Dr. Margaret Charlotte Mahood Passes

Published in The The Star Phoenix on May 16, 2013

Also see Unsung Heroes in Saskatchewan's Struggle for Medicare

Dr. Margaret Mahood (nee Fisher), 94, died peacefully May 11, 2013. Receiving loving care in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Sally Mahood and John Conway, Margaret's last year of decline was enriched by many visits from her son, Robbie Mahood of Montreal, her many grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, and a few close friends. She was born June 14, 1918, and raised in Alameda, Saskatchewan. The eldest of three daughters who maintained close lifelong relationships, Margaret excelled academically and went on to university.

Margaret was among a small number of pioneering feminists, contributing to the early shattering of many glass ceilings faced by the women of her era. She began her career as a teacher, and while teaching in Rockglen, Saskatchewan, met fellow teacher Ed Mahood. They married in 1942 and had two children, Robbie in 1946 and Sally in 1950. With the devoted support of Ed, Margaret later studied medicine at the University of Saskatchewan and then McGill, one of a handful of women in the graduating class of 1955. She went on to specialize in psychiatry.

Ohio

SADLY, NEIL YOUNG’S OHIO STILL RELEVANT 43 YEARS AFTER KENT STATE MASSACRE

Rob McGuire, Art Threat, May 4, 2013

It was 43 years ago today that four students were killed at Kent State University, shot dead by the Ohio National Guard as they protested US military involvement in Cambodia. The bloody tragedy would move Neil Young to write the timeless protest song Ohio, which was recorded and heard on the radio within weeks of the incident.

In his liner notes for the song on his later Decade retrospective, Young would call the massacre “probably the biggest lesson ever learned at an American place of learning.” In our current political climate where dissent in increasingly repressed and criminalized, including here in Canada let us make sure we do not forget this lesson.

May Day Posters, 2013

See May Day Posters 2012 and 2011

Retro Waffle: "For a Socialist New Brunswick":

The New Brunswick Waffle, 1967-1972

Patrick Webber
University of New Brunswick

Abstract

In 1970, several members of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party (NDP) formed a New Left/Trotskyist group within the party known as the New Brunswick Waffle. The NB Waffle gained significant strength within the NB NDP, eventually securing a victory for its radical manifesto, "For a Socialist New Brunswick," at a party convention in September 1971. A dispute, however, erupted over the legality of this victory, which led to a two-month split within the party that required intervention on the part of the federal NDP. By the end of 1971 the NB Waffle had itself fractured and collapsed.

THE POLITICAL FERMENT OF THE late-1960s and early-1970s was global in scope, and New Brunswick was not exempt from the radicalism of the era. The New Brunswick Waffle was a group that represented one of the more prominent and significant manifestations of leftist radicalism in the province during the period, and it served as a catalyst for some of the most dramatic events in the province’s political history. The group was a New Brunswick variation on Canadian, continental, and global political trends of the time and sought to introduce New Left and radical socialist critiques to the specific circumstances of New Brunswick; it also fused the Old Left and New Left in the province for the first time.

During its short lifespan (1970-71), the NB Waffle also managed to precipitate a split within the New Brunswick New Democratic Party (NDP) that had a host of ripple effects on the province’s leftist community as well as anticipating several trends that would emerge on New Brunswick’s political scene during the 1970s such as increased environmental concerns and skepticism about prevalent economic development schemes. Finally, the group made a small but important contribution to the province’s leftist community via generating awareness about the New Left within the provincial NDP. Until recently, however, the NB Waffle has been neglected as a topic of historical inquiry, as almost all of the previous work on the Waffle has focused on the organization in Ontario with some mention of the Waffle in Saskatchewan.

Read the full article HERE.

Building Workers’ Power: ITUC May Day statement 2013

International Trade Union Confederation
29 April 2013

Working people are facing sustained and often brutal attacks on their rights in every region of the world. Inequality and unemployment are hitting record levels, as governments continue to follow the failed and destructive policy of austerity-at-any-cost, and the onslaught against collective bargaining continues. The future of an entire generation of young people is at serious risk.

Corporate greed runs unchecked, costing the lives of thousands of workers, most recently in Bangladesh and Pakistan as factories burn and collapse. Trade unionists in Colombia, Guatemala and elsewhere are paying the ultimate price for their commitment to social justice, while Turkish workers face the heavy hand of judicial repression for standing up for their rights.

The promise of transformation in the Arab world is being betrayed by the replacement of one form of autocracy by another. Decades of social progress in European countries are being wiped out by the untrammelled power of global finance, while people across Africa continue to suffer under neocolonial plunder and corruption.

Discrimination against women at work is still pervasive, while migrant workers are exploited, abused and treated as slaves, even in some of the richest countries of the world.

The spirit of solidarity that inspired the first May Day marches, and has sustained trade unionism ever since, remains strong. It is more needed than at any time in decades. Our movement must grow, to foster and harness that spirit to counter the false promise of neo-liberalism.

We must build workers’ power.

Workers everywhere are showing their resilience in the face of model of globalisation designed to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. Through their unions they are winning new gains for working people. Hundreds thousands of informal workers in India are building their unions, domestic workers across the globe are gaining labour rights for the first time in history, and unions are leading political and community action for development, sustainability and social justice in every part of the world.
Where governments turn their backs on working people, unions must organise.

Where company bosses pit worker against worker, unions must organise. We must grow in number and in strength, taking inspiration from those who stand today, and have stood in years gone by, steadfast against repression and the avarice of the few at the expense of the many.

This May Day 2013, we must rededicate ourselves to the enduring vision of the foremothers and forefathers of the greatest democratic power on the planet – the power of working people, united and determined to make the world a better place.

May Day Regina!

Saskatchewan: A Beachhead of Labour Law Reform?

By Andrew Stevens

RankandFile.ca
April 29,2013

Sweeping changes to Saskatchewan's labour relations and employment standards legislation are on the verge of being passed. Bill 85, the Saskatchewan Employment Act, will dramatically transform the laws governing trade unions and industrial relations in the province. The Saskatchewan Party government, led by Premier
Brad Wall, insists that the changes will simply modernize and simplify a dozen pieces of existing legislation into a single, omnibus employment act.

 But workers and trade unions are justified in thinking otherwise. In 1998, Saskatchewan's current Minister of the Economy, Bill Boyd, unsuccessfully attempted to pass Bill 218, “An Act respecting the Right to Work (RTW) in the Province of Saskatchewan,” while the Saskatchewan Party was in opposition.[1] In fact, debates over right-to-work style reforms and union financial transparency have already been contested in Saskatchewan as Bill 85 developed. But why is Saskatchewan, a prairie province with just over a million residents, so important in the national context?

Regina May Day Rally

SFL: Saskatchewan people have a constitutional right to strike

Saskatchewan Federation of Labour

April 26, 2013

Accordingly, none of what I have written above is to suggest or presume that, if again confronted directly with the issue, the Supreme Court would not bring strike activity within the ambit of s. 2(d). Such a conclusion can certainly be reached…
- Court of Appeal, paragraph 67

Earlier this morning, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released an important decision recognizing that Canadian law has evolved to a point where a right to strike may be protected by the Constitution. At numerous points, the Court of Appeal notes that, though it could not overturn previous Supreme Court decisions respecting a right to strike, striking could very well be a fundamental right protected by the freedom of association.

“Though we certainly hoped for a decision that was more in line with the Justice Ball decision,” said Saskatchewan Federation of Labour President, Larry Hubich “we note that the Court acknowledged just how much the law has and continues to evolve. The Court of Appeal noted that the Supreme Court may very well accept that there is a Constitutional right to strike.”

Though the Court of Appeal stopped short of striking down the 2008 legislation, it made several important observations. The Court notes, for example, that the effect of the legislation is to make it significantly more difficult for working people to organize themselves into unions and other organizations. Furthermore, it notes that, though the Supreme Court will have to make the final determination, Justice Ball was anticipating where the law could evolve.

“Working people and their unions have a responsibility to challenge laws that unfairly constrain people’s rights. This is how the law evolves. Though the Court of Appeal decision does not strike down the 2008 legislation, it recognizes that Charter rights are constantly evolving,” said Hubich.

Bush Library: Brazen attempt to rewrite history

BY PW EDITORIAL BOARD

APRIL 26, 2013

With a price tag of $250 million, the George W. Bush library is the biggest and most expensive of the 13 that have been opened to recognize the former presidents.

It is a major part of a well-orchestrated campaign underway for months now to whitewash what was very likely the worst presidency in the history of the United States. We don't believe the campaign will succeed , however, because the memories of the American people are not short enough for that to happen.

The theme of the new "library" is not George Bush, the failed president, but George Bush the "statesman" who had to make a lot of "decisions." Laura Bush showed the press yesterday how visitors will be able to enter an "interactive decision making room" where they can participate with the former president in making the many decisions he so bravely made.

Justin Trudeau, the boy king

BY MURRAY DOBBIN

RABBLE.CA

APRIL 22, 2013

There is no accounting for political judgement when it gets caught up in irrational euphoria. The overwhelming victory of Justin Trudeau in the Liberal Party's leadership race demonstrates just how impoverished the state of our political culture has become.

Did the polls -- almost completely meaningless at this stage of the political process -- so addle people's judgement that they could not see what was in front of them? In a stunning failure of imagination 80 per cent of those casting ballots effectively declared: we think a pretty face and a famous name is all we need to win and more importantly, all the country needs to lead it.

Justin Trudeau is allegedly forty years old but his persona is one of a perpetual adolescent who can't be taken seriously because he doesn't take the world seriously. He's spent his life avoiding anything truly challenging and seems addicted to having a good time -- to the exclusion of disciplined political work. His intellectual capacity, whatever it was, is now so atrophied that it seems clear he rarely engages on his own in serious analysis or thoughtful consideration of important political and philosophical questions.

Growing Resistance: Canadian Farmers and the Politics of Genetically Modified Wheat

Emily Eaton (Author)
University of Manitoba Press

Purchase book HERE.

In 2004 Canadian farmers led an international coalition to a major victory for the anti-GM movement by defeating the introduction of Monsanto’s genetically modified wheat. 

Canadian farmers’ strong opposition to GM wheat marked a stark contrast to previous producer acceptance of other genetically modified crops. By 2005, for example, GM canola accounted for 78% of all canola grown nationally. So why did farmers stand up for wheat?

In Growing Resistance, Emily Eaton reveals the motivating factors behind farmer opposition to GM wheat. She illustrates wheat’s cultural, historical, and political significance on the Canadian prairies as well as its role in crop rotation, seed saving practices, and the economic livelihoods of prairie farmers.

Through interviews with producers, industry organizations, and biochemical companies, Eaton demonstrates how the inclusion of producer interests was integral to the coalition’s success in voicing concerns about environmental implications, international market opposition to GMOs, and the lack of transparency and democracy in Canadian biotech policy and regulation.

Growing Resistance is a fascinating study of successful coalition building, of the need to balance local and global concerns in activist movements, and of the powerful forces vying for control of food production.

REVIEWS

“This is a unique and important work. The preponderance of discussion on GM resistance has focused on consumer/health, environmental and economic issues. This work, by focusing on farmers’ perspectives, is exploring new territory, opening questions, giving insights into a different kind and level of thought and argument in the field.”

– Nettie Wiebe, Department of Church and Society, St. Andrew’s College, University of Saskatchewan, and former president of the National Farmers’ Union

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Eaton is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Regina specializing in political economy and natural resource economies. She is also active in a variety of social justice struggles.

Saskatchewan prepares to gut labour laws with Bill 85

By Lori Theresa Waller

Rabble.ca

April 18, 2013

Saskatchewan is about to dramatically overhaul its labour legislation, transforming it from one of the most progressive jurisdictions in Canada in terms of worker protection to one of the most regressive. You wouldn't know it, though, from reading mainstream news coverage.

The national media's near-total silence on the soon-to-be adopted Saskatchewan Employment Act, now being sped through the legislature as Bill 85 by the ruling Saskatchewan Party, is a bit puzzling given the unprecedented nature of many of the bill's reforms.

One exception was an article published last week by the Huffington Post [8] that focused on what the law will mean for unionized workers. The impact on those workers will, undoubtedly, be dramatic.

For instance, a new rule barring employees with any supervisory duties (including assigning or scheduling work or giving performance feedback) from belonging to the same bargaining unit as the people they "supervise" -- unless the employer and union agree to keep them in the same unit -- means employers will be able to push many workers out of their current units, potentially costing them years of seniority and other entitlements.

Community Pastures: History and Drama of a Prairie Commons

SaskNotes: PFRA Community Pastures: History and Drama of a Prairie Commons

By Katherine Arbuthnott, Josef K. Schmutz
CCPA, Saskatchewan Office
April 16, 2013
Download Here (pdf)

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

Once the victim of hasty prairie settlement, the PFRA Community Pastures became grassland jewels through belated foresight and science-based planning. The termination of this world-class program was embedded in omnibus bill C-38, with ownership of the land returned to the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan government’s plan is to sell or lease the 62 individual pastures, privatizing these important public commons.

While the intention to sell only to farmer/rancher groups protects cattle production benefits, it risks important public benefits including carbon sequestration, air and water purification, drought prevention, and endangered species habitat. These public benefits are reliant on professional range management, which is absent from the current plan. The loss of knowledge about these fragile ecosystems held by PFRA managers is particularly significant as the prairies adapt to climate change. 

This article reviews the history of the PFRA and the multiple benefits of the community pastures, and presents an alternate strategy to management that is emerging among concerned Saskatchewan citizens.

About the Authors:
Katherine Arbuthnott is a conservation psychologist at Campion College, University of Regina.
Josef Schmutz is a conservation biologist at University of Saskatchewan.

Does the Iron Lady's Legacy Reach as Far as Saskatchewan?

By Jim Harding

No Nukes

April 16, 2013

Margaret Thatcher’s death sparked widespread debate about her legacy. Partisan supporters credit Thatcher with everything from “saving Britain”, British P.M. Cameron’s phrase, to ending the Cold War to overturning the welfare state. These grandiose claims, perhaps made when grieving and celebration get confused, require some comment. Thatcher’s politics were part of a major shift towards corporate globalization, which affects us all to this day, including in Saskatchewan. What were the outcomes for social harmony and ecological sustainability?

There’s no disagreement about what motivated “the iron lady”. Lord Saatchi, Thatcher’s ad man for three terms and past Conservative Party Chair, was clear that Thatcher wanted to make Britain “great again”. She espoused the ideology of a grocer’s daughter, that society worked best with a free market, small government and low taxes. But this didn’t work in the interest of small business, but rather as a justification for reducing the power of unions, privatizing nationalized enterprise, scrapping social, health and housing programs and deregulating the financial market. In spite of the rhetoric that “small is better” it was the large corporations and banks aggressively pursuing lucrative global markets that mostly benefitted from Thatcher’s iron political will.