concern for the environment in the same breath is absurd. It
means that concern for environmental degradation and ruination of
Mother Earth must be consciously expanded into a movement to
empower the working people, to put them in the forefront of all
economic, political and social decision-making.
CPC(M-L) supports all the actions of the working class,
people and Indigenous peoples which restrict the monopolies in their
claims and in their ruinous activities. The secret agenda of the
monopolies and governments in their service in the socialized
economy and for war must cease. Everything regarding the
socialized economy must be public and exposed for all to see and
evaluate. Working people must persist in stating their concerns
and demands which is the first step to establishing a real hold
on political and economic power so they can bring to the fore the
human factor/social consciousness and lead the movement to
humanize the social and natural environments.
The people must become the decision-makers and set the
direction of the economy in a manner that protects the
environment and affirms the right to be of the peoples of the
entire world.
Humanize the Natural and Social
Environment!
Opposition to Kinder Morgan Trans
Mountain Pipeline Project
No Consent -- No Pipeline!
- K.C. Adams -
Protesters block the gates of Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Mountain
facility, March 17, 2018.
Kinder Morgan, the biggest pipeline monopoly in the
U.S.,
announced on February 8 a halt of all non-essential work on the
$7.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline project from the Alberta oil
fields to Vancouver. The company said legal uncertainty
surrounding the project posed an unacceptable risk to
investors.
 Within days, federal
Finance Minister Bill Morneau said
the
government would do whatever was necessary for construction to
proceed this summer, including possible financial support.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley added that her government was
looking into purchasing the pipeline, which would mean paying off
Kinder Morgan. The two governments are engaged in secret
negotiations with company executives.
The Trudeau and Notley
governments declare the pipeline will
be built despite the determined opposition and lack of consent
from broad sections of the people especially in the lower BC
mainland, among those concerned with the natural environment,
many affected Indigenous peoples and BC municipalities, the Union
of BC Indian Chiefs and the BC government. The federal and
Alberta governments claim they are defending the "rule of law"
and the existing "constitutional arrangements," and that the
pipeline is both in the national interest and crucial for the
Canadian economy.
No one doubts that governments can and do act to impose
the
will of the global financial/industrial cartels against the
public interest. The will and private interests of the financial
oligarchy have become in Trudeau's words the "national interest"
to negate the public interest, and for the federal and Alberta
governments what is good for the energy cartels is good for the
economy.
 The executive police powers
of the state represent the conception of national interest Trudeau
advocates. These police powers are mobilized to criminalize the
opposition to the schemes of the
financial oligarchy. Already over 200 arrests of people
protesting the Kinder Morgan pipeline have occurred with hundreds
and possibly thousands more expected if construction proceeds
without the consent of the people. With the strident words coming
from the federal and Alberta governments and the unleashing of
police powers, an issue that should belong to the polity to
decide has been turned into a matter of
law and order and the criminalizing of those who refuse to
submit, including two elected members of Parliament.
In this case, the federal
and Alberta governments are going
all out to inflame passions, set the people against each other
and create a level of hysteria of the kind usually associated
with acts of war and aggression. This includes accusations
against the BC government that it opposes the "rule of law"
because it announced the pursuit of a legal reference from the BC
Court of Appeal regarding its provincial authority to restrict
economic activity if it fails to meet environmental conditions
established by the province. In this regard, the BC government
has already received the vocal support of the government of
Quebec. One commentator in the mass media now says the Kinder
Morgan pipeline issue has created a crisis of federalism of the
same proportion as the Meech Lake Accord constitutional crisis in
1987. This ignores that much has changed in Canada and the world
since that time. The competition over power by the global imperialist
cartels has
increased immensely under the neo-liberal anti-social offensive
and imposition of free trade under the domination of the
financial oligarchy.
The contradictions within Canada and the world have
become a
clash of authorities representing private interests, a clash of
police powers. No role is accorded to the United Nations or
federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions or anything for
that matter, such as school boards, that may or may not interfere
with the most powerful private interests and their
financial/industrial/military cartels that own and control the
Canadian and global economy within the U.S. imperialist system of
states.
 In this instance when
Trudeau speaks of the national
interest
or Premier Notley cries out that the sky will fall without the
pipeline, they are announcing their intention to use
the state treasury to guarantee Kinder Morgan's investment and to
use police powers to enforce the will of the powerful private
interests without the consent of the people.
The authorities seek to negate the human factor and its
social consciousness of its right to decide and control those
affairs affecting the people, their economy and Mother Earth.
This negation cannot and will not be accepted. The consent of the
governed is required in all instances and that consent must not
and cannot be coerced with police powers and disinformation. The
people will stand firm in defence of their right to decide.
Who Decides? The People Decide!
- Peggy Morton -
Protest at Kinder Morgan Burnaby tank farm, April 7, 2018.
The Indigenous peoples and people of British Colombia
have not given
their consent to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and
shipment of bitumen in tankers through the Burrard Inlet and the
Salish Sea. The organized workers' movement in Alberta has long
taken the stand of opposing the shipment of raw resources such as
bitumen and dilbit out of the province, as that is no way to
develop an economy. However, now that Alberta has an NDP
government doing the bidding of big oil, huge pressure has been
exerted on the workers to remain silent, while they continue to
be excluded from all decision-making about the economy. This
cannot be considered consent with the present direction of the
economy.
 The Trudeau government
claims it conducted an extensive and
"robust" review of the pipeline, fulfilling its duties to consult
and accommodate Indigenous peoples. It also suggests that actions
by provincial or municipal governments requiring Kinder Morgan to
comply with provincial law or municipal bylaws prior to
construction are infringing on federal jurisdiction.
The Trans Mountain Project has not received free, prior
and
informed consent from the Indigenous peoples affected by the
project which is taking place on their unceded lands with many
rejecting the pipeline outright especially in the Lower Mainland.
Many in the interior have accepted a financial payment for use of
their territory if the pipeline is built but this does not
constitute consent. All this is a clear violation of
international law, as well as decisions of the Supreme Court of
Canada requiring full prior consultation and accommodation. It
denies the right of the Indigenous peoples to govern themselves
and decide what takes place on their territories according to
their own law, and violates the principles of nation-to-nation
relations.
Heavily redacted memos released through a Freedom of
Information request show that department officials informed
Minister of Energy and Resources Jim Carr prior to the pipeline's
approval that 59 of the 114 Indigenous groups affected by the
pipeline needed more time for adequate consultations. Civil
servants also informed Carr that the government would face
criticism for giving Indigenous peoples only two weeks to revise
and provide comments on a massive report on the consultations
that had taken place.[1]
The memos show that the government ignored the warnings of its
officials that a hasty approval was not going to fly.
Instead of bringing itself into conformity with its
legal
obligations, the Trudeau government then established a
Ministerial Panel in May 2016, tasked with engaging with local
communities and Indigenous peoples and a mandate to "identify
gaps and/or issues of concern of which the Government should be
aware before deciding the fate of the pipeline proposal." The
Ministerial Panel was given extremely short time lines to conduct its
work,
which resulted in short or no notice of hearings, failure to
notify Indigenous peoples, and failure to hold hearings in some
communities impacted by the project.
Sham public consultation on Kinder Morgan pipeline denounced in
Victoria,
August 23, 2016.
In spite of the impediments, some 2,400 Canadians
attended
the public meetings, 650 people made direct presentations, and
35,259 people responded to an online questionnaire. The Report of
the Ministerial Panel was delivered on November 2, 2016 and
provided detailed information of the concrete concerns and
unanswered questions brought forward by participants. The Panel
in their Report noted, "The issues raised by the Trans Mountain
Pipeline proposal
are among the most controversial in the country, perhaps in the
world, today: the rights of Indigenous peoples, the future of
fossil fuel development in the face of climate change, and the
health of a marine environment already burdened by a century of
cumulative effects."[2]
The government has given no indication that it paid the
slightest attention to the Panel's Report or addressed any of the
concerns raised. On November 29, 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau
announced that he had given approval for the Trans Mountain
pipeline expansion.
The decision has been challenged by seven Indigenous
peoples,
the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, as well as two environmental
groups. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, Coldwater
Indian Band, Upper Nicola Band, Stk'emlupsemc Te Secwepemc and
Sto:lo have challenged the decision on the basis that the
government failed to properly consult with their individual
nations before approving the expansion. The challenge was heard
in October 2017, but the court has not yet made a decision.
 In 2016, the Federal Court of
Appeal ruled that the
government had failed to properly consult Indigenous peoples
affected by the Northern Gateway pipeline.[3]
The government had the option to
return to the table, but instead declared Northern Gateway dead
while throwing its support behind Trans Mountain.
More recently, the government of BC has
said it
is proceeding with a reference to the BC Court of Appeal for a
legal judgement on provincial jurisdiction with regard to Trans
Mountain and environmental concerns. Trudeau as well as his
Finance Minister Bill Morneau have said they will not ask the
Supreme Court for a reference, a route that many commentators
have argued would bring the quickest legal decision.
With or without any action by the BC government,
"uncertainty" about the project -- in the face of the failure to
respect
Indigenous rights and broad opposition by the people of BC -- is
not going away. In addition, the permitting process is a complex
one, and includes the need for consultations with Indigenous peoples.[4] This raises the
question of what Kinder Morgan is up
to. It appears to many that it has seized on an opportunity to
enrich itself through blackmail using the desperation of the
Notley government, which has convinced itself that its
re-election stands or falls on whether it can get this pipeline
built, and the compliance of the Trudeau government.
Turning real concerns of the people into a matter of
law and
order is not going to make the issue of Who Decides? go away. The
crisis is not a dispute between the people of Alberta and BC, or
the federal and provincial governments, or even one provincial
government set against another. The crisis engulfs the existing
political institutions and the negation of peoples' right to exercise
their sovereignty and decision-making
authority. Canada needs new constitutional arrangements.
Canadians and Indigenous peoples are not going to agree to be
marginalized and removed from the decision-making process, while
governments submit to the direct rule of foreign
financial/industrial cartels like Kinder Morgan and energy
monopolies that demand everything serve their private interests
and empire-building. This is the 21st century. To open society's path
to progress, the
people's demand for empowerment to decide the direction of the
economy must prevail.
Notes
1. National
Observer,
January
22,
2018.
2. Report
of
the
Ministerial
Panel.
3. The Enbridge Northern Gateway
Pipelines was a project to
build a twin pipeline from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat on the
north coast of BC. The eastbound pipeline would import natural
gas condensate and the westbound pipeline would export diluted
bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands to the marine terminal in
Kitimat.
4. By law the permits must
conform with 37 conditions
outlined in BC's environmental certificate and the 137 conditions
detailed in the National Energy Board's approval. However, much
evidence exists that the National Energy Board's record of ensuring
compliance with
its directives and conditions is abysmal. For example, Kinder
Morgan proceeded to sign contracts to manufacture pipe, which
then began even before the required permits were issued.
BC's Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Ministry
reports
that the project requires 1,187 provincial permits, many of which
also require Indigenous consultations. BC also has a
constitutional and moral obligation to fulfill its duties to
consult and accommodate potentially affected Indigenous peoples
before issuing provincial approvals and permits. Trans Mountain
has to date submitted 587 provincial permit applications, of
which 201 have been approved and 386 are under review.
Canadians Stand Together with One Voice
Left to right: Squamish Nation Councillor Dustin Rivers (Khelsilem);
Chief Bob Chamberlin, Vice-President of Union of BC Indian Chiefs; NDP
MP Kennedy Stewart; Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan; Vancouver City
Councillor Andrea Reimer; Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of
Union of BC Indian Chiefs; and Tsleil-Waututh Nation members William
George and Amy George attend news conference in Vancouver, on April 16,
2018, to voice their opposition to the
expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline.
Indigenous leaders together with representatives of the
cities of Vancouver and Burnaby held a news conference on April 16
to reaffirm their continued opposition to expansion of the Kinder
Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline.
Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Grand Chief Stewart
Phillip
said the opposition to the project is broad-based and entrenched.
Grand Chief Phillip emphasized that Indigenous peoples have a
constitutional and legal right to protect the health and
well-being of their loved ones and if ever there was a spill of
bitumen on land or water it could be catastrophic.
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan told the news conference
that
the city is continuing to use all legal avenues available to
oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Mayor Corrigan said
the expansion project short circuits the legal process and civil
disobedience against the pipeline will only continue to grow. The
existing Kinder Morgan pipeline has already burst within Burnaby city
limits causing a terrible mess and that was not
bitumen but heavy oil.
Speaking later on the CBC radio program The Current, UBCIC
Vice-President Chief Bob Chamberlin said the opposition to the
pipeline is in part related to "recognizing the human rights of
the Indigenous peoples of Canada." Chief Chamberlin pointed out
that the Canadian government has informed the international
community that Canada unequivocally embraces the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration clearly
upholds the right of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and
informed consent with regard to development on their territories.
The government must take an entirely new approach, and cannot
pick favourites in order to divide and conquer, Chief Chamberlin
said.
Indigenous leaders have repeatedly denounced the
Trudeau
government for refusing to recognize the right of Indigenous
peoples to give or not give consent to development on their
territory. The government only agrees to a fraudulent process of
consultation after having already submitted to the demands of the
global monopolies. This fraudulent process of consultation goes
on all across the country not just with regard to the Kinder
Morgan project. The government sets a bogus agenda of how and
when consultation will take place, decides when its duty to
consult has been fulfilled, and declares at that point it can now
impose the plans of the global monopoly with impunity using
police powers and criminalizing the opposition.
Fifty-nine Indigenous groups affected by the Kinder
Morgan
pipeline have made clear that adequate consultations have not
taken place and they cannot give their informed consent. Many
other Indigenous peoples along the Kinder Morgan pipeline route
have accepted a financial compensation package, which they
emphasize is not consent but merely to have one in place if the
expansion pipeline is forced through.
The Trudeau government in the face of those insisting
on
their rights has already unleashed court injunctions and a
massive police presence to arrest demonstrators in Burnaby and
elsewhere and crush those who refuse to give their consent. This
must not pass! No consent -- no pipeline!
Cuba Holds Opening Session of Newly
Elected
National Assembly of People's Power
Congratulations to the Cuban People on
the Successful
Culmination of Their
Historic Electoral Process
Constituent Session of the 9th Legislature, April 18, 2018.
On April 18, as their first act at the inaugural session
of Cuba's 9th Legislature after being sworn in, 604 deputies of the
National Assembly of People's Power unanimously re-elected Esteban Lazo
Hernández as President, Ana María Mari Machado as
Vice-President and Miriam Brito Sarroca as Secretary of the National
Assembly. Following this, deputies nominated from their ranks and
elected the 31-member Council of State, including its President, five
Vice-Presidents and Secretary.
On April 19, on the occasion of the 57th anniversary of
Cuba's historic defeat of the U.S. invasion at Playa Giron (Bay of
Pigs), the president of the National Electoral Commission announced the
results of the previous day's election for the Council of State and
presidency of the Council of Ministers, saying that Miguel Mario
Díaz-Canel Bermúdez had been elected President of the
Council of State and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba.
Salvador Valdés Mesa was elected as First Vice-President of the
Council of State and was then approved as First Vice-President of the
Council of Ministers as well. Eleven of those elected to the Council of
State are new members. A proposal to constitute the Council of
Ministers at the next session of the National Assembly of People's
Power scheduled for July was approved by the deputies. The Council of
Ministers is the highest ranking executive and administrative body of
the government of Cuba.
|
Incoming President of Cuba's Councils of State
and Ministers, Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (left),
congratulated by
outgoing President Raúl Castro.
|
In accepting the Presidency of the Councils of State and
Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the Cuban people, who
massively participated throughout the entire electoral process begun in
November 2017, were conscious of its historic importance and exercised
their right as citizens by proposing, nominating and electing
their representatives to the different bodies of government based on
their identification with them, their merit and ability to represent
their communities and social sectors and the collective interest, done
without advertising campaigns subject to the power of money,
politicking or fraud, corruption or demagoguery. Citizens have elected
humble, hard-working people as their genuine representatives, he said,
to participate in the approval and implementation of the country's
policies, contributing to the consolidation of unity in Cuba.
In his speech Díaz-Canel also acknowledged the
difficult situation internationally, saying it was characterized by
growing threats to peace and security, wars of intervention, dangers to
human survival and the unjust and exclusionary international economic
order. Within this he emphasized that Cuba's foreign policy would not
change, that Cuba will not make concessions where its sovereignty and
independence are concerned, nor will it negotiate its principles or
accept conditions being put on it. Cuba will never give in to pressures
or threats, he said; the changes that are necessary will continue to be
decided on a sovereign basis by the Cuban people.
The first session of the 9th Legislature closed on April 19 with a
speech by outgoing president Raúl Castro. Raúl said
Miguel Díaz-Canel's election as Cuba's new president was no
accident, but was based on the former first vice-president's merits
demonstrated over the years: his maturity, capacity to carry out work,
ideological solidity and political sense, and his commitment and
fidelity to the Revolution.
Raúl also used the occasion to outline some of
the challenges the new National Assembly will have to address in the
coming period, especially those of an economic nature due to the
continuing U.S. blockade and all-round hostile policy towards Cuba. A
new constitution must also be drafted, he said. He concluded by
saying that the complex international situation confirmed the
validity of what Fidel said in his Political Report to the First
Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1975, that as long as
imperialism exists, the Party, the state and the people will have to
give utmost attention to the country's defence services. Our
revolutionary guard can never be let down. History eloquently teaches
that those who forget this principle do not survive their mistake.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
congratulates the Cuban people on the
successful
culmination of this historic electoral process that marks the
continuation of the Revolution and the reaffirmation of its
socialist character. Thanks to the Revolution, Cubans have a leadership
that is a part of them, not above them, as an expression of the
people's power exercised through the National Assembly which does not
split the polity between those who govern and those who are governed.
This is what has allowed the
Cuban people to work as one mighty force in overcoming every
manner of challenge, whether posed by the hostile policy of U.S.
imperialism towards the island and its people or by the destructive
forces of nature.
On this momentous occasion CPC(M-L) also sends its
revolutionary greetings to Comrade Raúl Castro who, as he said
he would, completed his second and last term leading the state and the
government. He has fulfilled his revolutionary duty with honour,
especially at a time the Cuban people have suffered the loss of Fidel
and continue to suffer the consequences of the criminal U.S.
imperialist blockade. His leadership has clearly shown that Cuba dares
to chart its own course and that the next generation of leadership is
coming forward on an organized and planned basis as a result of the
participation and empowerment of the people of the entire country. This
gives great
confidence to the Cuban people and to people the world over in the
Communist Party and its decisive role in empowering
the people and providing them with the consciousness and organization
they need to unite around and defend their own nation-building projects.
Revolutionary Continuity, Renewal and Unity
- Isaac Saney -
On April 18, Cuba's newly elected National Assembly of
People's Power, the island's parliament, inaugurated a new
sitting of legislators, the Constituent Session of the 9th
Legislature. Guided by the mandate bestowed by the people of
Cuba, the National Assembly initiates a new stage in the history of the
Cuban Revolution and the Cuban nation. With the
election of a new president and Council of State, the
revolutionary torch will be passed from the historic generation
that made the Cuban Revolution to the new generations born during
and within the Revolution.
The international monopoly media is awash with much
malicious
speculation. They fail to realize, they refuse to acknowledge and
cannot accept, that it is the same Revolution, the same Party,
the same legacy of Fidel, the same revolutionary people that
continue on the path of independence, sovereignty, social
justice, self-determination and human dignity.[1]
The Cuban Revolution is the vehicle for the realization
and
consummation of these historical aspirations. Cuba's system of
governance provides the means by which these historical
aspirations are expressed in a political consensus to defend,
strengthen and perfect the revolutionary project.
Extensive democratic popular participation in
decision-making
is at the centre of the Cuban model of governance. Cuba's organs
of government are the municipal, provincial and national
assemblies of the system of Poder
Popular (People's Power), whose
delegates are directly elected by the Cuban electorate. These
bodies are augmented by a very active and vibrant civil society.
A critical aspect of the Cuban political system is the
integration into political activity of the mass organizations
which incorporate every sector of the people who participate in
life in Cuba. No new policy or legislation can be adopted or
contemplated until the appropriate organization or association
representing the sector of society that would be directly
affected has been consulted and involved in its elaboration.
Moreover, Cubans are not preoccupied with a mere
mechanical
implementation of a rigid, unchanging model. Contrary to dominant
misconceptions, the Cuban political system is not a static
entity. Cubans periodically renovate and renew their political
system to make sure it is consistent with the needs of the times
and fulfills its aim -- to empower the people.
The National Assembly is the sole body with legislative
authority. The National Assembly chooses from amongst its members
the Council of State, the President and Vice-Presidents, all of
which are accountable to the National Assembly. The Council of
State carries out the duties and responsibilities of the National
Assembly when it is not in Session, such as the passage and
implementation of decrees. There are also ten permanent standing
commissions of the National Assembly that meet and work
throughout the year, discussing and debating a wide range of
topics, including, among many others, the economy, foreign
investment, industry, the environment, constitutional and legal
affairs, education, culture, science and technology.
The historic nature of the 9th Legislature of the
National
Assembly of People's Power lies in its affirmation of the
historical continuity and renewal of the Cuban Revolution. The
deputies of the National Assembly begin this new stage firmly
rooted in socialist society and guided by revolutionary
principles. As Fidel expressed in his last public intervention on
April 19, 2016 before the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party
of Cuba, "We will continue on the march forward and we will
perfect what we should perfect, with utmost loyalty and unity
just like Martí, Maceo and Gómez, in an invincible march."
Long Live the Cuban Revolution! Long
Live Cuba!
Note
1. Comment by Cuban citizen Ventura
Carballido Pupo, Cubadebate,
April 17, 2018.
Isaac Saney is
National Spokesperson, Canadian Network on
Cuba
Celebration of 57th Anniversary of Proclamation of
Socialist Character of the Cuban Revolution
57th anniversary of Fidel's proclamation of the socialist
character of Cuba's Revolution
celebrated in Havana, April 16, 2018.
On April 16, the victory of the defeat of the U.S.-led
invasion of Cuban mercenaries at Playa Giron, the Bay of Pigs,
was celebrated in a political and cultural event held at the
historic corner of 23rd and 12th Streets in the Vedado
neighbourhood of Havana where, 57 years earlier, Fidel Castro
proclaimed the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.
On April 15, 1961, as a prelude to the CIA-organized
invasion
of Playa Giron, camouflaged U.S. planes bombed three Cuban
airfields, killing seven people and injuring more than 50 others. The
next day Fidel addressed a crowd of militia fighters with rifles
in hand, ready to combat the invasion they knew was coming, and
that they would put down in less than 72 hours.
Fidel addressing militia fighters in Havana on the eve of Bay of Pigs
Invasion, when he
proclaimed the socialist character of Cuba's revolution, April 16, 1961.
In his historic speech April 16, 1961, three days
before
handing the U.S. its first major defeat in Latin America at Playa
Giron, Fidel declared to those gathered and the world:
"Compañeros workers and peasants, this is the socialist and
democratic revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the
humble and for this revolution of the humble, by the humble and
for the humble we are determined to give our lives."
This sentiment was militantly reaffirmed by those who
came
out to celebrate the anniversary this year, just days before the
opening of the new National Assembly of People's Power and the
election to replace outgoing President of Cuba's Councils of
State and Ministers, Raúl Castro Ruz.
Mailin Alberti, First Secretary of
Havana Provincial Committee of
the Communist Youth Union.
 
Left: Mirtha Brossard, President of the Continental Organization of
Latin American and Caribbean Students who defended Cuba's dignity at
Summit of the Americas in Lima. Right: Retired Captain Jorge Ortega
Delgado speaking on behalf of militia fighters who courageously fought
off U.S.-organized mercenary invaders at Playa Giron.
 
"El Ultimo Mambí," a Song for Raúl
Singer-songwriter and newly-elected deputy in Cuba's
National Assembly of People's Power, Raúl Torres, has composed a
song, "El Ultimo Mambí," in tribute to outgoing Cuban President
Raúl Castro. The song speaks of Raúl, the General who has
stopped being President, but does not abandon the Cuban people, guiding
now from his responsibility as First Secretary of the Communist Party
of Cuba the most important political decisions of the future of the
Island.
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