1-09-06, 8:40 am

Strengthen Canadian sovereignty – people’s needs before corporate greed

Canadian sovereignty is under threat from U.S. domination as never before. We need new alternative polices that place the needs and concerns of working people ahead of the selfish interests of big business. This will require a broad plan for economic and social development and an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament to achieve the following goals.

Get out of NAFTA – reject corporate 'globalization'

Block moves towards ‘continental integration’ under U.S. domination. Curb and reverse the expansion of U.S. and other transnational corporate control over key sectors of the domestic economy. Pull Canada out of unequal and disastrous trade deals such as NAFTA and oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Promote diverse, multilateral, and mutually beneficial trade based on respect for the economic, social and cultural sovereignty of all countries.

Reverse de-industrialization

Canada’s decisive industries – centred in auto and steel production – are under grave threat. Take immediate urgent measures to protect and build these cornerstones of our wealth-producing economic base. Use tariff, currency exchange and other trade controls to protect jobs and prevent plant closures. Limit and reduce foreign ownership. Stop corporate giveaways; guarantee that any government assistance to large corporations be tied to clear production and job requirements, and the right to seize corporate assets for non-fulfillment. Increase employer-paid severance pay and retraining and change bankruptcy laws to ensure that workers' wages and pensions are protected first, not last. Hold public tribunals on plant closures with the power to restrict capital flight and to force corporations to show 'just cause.' Legislate a two-year notice of mass lay-offs.

Develop environmentally-sound primary industries, manufacturing, and housing. Canada needs a merchant marine, and stronger machine tool, ship-building, agricultural implement and appliance industries to build the country and to create good jobs today and into the future. Promote industries adding value to products that otherwise would be exported as raw, undeveloped resources. Use export taxes and quotas to ration non-renewable resources such as oil and gas and to lower energy costs in Canada.

Better jobs and living standards

Create jobs! Legislate a 32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay and no loss in service to the public; ban compulsory overtime; raise statutory paid vacations to four weeks. Early voluntary retirement at the age of 60; substantially increase pensions. Guarantee benefits for part-time, home-based and contract workers. Raise the federal minimum wage to $12/hour. Stop government theft of the EI fund; set Employment Insurance benefits at 90% of previous earnings for the duration of unemployment. Rebuild social programs and publicinfrastructure. Spend at least 1% of the federal budget on social, cooperative, and non-profit housing. Enact a fair wage policy and full pay and employment equity for women workers. Promote small-scale worker-run cooperatives.

Nationalize oil and gas

Place an immediate cap on energy prices, especially for home heating, and enact a 100% tax on the windfall profits of the oil monopolies. Reverse the privatization of PetroCanada and the sale of Terasen Gas as the first step to nationalizing the oil and gas industry, including the Athabasca oil sands. Oppose the privatization and deregulation of hydro and other public energy utilities across Canada. Stop privatization – extend public ownership & democratic control

No privatization or contracting-out of health, education and other public services. Stop P3s (Public-Private Partnerships) in hospitals and other institutions. Reverse the privatization of Air Canada and CN Rail. Prevent the takeover and export of Canada's water! Put the banking and insurance system under public ownership and democratic control. Restore funding for the CBC, the arts and Canadian culture.

Defend Medicare

Reverse the creeping privatization of public health care, and its reversion to a U.S.-style two-tiered system. Block provincial attacks on Medicare; strengthen and enforce the Canada Health Act, and commit to a major reinvestment in the system. Halt and reverse the spread of private, for-profit clinics! Implement the Romanow recommendations as a first step. Scrap the Drug Patent Act (which guarantees mega-profits for the big drug companies, and high costs for health care), and build a publicly-owned pharmaceutical sector. Introduce universal eye-, pharma- and denti-care. Stop the 'war on drugs'; treat addiction as a medical problem, not a criminal act.

End poverty – improve pensions & social programs

Take immediate action to combat the scourge of poverty in Canada, especially among Aboriginal peoples, new immigrants, women, youth and seniors. Commit to major reinvestment in social services. Re-establish tied funding to provinces for health, education, social housing and welfare, and enhance all Canada standards, while ensuring that Quebec retains control and administration of its own programs. Maintain equalization payments to provinces. Establish a publicly funded and administrated system of universal, quality, not-for-profit child care with Canada-wide standards. Improve wages for childcare workers. No more delays! Stop the war against the poor, ban 'workfare' and introduce a universal minimum liveable income. Protect and expand the public pension system. Extend full benefits and official recognition for Aboriginal, Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion (Spain – 1936-38), and WWII merchant marine veterans.

Tax the greedy, not the needy

Create a truly progressive tax system, based on ability to pay! Increase the corporate tax rate to 29%, and tax 100% of capital gains, both realized and unrealized. Substantially increase taxes on resource extraction. End tax loopholes and shelters; collect deferred corporate taxes and tax the speculators. Impose a special 'windfall profit tax' on large oil and other resource companies. Jail terms for corporate tax evaders! Eliminate taxes on incomes under $35,000/yr. Scrap the regressive GST. Impose wealth and inheritance taxes on estates over $750,000.

Reject the U.S. war machine

Adopt an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament. Demand immediate US and UK withdrawal from Iraq, and oppose any new military aggression. Respect international law — reject imperialist policies of 'humanitarian' intervention, 'regime change' and 'pre-emptive' aggression. Demand an end to 'Missile Defence' and the weaponization of space; oppose the new U.S. arms build-up; support the global abolition of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Pull Canadian forces out of Afghanistan and Haiti, and get out of the NATO and NORAD military alliances. Welcome U.S. war resisters to Canada. Reduce the military budget by 50%, converting military to civilian jobs.

Strengthen our historic friendship and trade with Cuba and expand relations with other developing countries. Support a just peace in the Middle East based on UN Resolutions calling for an immediate and total withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories and the formation of an independent Palestinian state. Cancel Third World debts.

Justice for Aboriginal peoples and Quebec

The ‘crisis of Confederation’ can only be resolved through the drafting and adoption of a new, democratic constitution based on an equal and voluntary partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and English-speaking Canada, recognizing the national rights of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec to self-determination, up to and including secession. Rescind the ‘Clarity’ Act. Abolish the Senate. Remove vestiges of colonialism from all federal legislation; act now for just settlement of Aboriginal land claims, including natural resource-sharing agreements. Take emergency action to improve living conditions, employment, health and housing of Aboriginal peoples.

Full equality for women

Close the wage gap — legislate full pay and employment equity for working women. Guarantee accessible and publicly funded abortion and reproductive rights services in every province and territory. End violence against women. Provide adequate funding for crisis centres and transition houses. Establish a publicly financed system of universal, public, quality, not-for profit childcare with Canada wide standards. Improve wages for childcare workers. Protect women's right to EI maternity coverage; expand parental benefits to 52 weeks. Fund equality-seeking women's groups. Develop a cross-Canada data-base of missing women.

A future for youth - Education for all!

Increase federal support for education at all levels; rollback and eliminate tuition fees for post-secondary education. Shift from loans to grants for student assistance. Significantly increase funding and access to training and apprenticeship programs. Build better schools and colleges, not more prisons and 'boot camps.' Lower the voting age to 16 years.

Fight racism and discrimination

Oppose all forms of racism and discrimination. Strengthen and enforce affirmative action and employment equity programs for Aboriginal peoples, people of colour, and people with disabilities. No one is illegal; reverse cuts to legal aid and stop deportations of immigrants and refugees. End the racist immigration quota system which discriminates against people from developing countries. Ban all discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Guarantee the rights of Aboriginal peoples and people with disabilities for equal access to social, medical and educational facilities and services. Strengthen laws and enforcement against hate crimes and neo-fascist groups, and prosecute war criminals living in Canada.

End 'security state' laws

Repeal C-36 and other so-called 'anti-terror' measures such as secret detention without trial and “national security” certificates. Ban 'racial profiling'. Defend the right to free speech and dissent. Stop government spying, police violence and the use of the courts to repress strikers and protesters. Strengthen parliamentary oversight of the armed forces and civilian control of the RCMP and CSIS; strengthen and enforce punishments for police wrong-doing.

Fair elections and accountable politicians

Democratize the electoral system to reflect voter wishes, combining the election of individual MPs with proportional representation, and the right to recall MPs. Guarantee equal treatment for all political parties: scrap the '2%' rule which gives taxpayer funding only to 'major' parties; give equal access to media coverage under the Broadcast Act, so that voters can make informed choices. Conduct comprehensive voter enumeration before every election. Remove restrictions on the right of unions to donate to political parties; keep the ban on corporate donations. Members of Parliament to receive the average workers' wages and benefits.

A Bill of Rights for Labour

Enshrine in the constitution the right of workers to organize, strike and bargain collectively, and to take collective political action. Ban strike-breaking and scabbing. Strengthen labour standards; block anti-labour 'right-to-work' laws. Place farm workers under federal jurisdiction with full labour standards and the right to organize and bargain collectively. Make May 1 a statutory federal holiday.



New status and powers for cities and municipalities

Give constitutional status and wealth taxing powers to municipalities now! Return 50% of gas and road user taxes to cities. Fund 25% of capital costs of municipal transit. Rebuild crumbling municipal and provincial infrastructure. Reverse downloading. Re-establish low-interest loans to cities and towns.

Support family farms – defend Canada's food sovereignty

Ensure Canada's food sovereignty through policies that benefit family farms, such as lower rail freight rates and curbing the power of the agro-industrial monopolies with price controls to reduce the cost of farm inputs. Expand or re-establish single-desk selling for more crops and livestock through the Wheat Board and similar marketing agencies. Increase food safety inspections. Set price controls on staple foods, including in Northern and remote communities. Impose strict environmental controls on all 'factory' farms and ban in-ocean fish farming and deep-sea draggers. Support organic farming; reduce the use of antibiotics, fertilizers, pesticides, and other potentially harmful farm inputs.

Put nature before profits

Enforce stronger penalties on polluters. Phase out nuclear power, and reduce reliance on fossil fuel consumption; meet Kyoto targets as a first step to making Canada a world leader in reduction of ozone-depleting gases and hydrocarbons. Reduce environmental impacts and loss of economic sovereignty caused by reliance on north-south hydro grids. Expand shared power flows among provinces, moving toward an East-West power grid. Increase funding for alternative power research; expand energy conservation and use of alternative power sources. Subsidize public mass transit to cut fares and increase ridership. Ban destructive forestry practices, such as clear-cutting. Require labelling of genetically-modified food products as a first step towards reducing the scale of the GMO food system. Create jobs through protection andcleanup of the environment.



From People's Voice