U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law an amended version of the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at a White House ceremony on January 29. Four hundred members of the ruling elite attended, against a backdrop of U.S. manufacturing and oilpatch workers in coveralls and hard hats, to watch as the U.S. officially adopted the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as Mexico has already done. Not one representative of Trump's bitter rivals from the Democratic Party political faction of the financial oligarchy was allowed into the ceremony.

In Trump's inimitable style of flaunting his immense social wealth and class origin within the financial oligarchy, as conferring on the rich the right to rule over the working people, he told the assembled crowd to loud laughter, "This [CUSMA] is something we really put our heart into -- it's probably the number one reason I decided to lead this crazy life I'm leading right now, as opposed to that beautiful, simple life of luxury that I led before this happened."

Trump initiated the talks to replace NAFTA in 2017 with strong words condemning the agreement as a "disaster" for the U.S., yet the replacement does not make any fundamental change. CUSMA strengthens the original free trade root of the agreement, giving the financial oligarchs greater supranational power to manipulate the economies of the three countries to favour their narrow private interests, exploit the working class, rip out the natural resources without restriction, control the $1.2 trillion in annual U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade of goods that workers produce, wage war with impunity in their striving for global hegemony, and disregard the consequences of their irresponsible actions.

The enlarged control of the rich oligarchs over the three countries and their economies and their integration into Fortress North America should also be seen in connection with the secure trade and communication corridors the oligarchs are building across the continent, the extended power of the U.S. border police into Canada and Mexico, and all three peoples' entrapment within U.S. Homeland Security, the ever-expanding war economy and the violent striving of the U.S. financial oligarchy for global hegemony.

CUSMA Enabling Legislation Tabled in Parliament

On the same day as Trump's signing ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled a bill in the Canadian Parliament to implement CUSMA. The mass media of the financial oligarchy went into overdrive to demand the Liberal-led minority Parliament swiftly pass the bill and that the opposition political parties not impede its rapid approval.

The business organizations of the ruling elite also forwarded their concern that nothing be done to delay passage of CUSMA, putting the government and opposition on notice not to mount any obstruction. The Business Council of Canada, together with the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters sent a message to Parliament calling "on all Parliamentarians across party lines to support swift efforts to ratify and implement Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). After three years of uncertainty, it's time to restore long-term predictability to North American supply chains. [...] This is about certainty and North America's ability to compete with the world as an integrated market. It is time for Canada to follow suit and ratify."

CUSMA and NAFTA both indicate the control of the financial oligarchy over the lives of the peoples of North America and negation of their right to a say and control over those affairs that affect their lives, of which the economy is central. CUSMA makes local and national control of the economy and social and natural environment that much more remote and difficult. It represents the power of the oligarchs to skirt and overrule any regulations or restrictions that have been introduced in the past or may be contemplated to ameliorate the harsh effects and consequences of their socially irresponsible aim for maximum private profit and the disturbing trend of the imperialist economy for the concentration of social wealth in fewer and fewer hands as the rich become richer and the poor poorer.

The peoples of the continent should loudly denounce CUSMA and those political forces that have pushed it down their throats. The working people of North America do not presently hold political power and are not sufficiently organized to mount an effective opposition at this time. But they should be clear that this direction for the economy under the control and aim of the financial oligarchy is not sustainable and can only lead to recurring economic crises, war and increasing damage to Mother Earth.

A new pro-social direction for the economy, under the control and socially responsible aim of the working people is not only possible but necessary. But control of the economy and an aim to serve the people and humanize the social and natural environment require the efforts of working people to organize themselves for empowerment through democratic renewal and to use their own voice to speak boldly and clearly in their own interests and for a bright future for the youth and society.

For a review of the main changes to NAFTA and additions within CUSMA, read the TML Weekly items below:

No to Canada's Integration into the
U.S. Imperialist War Economy!

"Canada's integration into the U.S. imperialist war economy is a serious matter of concern for Canadians. The U.S. war economy has tentacles into every U.S. state as well as Canada and countless other places abroad. [...] The U.S. war economy exists within a relation with the aim of the U.S.-centred financial oligarchy for worldwide hegemony. U.S. imperialist theft of social wealth from the peoples of the world and its competition with other big powers feed the war economy and in turn generate increased instability, violence and war."
- "Canada's Integration into the U.S. Imperialist War Economy," by K.C. Adams, TML Weekly, December 21, 2019.

Natural Resources Canada, on January 9 issued a news release which states, "Today, Canada and the U.S. announced they have finalized the Canada-U.S. Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration, advancing our mutual interest in securing supply chains for the critical minerals needed for important manufacturing sectors, including communication technology, aerospace and defence, and clean technology. [...] [The Action Plan] will guide cooperation in areas such as industry engagement; efforts to secure critical minerals supply chains for strategic industries and defence; improving information sharing on mineral resources and potential; and cooperation in multilateral fora and with other countries. This Action Plan will promote joint initiatives, including research and development cooperation, supply chain modelling and increased support for industry. [...] Experts from both countries will convene in the coming weeks to advance joint initiatives to address shared mineral security concerns -- helping ensure the continued economic growth and national security of both Canada and the U.S."[1]

The release says the "Action Plan" arose following Trudeau's visit to Washington, DC last June where he met President Trump and discussed the "rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, including reports of Iran shooting down a U.S. drone in international airspace." Within this atmosphere of escalating war preparations, the two leaders "discussed ways to improve mineral security and ensure future competitiveness of their minerals industries, and work more closely to ensure secure and reliable supply chains. [...] Canada and the U.S. will develop a joint action plan on critical minerals collaboration."

Trudeau is quoted as highlighting "the importance of Canadian uranium to North American energy security, and underscored how Canada has been a reliable supplier of uranium to the U.S. for over 75 years."[2]

Quebec Government's Role in the Joint Action Plan
on Critical Minerals Collaboration

"A material needed for military purposes is considered strategic and a material is termed critical if future events involving its supply from abroad threaten to inflict serious harm on a nation's economy."
- DeYoung et al, Proceedings of the 42nd Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals, 2006, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Prior to Trudeau's visit to Washington, Quebec Premier François Legault was at the White House on May 22, 2019. Legault met with Wells Griffith, then-Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Energy and Environment for the National Security Council. Afterwards Legault met with Mark Menezes, the Under Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Premier's office issued a press release noting that Legault expressed to the U.S. officials his government's "desire to considerably increase the sale of hydroelectricity to the U.S. [and] its intention to see Quebec become an important partner of the United States in the strategic minerals sector."

In September 2019, Quebec's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, arrived in Washington to sign a joint statement between the Quebec government and the U.S. Geological Survey of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The statement speaks of joint collaboration "in areas of data mapping and analysis, particularly with regard to strategic and critical minerals."

A follow-up statement from Minister Julien's office says: "In particular, the Minister had the opportunity to meet with Steven Fortier, Senior Policy Advisor of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This meeting revealed the importance that the U.S. administration attaches to the need to find reliable suppliers of critical minerals in order to reduce the vulnerabilities of their own supply chain. The Minister was thus able to highlight Quebec's potential in this regard. [...] These minerals are growing rapidly in importance as they respond to challenges linked to new technologies and the energy transition (transport, aviation, telecommunications, renewable energy and the military industry). Several goods manufactured for tomorrow's economy contain them, including electronic equipment and electric cars. [...] Washington said it was open to improving international trade and collaboration with its allies to ensure a supply chain with countries with a proven social and environmental track record. To this end, Quebec is well positioned."

The statement concludes by emphasizing the importance of Quebec's economy to the U.S. war economy: "The critical minerals produced in Quebec are niobium, graphite, elements of the platinum group, cobalt and titanium. However, Quebec has mineral potential for lithium, rare earth elements and vanadium. The demand for strategic and critical minerals is growing rapidly to meet challenges related to new technologies and the energy transition. [...] Quebec is the leading foreign electricity supplier for the United States and one of the largest producers of hydroelectricity in the world."

Cynical Actions to Promote Integration into the U.S. War Economy

The Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources announced on November 19, 2019 the launch of a consultation process to "review Quebec's role in the development of critical and strategic minerals (CSMs)." To that end, the government produced a discussion paper entitled "Review of Quebec's Role in the Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals."[3] The review states, "The Ministère de l'Énergie et des Ressources naturelles considers as critical minerals those that have significant economic importance in key sectors of the economy, present a supply risk, and have no commercially-available substitutes. Strategic minerals are those needed to implement Québec's economic policies, such as the 2020-2030 Electrification and Climate Change Plan and the 2030 Energy Policy. [...] Aeronautics, telecommunications, renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.), energy storage, the medical sector and transportation electrification are all high-growth sectors in which the supply of CSMs is vital."

Any reference to CSMs being vital and critical to the military industry and war economy disappeared from the Ministry's Discussion Paper, replaced with talk of "climate change" and "renewable energy," even though many of the CSMs in Quebec are being extracted or have the potential to be extracted for war preparations.[4]

For example, primary aluminum is being produced and titanium oxide extracted in Quebec. Mining for vanadium is also possible. The United States Geological Survey, in its study review on vanadium, says "Vanadium has been used together with aluminum to give the required strength in titanium alloys used in jet engines and high-speed airframes."[5]

The Quebec government has issued a questionnaire regarding the mining and production of CSMs which includes the question: "Should the government and state-owned corporations support investment attraction in the CSM sector in Quebec. If so, how?"

This questionnaire should be denounced as part of a cynical government campaign to win public opinion for state funds to be doled out in pay-the-rich schemes to the financial oligarchy involved in CSMs and to further entangle Quebec and Canada within the U.S. war economy. An important aspect of making Canada and Quebec factors for peace in the world is to oppose the country's integration into the U.S. imperialist war economy.

Notes

2. The Prime Minister's Office and Natural Resources Canada boast of the plunder of Canada's natural resources in the service of the U.S.-centred financial oligarchy in its striving for world domination: "Critical minerals -- used for defence, manufacturing, and high tech industries -- are essential to the economies and national security of Canada and the United States. Canada's rich minerals sector is well-positioned to contribute significantly to North American requirements, and to benefit from strategic trade and investment opportunities." (PMO)

"Canada is an important supplier of 13 of the 35 minerals that the U.S. has identified as critical to economic and national security. We have the potential to become a reliable source of other critical minerals, including rare earth elements, key components in many electronic devices that we use in our daily lives. Canada is currently the largest supplier of potash, indium, aluminum and tellurium to the U.S. and the second-largest supplier of niobium, tungsten and magnesium. Canada also supplies roughly one quarter of the uranium needs of the U.S. and has been a reliable partner to the U.S. in this commodity for over 75 years." (Natural Resources Canada)

Step Up the Fight to Defend the Rights of All!

Vigil in Quebec City, January 30, 2017, the day after shootings at the Islamic Cultural Centre.

January 29 marked the third anniversary of the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City. That day a man burst into the Centre where people were praying, and shot and killed six people, and injured 19 others. Shortly after, the shooter was arrested. He has been found guilty of six charges of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 40 years.

On that day three years ago, Quebeckers and Canadians immediately went into action to stand as one in defence of the rights of all. Vigils, rallies and ceremonies across Quebec and Canada condemned this violent act and offered heartfelt condolences and support for the families, friends and community that lost loved ones and for Muslim communities that are targets of state-organized and inspired Islamophobia. People came together, expressing that if the Muslim community and all communities are not thriving, free to express their right to be, and free from violence being exercised against them, then neither are the Quebec and Canadian people.

In commemorating the third anniversary of the shooting and remembering those who died, we are reminded of the constant tension that is imposed on the lives of the people. The shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre took place just days after the publication of the U.S. presidential decree banning citizens of seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations from entering the U.S. and closing U.S. borders to refugees. On this third anniversary, a toxic climate continues to be expressed in an openly hysterical, warmongering and racist manner. This is seen in U.S. imperialism's targeted killings and threats of war against Iran, and the criminal activity of the U.S. in engineering regime change and coups in the Americas. It is also seen in the Trudeau government's appeasement of the U.S. imperialists while never missing an opportunity to talk about peace and unity.

The people of Quebec and Canada want to put an end to all manner of hate crimes. How this resolve is being used by the Trudeau Liberals to assault the right to conscience and criminalize those who are fighting for rights, opposing war, and striving to bring the New into being is a serious question for discussion.

The Trudeau government has fully adopted the treacherous view that the deep dissatisfaction of Canadians with the political process and cartel party system arises from foreign actors and their instruments in Canada, either willing agents or dupes, which need to be checkmated and criminalized. In the name of fighting online hate, plans are being made to bring back "options for civil remedies for victims of hate speech." The "options" in question were removed from the Criminal Code on the basis that they violated the right to freedom of speech. Their reintroduction is a tool by which individuals can be defamed and declared outside the law. Other measures being planned include stiff penalties for social media platforms that do not remove "illegal content" within 24 hours. Who decides what constitutes "illegal content" is a serious concern, particularly when the police and security agencies equate opposition to NATO and NORAD and the integration of Canada into the U.S. war machine with disloyalty or subversion.

It is the people fighting for their rights and their organizations that become the targets. The Trudeau government claims that the Canadian state with the Liberal Party in power is standing up to hate speech and extremism. On what basis is organizing coups and regime change, imposing crippling sanctions against peoples of countries who do not accept imperialist hegemony, and criminalizing Indigenous peoples defending their own territories considered "moderate," and opposing Canada's integration into the U.S. war machine and supporting the struggles of the peoples for their nation-building projects without imperialist interference considered "extremist"? Such self-serving definitions of the ruling elite to justify the use of police powers, and the criminalization and defamation of individuals and their organizations can never be accepted.

It is our social responsibility to make sure that no individual or collective is left to fend for themselves in the face of attacks on their rights, to learn from each other in the course of this struggle, and build a space for discussion and exchange of views where we speak in our own name and work out ways to elaborate our nation-building project for the well-being of all.

We Will Never Forget the Criminal Attack on the Muslim Community in Quebec City!
Step Up the Fight in Defence of the Rights of All!

End Colonial Injustice!
RCMP Out of Wet'suwet'en Territory

High School and university students in Vancouver walk out of class January 27, 2020, in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders.

Throughout British Columbia and beyond, workers and youth have stepped up their actions in the past week to demand that the federal and BC governments recognize the right of the Wet'suwet'en people to free, prior and informed consent with regard to the building of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on their territory.

Hundreds of high school and university students walked out of classes in Vancouver on January 27, rallied outside Vancouver City Hall and then marched to the constituency office of BC Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman. In Victoria on January 21, Indigenous Youth for Wet'suwet'en Solidarity occupied the office of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. The Minister refused to meet with the youth, who were forcibly removed from the office by police. Victoria City Council, on January 24, passed a resolution in which it "calls on the Governments of British Columbia and Canada to suspend permits authorizing construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and commence good-faith consultation with the Wet'suwet'en People." It also calls on "the Governments of British Columbia and Canada to end any attempt at forced removal of Wet'suwet'en People from their traditional territories and refrain from any use of coercive force against Wet'suwet'en People seeking to prevent the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through non-violent methods." In large and small communities throughout the province there have been film screenings and discussions, pickets and other actions.

Vancouver students picket constituency office of Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman.

On February 3, the provincial cabinet is meeting in the Comox Valley. An ad hoc group called Unist'ot'en Support Brigade (USB), is organizing a "welcome" at the location of the dinner that will be attended by the premier and government ministers, to demand that the BC government meet with the hereditary chiefs, uphold their responsibility to defend the Wet'suwet'en people's right to free, prior and informed consent, and withdraw the RCMP from Wet'suwet'en territory.

Foremost in the demands being raised is an end to the criminalization of the Wet'suwet'en Land Defenders, which includes the removal of the RCMP checkpoint and an end to the RCMP occupation of Wet'suwet'en territory. The presence of the RCMP and their arbitrary treatment of journalists, lawyers, legal observers, members of the Wet'suwet'en nation and others bringing food, and medical and other supplies, as well as the continuous aerial surveillance is meant to intimidate and carries the constant threat of escalating police violence.

On January 30, a press conference was held in Vancouver to announce the filing of a complaint to the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission to request that the Complaints Commission chairperson "launch a chairperson-initiated complaint and public interest investigation regarding the improper and unlawful actions of the RCMP in implementing and enforcing a checkpoint and exclusion zone on Morice West Forest Service Road in Wet'suwet'en territory." The press conference was called by the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, and supported by West Coast Environmental Law, and Pivot Legal Society. The director of the BCCLA, Harsh Walia, was quoted by The Tyee, as saying at the press conference: "The RCMP checkpoint, which is at the 27-kilometre mark, lies completely outside the scope of the enforcement power granted to the RCMP by the injunction," and "RCMP officers at the checkpoint have cited a range of inconsistent and shifting policies and procedures to those who are turned away, all of which are arbitrary."

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip speaks at January 30, 2020 press conference.

At the press conference Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, bluntly stated "I would like to publicly call on Premier John Horgan to get off his high colonial horse and honour the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs with his personal presence." He said, "The hereditary chiefs have been asking for a face-to-face meeting with Premier Horgan and he has absolutely refused." On January 27, Premier Horgan appointed Nathan Cullen, formerly an NDP Member of Parliament whose riding included the Wet'suwet'en territory, as government liaison. Cullen tweeted, "Today it was announced that I am to help facilitate dialogue and act as a liaison for the ongoing controversy surrounding the proposed CGL gas pipeline through Wet'suwet'en territory."

On January 30, the Office of the Wet'suwet'en issued a media release saying, in part:

Media reports indicate that the Premier will not participate in those discussions and has publicly declared what the outcome will be. The Prince George Citizen, reporting on a January 29 news conference given by the Premier in that city, quoted him as saying of the discussions: "I don't expect the leadership to say tomorrow that they love the pipeline. That's not my expectation. But there needs to be a legitimate understating that the majority of the people in the region are going to benefit for this, and that's what dialogue will produce."

Youth picket RCMP detachment in Toronto, January 24, 2020 and post a notice on the door evicting them from Wet'suwet'en territory.

Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau
and Premier Horgan

Students walk out of Vancouver area schools and universities, January 27, 2020, and rally at city hall in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en.

Re: Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs' Opposition to Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project

We write as settler and Indigenous legal professionals from across Canada to express deep concern about the conflict regarding the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory. We call on the federal and provincial governments to meet with the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs immediately and to address this issue in a manner that upholds the principle of reconciliation, the authority of the law of the Wet'suwet'en, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the honour of the Crown.

The police presence on Wet'suwet'en territory has intensified alarmingly since the December court order prohibiting individuals from obstructing the project, and the Hereditary Chiefs' eviction notice to Coastal GasLink. Indigenous and human rights organizations, including the UN, have raised concerns about violations of Indigenous rights in Wet'suwet'en territory. Meanwhile, the Province has declined the Hereditary Chiefs' requests to meet. Premier John Horgan recently announced that the "rule of law" must prevail and the project will proceed despite the Hereditary Chiefs' opposition. He subsequently refused to meet with the Chiefs while in northern BC. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also distanced himself, calling the dispute a provincial matter.

We are deeply troubled by BC's and Canada's positions. This is not fundamentally a dispute between Coastal GasLink and the Wet'suwet'en, nor between Hereditary Chiefs and Indian Act band councils. It goes to the core of the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples and the obligations that arise therefrom. Both the provincial and federal governments must participate directly in its resolution.

The Hereditary Chiefs, not the band councils, were the plaintiffs in the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa case before the Supreme Court. The Court confirmed that the Wet'suwet'en never surrendered title to their ancestral lands, and accepted extensive evidence outlining their hereditary governance system. The fact that band councils have signed benefit agreements with Coastal GasLink cannot justify the erasure of Indigenous law or negate the Crown's obligation to meet with the Hereditary Chiefs.

Nor can Wet'suwet'en opposition be resolved by meetings between Coastal GasLink and the Hereditary Chiefs. The Supreme Court has been clear: The Crown must engage directly with the Indigenous group whose rights are at stake. This obligation cannot be fulfilled by third parties with vested interests in the project's success.

Premier Horgan's insistence on the "rule of law" fails to acknowledge that the relevant law includes not just the injunction order but the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions, and -- crucially -- Wet'suwet'en laws and institutions. The laws of Indigenous Peoples, including the Wet'suwet'en, predate those of Canada, are equally authoritative, and are entitled to respect. In an age of truth and reconciliation, respect for the rule of law must include respect for the authority of Indigenous law and a commitment to work out a just and sustainable relationship between Indigenous and settler Canadian legal systems.

BC and Canada are obligated to act honourably in their dealings with Indigenous Peoples, including by engaging in respectful processes to advance reconciliation. Moreover, a key reason that the 1867 Constitution gave the federal government exclusive legislative authority over "Indians, and the lands reserved for the Indians" was the recognition that local settler communities might fail to respect the pre-existing relationships between Indigenous Peoples and their territories. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed Ottawa's responsibilities to Indigenous Peoples. For Canada to shirk them now would be contrary to a key principle of Canadian constitutionalism.

The federal and provincial positions risk undermining Canada's collective effort to achieve meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. We are just beginning to confront our shared colonial past and present, and to address the longstanding wrongs inflicted on Indigenous Peoples. Some governments have taken positive steps in this direction, including commitments to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and the UN Declaration. These initial steps ring hollow when the Crown refuses to honour the Hereditary Chiefs' request for a meeting, let alone recognize and respect Wet'suwet'en law.

More than twenty years ago, Chief Justice Lamer, writing for Supreme Court, recognized the Crown's moral duty to engage in good faith negotiations with the Wet'suwet'en to resolve the issue of ownership and jurisdiction over their ancestral lands. This apt statement is reinforced by the growing appreciation that these negotiations are between two systems of legal and political authority. Reconciliation and justice cannot be achieved by relying on the RCMP or resource companies to do the Crown's work.

We urge BC and Canada to meet with the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs and to commit to a process for the peaceful and honourable resolution of this issue.

For full list of signatories, click here.

Comox Valley Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Rally

Courtenay, January 8, 2019 (D. Radmore)

Greet the MLAs
Monday, February 3 -- 6:00 pm
Black Fin Pub (downstairs, back parking lot)
Bring a message, sign, banner and a donation for the Unis'ot'en Legal Fund

Call or email Premier Horgan: (250) 387-1715, john.horgan.mla@leg.bc.ca

Canada Honours Venezuelan Imposter

Trudeau Government Brings Shame on Itself

- Margaret Villamizar -

Ottawa picket against Guaidó's visit, January 27, 2020.

On January 26, it was made public, with one day's notice, that the imposter who calls himself the "interim president" of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, was being brought to Canada to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

The European tour that preceded his trip to Canada did little to achieve its purpose of shoring up his battered image at home. While British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed him in presidential style at his official residence, Guaidó's encounter with President Emmanuel Macron of France, the only other head of state who received him -- but as "deputy Guaidó" -- was more private and low key. Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez refused to receive him and sent his newly appointed Foreign Minister to meet him away from government premises. Some others, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and prime ministers from the Netherlands, Austria and Greece, are said to have spoken briefly with him on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where his biggest disappointment was the failure to at least get a photo op with Donald Trump, who had already left before Guaidó arrived. The Trudeau government did its best to save the situation in Davos by hosting a meeting for Guaidó of ambassadors to the European Parliament of Lima Group countries.

Guaidó meets with ambassadors of Lima Group countries in Ottawa at the Colombian embassy, January 27, 2020.

But in Ottawa, his last official stop -- in what his handlers now call a "world tour" -- before heading to the U.S. and another attempt to appear beside his big boss Trump, the Trudeau government received Guaidó in the manner he wanted. This imposter is more and more despised at home as a corrupt and untrustworthy individual by those who a year ago supported his phony "presidency," to the extent that one of his rivals was elected to replace him as president of the National Assembly. Yet in Canada he was received by the Prime Minister in his Parliament Hill office and paraded around as "President Guaidó," with Minister Champagne often dropping the "interim" part of this bogus title. Trudeau said he praised the U.S. puppet and coupmonger in their meeting for "the leadership he's shown in his efforts to return democracy to Venezuela" and offered him "our continued support."

After his meeting with Trudeau and press conference with Champagne, and of course the required photo ops, Guaidó was whisked off to the Parliamentary Gallery where he was introduced to a House full of MPs, given it was the opening day of the current sitting. They dutifully gave "his excellency the interim president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" -- as he was addressed by the Speaker -- loud applause and a standing ovation.

While it is not known if there were any MPs present in the House who declined to participate in this dishonourable activity, there certainly were no statements by any party leaders or spokespersons expressing opposition to Guaidó -- a seditious coup plotter -- being received by the Prime Minister of Canada and in Parliament as a champion of democracy. That role fell to the Canadian people who protested his visit in their own name with a militant demonstration on Parliament Hill, and to one Member of Parliament, the NDP representative for Churchill--Keewatinook Aski in Manitoba, Niki Ashton, who spoke for herself, tweeting: "Shameful to see @JustinTrudeau prop up an unelected figure and seek to legitimize a deeply divisive and undemocratic agenda. This visit is the opposite of supporting peace and democracy."

Other MPs and parties have much to answer for, and need to be held to account by Canadians for their complicity in the Trudeau government's appeasement of the U.S. and subservience to its criminal agenda against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its people.

Guaidó's closing act in Ottawa was to speak to "the Venezuelan diaspora" at a rally of sorts hosted for him at allsaints Event Space by the Ottawa Branch of the Canadian International Council (CIC). Canadian government officials were also in attendance and introduced at the event. The CIC president, Ben Rowswell, Canada's former ambassador to Venezuela, was the MC. Rowswell's main function during his term in office from 2014 to 2017 was to use Canada's embassy in Caracas as a headquarters for subversion through an aggressive U.S.-style "democracy promotion" campaign to support the cause of foreign-backed opposition groups in the country.

Not everything went smoothly for the imposter, however, in his triumphal Ottawa visit. No sooner had word got out about Guaidó's response to Minister Champagne saying Canada would intercede (again) with Cuba to have it "become part of the solution as opposed to the problem in Venezuela" than the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak pounced. Guaidó told reporters, "With respect to Cuba, we are going to move forward, we want them to be part of the solution." Kozak let it be known he had gone off script and made it clear that "Cuba is not the solution to the problems of the Venezuelan people; it's the problem."

This forced Guaidó's "ambassador" to Canada and his press office to go into damage control mode. The false Venezuelan ambassador declared that Guaidó at no time spoke about negotiating with Cuba and that "on the contrary he denounced the illegitimate, abusive and shameful interference of the Cuban dictatorship, such that getting out of the crisis means ending its occupation [of Venezuela]." A statement was hastily issued by Guaidó's "government" listing all the hostile actions it was taking, such as prohibiting the shipment of Venezuelan oil to Cuba and calling on other countries to help enforce it, as well as asking "presidents of Latin America and the U.S." to issue sanctions against Cuba. It said the only possible role for Cuba in Venezuela was to have its functionaries leave the country. For good measure, the statement pledged Guaidó's support for the U.S. regime-change agenda in Nicaragua and Cuba, in anticipation of his one publicly announced event in the United States -- an address in Miami on February 1 to a gathering of counterrevolutionaries clamouring for the U.S. to deliver "freedom" to those countries as well as to Venezuela.

Guaidó's pathetic flip-flop on the question of Cuba to ingratiate himself with both the Trudeau government while in Ottawa and his real masters in Washington was not lost on Venezuelans, especially those aligned with opposition factions that have lost all faith in him. Many of them mocked Guaidó for thinking he could "please both god and the devil" without suffering the consequences. So ended another leg of his emperor-with-no-clothes "world tour," on which he was met wherever he went by groups of people denouncing his presence, the illegitimate mission he was on, and any support given to him by the governments of their countries.

In this regard, the Canadians who demonstrated on Parliament Hill on January 27 spoke for many more across the country when they declared Guaidó not welcome in Canada and demanded that Venezuela's sovereignty be respected. Now it is up to those who organized and took part in the whole shameful public relations exercise in Ottawa, and those parties in Parliament and MPs that did not raise a peep against it, to account for their dishonourable behaviour. It obviously is what emboldened the false "Venezuelan ambassador to Canada" to declare untruthfully that Juan Guaidó enjoyed not only the support of the Canadian government and all of Parliament, but of the Canadian people!

Ottawa picket against Guaidó's visit, January 27, 2020.

(Misión Verdad, CBC, Global News, Globe and Mail. Photos: TML)

No to the Imperialist U.S.-Israeli
"Deal of the Century!"
End Israeli Occupation of Palestine!

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) resolutely condemns "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People," put forward by President Donald Trump on January 28 as a provocation and act of violence against the Palestinian people. It is aimed at extinguishing their rights, particularly the right of return, a collective right which has been affirmed year after year by the United Nations General Assembly. By proposing that the more than 7 million Palestinians, including those in Gaza and the West Bank, be settled in what will be a bantustan in Gaza, in the countries where they are now living or in some other state that the U.S. will generously broker, the aim is to extinguish the historical memory of the Palestinian people and their decades-long struggle for their rights so gloriously expressed in the "Great March of Return" in Gaza in 2018 to 2019.

The Palestinian people have had no say over any aspect of this "Deal of the Century." It is a modern day rendering of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the starting point of the crimes and atrocities that have been committed against the Palestinian people since 1948, in which the British imperialists handed over Palestine to the Zionists for their "Jewish state" without the Palestinian people's consent. "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People" gives a green light to the theft of the most productive lands now in Palestinian hands, such as in the Jordan Valley, and to the building of more settler homes on Palestinian territory. It would expand and consolidate the Zionist state while disarming the Palestinian people in the name of peace and stability and the so-called prosperity of both peoples.

Protest in Gaza rejecting the Trump deal, January 29, 2020.

Canada, for its part, is playing a most dishonourable role by condoning the crimes of Israel, always blaming the Palestinians for the violence, while remaining silent in the face of massacres, land thefts and destruction of Palestinian property and accusing any critics of Israeli crimes as "anti-Semitism. Now Canada is presenting itself as an "honest broker" in order to secure a seat on the UN Security Council. On the day Trump made his proposal, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated: "Canada remains committed to the goal of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East [...] Canada recognizes the urgent need to renew efforts toward a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and will carefully examine the details of the U.S. initiative for the Middle East peace process. Canada has long maintained that peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties. We urge the parties to create the conditions for such negotiations to take place."

While Israel carries out a brutal bombardment of Gaza to terrorize the people into submitting to U.S.-Israeli dictate, mainstream media in Canada is silent. Photo is from January 31, 2020.

How do you sit down and negotiate "peace" when the terms require you to give up all your rights? Far from being an "honest broker" the Canadian state is continuing its role as an appeaser of U.S./Israeli policies and crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people, governments in the Middle East and all peace- and justice-loving people in Canada and around the world have roundly rejected the "Deal of the Century" as a fraud and provocation against the heroic Palestinian people.

CPC(M-L) calls on the Canadian people to step up their support for the Palestinian people's just cause in the wake of this latest assault against them by the U.S./Zionist aggressors. Canadians must hold the government to account for conciliating with and providing active support for the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the crimes of the occupiers. They must speak out in their own name in support of the Palestinian people's just and heroic resistance to Israeli occupation and their affirmation of their inalienable right to be.

All Out to Support the Just Struggle of the Palestinian People!
The Palestinian People Will Never Relinquish the Right of Return
and Their Claims to Their Homeland!
No to the "Deal of the Century!"

Fight for an Anti-War Government and Oppose Canada's Appeasement of U.S. Imperialism!

Montreal, January 25, 2020

Around the world, on January 25, people took to the streets to reject any possibility of war with Iran, along with all of the U.S.-led imperialist aggression and sanctions against Iran and other countries.

Across Canada, people affirmed the anti-war consciousness of Canadians, condemning U.S. aggression, declaring Canada a Zone for Peace, and calling for an anti-war government that will immediately get the country out of NATO and NORAD. The actions showed that despite the January 3 U.S. drone strike on Iraq, and Iran accidentally shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, they are keeping their bearings and working out the stands required to unite themselves in defence of international peace.

In spite of all the efforts to present the events in Iran as a long-standing feud between Iran and the U.S., people are well aware of U.S. hegemonic aims in the Middle East, and that Iran and its people have long been singled out by the U.S. because they refuse to submit to U.S. dictate. This is also the case with Iraq, which has been occupied for over 15 years by the U.S. and a coalition of NATO forces, in which the Canadian military plays an integral part, and still its people refuse to relinquish their right to decide and to be free from foreign dictate.

The bold positions of Canadians against U.S. imperialist war and aggression stand in stark contrast to the Trudeau government's craven appeasement of the Trump administration and U.S. imperialism. This is indicated by how Canada is fully embroiled in NATO interference in the region, and is supporting the U.S.-led sanctions against Iran.

Not only does Canada directly participate in the military occupation of Iraq, it consistently takes up the role of appeaser of U.S. war crimes by putting forward its thesis that Canada's contributions to NATO -- both in terms of armaments production and participation in U.S.-led coalitions, such as the one now occupying Iraq -- are part of Canada's "contribution to peace-keeping." This is mixed in with U.S. notions of "collective security," whereby the U.S. considers opposition to its attempts at world domination as a threat to its own security. These are the "high ideals" of a "rules-based international order" which are invoked, for example, by Canada when it interferes in the internal affairs of Venezuela and Bolivia and calls for regime change and open coups d'état.

This appeasement is also clear in the Canadian government's refusal to acknowledge that the blame for Iranian airspace being turned into a war zone that resulted in the shooting down of Flight PS752 on January 8 lies in large part with the U.S. drone strike on Iraq, January 3, to assassinate Iranian and Iraqi military officials. Global Affairs Canada states, "Prime Minister Trudeau has spoken with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani directly and clearly stated that Canada expects and demands full cooperation from Iranian authorities in all respects of access, repatriation and investigation." Yet it will not hold the U.S. to account for instigating the conflict.

Canada's appeasement of the U.S. does not represent Canadians and is an insult to the memory of all those killed on Flight PS752, regardless of nationality, and only creates the conditions for future such tragedies. It is altogether unacceptable.

Lately, the NATO Association of Canada has been attempting to foment a spirit of distrust and hostility toward China, acting as the mouthpiece for the U.S. and NATO position that China poses a threat to the world. Canada has been appeasing the U.S. on this front as well, as shown by its detention of Huawei executive Meng Wangzhou in the service of U.S. interests. This too must not pass.

For the U.S., the drone strike in Iraq is another desperate attempt to unite its bureaucracy to overcome a deepening internal crisis. Such a scenario took place in April 2017, with a U.S. missile strike in Syria, followed shortly after by the use of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast in Afghanistan. At that time, CPC(M-L) condemned the use of Syria as a proving ground for larger wars. It also pointed out that the U.S. "failure to [unite its bureaucracy] with its missile strike on Syria is now leading to wilder and wilder acts of revenge against all those who refuse to toe the U.S. line. Its assaults on vulnerable targets so as to threaten China, Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and peoples everywhere fighting for their right to be deserve the condemnation of all justice- and peace-loving peoples." It is clear that such attempts to unite the crisis-ridden U.S. bureaucracy have utterly failed.

The "rules-based international order" promoted by the Canadian government is window dressing for their flouting of international law, which requires conflicts between nations to be resolved peacefully using diplomatic means. Canada must withdraw its troops from Iraq, a basic requirement for peace in the region, and the demand of the Iraqi parliament and the Iraqi and Iranian peoples. Canada must also re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran which were severed by the Harper government in 2012 and which have not been re-established as promised by the Trudeau government.

How to make Canada a factor for peace in the world and the need for the modern democratic personality to take its place front and centre to lead the struggle for people to have decision-making power on matters of war and peace is the order of the day.

Massive Demonstration in Baghdad Demands
the Removal of Foreign Forces

On January 24, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages demonstrated in Baghdad to demand that foreign troops be immediately withdrawn from Iraq. They held aloft signs that read "No, no to America" and "No, no to occupation," and others imploring the families of U.S. soldiers to "Insist on the withdrawal of your sons from our country or prepare their coffins."

Presently, there are some 8,000 foreign troops in Iraq that are part of a U.S.-led coalition of forces said to be fighting the Islamic State (IS). Of these, 5,200 are U.S. forces. A separate NATO mission, led by Canada, consists of 500 foreign troops.

On January 5, the Iraqi parliament voted for foreign troops to leave Iraq. Shortly after the coalition's activities and the NATO mission were said to have been suspended. However, Iraqi government officials are reportedly considering replacing the anti-IS coalition forces with an increased NATO presence.

"We are talking to the coalition countries -- France, the UK, Canada -- about a range of scenarios," said Abdelkarim Khalaf, spokesman for Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi. "The essential thing is that no combat troops are present and our airspace is no longer used," Khalaf told a news agency, on January 29.

On January 30, the Iraqi military issued a statement that joint military operations with the U.S.-led coalition would resume. "In light of continued activities by the terrorist group [IS] in many areas of Iraq and for the purpose of making use of the remaining time of the international coalition before organizing a new relationship [...] it was decided to carry out joint actions," the statement said.

Photo Review of January 25 Global Day of Action

Canada

Halifax

Montreal

Ottawa

Toronto

Hamilton

Windsor

Calgary

Edmonton

Vancouver

United States

Washington, DC

Boston, MA

New York City

Minneapolis, MN

Lehigh Valley, PA

Philadelphia, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

Salt Lake City, UT

Atlanta, GA: San Antonio, TX

Little Rock, AK

Denver, CO

Albuquerque, NM

Davis, CA

Fresno,CA

Los Angeles, CA

Sacramento, CA

San Francisco, CA

San Jose, CA; Santa Rosa, CA

Around the World

Manila, Philippines

Osaka, Japan

Wellington, New Zealand

Melbourne, Australia

Shannon, Ireland

Brussels, Belgium

(Photos: TML, USW Local 1005, MAWO, Progressive Veterans, Workers World, Answer, E.L. Fiala, DSA, kesler bear, J. Storrie. Panchito V, Yolo Collective, PSL, B. Huff, Inshore Photos, D. Bacher, Liberation, J. Britton, Bulatlat, S. Ryota, D. Miles, W. Freedom, Bray WAR display, W. De Ceukelaire)

CUSMA Enabling Legislation Tabled in Parliament

Quebec Government's Role in the Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration

Cynical Actions to Promote Integration into the U.S. War Economy

Notes

Vigil in Quebec City, January 30, 2017, the day after shootings at the Islamic Cultural Centre.

Montreal, January 30, 2017

Ottawa, January 30, 2017

Edmonton, January 30, 2017

Whitehorse, January 30, 2017

High School and university students in Vancouver walk out of class January 27, 2020, in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders.

Vancouver students picket constituency office of Environment and Climate Change Strategy Minister George Heyman.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip speaks at January 30, 2020 press conference.

Youth picket RCMP detachment in Toronto, January 24, 2020 and post a notice on the door evicting them from Wet'suwet'en territory.

Students walk out of Vancouver area schools and universities, January 27, 2020, and rally at city hall in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en.

Courtenay, January 8, 2019 (D. Radmore)

Ottawa picket against Guaidó's visit, January 27, 2020.

Guaidó meets with ambassadors of Lima Group countries in Ottawa at the Colombian embassy, January 27, 2020.

Ottawa picket against Guaidó's visit, January 27, 2020.

Protest in Gaza rejecting the Trump deal, January 29, 2020.

While Israel carries out a brutal bombardment of Gaza to terrorize the people into submitting to U.S.-Israeli dictate, mainstream media in Canada is silent. Photo is from January 31, 2020.

Montreal, January 25, 2020

Canada

Halifax Montreal

Ottawa

Toronto Hamilton

Windsor Calgary Edmonton

Vancouver

United States

Washington, DC

Boston, MA New York City Minneapolis, MN Lehigh Valley, PA

Philadelphia, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

Salt Lake City, UT

Atlanta, GA: San Antonio, TX

Little Rock, AK Denver, CO

Albuquerque, NM Davis, CA

Fresno,CA

Los Angeles, CA

Sacramento, CA

San Francisco, CA

San Jose, CA; Santa Rosa, CA

Around the World

Manila, Philippines

Osaka, Japan

Wellington, New Zealand

Melbourne, Australia

Shannon, Ireland

Brussels, Belgium

Quebec Government's Role in the Joint Action Plan
on Critical Minerals Collaboration

Halifax

Montreal

Toronto

Hamilton

Windsor

Calgary

Edmonton

Boston, MA

New York City

Minneapolis, MN

Lehigh Valley, PA

Little Rock, AK

Denver, CO

Albuquerque, NM

Davis, CA