As Parliament Resumes Sitting it Remains Unclear What Direction Canada Will Go

 

With everything back in place, Canadians will get their first hard look at the Carney Administration's plans for the upcoming year and into the future, where uncertainty and instability seem to reign over Carney and his Cabinet for the foreseeable future. Canadians will be watching closely at what transpires. 

This morning, he emerged from his cabinet planning and priorities meeting, telling Canadians that the budget being brought down is one of austerity and growth. If this sounds like an oxymoron to you, it is! fear not; you have not awoken to a new reality where you will somehow get both.

Carney, who is, by and large, a conservative by any other definition, is likely to do more harm than good, ultimately failing to achieve any significant recovery or major projects in the process. What he intends to do is to rob Peter to Pay Paul.

His austerity program is going to make considerable cuts to the federal public service and programs. Having seen this play out throughout Canadian History, his next act will be cutting back transfers to the provinces, downloading critical funding cuts to vital provincial programs such as Medicare.

So, the plan is to stabilise Canada by destabilising it, by clawing back transfers, and laying off people or outsourcing work customarily performed by public servants to private companies.

Now, without knowing the specifics of the budget's allocation, it might be too soon to take a shot in the dark on this. Still, considering past practice in austerity measures, the future seems almost predetermined. It is a fair question for the administration to consider just how deep they plan to cut programs, transfers, and services.

This will be a far cry from the elbows-up big show that the Liberals hijacked from the Resistance Movement cause, with its leading spokesman, former NDP member of parliament, Charlie Angus, watching both Carney and Poilievre and the twists and turns the two are going to dance together to.

Poilievre still appears to be heading down a very slippery slope, attempting to incite anger.  This time, it is the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). Now, this program I was against from the start, it allowed for the systematic abuse of workers from other countries while taking away vital opportunities for young Canadians to develop skills and build a better future for themselves. It also allowed Provincial Governments the ability not to change minimum wages across the country to a more just living wage. Basically, it was a modern version of slavery without the whip or chains.

Last night I sat back and listened to the political pundits crying racism and the fact that Canadians would never take these jobs. Yes, I will agree with them in one part, and that is, Poilievre runs the risk of using the language that he does, of creating a racial backlash against TFWs, as well as other Canadians of ethnic origins. This is becoming increasingly evident on YouTube and other social media, as hate, described as some so-called news story, is poisoning and agitating the public at large.

Many Canadians, including younger individuals, have historically relied on these positions to achieve significant milestones, such as purchasing their first vehicle or financing their education. There is no justification for attaching stigma to these roles, as the perception of such work as inferior lacks merit. Employment at all levels holds value; however, government policy needs to ensure adequate compensation through appropriate legislation. Notably, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program was implemented, in part, to facilitate the stagnation of minimum wages, having been introduced by Jason Kenney with the involvement of Pierre Poilievre.

Yes, the program must come to an end, and those in the country must be sent back. I know it sounds mean-spirited, but according to the news report from yesterday, there are 2.9  million people here on temporary permits. Which works out to be 7.1 per cent of the population. Far too many to house and sustain without affecting Canadians and future Canadians as a whole.

For the New Democrats, it appears that they remain stuck in the realm of identity politics and have forgotten the fundamental principles that led to the creation of the CCF. Judging by the rules set down in the leadership race, those administering the NDP are not prepared to budge from this, which now holds little or no relevance in Canadians' minds. Canadians do not care if you are straight or LGBTQ+ anymore. If you need proof, attend any Pride march or festival. A more significant indication of this is the growing backlash against Alberta Smith's government's book bans in school libraries. Clearly, the Federal NDP is lost in an endless cycle of self-destruction. Don Davies could try to change this, but as an interim leader, I suspect he feels in an impossible position.  

Regardless of the results of the fall session, once all matters have been settled, it is likely that Canadians will face another election, engaging with familiar debates rather than focusing on opportunities for future progress.

What we need in his country is not hate spin doctoring or rhetorical bantering back and forth. What we need is leadership and a clear vision of what the Canada we love should strive to be in the future! 

 

Well, another Labour Day has come and gone. Now, for most, Labour Day has lost, in large part, its historical significance and the democratic power that the once large, organised  Labour movements in this country once held in Canada and indeed across North America and Europe.

Labour Day, in fact, comes from the May Day celebrations in Europe on May 1st each year. Sadly, a celebration of workers' rights became a day where the Soviet Union and other countries behind the Iron Curtain put on display the latest weapons of mass destruction and military might.

Labour Day in Canada was established in 1894 to recognise all workers across the country. Although labour unions existed across the country, recognition of collective bargaining rights did not become law until 1944.

 Strikes by workers before that were typically handled violently. They were put an end to by termination or, as in western Canada by the guns of the RCMP, in Winnipeg during the general strike on Bloody Saturday in June 1919 and in Estevan in Bienfait, Saskatchewan, called Black Tuesday, September 29 1931 where the RCMP opened fire on the striking miners, killing Julian Gryshko, Nick Nargan, and Pete Markunas.

 It was not unusual for both the Federal and Provincial Governments to use the RCMP in Western Canada. The final act of brutality would come on July 01^st 1935, during the Regina Riot, which ended the On to Ottawa Trek violently, as single male workers had boarded box cars from across the west to protest to the then RB Bennet Government.

The Regina Riot - Video

During World War II, labour disputes were largely deprioritised as the demand for workers, particularly women, increased significantly to support the assembly lines producing weaponry, vehicles, and other essential supplies for the war effort against Hitler. 

At this time, there were several work stoppages until 1944, when Prime Minister Mackenzie King, by order in Council, passed the Wartime Labour Relations Act, granting unions full recognition and collective bargaining rights. Companies were now, finally, legally bound by law to bargain with a dually certified Union.

Unions in Canada would now build the Canadian middle class, as workers across the country gained recognition in organised unions. Creating a fair and more progressive country in the process.

As with anything that must be fought for repeatedly, workers and the social safety net they had secured would come to an end. In 1984, the unravelling began with the election of Brian Mulroney, followed by Mike Harris and several other like-minded Governments across the country, and indeed around the world. ' Rights began to diminish overnight as with successive trade deals and almost draconian changes to labour legislation across the country. The once-mighty factories and assembly lines, one by one, closed their doors and relocated to Mexico, China, Indo-China, and India, where workers could be treated like cattle with no rights, safety rules, and little remuneration for the work they did.

With changes to corporate tax law, the working class in Canada became the paying class, as large corporations reaped the benefits of significant tax changes that primarily benefited them, rather than the whole. This brings us to the struggle between the wealthy one per cent and the working poor that we see today. Workers, after years of getting reasonable pay and good benefits, now live paycheck to paycheck, wondering what will happen next. It is also the cause of the deterioration of Canada's social safety net and major social economic projects. 

Union saturation now in Canada is less than thirty  six per cent, and most of those are in the public sector unions now under attack. The private sector only represents less than 15 per cent of the workforce, and if one needed any proof that they are also under attack, one only needs to look at the Carney governments orders of sending striking flight attendants back to work, trying to force them into binding arbitration.

Yes, it was Labour Day, but for workers and other Labourers, it is an eternal struggle to make ends meet. There is no longer illusion just the painful reminder that on Tuesday no one will care just get their backsides back to work.