tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70767842980366578742024-03-08T05:33:25.912-06:00Next Year CountryA Saskatchewan Socialist News BlogNext Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.comBlogger2360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-27091701354566686862014-01-21T11:54:00.000-06:002014-01-21T11:54:57.418-06:00Doug Taylor, 1956 - 2014Dear friends:<br />
I am sorry to have to report that Doug Taylor passed away on January 13, with his family at his bedside. I visited him just hours before he left us. He was in very good spirits, was not at all afraid of death, and still had his sense of humour and hearty laugh. We discussed books we liked. His funeral was held at Lakeview United Church on January 17. Doug spent his adult life doing everything he could to help those less fortunate, to expand the democratic movement, and to try to save the environment from human destruction. We will surely miss him.<br />
John W. WarnockNext Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-83823207110203219942013-11-22T19:20:00.001-06:002013-11-22T19:20:37.511-06:00James McCrorie Obituary<b>McCRORIE, James</b><br />
<a href="http://ak-cache.legacy.com/legacy/images/Cobrands/montrealgazette/Photos/eb07b70f-20c0-4fa1-bcb8-580b54bf4452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="left" border="0" hspace="10" src="http://ak-cache.legacy.com/legacy/images/Cobrands/montrealgazette/Photos/eb07b70f-20c0-4fa1-bcb8-580b54bf4452.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 120px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" vspace="2" /></a><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><i>What though on hamely fare we dine,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />A Man's a Man for a' that:<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />For a' that, and a' that,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Their tinsel show, an' a' that;<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Is king o' men for a' that.</i><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />- Robbie Burns<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />It is with great sadness that we announce the death of James Napier McCrorie on November 17, 2013. Jim (though always James to his mother) was born in Montreal Quebec in 1936 to Thomas and Margaret McCrorie, immigrants from Scotland. Jim is survived by his beloved wife and best friend Elaine (nee Cameron), and his children and their spouses whom he loved: Ian, Ann (Alistair Mackenzie), and Aaron (Carmen Abela). Jim was the very proud and loving grandfather of Nicole, Liam, Jenna, Kennedy. Reuben and Keira. An only child, he gained a clan-ful of siblings through the Camerons of Moore Park Manitoba - Don and Joyce Cameron, Niel and Marianne Cameron, Jean and Leo Kristjanson, Hector and Leonora Cameron. He is fondly remembered by all his nieces, nephews, dear friends and comrades of all ages and those who have described him as a second father. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Growing up in Montreal, Jim learned to speak joual and remained proud throughout his life of his ability to speak the working man's French. He became a life long fan of the Habs and taught us all that Maurice "the Rocket" Richard was the greatest hockey player ever. Montreal remained dear to his heart throughout his life. Growing up he also learned to play the piano, and while he regretted that lessons and practice kept him from mischief with his pals, we all appreciated the magic his playing brought to many occasions.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />All who knew Jim, will remember his love of the sea and trains. He came by it honestly - sailing across the Atlantic to visit his "ain falk" in Ayrshire at 16, working in the dining cars for CP Rail after high school and proudly serving in the Royal Canadian Navy. Throughout his life Jim would take the train while others would fly or drive and he had just booked his next big trip, Ottawa to Melville, when he passed away. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Jim studied sociology at McGill University and got his doctorate from the <a class="MicrositeKeyword" href="http://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites/university-of-illinois/?personid=168122304&affiliateID=3123" id="InlineMicrositeLink_University_of_Illinois" style="color: purple; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Visit University of Illinois Memorial Site to see similar profiles">University of Illinois</a> at Urbana-Champaign. The opportunity to work with the Saskatchewan Farmers Union brought this city boy to the prairies which he came to love and provided the subject of his doctoral thesis - "In Union is Strength". It was while working in Saskatoon that Jim's friend and colleague Leo Kristjanson introduced him to Elaine Cameron. She eventually forgave Leo and married Jim in 1964 with a memorable reception at the Wright farm south of Saskatoon. Thanks to their love for each other (and Elaine's patience) they enjoyed almost 50 years of happy marriage. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The chance to help build a new and teaching-centric program brought Jim to the newly established University of Regina in 1965. It was in Regina that Jim and Elaine raised their family - with two memorable yearlong sojourns in Scotland. As a father Jim instilled an appreciation of honest hard work, love of life and family and a social conscience in his children. And while life was busy he always found time to watch the kids play hockey, volleyball or football. The outcome did not matter, it was the effort that mattered. And as a grandfather Jim continued to teach these lessons and adored spending time with all of his grandchildren.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Jim combined a love of teaching and academia with the passion and conviction to change the world. For Jim, social activism and teaching were inseparable efforts to make the world a better, more socially and economically just place. There were victories and defeats, but the progressive struggle continued – in the classroom, through distance education and on the NDP convention floor. And where Jim wasn't active, those he taught and mentored were. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />As an academic, Jim took a particular interest in the social effects of North Sea oil development, the life and career of Scotland's Roderick MacFarquar ("<i><u><b><a href="http://www.lairdbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=18357&keyword=mccrorie&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1" target="_blank">The Highland Cause</a></b></u></i>") and the experience of Canada's Spanish Civil War vets. Jim was among those who played a leading role in establishing the Spanish Civil War memorial in Ottawa. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />In the 1980's, Jim took a break from teaching and became Director of the Canadian Plains Research Center. The job combined his deep love of the prairies with the opportunity to continue learning and teaching by reaching out to similar social and ecological regions as far flung as Nebraska and Kazakhstan. Jim finally retired in 1996, but remained active intellectually ("<b><i><u><a href="http://brunswickbooks.ca/The-Guy-in-the-Green-Truck-James-N-McCrorie/" target="_blank">The Man in the Green Truck</a></u></i></b>"), politically and socially. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Jim loved to talk with, not to, everyone. No matter where you came from, what you did, or how old you were he wanted to hear your story and learn from you. And while he was passionate in his convictions, he was respectful of those who viewed the world differently. Red-Clyde Marxists, Spanish Civil War vets, musicians, wary teenagers and former Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers were all welcome at the McCrorie dinner table. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Jim loved to tell stories, sometimes more than once. And he had a great sense of mischief and fun. Supper time, hogmanay, the Brigadier's lunch, family reunions, visits and all those other occasions that Jim loved so much will sadly be a touch more sedate without his stories, gentle jokes and infectious laugh. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />We loved Jim and he will be missed. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the Dr. Paul Schwann Centre's Cardiac Rehabilitation and Chronic Disease Prevention, Management and Risk Reduction Program at the University of Regina (3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2) or the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (500-251 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3).<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Family and friends are invited to sign the online obituary and tributes page at <a href="http://www.regina-memorial.ca/">www.regina-memorial.ca</a>. Arrangements entrusted to - See more at: <a href="http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montrealgazette/obituary.aspx?n=james-mccrorie&pid=168122304#sthash.YvwW1aLR.dpuf">http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montrealgazette/obituary.aspx?n=james-mccrorie&pid=168122304#sthash.YvwW1aLR.dpuf</a>Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-75685615482784324142013-11-20T15:56:00.001-06:002013-11-20T16:00:42.424-06:00James N. McCrorie: 1936 - 2013<h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Remembering <i><u><a href="http://nextyearcountrybooks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/no-expectation-memoir.html" target="_blank">Jim McCrorie</a></u></i></b></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a very sad moment to hear of Jim’s passing.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXU0ZWNiayoY4GX6sxc4rqvBYy-HBgEM_Of0ODXiJeNLfBvckcUSFvQTF7ELal8FPALvqNY94GMQFg6jw9W4XeYFVDhLS4MVKv4ygVrAVXeR3glDZvfamlwTber4NrgbL5LxOEu8HbXnt/s1600/Dad+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXU0ZWNiayoY4GX6sxc4rqvBYy-HBgEM_Of0ODXiJeNLfBvckcUSFvQTF7ELal8FPALvqNY94GMQFg6jw9W4XeYFVDhLS4MVKv4ygVrAVXeR3glDZvfamlwTber4NrgbL5LxOEu8HbXnt/s320/Dad+(1).jpg" width="294" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Jim was truly a mentor to all of us who had the privilege of being his friend through his life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />As young students he taught us what radical sociology and critical thinking were all about. Jim reflected the struggles of people from the crofters of Scotland, to the farmers of Canada as social movements for us to learn from, and to appreciate as people’s histories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />With a wry Jim McCrorie smile and humour, he would tell us what really happened in the governance of the land from Tommy Douglas to today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />He was unremitting in his socialism – but with a Scottish pragmatism – looking at outcome as well as theory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Jim was an inside out person. He lived what he believed – never forgetting his class background – recognizing the education of many to understand the economic and social forces that shape us... as the road to a better world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Thanks Jim for what you gave us. And as you said and wrote ..In Union Is Strength. Viva Jim!<br /><br />In Solidarity</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Don Kossick in Mozambique, November 18th, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>A Celebration of James Napier McCrorie</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Céilidh</i></b><br /><br />A traditional Gaelic social gathering, which involves, music, dancing and story telling.<br /><br />In honour of James N. McCrorie</span><br />
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<br />Saturday, November 30th 2013<br /><br />6:30-11:30<br /><br />Edna May Forbes Lecture Theatre<br />2900 Wascana Drive<br />Regina, Saskatchewan</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Map <b><i><u><a href="https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Edna+May+Forbes+Lecture+Theatre&ie=UTF-8&ei=tyqNUsS2Ka_ZigLTw4Bo&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg" target="_blank">HERE</a></u></i></b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Jim's memoir "No Expectations" <i><u><a href="http://nextyearcountrybooks.blogspot.ca/2012/12/no-expectation-memoir.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></u></i>.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"I was born on a Tuesday, at 07:40 hrs.on April 21, 1936 at the Royal </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Victoria Hospital in Montreal. The hospital had been founded in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the late 19th century by two business adventurers (i.e. rogues) from </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">near Craigellachie, Banffshire, Scotland. The building had been built </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on the northern slope of Mount Royal, just above the James McGill </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">estate – now a university. It resembled, in style, the Edinburgh </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Royal Infirmary. It was therefore a fitting venue for the son of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scottish immigrants to enter the world and although I was present </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">at the event, I have no recollection of it." - From the Introduction.</span></span></div>
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Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-1703706424741239672013-11-05T19:59:00.000-06:002013-11-05T19:59:45.246-06:00Reflections on an Historic Election: Argentina Enters a New Crisis<ul class="actions" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 19.09090805053711px; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: square; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">
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Historic vote: The Argentinian Workers Party newspaper celebrates 1.2 million votes for the Workers and Left Front in the October mid-term elections. Credit: http://prensa.po.org.ar</div>
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<b>By Bob Lyons</b><br />
<i><a href="http://newsocialist.org/" target="_blank">New Socialist Webzine</a></i><br />
November 3, 2013<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The historic Argentinean mid-term elections of 27 October resulted in a breakthrough for the revolutionary left, and has exposed more clearly the outline of the tendencies emerging at the time of the primary votes held in July. The political, economic and social fissures revealed by the vote can be grouped around three themes:<br />1. the end of the Kirchnerist experiment and the resulting strategic incoherance of the Argentinean bourgeoisie as a whole;<br />2. the radical deepening of the economic and fiscal crises of the Argentinean state expressed as a loss of political legitimacy, and a series of policy cul-de-sacs;<br />3. the growing presence of a workers and social vanguard determined to resist the consequences of the global crisis as expressed locally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In what follows we will attempt to situate the election, and especially the results for the revolutionary left, within the context of the above themes.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Defeat of Kirchnerism</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That Kirchnerism, the political strategy of first Nestor and then Cristina is over is evidenced by the vote total obtained by the Front of Victory, the electoral apparatus of a renovated Peronism. In 2011 at the time of the presidential elections, Cristina Kirchner won with 54% of the national vote. Now a brief two years later she struggled to reach 33%. At a regional level, where the byzantine web of alliances between mayors, governors and national figures are expressed, Kirchner was defeated in the all-important province of Buenos Aires by the Renovation Front of Sergio Massas, the exponent of the neo-liberalism of the industrial and agrarian establishment, by a margin of more than 10%.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The defeat of Kirchnerism is not however a victory for a coherent alternative policy. Posing as a center left alternative, Kirchnerism arose as a response to the years of social tension, economic chaos and massive political resistance to neo-liberalism following the fall of the military dictatorship. It was an attempt to appear to rise above the class struggles taking place and to offer a solution to the nation's problems, a mediation between the classes and fractions of the ruling class which would place the salvation of Argentinean capitalism ahead of sectoral interests.The electoral defeat which it has just suffered is a sign that not only has its political strategy failed, but the policy initiatives which it undertook to solve the economic crisis are a failure as well.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">A Bankrupt Policy in a Bankrupt State</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The context in which the election took place is prefigured by two reinforcing processes: the global crisis of capitalism in its neo-liberal variant, and the specific features of the fiscal crisis of the state. While crisis is a much over used term generally, in the case of Argentina it really does apply.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Argentina is a developed industrial economy relying on internal consumption and exports of its agricultural and manufactured goods, the latter primarily within Latin America. More than 90% of the population lives in urban areas including Mendoza, Cordoba, Tucuman, Salta, and of course Buenos Aires and the surrounding municipalities. It has a highly educated working class relatively speaking and a long history of workers and popular struggles, with students playing an important political role as relays for socialist ideas and analysis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since 2002, when the depression of 1998 to 2004 caused the collapse of the Argentinean economy and an outright default by the short-lived Saa administration, the effects of the neo-liberal prescriptions applied by the International Monetary Fund have only exacerbated the structural problems of Argentinean capitalism. Although Argentina paid off its full IMF debt in 2006, in no small part as a result of the peso devaluation by Duhalde in 2002 and the resulting influx of foreign investment and export revenues, the world wide crisis of 2008 set off internal processes which now emerge as another crisis with debt as the core determinant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since 1975 Argentina has paid over $600 billion in debt and interest payments to foreign lenders. Kristina Kirchner, when faced with mounting opposition to paying a portion of the debt which many economists see as dubious if not illegitimate, has personally supervised the paying of $173 billion during her administration. Despite this, the net Argentinean debt has risen by over $100 billion to now stand in excess of $200 billion in US dollars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In order to service this debt, the Kirchners engaged in a policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul, with Peter being the Argentinean people. The process of partial nationalisations of the private pension pools was a method to strip them of their hard cash assets and replace them with Argentine government bonds of obvious dubious quality. Similarily, the partial nationalisation of the petroleum assets was to ensure enough foreign reserve flows to feed the debt monster.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So while the sacred obligation of debt repayment was honored by Kirchner's policies, the burden of this was borne by the Argentinean working class. The fact that Kirchner's policies were class based and class biased was made clear to Argentineans by the treatment of the holding of US dollars. One of the currency controls introduced by Kirchner was to forbid the holding of US dollars, requiring that any dollars entering the country were to be exchanged for pesos. According to Cristina Kirchner, this policy was to apply to all sectors as a method of squelching the parallel market, and halting the outflows of foreign denominated currencies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The hypocrisy of this measure was exposed when it was revealed that the administration had signed a deal with Chevron allowing them to repatriate their profits in dollars in exchange for investments in the partially nationalised YPF oil firm. This deal became a symbol of the corruption underlying the policy initiatives of the Kirchner regime, and has resulted in a tangible loss of legitimacy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the best efforts of the regime to try an engage in a policy whose heart is debt service (Kirchner herself famously described herself as a "serial payer"), the end of the road has come. In a landmark case in a New York courtroom this past month, the "rights" of a group of bondholders who refused to accept the restructuring of their Argentine bonds in 2003 were upheld and the court ordered full and immediate repayment. The Argentinean government has refused to recognize the authority of the court but is caught in a legal trap. If they don't pay this group of bondholders, who represent 24% of the total debt in 2005 dollars, then Argentina is in technical default. If they do repay they will then have to come up with a sum which they don't have and can't afford to borrow, given the declining revenue base and the level of absolute debt. The policy options have become very narrow indeed.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Workers and Left Front</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Within this ongoing economic and social crisis whose rhythms have been uneven and variable, the struggle of the Argentinean working class and popular sectors to maintain their standard of living and their labour and social rights has produced a militant and class conscious political and social vanguard layer which is increasing in size and self confidence. This was expressed by the size of the vote for the Workers and Left Front (WLF - Frente Izquierda y de los Trabajadores), an electoral coalition involving three Trotskyist political organisations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The WLF received almost one million, two hundred and fifty thousand votes from all areas of the country, with a few scattered exceptions. This vote resulted in the election to the national parliament of three MP's, and in addition resulted in the election of eight more members of provincial legislatures plus dozens of members to municipal councils.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The WLF was formed to contest the national elections of 2011. Its three components are the Partido Obrero (Workers' Party), the Partido Trabajadores Socialistas (The Socialist Workers Party), and the Izquierda Socialista (Socialist Left). All three come from the tradition of Latin American revolutionary Marxism inspired by the politics of legendary Argentinian Trotskyist leader Nahuel Moreno. Indeed all three originated in the MAS, the Movement to Socialism founded by Moreno which at one time grouped 12,000 adherents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The consequences of this historic vote were summed up by the national newspaper El Clarin in the headline "The combative left now has its October." Despite the ironic nod to the month of the Russian revolution, the fact that the WLF was able to emerge as a significant force to the left of "left Peronism" is a sign that the traditional political relays of the Argentinean workers movement are breaking apart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The vote for the WLF was impressive. Running on an explicitly revolutionary platform, the candidates of the WLF received 19% of the total vote in Mendoza, 16% in Salta, and almost a half million votes in the national capital region. For the first time ever the revolutionary left was able to credibly present itself as a radical alternative to Peronism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The WLF vote signals a rising combativity of the Argentinean working class whose tendency was established at the time of the 2011 elections where the WLF received around 600,000 votes. In the space of two years the revolutionary left has doubled the size of its vote. In fact, in the primary elections of July, the WLF received around 900,000 votes. The increase in support in 3 months has risen by 30%. But the WLF was not the only revolutionary organisation running. When all the organisations which presented themselves as radical left alternatives are added together, the vote total rises to over a million and a half votes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The immediate consequences of the successes of the WLF have been within the fractured Argentinean left itself. The great bulk of the revolutionary left in Argentina identifies with revolutionary Marxism of the Trotskyist tradition. There were at last count 21 different organisations identifying themselves as Trotskyist. The day following the election results Jorge Altimira, spokesperson of the PO, and Christian Castillo, leader identified with the PTS, both issued a call for the rest of the left to unite around the WLF project, and to engage in talks aimed at unifying the revolutionary Marxist left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This has brought pressure to bear on one of the major organisations of the revolutionary left, the Socialist Workers Movement (MST), whose strategy of attempting to build a new broad left is seen in contradistinction to that of the WLF's more orthodox Trotskyist politics. This strategy now appears to lie in tatters as some of its former allies, such as filmmaker Pino Solano and his Proyecto Sur (Southern Project) ditched the MST without warning just weeks prior to the July primary elections.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This being said, the WLF cannot afford to ignore the MST. Unlike the three components of the WLF, the MST has permanent observer status at the Fourth International, and its politics could be described as closer to that of the French New Anticapitalist Party. It has relations with the Venezuelan revolutionary Marxist current Marea Socialista (Socialist Tide) and together both organizations held a revolutionary youth camp and political school in March of this year, attended by over 2,000 young people from five different countries of South America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Immediately following the election results, the leading spokesperson for the MST, city of Buenos Aires deputy Alejandro Bodart, issued a plea to the leadership of the WLF to begin to find ways to unite the entire left around the project on a democratic basis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the WLF is able to show the leadership skills and political maturity to find a method to incorporate the MST, as well as the other significant tendencies within the Argentinean revolutionary left in its project, the Front would be strengthened politically as well as organisationally. The MST, for example has many worker leaders in its ranks and it is an integral part of the leadership of the Argentine Workers Central, the second largest workers central in the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Outside of Argentina, the call for Marxist unity and the results which would possibly be achieved because of it will have an effect on the revolutionary left from Mexico to Chile and from Brazil to France. Each one of the component organisations of the WLF has sister organisations in a host of countries in Latin America, in some countries all three organisations compete with each other to build "their" revolutionary international. If the experience of Argentina is translated and mediated in a framework and spirit of building a democratic process of unity capacity, the impact will have enormous and favourable consequences for each of the national lefts and workers' movements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This will not be easy, given the history of organisational disunity, personal feuds, sectarian practice and a lack of a strategic consensus in the revolutionary left. It will take a great deal of political skill, tact, respect and trust building on the part of the leaders of not only the WLF to make this goal a reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the meantime, the combative workers and popular sectors now have a small but significant national voice across Argentina. It is a voice and political instrument which will be soon be put to the test as the near term unfolds and the Argentinean ruling class attempts to find even more ways to make the workers pay for their crisis.<br /><br /><em>The article was written by Robert Lyons, a long time (very long time) Latin American solidarity activist living in Central America. He is a former New Democratic Party member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly and trade union organiser.</em></span></div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-53550533744715386982013-09-07T20:52:00.000-06:002013-09-07T21:00:07.499-06:00Regina Labour Poster I would guess this poster to be from the late 1940s to early 1950s. Note<u><a href="http://www.regina.ca/students/scholarships/henry-baker/" target="_blank"> Henry Baker</a></u>, mayor of Regina from 1959 - 1979 and <u><a href="http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.ca/2009/12/bill-beeching-saskatchewan-communist.html" target="_blank">Bill Beeching</a></u>, Saskatchewan leader of the Communist Party of Canada and<u><a href="http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/elkin_hub_1916-.html" target="_blank"> Hub Elkin</a></u>. Any more identities you can let me know about? - NYC.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image above to enlarge</td></tr>
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<br />Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-54866295072123275432013-09-04T16:36:00.001-06:002013-09-04T16:36:57.435-06:00Privatizing health care, piece by piece<b>BY PAT ATKINSON</b><div>
THE STAR PHOENIX</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglqnbbTyuT9Y8IkjUdEIxpUiJ6E1tyIcdbJQVLiKwWYpVcIDg2VbyyqOffsBl6D2Jgj4bexPEZOHprkqOyPGXAajv1_injo52bIrZ_Oawp3h1ogwxQGvz1A8Mbe0i7NvR4243NdY3SN2Yq/s1600/health_care_profits_is_sick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglqnbbTyuT9Y8IkjUdEIxpUiJ6E1tyIcdbJQVLiKwWYpVcIDg2VbyyqOffsBl6D2Jgj4bexPEZOHprkqOyPGXAajv1_injo52bIrZ_Oawp3h1ogwxQGvz1A8Mbe0i7NvR4243NdY3SN2Yq/s320/health_care_profits_is_sick.jpg" width="213" /></a>SEPTEMBER 4, 2013<br /><br />It now appears certain that Premier Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party government have decided to stop being so timid about the privatization of our province's health system.<br /><br />Sources say the Wall government is now in serious discussions with business and health regions about contracting out or privatizing all services in our publicly funded health system that do not provide direct patient care. It looks as though many of our fellow citizens who work in maintenance, housekeeping, food services, laboratories, diagnostic imaging and health records in health facilities across our province are going to have their jobs taken over by private sector companies and their employees.<a name='more'></a><br />For the past six years, citizens have been lulled into a false sense of security, thinking their premier was not going to take a decidedly private sector approach to our publicly funded and publicly administered health care system. We were wrong, and the evidence is mounting.<br /><br />Prior to the 2011 election, Wall introduced a new model of constructing and operating a nursing home in Saskatoon. In the past, the province paid 65 per cent of the capital construction cost of a new nursing home and the health region or the non-profit nursing home affiliated with the region raised the remainder. In the case of Amicus, capital construction costs were guaranteed by taxpayers. Amicus was able to negotiate an agreement whereby its nursing home would not have to be affiliated with the health region, enabling employee's wages and benefits to be out of line with the health region's and its affiliated organizations.<br /><br />A couple of years later, the Saskatoon Health Region brought in Surgical Centres Inc., a Calgarybased company, to build a day surgery and medical diagnostic facility. The Saskatoon Health Region now has a contract with this company to provide day surgery for pediatric dentistry, orthopaedics and ophthalmology patients.<br /><br />And now we have a recent decision by the Wall government that all hospital laundry services will be contracted out to K-Bro Linen Systems Inc, the largest owneroperator of laundry processing facilities in Canada. This company is going to build, own and operate a new plant in Regina that will serve the entire province and replace publicly owned facilities in Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Regina, Weyburn, Yorkton and Saskatoon. Long-term care facilities will still have their own laundry facilities, but who knows how long that will last? This company provides laundry services for these facilities in other parts of Canada.<br /><br />We are told that this deal will save approximately $9.3 million over 10 years by lowering operating and capital costs. While transportation costs will increase as laundry is trucked across the province, the company will save money on wages and benefits as employees will be paid less than unionized laundry workers employed by our health regions.<br /><br />There are other examples of the government moving what should be publicly owned health care facilities into the private sector, particularly with the recent announcement by Wall that the new nursing home in his Swift Current constituency will most likely be built and owned by a private sector developer. It also appears that the new mental health hospital in North Battleford will be privately owned. Those of us with long memories know how that worked out when former premier Grant Devine did the same thing with the Parkridge Nursing home in Saskatoon. That experiment wound up costing taxpayers over $80 million by the time the Saskatoon Health Region bought the facility a few years ago. Taxpayers would have saved tens of millions of dollars had the facility been owned by the public from the start.<br /><br />No doubt some will argue that Wall's latest foray into health care privatization will save citizens' money and that it is a good way to get rid of highly paid unionized employees. There is little doubt people who will work in these jobs, should Wall get his way, will be paid less and likely won't end up with a pension should they make a career of it. But to argue that this will save the taxpayers' money is a mug's game, as any margins that are realized in reduced labour costs will be taken up in profits for company shareholders.<br /><br />Most citizens want a Saskatchewan where people can earn a living wage, buy a house, educate their kids and retire with a pension. This is not too much to ask for, but it is not where our province is headed.</div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-77138910311472933032013-09-04T15:16:00.000-06:002013-09-04T15:17:40.495-06:00Monument: Cold War throwback<h3 align="center" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin: 10px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<b>On the so-called “Monument to Victims of Communism”</b></h3>
<i>Issued by the Central Executive Committee,<br />Communist Party of Canada<br />September 3, 2013</i><br />
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The Communist Party of Canada is appalled that the federal Conservative government will provide a massive taxpayer donation of $1.5 million under Citizenship and Immigration’s Inter-Action program, to help build a so-called “monument to victims of communism” in Ottawa. Despite opposition, approval has previously been <br />
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granted by the National Capital Commission for a site between Library and Archives Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada.<br />
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The monument project is a throwback to the sordid era of the Cold War, which resulted in a wave of anti-communist frenzy, RCMP spying, witch-hunts, blacklisting, social ostracism, imprisonment and deportations against many progressive-minded Canadians. Such policies had a terrible “chilling effect” on public discourse and sharply curtailed the freedom of expression and associated democratic and trade union rights of all Canadians. The sponsors of this monument are now attempting to revive this tragic McCarthyist era of red-baiting, which had been tossed into the dustbin of history.<br />
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The “Tribute to Liberty” group operates as a charitable foundation, despite the federal government’s denial of charitable status to organizations which engage in political advocacy (a biased policy which exempts right-wing groups linked to the Harper Conservatives, such as the Fraser Institute). The “Tribute to Liberty” organizers are well aware of the highly-charged political nature of said `monument’. As they admitted several years ago, the proposal’s “commemorative theme remains not entirely compatible with the NCC’s policy for commemorations that mark national events or individuals. However, the international significance of the proposed subject is gaining considerable profile and support from various foreign governments…”<br />
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Indeed, they openly celebrate their “significant high-level political support”, as confirmed by press reports indicating that Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism), and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have given active encouragement to this defamatory initiative. Having raised only a fraction of their $4 million fundraising target, the organizers have now been given the bulk of the remaining funds by their Tory friends.<br />
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The political implications of this proposal go far beyond the National Capital Region, or Canada as a whole. In Europe, recent years have seen a concerted campaign to whip up a renewed atmosphere of anti-communism. A resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) equates fascism and communism, a nauseating attempt to rewrite the history of the 20th century. Anti-communist attacks have been launched by governments against Communist parties and affiliated organizations in several countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Greece and elsewhere, without any legal or justifiable basis. The true underlying goal of this campaign is intended to intimidate and isolate progressive parties and movements, and to limit the free expression of ideas.<br />
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The authors of the monument proposal go so far as to turn history on its head, claiming that the monument would “honour the 100 million lives lost under Communist regimes” — a figure which includes the estimated 25 million Soviet citizens who perished at the hands of the Nazi invaders during World War II, defending their homeland, fighting heroically as allies of Canada in the war against Hitlerism.<br />
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Announcing his government’s support for the project, Jason Kenney stated that “it will also serve as a reminder to all Canadians that glorifying Communist symbols insults the memory of these victims…” We must ask: among those who are allegedly “insulted” by Communist symbols, does Mr. Kenney mean the supporters of Nazi aggression, which was decisively defeated on the eastern front by Soviet troops under the banner of the Red Flag? And do the Conservatives intend to follow the example of other reactionary governments which have used similar arguments in their attempts to ban Communist symbols?<br />
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We must further note that the name for this monument also defames the many accomplishments of communist parties which have formed governments, in countries such as the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, and Vietnam, or taken part in governments, including South Africa, India, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, etc.<br />
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This proposal also represents a profoundly unjust attack on Canadian Communists, who have made many pioneering contributions since 1921, such as fighting against fascism, organizing industrial workers into unions, initiating movements to win Unemployment Insurance, public healthcare and other social programs, to campaign for peace and disarmament, fighting for the full national rights of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, and to defend Canada’s sovereignty.<br />
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It is deeply unfortunate that the NCC set aside its initial misgivings and violated its own guidelines to allow construction of this monument, and that Canadians are being compelled to pay for this red-baiting project which falsely blames Communists for the crimes of fascism. We demand that these decisions be reversed, before this celebration of anti-communism becomes a permanent shameful blot on the capital city of Canada.Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-7195645176079948082013-09-02T07:43:00.000-06:002013-09-02T07:46:37.143-06:00More CCF Posters for Sale!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2jqxRcL8w6eWqFw3ldR13mFd0gKA3hHSJHdJWlHKH7_D11M7DPGukozfmMC7lYM62255mJ5YfQnO_Q3VnWsJhQuK4NJFZdj55wPanXD1qnOn0kXOYndLAAyq6t_O4vFZVuRTD8hsFDQn/s1600/ccf.cropped.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2jqxRcL8w6eWqFw3ldR13mFd0gKA3hHSJHdJWlHKH7_D11M7DPGukozfmMC7lYM62255mJ5YfQnO_Q3VnWsJhQuK4NJFZdj55wPanXD1qnOn0kXOYndLAAyq6t_O4vFZVuRTD8hsFDQn/s640/ccf.cropped.jpeg" width="424" /></a></div>
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<i><b>"Humanity First" CCF Poster. Professionally matted and framed. $150.00 plus S&H. No S&H and free delivery in Regina though. Click image to enlarge.</b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGB9Mk-kHyBUDgpJVM4KOu9yqDjYUbxJNGayKxIqoKfkt_qTpsVAIjV_M5G5UqF0IeK_mVsJuCdUE9mfx6384_RZ8WepKWddJ-2kHIu3u2UeRFxrYVpPJiTAyeC65-iK-rWC_00Lqul3p/s1600/mf.cropped.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGB9Mk-kHyBUDgpJVM4KOu9yqDjYUbxJNGayKxIqoKfkt_qTpsVAIjV_M5G5UqF0IeK_mVsJuCdUE9mfx6384_RZ8WepKWddJ-2kHIu3u2UeRFxrYVpPJiTAyeC65-iK-rWC_00Lqul3p/s640/mf.cropped.jpeg" width="438" /></a></div>
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<i><b>M. J. Coldwell poster. National leader of CCF. Professionally framed. $105.00 plus S&H. No S&H and free delivery in Regina though. Click image to enlarge.</b></i><br />
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<i><b>Email <a href="mailto:doug.taylor@sasktel.net" target="_blank"><u>doug.taylor@sasktel.net</u> </a>to order.</b></i>Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-80343073394906955002013-08-20T16:40:00.004-06:002013-08-21T01:28:50.353-06:00The Regina Riot - Video<b>A Documentary by Ben Lies. (Badlands Productions, 2010).</b><br />
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<b><i>Produced in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the On-to-Ottawa Trek.</i></b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/F0tW2kvy1z8?list=UUIBYWmIdORnYF58C6LCk5Sw" width="560"></iframe>Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-6759838253833974912013-08-20T15:49:00.001-06:002013-08-21T12:15:07.240-06:00CCF Posters for SaleI tried selling these to local antique dealers. Two didn't know what the CCF was and weren't interested. The third one did but said they were too political and that "politics in this province can be dangerous" and also wasn't interested. I think I responded by stating that we don't have politics in Saskatchewan anymore but the posters were from a time when we did. - NYC<br />
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<b>FOR SALE</b> - $50.00 each or both for $90.00. <b>Free delivery</b> within Regina, otherwise s&h added.<br />
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To order, email <a href="mailto:doug.taylor@sasktel.net"><u>doug.taylor@sasktel.net</u></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bZ6P5BL9RPWVCxILceVyKo3ZSsx6cQQEaXyseKxl-B2bDA8nW4-48z1U75Ms_uW3oAdRDtN1WFU7MGYNmR1oOfIZas_FCabPin3ytroRUv1Ah7rJlfjenyoLochAfpdE_eO-RgA_wvJT/s1600/181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bZ6P5BL9RPWVCxILceVyKo3ZSsx6cQQEaXyseKxl-B2bDA8nW4-48z1U75Ms_uW3oAdRDtN1WFU7MGYNmR1oOfIZas_FCabPin3ytroRUv1Ah7rJlfjenyoLochAfpdE_eO-RgA_wvJT/s640/181.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<br />Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-59586411619467331202013-06-25T20:52:00.002-06:002013-06-25T20:53:42.366-06:00On the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of the Waffle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>BY MICHAEL LAXER</b><br />
<i><a href="http://rabble.ca/">RABBLE.CA</a></i><br />
JUNE 25, 2012<br />
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<a href="http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.ca/2011/06/waffle-manifesto-1969.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgglGqjJS2sGx3ovqbMu1obSoqQDwF_INWBaVtx2EGPIFIZdSaufSVPq_upWHQDdKJ2HfFSIJXFLMO7Pt2k4ofQ1VRHCJQCaxVewN8MvZ0RKTdLb5wrLPFeIXb1m0WSF6pA72MvsGAvxlU0/s1600/The+Waffle+Manifesto-1.jpg" /></a>This past weekend, June 24, marked the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of the Waffle from the NDP.<br />
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The Waffle, (actually the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada), for those who do not know it, was a grouping of socialists, nationalists, feminists and activists that was formed in 1969 within the NDP. It was, broadly speaking, led by James Laxer* and Mel Watkins.<br />
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The Waffle was ahead of its time in many respects. In one instance, spearheaded by Krista Maeots*, the Waffle was the first group to propose the notion of gender equity within the governing structures of the NDP. Even though it was only proposed in a limited form, it was opposed and voted down by the party hierarchy, including the eventual Lewis leadership.<br />
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The Waffle also fought for the nationalization of much of Canada's resource sector and American-owned industries, sought to fight continental economic integration and sought to work towards a radically socialist Canadian economic and social strategy.<br />
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Beyond that, whatever the movement's failings may have been, the Waffle also represented the attempt of a new generation of socialist activists to have influence and a voice within the country's established socialist party. It expressed and advocated the idea that members of a socialist party should be allowed to, and have a right as members to, question the party leadership, the leadership's ideas and to dissent vocally and democratically.<br />
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After Laxer, a relatively unknown 29-year-old university lecturer won a very surprising 37 per cent of the vote for the leadership of the party against its standard-bearer establishment candidate, David Lewis, the reality that much of the membership of the party was seeking new directions and strategies, became a threat that the party's first family felt it could not ignore.<br />
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In Orillia, Ontario on June 24, 1972, the ONDP's Provincial Council at the behest of ONDP leader Stephen Lewis, David Lewis' son, voted to order the Waffle to either disband or to leave the NDP.<br />
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Recently, <a href="http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clipID=6739">in an interview on CPAC</a> (the full part about the Waffle starts at 14:00 approximately, while the Rebick-Lewis part begins at 17:00) during a special dedicated to the history of the NDP, Stephen Lewis, after a segment showing Judy Rebick stating that the expulsion of the Waffle had been a serious and hugely damaging error on the part of the party leadership, essentially takes credit for the entire future "success" of the NDP, both in Ontario and everywhere in Canada, by having pushed the Waffle out.<br />
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He claims that what Rebick says is not only "palpably wrong" but that "history has proven her wrong" and lists a, to be blunt, rather short number of "victories" after June 1972, culminating with Jack Layton and the federal NDP becoming the official opposition 39 years later as if the two events are directly related, an obviously specious and ridiculous claim.<br />
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With all due respect to Lewis' attempt to preserve his legacy within Canadian social democracy, what he leaves out, rather notably, are the NDP's many defeats over those 40 years, as well as the broader defeat of the social democratic idea itself during the same time. <br />
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He fails to note that after the relative federal NDP success of 1972 came the defeat of 1974 that saw his own father lose his seat in parliament. While implying the expulsion of the Waffle resulted in the ONDP becoming opposition in 1975, he does not mention that they fell back into third place in 1977 and he himself resigned as leader. While raising the Rae victory of 1990 and the victory of the NDP in B.C. in the same year, he, needless to say, does not bring up how those years in government turned out, nor how any of the limited reforms these governments introduced were later dismantled by reactionary successor governments.<br />
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He entirely ignores the wilderness years of the 1990s, the reduction of the party to single digit popular support at that time, the loss, in 1993, of every single federal seat in Ontario, etc.<br />
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More significantly, of course, is that Lewis does not note at all that over that same period Canada has witnessed the dramatic rise of neo-liberalism as our country's governing ideology and that in every single meaningful respect Canadian unions, workers and the poor have undergone a relentless retreat in their political power and rights with the dismantling of the post-war "compromise." Economic inequality is far higher then in 1972, corporations are less regulated and have more power than they did in 1972, free trade and continentalist economic integration succeeded, we now live under the most right-wing federal government in modern Canadian history, and, from a left-wing perspective, the "programs" that the NDP runs on, provincially or federally, such as they are, reflect this retreat fully.<br />
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If Rebick was "palpably wrong" as proven by "history," it is difficult to see how. To say that the legacy of the Waffle's expulsion might be more nuanced than the Long March to victory that Stephen Lewis would have us believe would be an understatement.<br />
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The purge of 1972 pushed out intellectuals, much of the party's youth (in fact, shockingly and tellingly, its youth wing was not allowed to reform until 1988), many of its radical feminists and began the final shift of the party away from its origins as a party that sought to be the expression of an ideological idea and popular socialist movement towards a party that has become fixated on its own power and whose ideas are dictated by short-term political goals and, at present, preventing the reemergence of the Liberal Party as a contender for government. While the Liberal Party richly deserves its developing status as a marginalized and irrelevant boutique party of the centrist elements of the middle classes, this last goal would be more laudable if there was any meaningful programmatic and ideological differences between the two parties that were not now matters of history.<br />
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Ultimately political movements and their electoral wings seek to change society and the civil discourse. Political parties seek to win elections. These are not at all the same goal.<br />
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The NDP, to a large extent, has become driven by pollsters and places great emphasis on soaring but empty rhetoric meant to inspire without the need to really say much. The Obamaesque qualities of Layton's entire 2011 federal campaign were centred around tightly managed sound bites seeking to hammer home two or three points that have been chosen from a minuscule election "platform" for a variety of demographic reasons. <br />
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Shortly after the "victory"of the NDP in becoming the official opposition, the then National Director, Brad Lavigne, went on CBC to state that:<br />
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"We've been absolutely fixated on making sure that we run a first-rate campaign with a strong message, and we knew that message out there was, 'Ottawa is broken, it's time to fix it. It's time that it works for families to get things done.'<br />
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We attached that to the right demographics in the right ridings across the country, and the great thing about tonight is that the growth is everywhere. It's in Atlantic Canada. New seats in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Throughout Ontario and the West."<br />
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The problem with both this sentiment, and the notion of Lewis that his and the NDP's actions in 1972 are somehow farcically justified by the winning of opposition status, is that, sorry to point out, the Conservatives actually won the election in 2011. <br />
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While the NDP may be ahead in the polls now, and while they may yet win government, the damage that will be done by the Tories over the coming majority mandate is becoming very clear, and, given the political history of the last 40 years, and given the propensity of the centrist "left" to seek to adopt the mantles of moderation and of eschewing radicalism, there is little hope that much of this damage will be undone in any serious way without the re-emergence of forces either within or outside of the NDP. <br />
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It would seem, using Stephen Lewis' bizarre logic, that the end result of June 24, 1972, given that Layton actually lost the election, was Stephen Harper. There is no refracted glory to be had here.<br />
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In a less fanciful sense, the real legacy of the expulsion, and one that is demonstrably clear, was the creation of an NDP culture that deeply distrusts it own membership and that has taken power within the party from that membership and given it over to a handful of people that consists of the leader and his or her entourage of bureaucrats, and sycophantic "yes" people.<br />
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In the wake of the purge, as already noted, the party disbanded its youth wing and disbanded the entire New Brunswick NDP. It pushed out a generation of activists and created a party environment that was inimical to many social activists. This remains true.<br />
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In the ONDP right now we have a party that violated its own constitution to ensure that a convention would not occur prior to the last election, that declared elections within its own youth wing that it did not like null and void and promptly, on entirely specious grounds, invalidated them, and that even went so far as to deny to the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1007040">Toronto Star</a>that policies passed by the ONDP's membership existed at all! (My favourite part of the article is the hilariously Orwellian claim by the ONDP representative that some membership resolutions "are out of date the moment they're passed")<br />
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Federally, the last campaign was notable for its tremendously centralized messaging. The platform contained nothing of substantive value and this can be quickly determined by <a href="http://www.ndp.ca/platform">reading it</a>. It bears no resemblance at all to either the ideas of the membership as a whole or even to the ideas of the NDP that the Lewis' led. Uniformity of opinion within the caucus is total, in an outward way, and we have an NDP Opposition led by an MP from Quebec that has refused to take a stand on the greatest upheaval to hit his province in a generation. Nor has he allowed his large and neophyte Quebec caucus, some of whom were students prior to the "Orange Crush," to do so.<br />
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On the whole it would seem that the party within the party was and is the leadership itself.<br />
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<i>*In the spirit of full disclosure, James Laxer & Krista Maeots are the parents of the author of this article!</i>Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-31050879930141985082013-06-17T22:03:00.000-06:002013-06-17T22:03:38.076-06:00Dr. Margaret Mahood fought for Medicare in Saskatchewan<div>
<i>Just in case you missed this fine obituary in the Globe - NYC</i></div>
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<b>BY PATRICIA DAWN ROBERTSON</b><br />
Special to The Globe and Mail<br />
Published Monday, Jun. 17 2013<br />
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Dr. Margaret Mahood was the deputy superintendent of the North Battleford Mental Hospital when she was recruited to work at the new Saskatoon Community Clinic. As a socialist and a psychiatrist, Dr. Mahood supported the Medicare plan and relocated to Saskatoon. She put on her general practitioner’s hat and set up her practice at the so-called “commie” clinic.<br />
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The idealistic psychiatrist joined forces with Dr. Joan Witney-Moore, and on July 3, they opened the doors to the clinic with only their medical bags, and folding tables topped with mattresses employed as examining tables.<br />
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Socialized medicine in Canada was ahead of its time, and the Medicare program wasn’t granted an easy birth. Neither was the wife of Allan Blakeney, the health minister. He scrambled to get services for his very pregnant wife, Anne. But her Medicare-supporting doctor wasn’t afforded hospital privileges, so their baby was born at home.<br />
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The mood was tense that summer and Dr. Mahood, who was petite in stature but not easily intimidated, had to be escorted on her house calls. She became the target of threats, yet continued to practise medicine during the strike, says former colleague and retired physician, Dr. John Bury.<br />
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Physicians who supported Medicare were shunned, blocked from obtaining hospital privileges and routinely threatened, Dr. Bury said from his home in Saskatoon.<br />
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This intense standoff was not to be the last challenge in Dr. Mahood’s long vocation as a community-based doctor, but it certainly set the tone for the remainder of her career, which combined her love of politics with a patient-centred approach to psychiatry.<br />
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In 1970, Dr. Mahood participated in the Abortion Caravan. It was Canada’s first national feminist protest and was spearheaded by the Vancouver Women’s Caucus. The group was protesting the 1969 amendments to the criminal code that made abortion legal only if it threatened the health of the mother. Even then, it could be performed only by a physician in an accredited hospital, and required the approval of a three-member committee of doctors called a therapeutic abortion committee.<br />
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A cross-country caravan of concerned women travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to denounce the status quo. Their successful protest effort shut down the House of Commons for more than an hour and shifted the nation’s attention to women’s reproductive rights.<br />
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“My mother was a big pro-choice advocate,” says Dr. Sally Mahood of Regina. “She was a psychiatrist in the days when women had to prove they were ‘crazy’ in order to get an abortion. They needed a sympathetic psychiatrist who would argue their case. I remember listening to her dictating these reports and she was so outraged by the fact that three men on a panel would make a decision about a woman and whether she could have an abortion or not.”<br />
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Sally explains that her mother’s keen interest in medicine and mental health started in childhood. “In the small town of Alameda, Sask., where my mum was raised, there was a fascination with medical dramas. She had a teacher in her high school who had suffered a nervous breakdown, so my mother had an interest in mental health. Her own mother lost five family members to TB. That was around the turn of the 20th century and people lived in harsh circumstances.”<br />
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Dr. Mahood was born Margaret Charlotte Fisher on June 14, 1918 to Fred and Mayme Fisher. Margaret was born in Toronto because her father was a pilot in the First World War. Mayme was sent off to Toronto to have the baby so she could be close to family. Although born in Toronto, Margaret was raised in Alameda. Younger sisters Jean (Doodie) and Mary rounded out the family of five.<br />
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Alameda was a small village in southeastern Saskatchewan, Mayme was a teacher and Fred was the postmaster. Olive Fisher, Fred’s sister, was the family trailblazer. An English professor at the University of Alberta, Olive lived to 102. According to Sally, Olive Fisher financed the education of her three nieces from Alameda because she didn’t have any children of her own: “She lost the love of her life in the First World War and never married.”<br />
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Fred Fisher was a Tory Anglican. Margaret didn't have a lot in common with her father until later in life. “They had a lot of battles over religion. But I think it taught her to be strong in her beliefs,” says her daughter. She adds that her grandmother, Mayme, was a professional woman, which was unusual in those days. Mayme also had a well-developed social conscience and would have fresh sandwiches waiting when the unemployed men came off the train in the Depression-era 1930s.<br />
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When Margaret was just a child, Fred Fisher told her that “God had a plan for her,” according to Sally. “She admitted that for several months thereafter, she was afraid to turn corners around buildings in Alameda for fear she would meet God and He would tell her what He had in store for her. She clearly had her own plans for her life and we all take great pride and comfort in how she was able to live those plans to the fullest,” Sally says.<br />
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Thanks to generous funding from her aunt Olive, Margaret earned a teacher’s certificate. While posted in Rockglen, Sask., the redheaded teacher fell in love with the principal, Ed Mahood. The couple married in 1942 and in 1946 their first child, Robbie, was born. Sally arrived in 1950.<br />
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At this juncture, most women of her era would have been content to keep house, put dinner on the table and raise the kids. Margaret elected to return to school: medical school at the University of Saskatchewan – with husband Ed’s full support.<br />
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In those days, students weren’t able to complete their medical studies in Saskatchewan, so Margaret packed up the children while Ed remained in Saskatchewan. Fred and Mayme accompanied Margaret to Montreal to help out. Margaret finished her studies at McGill in Montreal in 1955 and then specialized in psychiatry. Dr. Mahood went on to practise as community psychiatrist well into her seventh decade.<br />
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Margaret Mahood died at 94, in her daughter Sally’s home, on May 11. “You can’t live forever. She lived with us. We were able to bring her to our house about a year ago. It was what she wanted. I feel like she had a good death. She fell asleep and didn’t wake up. To be realistic, she had a wonderful life and a relatively easy death,” Sally says.<br />
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Dr. Mahood was predeceased by her parents, her husband Ed, and her sister Jean (Doodie) Kilcoyne. The pioneering Medicare physician leaves her daughter Sally and son Robbie; her younger sister, Mary Jamieson; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.<br />
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Margaret Mahood will be fondly remembered for her joie de vivre. “She loved reading, writing letters, dinner-table debates, travel and the opera. And she had a particular fondness for visual art. She was a real Renaissance woman,” says Sally.<br />
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In addition to her role as a community psychiatrist, she was active in many socialist causes. She was a member of the left-wing Waffle faction of the NDP. It was at a Saskatchewan Waffle meeting in Moose Jaw that retired feminist academic Alison Hayford first encountered Dr. Mahood.<br />
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“She was a very present person. You knew you were with someonewhen you were with her. She was very sharp-minded and sharp-witted. You knew where she stood on issues. She didn’t waffle,” says Prof. Hayford.<br />
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She cites Dr. Mahood’s mentorship capacities and her lifelong commitment to feminist causes as a unique contribution to the women’s movement.<br />
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“Margaret came of age during the suffrage movement, and was middle-aged by the time the second wave of feminism came along, so she had to figure out for herself how to be a feminist. Quite frankly, in those days in the CCF [Co-operative Commonwealth Federation], the women were envelope stuffers; they weren’t expected to take public roles and run for office. There were some who did. But Saskatchewan was a really sexist place – including on the left,” Prof. Hayford says.<br />
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She credits Dr. Mahood’s progressive husband with supporting his energetic wife’s career ambitions and community action.<br />
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Dr. Mahood was also notable for her great intellectual curiousity. “She retained that capacity right up to her 90th birthday,” says Prof. Hayford. After that age, she did start to slow down, but up to that point she had been reading, engaging with the world and feeding her mind.<br />
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“Margaret was a great debater and conversationalist. You didn’t want to come out on the opposite side of a debate with her,” Prof. Hayford says, recalling the many lively dinner-party discussions at the Mahood house. “Margaret was well read and read a lot of fiction. She wasn’t locked into her discipline and was always discovering new authors.”<br />
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Prof. Hayford describes Margaret as full of spirit and feistiness. Although she didn’t suffer fools gladly, she was always very well turned-out, polite and charming. “Oh sure, she had a sharp tongue,” Prof. Hayford adds, “And as a left-wing feminist, she was ahead of her time. Her sharp analysis of the world – that did include an analysis of gender – came before the term was coined.”<br />
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It was that astute analysis and the growing role the Mahoods played in the local socialist community that drew 1960s student activist Don Kossick to their Saskatoon dinner table. “We were the generation that came out of the Medicare struggle. Marg and Ed were incredible people. They mentored me. They were such a cool partnership. They were great encouragers of learning and critical thinking,” Mr. Kossick says.<br />
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According to Mr. Kossick – who continues his work as a grassroots community organizer to this day – the Mahood home welcomed a constant flow of people. Guests exchanged ideas and the couple pushed forward the concept of change.<br />
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The Mahoods were great believers in social change and they embodied those ideals. The couple was at the forefront of the anti-Apartheid movement, the peace movement, gender relations, the pro-choice movement, the anti-nuclear movement, and they supported solidarity with Palestinians.<br />
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For Dr. Mahood, it was politics first and then medicine, Sally says. Mr. Kossick echoes that sentiment: “The Mahoods made a huge difference in my life. They mentored us as community organizers and then they left the responsibility to us to mentor others.”<br />
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The pioneering psychiatrist left an indelible mark on her community. Dr. Margaret Mahood made history thanks to her courage and aplomb on the frontlines as a co-founder of the Saskatoon Community Clinic. She also made an invaluable contribution to her province as a physician willing to put herself at risk for her patients and for a medical system she believed in wholeheartedly.</div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-47694060726009550052013-05-25T22:32:00.001-06:002013-05-25T22:33:20.505-06:00Harper: Helping the rich get richer around the world<b>By <u><a href="http://yvesengler.com/" target="_blank">Yves Engler</a></u></b><br />
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May 25, 2013<br />
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If the Harper government were honest about its policies, it would proclaim for all to hear: “Our goal is to make the rich richer.”<br />
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Many Canadians would agree that has been the effect of Conservative domestic policies, but may be surprised to learn it is also true in international affairs.<br />
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“Austerity should not be abandoned, says Canada’s finance minister,” blared a headline in London’s Financial Times earlier this month. Before recent G7 meetings Jim Flaherty told the international business paper he was worried that some officials were “pulling back” from slashing public spending and pursuing deficit targets.<br />
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“What I worry about is those that suggest that austerity should be abandoned,” noted Canada’s long-serving finance minister. “I think that’s the road to ruin quite frankly.”<br />
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Flaherty’s comment was a response to growing challenges to austerity, notably the European Commission’s move to give France and Spain more time to meet EU-mandated deficit targets. It was also a reminder of the Conservatives’ banker-friendly response to the worst economic crisis in Europe since the Second World War.<br />
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Even with youth unemployment rates in a number of countries at 25 to 50 per cent or higher, Ottawa has repeatedly supported the German-led push for European governments to cut social spending.<br />
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The Conservatives have backed this thinly veiled ruling-class effort to weaken labour’s bargaining position and roll back the European welfare state.<br />
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During a June 2011 visit to Athens Harper forcefully backed austerity measures bitterly resisted by much of the Greek population.<br />
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“I certainly admire the determination of Prime Minister Papandreou, and the very difficult actions he’s had to undertake in response to problems his government did not create. So we are very much all on his side.”<br />
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When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Ottawa in August of last year Harper reiterated his support for austerity measures. “There are additional things that have to be done” by European governments to end the continent’s economic troubles, he said.<br />
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“One of the things I appreciate about Chancellor Merkel’s leadership is the willingness, including at times of urgency and stress, to not just find any solution but to find correct and good solutions,” Harper added.<br />
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While supporting austerity measures, the Conservatives have publicly opposed efforts to tax and regulate the banks largely responsible for the economic collapse.<br />
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The Conservatives denounced efforts to better regulate speculation in international financial markets. In November 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed a tiny (ranging from .005 per cent to one per cent) tax on international financial transactions. Worried about the plight of investment bankers, Flaherty immediately dismissed the idea of a global ‘Tobin Tax’.<br />
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“That’s not something that we would want to do. We’re not in the business of raising taxes,” said Flaherty.<br />
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For his part, Harper admitted to blocking the G20′s bid for an international banking tax.<br />
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“Whether it’s taking strong and clear positions, for instance, at the G20 on something like a global financial regulation and a banking tax, we don’t just say, ‘Well, a consensus is developing for that. We’ll go along with it.’ It was not in our interest. It actually happens to be bad policy as well,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in the July 2011 issue of Maclean’s.<br />
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The Conservatives also spoke out against Washington’s late 2011 move to restrict some of the high-risk/high-return banking activities that led to the 2008 economic collapse (the so-called “Volcker rule”). Flaherty and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney both sent letters to U.S. decision-makers criticizing the reforms.<br />
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“I am writing to express my concerns regarding the proposed Volcker rule, which could have material adverse effects on Canadian financial institutions and markets,” wrote Flaherty in February 2012.<br />
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Flaherty and Carney intervened following a bid by U.S. bankers to spark international opposition to the reforms. That combined with Canadian banks owning major assets in the United States helps explain the Conservatives’ position.<br />
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The Harper government has consistently supported Canada’s banks and the global-investor class. In fact, their entire foreign policy is largely designed around the question: How can we make the world’s richest 0.1 per cent even richer?<br />
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<i>This article first appeared on <a href="http://thetyee.ca/"><b>The Tyee</b></a></i></div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-52841965053777671652013-05-25T22:20:00.002-06:002013-05-25T22:21:34.404-06:00A Cuban Spring?<div>
<b>By Roger Burbach</b></div>
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NACLA News</div>
Apr 29 2013<br />
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This is a fruitful period of experimentation and debate in Cuba. It is now almost seven years since Raúl Castro replaced his brother Fidel, first as interim president in 2006 and then as president in 2008. Under Raúl, the country is taking steps to transform the economy, and a critical discussion is erupting over the dismantling of the authoritarian Communist model. Julio Díaz Vázquez, an economist at the University of Havana, declares: “With the updating of the economic model, Cuba faces complex challenges . . . in its social and political institutions. . . . The heritage of the Soviet model makes it necessary to break with the barriers erected by inertia, intransigence, [and] a double standard.” He adds, “These imperfections have led to deficiencies in [Cuba’s] democracy, its creative liberties, and its citizens’ participation.”1<br />
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Among the most important changes that have echoed internationally is the decree that took effect January 14 allowing Cubans to travel abroad without securing a special exit permit. Also, homes and vehicles can now be bought and sold openly, recognizing private ownership for the first time since the state took control of virtually all private property in the early 1960s.<br />
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The government is distributing uncultivated land, which constitutes about half of the countryside’s agriculturally viable terrain, in usufruct for 10 years in 10-hectare parcels with the possibility of lease renewal. To date there are 172,000 new agricultural producers. Beyond agriculture, 181 occupations filled by self-employed or independent workers such as food vendors, hair stylists, taxi drivers, plumbers, and shoe repairmen can now be licensed astrabajo por cuenta propia—self-employment. As of late 2012, about 380,000 people are self-employed in a work force of 5 million.<br />
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The most dramatic move against the old economic order came in April 2011, when the Sixth Communist Party Congress issued 313 lineamientos, or guidelines. A potpourri of measures and recommendations, the document calls for autonomy for the state enterprises, an expansion of cooperatives, new taxing laws, and changes in the system of subsidies, including modification of the monthly food rationing system. The government established a committee of over 90 people, led by former minister of economy Marino Murillo, to implement the policy recommendations.<br />
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A major weakness of the lineamientos, according to Armando Nova of the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, is that they fail to tackle major macroeconomic challenges. While the lineamientos acknowledge the country’s low economic productivity, as well as large trade deficits, there is no analysis of how to overcome these systemic problems. Moreover, the lineamientos contain no overarching conceptualization of where the society is headed other than a general commitment to socialism. “What type of socialism is being referred to?” Nova asks.2 Is the new socialism akin to what Lenin outlined in the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, when Russia permitted small-scale peasant production and private businesses? What is the role of private property in Cuba, and how can a new economy curb the growth of inequality? These are all critical questions that the Sixth Party Congress failed to address.<br />
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There are, however, different schools of thought on how to move the economy forward. Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, in an essay titled “Visions of the Socialism That Guide Present-Day Changes in Cuba,” describes three different visions: (a) a statist position, largely reflecting the old guard, (b) a market socialist perspective, advanced by many economists, and (c) an autogestionario, or self-management, stance that calls for democratic and sustainable development primarily through the promotion of cooperatives.<br />
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The statists recognize that Cuba faces serious economic problems but argue that they can be corrected through a more efficient state, not through a dismantling of the state. They call for more discipline and greater efficiency among state industries and enterprises. A loosening of state control, they contend, would result in greater disorganization and even allow capitalist tendencies to emerge. This position points to the disaster that occurred in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s after an attempt to end central control over state enterprises.<br />
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The statist position is most deeply entrenched among midlevel bureaucrats and the party cadre, who fear a loss of status and income with the end of direct control over Cuba’s economy. Some heads of the Cuban military enterprises—which include food and clothing factories, as well as hotels, farms, and telecommunication stores—also manifest this tendency, although surprisingly many officers, including Raúl Castro, are in favor of decentralization and a greater use of market mechanisms.<br />
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Those committed to a socialist market economy contend that only the market can unleash Cuba’s productive forces. To increase productivity and efficiency, the state needs to grant more autonomy to enterprises and allow competitive forces to drive the market. In the short term, privatization is necessary, even if this means an increase in inequality, the exploitation of wage workers, and environmental degradation. As the country develops, the state can step in to level the differences and distribute the new surpluses to support social programs.<br />
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The economists who argue for market socialism tend to be located in what is referred to as academia—the research institutes and centers, many of which are affiliated with the University of Havana.4 Academia looks to the Chinese and Vietnamese experiences, particularly their appeal to foreign investment, although they believe that Cuba should do a better job of controlling corruption. This position also finds support among state technocrats and some managers who want to see their enterprises expand and become more profitable as they are privatized. There is also significant support for the market economy among self-employed and working people who feel that they can enjoy the material prosperity of China or the Western world only through more individual initiative and private enterprise via the market.<br />
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The autogestionario position, which Piñeiro advocates, has a fundamentally different view from the economists over how to break with the old statist model. Instead of relying on competition and the market to advance productivity, the democratic socialist values of participation, association, and solidarity should be at the heart of the workplace and the new economy. Control should not come from the top down but from the bottom up, as workers engage in self-management to further their social and economic concerns. As Piñeiro writes, “The autogestionarios emphasize the necessity of promoting a socialist conscience, solidarity, and a revolutionary commitment to the historically marginalized.” These principles can be practiced in cooperatives and municipal enterprises, leading to increased consciousness and productivity in the workplace.5<br />
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Piñeiro admits that support for the autogetionario position is less consolidated, coming from intellectuals, professionals, and those involved in the international debates over 21st-century socialism. One of the problems is that the old statist model used the terms participation, autonomy, and workers’ control to characterize the relations in the factories, enterprises, and cooperatives that operated poorly in Cuba, and this language has now fallen into disfavor. Today those who try to revive these terms are often seen as making a utopian attempt to resuscitate failed policies.<br />
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Ultimately, Piñeiro is optimistic, seeing “a new path for the nation.” It will be a hybrid composed of “a state socialism better organized, a market,” and “a truly democratic sector.”<br />
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The periodical Temas is one of the main forums for debate over the Cuban economy’s direction. As editor Rafael Hernández said in an interview in November 2012, “The process of change is slow but irreversible. The question is whether the improvement in economic conditions can be rapid enough to maintain the support of the people at the base. Cooperatives that now exist only in the agricultural sector have to expand into small manufacturing and the services.”<br />
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Hernández sees the need to engage the professional and technical sector that constitutes one quarter of the Cuban working population because of the revolution’s historical commitment to public education. He explains: “Their talents have to be harnessed to the process of economic and social change. We need a public sector, not a governmental sector.” He points to the need for elderly care facilities as an example, saying, “My mother had Alzheimer’s. I had to take care of her at home, but she would have had a better environment and perhaps even better care if doctors and medically trained personnel had been able to set up retirement homes either as cooperatives or private medical facilities paid for by some combination of government subsidies and contributions from the families.”<br />
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Hernández also argues that the magazines, newspapers, and publishing centers need to be held accountable to the public as opposed to the state. Like Temas, other periodicals should be run by workers and editorial councils in order to better respond to the public interest. The day before my interview, Temas writers and staff traveled to one of Havana’s municipalities to discuss their new issue on social development and the implications for the local residents.<br />
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A debate is also emerging in Cuba over democracy and socialism. Temas recently ran an article by Julio César Guanche, “La participación ciudadana en el estado cubano” (Citizen Participation in the Cuban State). After a lengthy discussion of the centralization of power in Cuba’s presidency and the limits of Cuba’s National Assembly of Popular Power, Guanche calls for a new “collective order” comprising “the state, the public sphere, mass organizations [and] citizen groups . . . guided by the principles of autonomy and cooperation, with the direct participation of the [popular] bases.” He argues that Cuba should draw on the “new Latin American constitutionalism” in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, where constituent assemblies were convened to draft new constitutions that embrace the principles of both representative and direct democracy. Guanche concludes his article by stating that to bring Cuban institutions up to date, and “to radicalize democratic socialism,” Cuba needs its own “national constituent process.”6<br />
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A critical question is what the updating of the Cuban economy means for social and economic equality. Will everyone advance, or will there be “winners and losers,” as under capitalism? Myra Espina Prieto, in a publication of the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, analyzes the social impact of the policies that flow from the 313 lineamientos of the Sixth Party Congress. On the positive side, she sees an increase in individual opportunities through the creation of a “multi-actor” economy that includes “mixed capital enterprises, cooperatives, the usufruct agricultural producers, self-employed workers, etc.” At the same time, she notes the “precarious” nature of many of the new forms of employment that could “increase the levels of poverty.”7 Most of the 181 occupations opened up for self-employment are low skilled and low paying, reproducing what one finds in other Latin American countries—an impoverished informal economic sector.<br />
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My personal experiences in central and old Havana corroborate her concerns. Visiting in November 2012, I noticed a significant increase since the previous April in fruit and vegetable vendors in the streets, a larger number of marginal private cafés, and people vying to enter the tourist trade, either through the offering of simple services like bicycle-taxis or, more notably, female and male sexual companionship. When I asked why this was occurring, the responses indicated many were losing their formal jobs as state enterprises were downsizing and laying off redundant workers to increase efficiency and productivity.<br />
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As Rafael Hernández says, “There is a push from below. The people have endured much since the collapse of Soviet aid, now over two decades ago. The time has come for them to experience a better life. If we can get economic results, there will be broad popular support for a corresponding participatory and democratic opening.” Julio Díaz Vázquez told me in November, “There is more critical discourse in Cuba at all levels than ever before. Now we have to see if we can end the old economic system and construct a new society.”<br />
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The times are challenging in Cuba. It may be an overused metaphor to describe a society as having a “spring.” But if some combination of the three visions can drive the Cuban economy forward, there may indeed be a Cuban spring.<br />
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1. Julio A. Díaz Vázquez, “Cuba: actualización del modelo económico-social,” Centro de Investigaciones de la Economía Internacional, Universidad de la Habana, unpublished manuscript, November 2012.<br />
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2. Armando Nova González, “Teoría y práctica en los lineamientos de la politica económica y Social,”Temas, no. 72 (October–December 2012):78.<br />
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3. Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, “Visiones sobre el socialismo que guían los cambios actuales en Cuba,” Temas, no. 70 (April–June, 2012): 46–55. Also see her edited anthology, Cooperatives and Socialism: A View From Cuba (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012).<br />
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4. Interview with Julio A. Díaz Vázquez, Havana, November 2012.<br />
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5. Piñeiro Harnecker, 50.<br />
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6. Julio César Guanche, “La participación ciudadana en el estado cubano,” Temas, no. 70 (April–June, 2012):77–78.<br />
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7. Myra Espina Prieto, “Retos y cambios en la política social,” in Pavel Vidal Alejandro, Omar Everley Perez, Villanueva , eds, Miradas a la economía cubana, el proceso de actualización (Havana: Editorial Caminos, 2012), 162, 167.<br />
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<i>Roger Burbach is the co-author with Michael Fox and Federico Fuentes of Latin America’s Turbulent Transitions: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Socialism, just released by Zed Books. To order the book, see <a href="http://futuresocialism.org/">futuresocialism.org</a>.</i>Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-13102007632231611072013-05-19T16:59:00.000-06:002013-05-19T16:59:31.691-06:00Dr. Margaret Charlotte Mahood Passes<b>Published in The The Star Phoenix on May 16, 2013</b><div>
<b>Also see </b><i><u><b><a href="http://medicare50years.blogspot.ca/2011/08/unsung-heroes-in-saskatchewans-struggle.html" target="_blank">Unsung Heroes in Saskatchewan's Struggle for Medicare</a></b></u></i></div>
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<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b><span style="font-size: x-large;">D</span>r. 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.<br /><br />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. <a name='more'></a><br />Both committed socialists, she and Ed returned to the province to play key roles in the battle for Medicare in Saskatchewan. In Saskatoon, fresh from gaining her certification in psychiatry, Margaret was one of the few doctors refusing to join the 1962 Doctors' Strike against Medicare, becoming a founding member of the Saskatoon Community Clinic. There she helped establish a group of progressive physicians from far and wide, with whom she developed strong and enduring friendships. She remained at the Clinic practicing psychiatry, served a term as its medical director, and taught psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Medicine. Throughout her professional and private life Margaret remained a determined defender of universal public health care to which she and so many others had been dedicated, joining the battle when called against those who would dismantle it.<br /><br />Over the decades Margaret and Ed strongly supported progressive causes and their home served as a meeting place for those, young and old, who were seeking to change the world. In her later years, Margaret was deeply concerned about the state of the world, and the future of the young in an increasingly cruel and conservative world.<br /><br />Margaret's progressive feminism was a focus of her life, professional, social, and political. She was among the first small group of women psychiatrists practicing in Canada. She emphasized the community, cultural, and social determinants of health in general, and mental health in particular. In her professional and social life she became an important mentor to many younger women. She was an avid pro-choice advocate, not only as a psychiatrist, but as a woman and mother active in the political life of her community. She participated in the Abortion Caravan in 1970, a key political event in women winning freedom of choice in Canada. Throughout her life she remained a staunch advocate, in both professional and public fora, of women's rights, including reproductive choice.<br /><br />Margaret was a woman of many interests. She read avidly and widely until her eyes failed her in her last years. She loved to travel, enjoying a year in New York in 1947 while Ed completed his doctorate at Columbia. There she acquired a lifelong love of opera. In 1961, she joined Ed in the Middle East where he was establishing UN-sponsored teacher training for Palestinian refugees. In 1971, they revisited the Middle East and sailed down the African coast to South Africa. During these intrepid travels, Margaret immersed herself in the history, culture, and politics of the areas. She and Ed made enduring friendships and became committed supporters of the Palestinian and anti-apartheid struggles.<br /><br />Margaret loved art and she encouraged and supported local Saskatchewan artists. She was a dedicated letter-writer up until her health deserted her, receiving correspondence from all over the world, and meticulously responding in her own hand. vp+3In 1993, Margaret and Ed moved to Regina from Saskatoon, the city they loved best. Ed died shortly thereafter and Margaret built a new and varied life in Regina, making new friends and devoting herself to her interests. She enrolled in classes at the Seniors' Centre, never missing a class on the Middle East. She maintained a lively interest in politics, and was not shy in sharing her strong opinions. Family dinners continued to be lively debates about politics and the state of the world, with Margaret sharing readings and newspaper clippings with those she thought needed education.<br /><br />Margaret was an engaging, intellectually curious, and formidable woman of her time, and of our time, right to the end. Those who had the privilege to know her will never forget her. Those who had the privilege to love her, and be loved by her, enjoyed a rare blessing.<br /><br />She is predeceased by her parents, lifetime partner Ed, and dear sister Jean (Doodie) Kilcoyne. She is survived by her sister Mary Jamieson of Sherwood Park; her son, Robert Mahood of Montreal and his four daughters [Meaghen Hogg, Marie-Laure Mahood (Andy McKenna), Juliana Mahood, Marjolaine Mahood]; and her daughter, Sally Mahood of Regina (John Conway), and their four children [Liam Conway (Vicki), Aidan Conway (Melissa Compain), Kieran Conway and Meara Conway]; and five great- grandchildren, Dervla, Aengus, Finn, Lena, and Margot.<br /><br />A Memorial Celebration of Margaret's life will be held at "The Artful Dodger," 1631 11th Avenue, Regina, Saturday, May 25, 2013, Come and Go 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. with Program at 2:00 p.m. <br /><br />Donations, in lieu of flowers can be made to any of the following:<br />Canadian Physicians for Medicare, 340 Harbord St., Toronto, Ontario, M6G 1H4<br />Saskatoon Community Clinic, 455 2nd Ave N, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C2<br />Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, <a href="http://www.badil.org/">www.badil.org</a><br />Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, <a href="http://www.cjpme.org/">www.cjpme.org</a><br />Station 20 West - 1120 20th St. W., Saskatoon, SK, S7M OY8 <br /><br /><br /></div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-53543156139292072552013-05-05T22:38:00.000-06:002013-05-05T22:38:11.223-06:00Ohio<br />
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SADLY, NEIL YOUNG’S OHIO STILL RELEVANT 43 YEARS AFTER KENT STATE MASSACRE</h1>
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<b>Rob McGuire</b>, <i><u><a href="http://artthreat.net/" target="_blank">A</a></u></i><span style="font-size: 14.5px;"><i><u><a href="http://artthreat.net/" target="_blank">rt Threat,</a></u></i> </span><span style="font-size: 14.5px;">May 4, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.5px;">It was 43 years ago today that </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings" style="-webkit-transition: 0.4s; color: #ed3f7a; font-size: 14.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.4s;">four students were killed</a><span style="font-size: 14.5px;"> 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 </span><em style="font-size: 14.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_(Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_%26_Young_song)" style="-webkit-transition: 0.4s; color: #ed3f7a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.4s;">Ohio</a></em><span style="font-size: 14.5px;">, which was recorded and heard on the radio within weeks of the incident.</span></div>
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In his liner notes for the song on his later <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Decade</em> 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, <a href="http://bccla.org/2013/04/montreals-crackdown-on-dissent-has-no-place-in-a-free-and-democratic-canada/" style="-webkit-transition: 0.4s; color: #ed3f7a; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.4s;">including here in Canada</a> let us make sure we do not forget this lesson.</div>
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Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-82245770130901405572013-04-30T00:06:00.001-06:002013-04-30T22:50:52.961-06:00May Day Posters, 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>See May Day Posters <i><u><a href="http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/may-day-posters-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a> </u></i>and <i><u><a href="http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.ca/2011/04/may-day-poster-art-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a></u></i></b><br />
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<br />Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-69148132581651151632013-04-29T23:33:00.000-06:002013-04-29T23:33:02.647-06:00Retro Waffle: "For a Socialist New Brunswick":<i><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: x-large;">The New Brunswick Waffle, 1967-1972</span></i><div>
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<b>Patrick Webber</b><br />University of New Brunswick<br /><br /><b><i>Abstract</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDUka_wczng8AvYfZRb1TaROYUdCY2JUl5DsDmcaXPHdXNsILy-SjIMlzLrsEqH2N1fjmyQYtvSe0A1jVbGqyWsPiGZxMtMU1eEj6J1T29LaV9tBJFXZbYPxhnR7zj_CwBI9u_zAPUPH56/s1600/dimensioncropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDUka_wczng8AvYfZRb1TaROYUdCY2JUl5DsDmcaXPHdXNsILy-SjIMlzLrsEqH2N1fjmyQYtvSe0A1jVbGqyWsPiGZxMtMU1eEj6J1T29LaV9tBJFXZbYPxhnR7zj_CwBI9u_zAPUPH56/s320/dimensioncropped.jpg" width="213" /></a><i>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.</i><br /><br />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.</div>
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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.</div>
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<b>Read the full article <u><i><a href="http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis/article/view/12471/13392" target="_blank">HERE</a></i></u>.</b></div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-88496695600726923122013-04-29T23:19:00.002-06:002013-04-29T23:21:21.150-06:00Building Workers’ Power: ITUC May Day statement 2013<b><i><u><a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/" target="_blank">International Trade Union Confederation</a></u></i></b><br />
29 April 2013<br />
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<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/building-workers-power-ituc-may"><img src="http://www.ituc-csi.org/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH258/arton13157-64e4a.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>orking 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<b>We must build workers’ power.</b><br />
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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.<br />
Where governments turn their backs on working people, unions must organise.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.</div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-79128170252193852242013-04-29T23:09:00.000-06:002013-04-29T23:09:08.316-06:00May Day Regina!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OhVe2atPJwb26HJ9PcntekpEObFlkgt7PQ1WzQ3delBM7VKVruqOzWL06EHhyGEuJJvl5rUl317reWFIi3Arqr4_nPGr8QpBobenc1RY7M2oClY3LghM8HCTcJ4o2ff9J984jPF4ni0h/s1600/MAY-DAY-2013-POSTER-SK-SMALL(1)+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OhVe2atPJwb26HJ9PcntekpEObFlkgt7PQ1WzQ3delBM7VKVruqOzWL06EHhyGEuJJvl5rUl317reWFIi3Arqr4_nPGr8QpBobenc1RY7M2oClY3LghM8HCTcJ4o2ff9J984jPF4ni0h/s640/MAY-DAY-2013-POSTER-SK-SMALL(1)+copy.jpg" width="416" /></a></div>
<br />Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-66756990032913686422013-04-29T23:00:00.001-06:002013-04-29T23:01:44.101-06:00Saskatchewan: A Beachhead of Labour Law Reform?<b>By Andrew Stevens</b><br />
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<i><u><a href="http://rankandfile.ca/">RankandFile.ca</a></u></i><br />
April 29,2013<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPAxNb9bZdqSYjKHTsP6rA2HItZx1wa_7KJLFIugnCo0nHUKf9jtyqpVN7SQX2UdReffZBUUpb5rTqQXULLzc9y1QE6BA9kXwJIqMnih6np8XrviUSg1vLdt2vp30gqVzJRzF8KLMhqAp/s1600/MAY-DAY-BANNER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPAxNb9bZdqSYjKHTsP6rA2HItZx1wa_7KJLFIugnCo0nHUKf9jtyqpVN7SQX2UdReffZBUUpb5rTqQXULLzc9y1QE6BA9kXwJIqMnih6np8XrviUSg1vLdt2vp30gqVzJRzF8KLMhqAp/s400/MAY-DAY-BANNER.jpg" width="400" /></a>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 <br />
Brad Wall, insists that the changes will simply modernize and simplify a dozen pieces of existing legislation into a single, omnibus employment act.</div>
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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.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn1">[1]</a> 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?<br />
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As the birthplace of public healthcare and the country's first Bill of Rights, Saskatchewan has produced some of the most progressive legislation in Canada. With the passage of the Trade Union Act in 1944, the province became the first jurisdiction to grant public sector employees the right to unionize. Modeled on the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) in the United States, the Trade Union Act represented a pioneering change in Saskatchewan's economic and labour relations landscape. In the words of Bob Sass, a leading architect of Saskatchewan's modern health and safety legislation, the Act was seen as a “beacon” for labour unions elsewhere in Canada.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn2">[2]</a> Indeed, Saskatchewan has served as a beachhead for groundbreaking developments in industrial relations legislation and practice. For this reason trade unions and workers outside the province should pay attention to developments currently unfolding in Saskatchewan.<br />
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<b>Labour Law Battleground</b><br />
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Of course, the TUA has always been a contested terrain in the province's political arena. Above all else the Act enshrines fundamental labour rights and entitlements that need to be protected, reformed, or reversed, as the respective political ideology dictates. In the 1960s, after two decades of CCF-NDP governance, the Liberal government under Premier Ross Thatcher made significant amendments to the TUA and even revoked the right of public sector workers to strike. Many of these changes were reversed by the NDP under the leadership of Alan Blakeney throughout the 1970s. However, an anti-labour campaign was waged again with the election of Grant Devine and the Progressive Conservatives in 1982. Under Devine, Saskatchewan launched an assault on trade unions and many of the privileges secured by the TUA. In fact, the province served as an early beachhead for neo-conservatism as progressive labour legislation was ripped apart.<br />
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Current reforms being introduced by the Saskatchewan Party are reminiscent of the Devine period. During the closing days of the legislative session in 1983, the Tories introduced Bill 104, which contained eighteen amendments to the TUA. The labour movement rallied against the proposed changes, whereas the business community and Minister of Labour at the time claimed that the reforms were “moderate” and long “overdue.” Not unlike the language of right-to-work proponents in Canada today, the Bill was said to restore the “rights of the minority... trampled by the previous law.”<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn3">[3]</a><br />
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One of Bill 104's amendments provided for the exclusion of employees from a bargaining unit if she or he “is an integral part of the employer's management.” In other words, the reforms suggested broadening the definition of manager and pushing a greater number of employees out-of-scope. Today, Bill 85 contains parallel proposals. Interestingly, the North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) has recently demanded similar changes, and even made reference in a report to the Devine era as a model.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn4">[4]</a><br />
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Bill 104 also provided for the expansion of management rights, not unlike the 2008 amendments from Bill 6 that gave employers the right to communicate with employees during a union campaign, short of intimidation and coercion. These were all part of the Devine government's “open for business” strategy of economic revitalization. It's worth noting that Devine's economic policies were a resounding disaster.<br />
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Today, Saskatchewan is undergoing a “Devine Redux” of sorts. The Saskatchewan Employment Act (SEA) channels over 900 pages of legislation into one, 184 page document. Supposedly the SEA was crafted in a four-month period between July and December of 2012, but rumours suggest that the legislation was drafted well before the government commenced its consultation process on May 1, 2012. Premier Brad Wall insists that the legislation will pass before summer, despite protest from trade unions and members of the public. Unlike the Devine Tories, the current government has been careful to constrain its anti-union animus despite the overlapping objectives. But make no mistake, the Saskatchewan Party has singled out organized labour more than any other group in the province, and labour reforms introduced since 2007 will certainly be remembered as the defining characteristic of Wall's government.<br />
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Only months after winning the 2007 provincial election, the Saskatchewan Party introduced a series of changes to labour legislation, the most important of which was Bill 5 (Public Service Essential Services Act) and Bill 6 (Trade Union Amendment Act). Bill 5 provided public sector employers the power to deem certain services as essential, with no recourse for appeal by unions or employees. Workers who fall into these categories are prohibited from withholding their labour in the event of a strike. Bill 6, meanwhile, ended the card check certification process and granted employers the right to communicate facts and opinions to workers during union campaigns. The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) quickly launched an appeal and in February of 2012, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denis Ball overturned Bill 5, but dismissed the SFL's appeal against Bill 6. With regards to the PSESA, Ball's conclusion was critical: that workers have a constitutional right to strike in order to bargain collectively. The government appealed Ball's ruling less than a month later.<br />
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Near the end of the spring legislative session in 2010, the government passed into law Bill 80, “An Act to amend the Construction Industry Labour Relations Act,” which ended the mandatory craft-based union representation model that had been in place since 1992. Bill 80 allowed any trade union to organize a company on a multi-trade and “all employee” basis. Construction industry groups and employers supported the legislation, while labour organizations feared that Bill 80 was simply a means of allowing allegedly pro-business unions, like the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC), access to the building trades. It's worth mentioning that there has not been a strike in the construction industry for almost twenty years, and that employers continue to benefit from a booming real estate market in the province.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn5">[5]</a> For unions, this was another parallel with the Grant Devine government, which had crippled the building trades three decades earlier through legislative “reforms.”<br />
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During the 2011 election campaign, Premier Brad Wall remarked on his Twitter feed that he was “Open to unions collecting their own dues.”<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn6">[6]</a> Eventually the Premier backtracked and suggested instead that certain groups, like young people, ought to be given a break from union dues. No other references to labour law reforms were made during the campaign. By May of 2012, Minister of Labour and Workplace Safety, Don Morgan, commenced a public consultation process that aimed at modernizing the province's employment standards and labour relations legislation. Not a single public forum or hearing was convened as part of the process.<br />
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Brad Wall's “open for business” attitude is gazed upon with envious eyes across the country. After all, Saskatchewan's economy has continued to grow despite the global economic slump. Some estimates even suggest that the prairie province will lead the country in wage growth throughout 2013.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn7">[7]</a> As the debate over Bill 85 draws to a close, it's important for trade unions and workers to examine the extent to which Saskatchewan might serve as an example for standards of reform in jurisdictions where trade unions have a similar political and historical significance. For Tim Hudak, the leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives, Saskatchewan represents a beacon for economic and regulatory changes.<br />
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<b>Tearing Down Regulatory Barriers</b><br />
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In 2011, the Ontario Tories released their white paper on labour law reform, “Paths to Prosperity: Flexible Labour Markets.” Ontario Tory leader Tim Hudak has used the paper as a foundation for his campaign to introduce right-to-work legislation, amongst other changes. Modernizing labour laws and workplace regulations, Hudak insists, will provide a cure for the economic malaise facing Ontario, particularly the province's ailing manufacturing sector. As the report reads: “British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan have agreed to tear down rigid labour and regulatory barriers in a bid to create the most open and competitive economies in the country. So far, they are succeeding.” Hudak exaggerates the extent of reforms being proposed in Saskatchewan, of course, but the intent is clear.<br />
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According to the Tory white paper, Saskatchewan's competitive advantage has developed because of the government's confrontation with organized labour and trade union legislation. What the paper neglects to acknowledge is that the provinces with the highest union density rates – namely Newfoundland and Saskatchewan – have been leading in economic growth and wages; the exception, of course, is Alberta, where the province is suffering from a crippling multi-billion dollar deficit. Ontario's Tory leader is also silent on Saskatchewan's reliance on oil and potash royalties, as well as dividends extracted from the province's successful Crown corporations initially created by CCF and NDP governments.<br />
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It's worth noting that the Saskatchewan Party backed away from challenging the dues check-off issue, despite appeals from organizations like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Even before Bill 85 was considered for debate, Don Morgan made it clear that the government was not going to embark on right-to-work style legislation. His rationale for the decision was made clear in March, 2013, when the Minister remarked that challenging the Rand Formula convention would likely end up at the Supreme Court – a battle he feared the government might lose.<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn8">[8]</a> It is also the case that public opinion, trade unions, and even a majority of businesses and business lobby groups are opposed to challenging the dues check-off question. Indeed, Saskatchewan has already served as a litmus test for right-to-work in the public sphere.<br />
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Whether or not conservative politicians like Tim Hudak will continue to draw inspiration from Saskatchewan on how to transform labour legislation remains to be seen. But the province has shown that public support for extreme anti-union measures, like right-to-work, is not as secure as business groups and their political allies anticipated. How the SEA will affect trade union influence and collective bargaining is also uncertain. And, unlike Hudak, Wall's political strategy includes making progressive changes like indexing minimum wage to inflation and introducing stiffer penalties for health and safety violations. Nevertheless, the outcome of a comprehensive piece of employment standards legislation will be a useful test for both labour organizations and businesses elsewhere in Canada, particularly Ontario. Whether or not the SEA serves as a beacon for business, or as a model of balance and compromise, is yet to be determined.<br />
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Another historical moment in Saskatchewan arrived on April 26, 2013, when the Court of Appeal ultimately overturned Justice Ball's 2012 ruling. The court decided that thePSESA is constitutionally valid, and upheld the government's strict regulations on the right of public sector workers to strike. As the decision reads, “In 1987, the Supreme Court rule that freedom of association does not comprehend the right to strike. Its decisions on this point have never been overturned.”<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#fn9">[9]</a> The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour now has sixty days to apply for an appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada. Too much is at stake for the SFL to pass this over. Depending on how the next phase of this struggle progresses, Saskatchewan might serve as a beachhead for critical developments in labour legislation and the rights of workers to strike.<br />
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Finally, what lessons can be learned from the labour movement's response to the labour law reform? For the most part, resistance to Bills 5 and 6 has been predominately waged in the courtroom. The SFL, and its constituent union members, also launched a media and public relations campaign against Bill 85, as well as the handful of reforms introduced since 2007. The NDP's strategy included province-wide town halls aimed at gathering public input on the government's consultation paper and reforms. Business groups also held their own public forums, and it's likely that their cold reception to the most drastic proposed changes, like ending dues check-off, had a significant taming effect on Bill 85. However, on-the-ground militancy and rank-and-file mobilization has been minimal. This is partly attributable to Brad Wall's immense popularity in the province, even amongst union members, and his gradualist strategy of chiseling away at trade union influence. What the Saskatchewan example offers is a case of resurrecting older, Devine-era reforms, in a modern and well-polished package. Such is the lesson that this province provides for business groups and organized labour throughout Canada. •<br />
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<i>Andrew Stevens is a faculty member at the University of Regina and co-editor of <a href="http://rankandfile.ca/">rankandfile.ca</a>.</i><br />
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<b>Endnotes:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref1">1.</a> Freeman, Sunny (2013) “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/09/bill-85-saskatchewan-employment-act_n_3039850.html">Bill 85, Saskatchewan Employment Act, erodes union power, sets new tone for labour relations in Canada</a>,” Huffingtonpost, April 9, (accessed April 24, 2013).<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref2">2.</a> Sass, Bob (1985) “The Saskatchewan Trade Union Act. 1983: The Public Battle,” Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 40:3, 591-622.<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref3">3.</a> Ibid.<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref4">4.</a> North Saskatoon Business Association (2012) “Submission re LRWS consultation paper: Labour law renewal,” July 12.<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref5">5.</a> Parker, Terry (2009) “<a href="http://www2.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=b3593779">Bill 80 divisive, unneeded in Sask</a>,” The StarPhoenix, September 17, (accessed April 28, 2013); see also Government of Saskatchewan (n.d.) “<a href="http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=abd6b9b4-d928-416b-91ed-25ceaf36fbe0">Construction Industrial Labour Relations Act Amendments (Bill 80) proclaimed</a>,” (accessed April 28, 2013).<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref6">6.</a> CBC News (2011) “<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/skvotes2011/story/2011/11/01/sk-union-dues-1110.html">Unions unhappy with dues collection proposal</a>,” November 1, (accessed April 24, 2013).<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref7">7.</a> Conference Board of Canada (2012) <a href="http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=5260">Industrial relations outlook 2013: Embracing the “new normal”</a>, (accessed April 24, 2013).<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref8">8.</a> Panel session (2013) “Reflections on Reform: The Future of Saskatchewan Labour Legislation,” March 2, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.<br />
<a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/812.php#ref9">9.</a> <a href="http://sasklawcourts.ca/images/documents/Appeal/2013SKCA043.pdf">Government of Saskatchewan v Saskatchewan Federation of Labour</a>, 2013 SKCA 43, (accessed 26 April 2013).</div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-4055236375568496402013-04-28T22:59:00.000-06:002013-04-28T22:59:18.166-06:00Regina May Day Rally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-43503351437510494962013-04-28T21:02:00.001-06:002013-04-28T21:02:44.152-06:00SFL: Saskatchewan people have a constitutional right to strike<b>Saskatchewan Federation of Labour</b><br />
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April 26, 2013<br />
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<i>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…<br />- Court of Appeal, paragraph 67</i><br />
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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.<br />
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“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.”<br />
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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.<br />
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“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.</div>
Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-69983095044171343622013-04-28T20:42:00.001-06:002013-04-28T20:42:41.039-06:00Bush Library: Brazen attempt to rewrite history<b>BY <a href="http://peoplesworld.org/pw-editorial-board">PW EDITORIAL BOARD</a></b><div>
APRIL 26, 2013</div>
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<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span>ith 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<a name='more'></a><br /><br />"Bush made lots of presidential decisions," right wing pundit Charles Krauthammer opined yesterday on Fox. To all of this we say, "So what? What other kinds of decisions would a president make? The issue is not whether Bush was a major decision maker but what kinds of decisions he made.<br /><br />He could have decided not to challenge recounts in Florida all the way up to the Supreme Court and allow the man who won the majority of votes in 2000 to become president of the United States or he could have decided to push the issue until the court intervened on his behalf and installed him into the presidency. He decided to push and we ended up with an unelected president. Wrong decision.<br /><br />After 9/11 he could have decided to invade Iraq or he could have decided not to invade Iraq. He made the decision that cost thousands of American lives, a million Iraqi lives and perhaps more than a trillion dollars. Wrong decision.<br /><br />He could have decided to tell the truth about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or he could have lied about them. He decided to lie. Wrong decision.<br /><br />As Hurricane Katrina neared New Orleans he could have decided to monitor and take charge of the crisis or he could have decided to attend Sen. John McCain's birthday party. He decided to go to the party. Wrong decision.<br /><br />He could have decided to fight for more regulation of Wall Street or he could have decided on less regulation. He went for less regulation and soon there was a total meltdown in the financial markets. Wrong decision.<br /><br />He could have decided to give tax breaks to the rich or he could have decided not to give tax breaks to the rich. He decided on the tax breaks and plunged the economy into its worse crisis since the Great Depression. Wrong decision.<br /><br />He could have decided to rewrite U.S foreign policy along the neo-con lines advocated by Dick Cheney, his pick for Vice President, or he could have decided not to do that. He decided to go the neo-con way with unilateral intervention in battles underway all around the world. Wrong decision..<br /><br />He could have decided to hookup with the super rich and their efforts to buy lawmakers all over the country or he could have decided not to do that. He decided to do it by putting Karl Rove in charge of everything in that department, including his own reelection effort. Wrong decision.<br /><br />The Bush library devotes a huge amount of space to what most say were his good efforts to fight AIDS in Africa. When all else fails the right wing Bush legacy rehabilitation teams point to the former president's support for the efforts to fight the disease as proof of his humanitarianism.<br /><br />On this issue they fail to mention, however, that it was the Congressional Black Caucus that played the leading roll. It was the African American lawmakers who first raised the issue with the former president and who developed and drew up a program and a plan to deliver the help that saved millions of lives.<br /><br />Adding to our outrage about the new Presidential library is the announcement that many of the records on storage there, even those covered under the Freedom of Information Act, will not be available to the public for at least ten years, if not longer.<br /><br />No "library" operates this way. But we shouldn't be surprised. The Bush Library is nothing more than an expensive attempt to rewrite history - an attmpt to turn a failed president into a "statesesman" who had to make a lot of "decisions." That effort, we believe, like the Bush presidency itself, will fail. The American people will make sure of it., The memory of the American people can be counted on.</div>
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Next Year Countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08057931166900219143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7076784298036657874.post-85782596901285960782013-04-22T22:45:00.001-06:002013-04-22T22:45:34.274-06:00 Justin Trudeau, the boy king<b>BY MURRAY DOBBIN</b><div>
<i><a href="http://rabble.ca/">RABBLE.CA</a></i></div>
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APRIL 22, 2013</div>
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<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>here 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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<a name='more'></a><br /><br />Trudeau's interview with Peter Mansbridge -- one of the few situations where his advisors weren't holding his hand and telling him what to say -- should terrify all those who voted for him. In one (250 word) answer, to a question on the Boston terror bombing, Trudeau repeated the teenager' sfavourite phrase "you know" eight times and "I mean" four times. This level of political immaturity and inarticulateness is normally expected of people who devote virtually no time to thinking about politics. Here's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/mitch-wolfe/trudeau-boston-bombings_b_3106351.html">an excerpt</a> -- Trudeau's answer to the question what would Trudeau do if he were prime minister. Read it and weep.<br /><br />"First thing, you offer support and sympathy and condolences and, you know, can we send down, you know, EMTs or, I mean, as we contributed after 9/11? I mean, is there any material immediate support we have we can offer? And then at the same time, you know, over the coming days, we have to look at the root causes. Now we don't know now whether it was, you know, terrorism or a single crazy or, you know, a domestic issue or a foreign issue, I mean, all of those questions. But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded, completely at war with innocents, at war with a society... I mean, yes, we need to make sure that we're promoting security and we're, you know, keeping our borders safe and, you know, monitoring the kinds of, you know, violent subgroups that happen around..."<br /><br />Violent subgroups that happen around? Who talks like this? It is hard to imagine that Justin's father ever talked like this -- even at age five. This is a man revealed as one who may well be incapable of mature political behaviour let alone good political judgement. Harper smacked him around like a cat playing with a mouse before tiring of the game and finishing it off. <br /><br />It's not just the content of the response, which is bad enough, but the inability to express coherent thoughts. Trudeau seemed to be mistaking a ruthless mass murderer for a violent kid who grew up in a bad home. His response is so far removed from what the vast majority of people feel about the issue that you have to wonder what, exactly, informs his opinions. The most rudimentary political instincts should have kicked in even if his advisors failed him.<br /><br />And this wasn't a momentary scrum with a few reporters. This was an interview with Peter Mansbridge -- the most valuable showcase any Canadian political leader can be provided. Liberals know that Stephen Harper will spend millions, if he has to, to define who Trudeau is before Trudeau can. This was Trudeau's big opportunity to define himself as a man of substance, with a vision, and someone who could represent Canada on the world stage.<br /><br />Apparently we need to go elsewhere for Trudeau's substance and it seems he wants us to accept the theme from his leadership campaign and post-victory musings: that he is dedicated to Canada’s middle class. There is no doubt that the middle class (56 per cent of Canadians identify themselves as such), has suffered -- "hollowed out" -- since the 1980s.<br /><br />In 1972, 56 per cent of all income went to the middle 60 per cent of Canadian families; in 2006 it was just 53 per cent. In the 1970s, 30 per cent of middle class families needed two incomes to maintain that status. Today that figure is 70 per cent. <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/what-middle-class">Since the early 1980s the middle class has gained virtually nothing</a> from economic growth.<br /><br />What accounts for this dramatic decline in the class of people who used to define the nation? In a word, globalization, and the public policies which stem from it and helped create it. Amongst those policies are free trade, lowered labour standards, passive acceptance of de-industrialization, the weakening of labour vis a vis capital through cuts to EI and welfare, the virtual abandonment of industrial policies to promote high paying jobs, the use of "temporary" foreign workers, cuts to the "social wage" -- things like post-secondary education, and the transfer of wealth to the uber-rich from the middle class.<br /><br />All of these policies have been eagerly embraced by the Liberal Party ever since Jean Chretien reneged on his 1993 election promise to revisit NAFTA. Paul Martin’s singular economic policy was trade, he deliberately maintained high unemployment through most of the 1990s to "discipline labour" (including the middle class), cut government revenue by $100 billion over five years, gutted the UI program and abandoned the federal role in the provision of social welfare and effectively put an end to universality as a principle for post-secondary education and any new social programs<br /><br />In <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/justin-trudeau-why-its-vital-we-support-the-middle-class/article11209063/">an article</a> in the Globe and Mail, Trudeau does manage to identify some of these trials of the middle class: "While the economy has more than doubled in size in the past 30 years, middle-class incomes have gone up just 13 per cent." But nowhere does he criticize his Liberal predecessors’ policies which created this situation. He commits to a new "national focus" on education yet not funding for it. But it was Paul Martin’s unprecedented spending cuts which precipitated the huge increases in tuition fees and massive student debt.<br /><br />What Trudeau seems unwilling to admit is that the slow demise of the middle class is the result of corporate globalization and to revive middle class fortunes means a direct challenge of all of globalization’s elements. Will he reverse any of these classic Liberal policies and if so which ones? Will he oppose any further trade deals? Will he try to re-industrialize through a massive renewable energy strategy? Will he revive the federal government’s previous role in funding universities? Will he reverse the gutting of EI? Will he tax wealth?<br /><br />Don't hold your breath. The real Trudeau is the empty vessel interviewed by Peter Mansbridge and that means the party is in the hands of the same hypocritical apparatchiks who wrote -- and then casually betrayed -- the rosey promises in Jean Chretien's 1993 Red Book. Welcome back to the future.<br /><br /><i>Murray Dobbin is a guest senior contributing editor for rabble.ca, and has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for 40 years. He writes rabble's bi-weekly <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/murray-dobbin/2012/03/columnists/2012/03/columnists/2012/03/columnists/2012/02/columnists/2012/02/columnists/2012/02/columnists/2012/01/columnists/2012/01/taxonomy/term/366">State of the Nation</a> column, which is also found at <a href="http://www.thetyee.ca/">The Tyee</a>.</i></div>
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