Found
at: http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint04/03__Liberals_and_Tories_fail_to_fight_for_jobs_&_sovereignty.html
Liberals and Tories
fail to fight for jobs & sovereignty
(The
following article is from
the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading
communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is
credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income
rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25
US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business
Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
"The sale
of the last Canadian owned steel plant to US Steel should be blocked by
the federal and provincial governments in the interests of Canada and
Canadian workers", the Ontario Communist Party said on Sept. 7.
"If
McGuinty and Tory had made half the fuss over the ownership of Stelco
that other Premiers have made over ownership of provincial natural
resources, we'd still have a Canadian owned steel industry in Ontario.
"The
Canadian auto industry is 100% foreign owned, and the record over 40
years shows that foreign control of this industry, widely recognized as
the engine of the provincial and the national economy, has been
disastrous for Canadian workers and for Canada. In case the Liberals
and Tories haven't noticed, Canadian sovereignty matters; manufacturing
matters; working people matter. "They have nothing to say because the
federal and provincial governments are in collusion on free trade, and
are busy midwives in the delivery of the Security and Prosperity
Partnership, the latest evolution in the continental free trade deals.
The essence of these deals is to give free rein to the transnational
corporations to redesign the continental economy so that Ontario hands
over its natural and energy resources and loses its industrial and
manufacturing sector, and its nation building capacity and sovereignty.
We're watching this happen now."
"The
Communist Party is fighting to stop the SPP deal, and abrogate NAFTA
and the Canada-US FTA, and so should the next Legislature; although
these are international agreements, the province can and should lead
the fight in the absence of political will in Ottawa.
"Ontario
should have moved to block the Stelco sale, as well as the sale of
Algoma and Dofasco, also sold to foreign owners this year. In the
public interest, they should have sought an injunction to stop the
sale. Failing that, they should have taken it over, running it as a
crown corporation, or as a joint venture with majority public ownership
and control.
"The
lay-offs in the auto industry, including 1200 in Oshawa slated to come
into effect in the third week of December, should be blocked with plant
closure legislation backed with big penalties.
"These
plants are productive and profitable. There's only one reason to move,
and that's to increase already obscene corporate profits. That may be
justification for the Big Three - but it's not justifiable to the
people of this province who depend on those jobs and on those corporate
taxes to pay the province's bills. And it's not justification for
stripping the Ontario economy of its engine - or its parts.
"All the
foreign automakers selling cars in Canada must build them in Canada and
export them as well - or else Ontario should initiate plans to build a
Canadian car. This could include re-tooling existing plants, slated for
closure or significant layoffs. It is time the provincial legislature
put up a fight for Canadian manufacturing and jobs."
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