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February 10, 2021 - No. 4
Parliament Opens
Whose Agenda and Who Decides?
 
• Fight
for People's Empowerment
Unconscionable Threats Against Recipients of Emergency Benefits
• Government Now Drops Demands for Repayment
Status For All
• Let No One Be
Left Behind!
- Diane Johnston
• Victory in Campaign
to Extend Work Permits and Stop Deportations
of
Foreign Students
Parliament Opens
Parliament opened on January 25 with debate on
Bill C-14, the
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020,
being one of the issues that was dealt with.
Bill C-14 was last discussed on
February 2 and Parliament is now in recess until
February 16. The
passage
of Bill C-14 would allow the Trudeau government
to implement the
measures that it is proposing, in the name of
dealing with the pandemic
and sustaining the economy, to increase the
scope and depth of its
pay-the-rich schemes.
According to the cartel parties one of the main
problems facing
Canadian society is of keeping the economy
functioning during the
pandemic and this means strengthening the
pay-the-rich status quo
including with the state borrowing money from
private sources. It calls
these private funds "public funds," which it
then doles out primarily
to
narrow private interests. That those monies,
provided ostensibly to
sustain people's livelihood during the pandemic,
do not serve that aim,
is brutally highlighted by the demand that
vulnerable workers and
students pay back thousands of dollars that they
received through the
Canada Emergency Response Benefit and other
payments because, it is
claimed, that they did not qualify according to
rules they were never
told existed. On February 9, in response to
broad opposition to this
unconscionable attack on some of the most
vulnerable people struggling
to make ends meet, the Canada Revenue Agency
announced the reversal of
that decision. The problem remains,
however, that a large number
of people are not eligible for the new Canada
Recovery Benefit and are
left without any income at all.
 Catering
to the demands of private businesses, increasing police powers and
funding the war economy to serve U.S. imperialism's striving for world
hegemony are sucking public funds away from social programs and
human-centred investment. Instead of mobilizing the entire society to
solve the problems by having everyone participate in a nation-building
project based on an economy and social programs that have the
satisfaction of the needs of the people as their basis, the elite blame
the people and "foreign actors" for all the problems, and then demand
that everyone rally around the government and military and police
agencies to defend our "democracy." The unanimous support in Parliament
for the NDP demand that Proud Boys be added to the list of terrorist
organizations and the subsequent designation by the Canadian government
of Proud Boys and other organizations as terrorist entities is
dangerous for the people's movement in defence of rights. It enshrines
the fraud that police powers and their secret operation defend rights
and security while it is those same police powers that have been linked
with covert as well as overt violence against Indigenous Land
Defenders, workers, political and social activists defending rights.
The other fraud is that security is a balance between permitting covert
police operations and giving them the green light to act with impunity
and freedom of speech, association and expression. This is not the
case.
Above
all, the cartel parties in government are united in their opposition to
what is needed -- political renewal and a new direction for the economy
based on a program to stop paying the rich and increase investments in
social programs.
The experience of the past year has
revealed for all to see that
more than 30 years of neo-liberal anti-social
wrecking of social
programs such as health care through cuts,
restructuring and
privatization created the conditions for the
current crisis and made it
impossible for the system to cope with an
emergency like the pandemic.
 The
problems facing the working class and the
Canadian people of
guaranteeing rights, to health care, education,
housing and care for
the most vulnerable, to peace and security will
not be solved by the
measures being discussed in Parliament. What the
rich and the cartel
parties in the federal and provincial
legislatures are offering is more
of
the same that has created the crisis of
unemployment, unaffordable
housing and deteriorating working conditions.
For example, billions of dollars that are being pledged to "fix"
long-term care, including emergency funds for personal protective
equipment, are going to be handed over to the private operators whose
profits ballooned even as thousands of seniors in their care and
workers at the homes became infected with COVID-19. Only by putting
an end to private
profit in long-term care homes and creating a
new public authority
creating enterprises based on meeting the needs
of seniors and
providing the working conditions needed by the
caregivers through
increased investments can seniors have a
healthy, safe and dignified
life. This is the demand that has been raised by
workers across the
country.
With the end of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, the continued closure of
many businesses and
new outbreaks in meat processing plants and
other workplaces, the
situation is becoming even worse for those who
are working and the
unemployed who are struggling to make ends meet.
Frontline workers in health
care, education, mass
transit, and industry have put forward their
proposals and demands that
would protect them and society and get the
situation under
control but governments have instead resorted to
issuing decrees and
to police powers, as if the working class and
people are the problem not
the solution.
 The key problem
and the obstacle to moving forward is political,
a
system of governance that disempowers the
people. The current outmoded
system blocks any movement towards renewal and
the cartel parties do
everything in their power to make sure that the
people have no say in
making the decisions that affect their lives,
from the "issues"
on which an election is fought, to the selection
of candidates, to
legislation that is passed, to holding elected
representatives to
account.
Workers'
Forum joins workers in all sectors
across the country
who are discussing matters that concern the
working class and people
and working out solutions to problems facing the
workers and society,
as a contribution to setting an agenda based on
a nation-building
project. Let us all speak in our own names and
participate in
discussing
political affairs as worker politicians, to end
our marginalization by
insisting on discussing the issues of concern to
the working class and
people and not let the agenda be set by the rich
and the cartel parties
whose aim is to hold onto power, an aim which is
an obstacle to
mobilizing the full human force of the people
for society's advance.
Unconscionable Threats Against Recipients of Emergency Benefits
Applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for
those self-employed in 2019 opened on April 6, 2020. Government agents
and the official website said qualified applicants needed to prove a
gross income of $5,000 from self-employment for the 2019 taxation year
and that COVID-19 was negatively affecting their
income in 2020. The government subsequently announced at the end of the
year that this information was incorrect and was meant to be "net"
income of $5,000 not "gross" income.
This enraged many who had received the subsidy and were in no
position to pay it back. Copies of the government website from April 6
to April 21, 2020 showed that "gross income" was the qualification for
the CERB. Even after April 21, some Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) agents continued to give
out misleading information that the requirement was based on
gross income.
By April 21, thousands of self-employed people had already made
their applications and later began receiving the CERB based on a
gross income of $5,000 or more for 2019. The government later in 2020
sent many of them a letter that they "may" have to pay the benefit
back. Needless to say, most of those under the gun to repay the
benefit are living near or under the poverty line and the letter was
distressing to say the least.
In response to the government's unconscionable demand for repayment,
a semi-retired Mississauga teacher initiated a class-action lawsuit
against the federal government on behalf of the self-employed affected
by the confusion over eligibility for the CERB. The lawsuit said the
CRA must cease any demand to repay the benefit, as the fault and
responsibility for the confusion rested squarely with the government
and repayment of the benefit would cause hardship for many recipients.
Now, on February 9, the CRA issued a press release
saying it is rescinding the demand for repayment by self-employed
individuals who applied for the CERB and would have qualified
based on their gross income. They "will not be required to repay the
benefit, provided they also met all other eligibility requirements. The
same approach will apply whether the individual applied through the
Canada Revenue Agency or Service Canada," the press release says.
"This means that, self-employed individuals whose net
self-employment income was less than $5,000 and who applied for the
CERB will not be required to repay the CERB, as long as their gross
self-employment income was at least $5,000 and they met all other
eligibility criteria," the press release says. It adds: "Some
self-employed
individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $5,000 may
have already voluntarily repaid the CERB. The CRA and Service Canada
will return any repaid amounts to these individuals. Additional details
will be available in the coming weeks."
Janet Ryan, the semi-retired teacher who initiated the lawsuit
against the government's demand for repayment, made a little over
$5,000 gross from part-time tutoring in 2019 plus the regular payments
from her Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. Automatic tax
deductions reduced her net income from working to below $5,000.
Because she earned so little she and many others received a
notification from the government to repay the CERB.
Ryan said her tutoring income in 2020 was being negatively affected
by COVID-19 and, after checking the eligibility requirements on the
government's website in April she applied for and received the CERB.
Ryan and 441,000 other Canadians received the same government
letter threatening they may have to repay the benefit, causing
alarm and distress to many and their families.
Ryan says the threatening letter was the first she and many others
had heard that their eligibility for CERB was based on net and not
gross income. They
only realized they were not eligible for the CERB after
receiving the letter.
Many like Janet Ryan had been told by CRA agents before
they applied for the benefit that they qualified. The CRA actually
admitted some agents were giving out wrong information and in addition
the CRA website contained wrong information through most of April.
Nonetheless, the demand for repayment stood.
The government has now rescinded the order. Demands for repayment were unconscionable.
- Diane Johnston -
On Saturday, January 30, Solidarity Across
Borders organized a
dance-protest in Montreal to demand status for
all without exception. The event was held
outside federal government
offices at Complexe Guy-Favreau on a cold winter
day.
 Speakers pointed
out that the pandemic's first and
second
wave have created enormous hardship for migrants
without status. Now, the 8:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew imposed in
Quebec by the Legault government
since January 9,
has placed them in a
"disastrous situation."
Some have lost their jobs, others have left
their jobs because of
the risk of being stopped by the police, which
could result in their
deportation. Others arrive at work hours before their shift
commences or remain there much later to avoid
being intercepted by the
police.
Participants learned that during police checks,
an employer's
authorization letter does not suffice for
persons presumed to have
committed an infraction. They are required to
identify themselves and
those without valid documentation are in danger of being deported. In 2019 alone,
Montreal police
officers contacted the Canada Border Services
Agency 3,500 times, even
though
their mandate does not include immigration
matters. The loophole here
is that the police can detain people if an
arrest warrant has
been issued against them.
Even though these workers are considered
frontline essential
workers, they are denied the right to health
care or daycare for their
children, and to the Canadian Emergency Response
Benefit. As well, in
refusing to allow them to be part of the recent
temporary
regularization program, both the Trudeau
Liberals and the Legault
government are
saying that the work they do is not as valuable
as those who provide
direct care to patients with COVID-19.
 "We
have people in this country who are treated like slaves. There are
people here during the pandemic with no health coverage! They can't even
get a COVID test," said one participant. "What happens if they come
down with the virus and spread it to others? As these workers are
repeatedly told that they are essential, it is high time they are
provided the conditions essential for their survival."
Demonstrators demanded that the federal government expand the criteria
for income replacement benefits so that they are also covered, otherwise
they are without any means of subsistence if they contract COVID-19.
"We want our status, we want our residency! Now
is the time to
mobilize as it is only through struggle that we
will free ourselves.
And so the fight goes on."
All out to demand that this injustice,
discrimination, and
exploitation of the most vulnerable be brought
to an end, once and for
all!
Only through our unity in action will we be
able to guarantee permanent residency status for all, without exception.
Only through ensuring the security of migrant workers will we be able
to ensure the security of all.
November 24, 2020. Toronto rally to stop
deportations of foreign students.
Migrant Students United is celebrating a
victory in their
months-long campaign to stop the deportation of
tens of thousands of
foreign students stranded in Canada during the
COVID-19 pandemic. They
have been fighting for the extension of
Post-Graduate Work Permits
(PGWP) which expired at the end of 2020. On
January 8, Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship, announced
that international students who were unable to
find qualified work due
to the COVID-19 pandemic will be eligible for an
18-month extension of
their permits.
This will allow foreign students who studied
and graduated here to
continue looking for employment in Canada. For
some this means
extending their opportunity to satisfy the
requirements for applying
for permanent resident (PR) status. For others,
it is an opportunity to
earn income, offset their student loan debts,
gain work experience etc.
before returning home.
About 61 per cent of all foreign students
graduating from
post-secondary institutions in Canada planned to
find employment here
before returning home, according to a recent
study of the Canadian
Bureau of International Education. Only about
half (51 per cent) intend
to apply for permanent resident status on the
strength of their studies
and
employment, but only 22 per cent actually
succeed in gaining PR status
through one of these programs.
Canada fell far short on its immigration
targets for 2020 due to the
pandemic and, to make up the numbers, the
federal government is looking
to increase the number of international students
receiving PR.
Inability to secure work due to the COVID-19
pandemic has been
devastating for migrant students. Tens of
thousands of migrant students
who graduate here -- 58,000 in 2019 -- were
facing deportation
because their post-graduate work permits had
expired at the end of 2020.
This is indeed a sweet victory. Organizations
like Migrant Students United fought hard to
achieve it. They
organized rallies, pickets, and petitions. They
lobbied and brought
their case to the attention of the Canadian
public, got trade unions
and other organizations on board.
The fight to affirm the rights of international
students does not
end here. There are nearly 700,000 international
students in Canada on
post-graduate work permits and study permits.
They have already paid
exorbitant tuition fees -- up to six times those
paid by their Canadian
peers. Upon graduation, international students
typically receive lower
salaries -- seven per cent lower on average,
according to Statistics
Canada. Additionally, graduate students work as
teaching and research
assistants and do vital work in other fields but
these labours do not
qualify them to satisfy PR requirements. The
list of the ways in which
international students are shamefully fleeced,
exploited, misused and
denied
their rights by the Canadian government goes on
and on. Furthermore,
during this COVID-19 pandemic, international
student graduates whose
social insurance applications were in process,
numbering in the
thousands, did not receive any financial support
from the federal
government, not even the paltry amounts that
Canadian post-secondary
students got. Many others were unable to get
full time work or
sufficient hours to qualify for Employment
Insurance.
Sarom Rho, National Coordinator of Migrant
Students United, said
their organization is committed to continue the
struggle for justice
and the rights of all. In addition to this
victory in securing work
permit extensions Migrant Students United is
committed to bring about
changes that will ensure real access to PR
(count work that is
part-time in
school and any other occupation towards PR) and
for full and permanent
residency for all migrants; to remove time
limits and industry
restrictions on work; to unite families and
ensure work permits for
family members; to lower tuition and ensure full
access to services
(health care, housing, jobs, scholarships,
pandemic emergency benefits
etc.) for
all international students.
Workers' Forum congratulates Migrant
Students United on this
victory and calls on everyone to join in
supporting its political
organizing for the rights of all.
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
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