Harper's paltry handout
- Editorial
(The
following article is from
the January 16-31,
2008
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
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People's
Voice
Editorial, Jan. 16-31, 2008
Stephen Harper's "aid program for
ailing industries" is a political gimmick, not a serious effort to
address the crisis in Canada's manufacturing sector and the loss of
hundreds of thousands of jobs. If Harper was concerned about job losses
in single-industry towns, he would act now, instead of tying this $1
billion fund to the upcoming federal budget and spreading the handout
over three years. Ottawa's multi-billion budget surplus should be used
immediately to tackle this crisis, rather than waiting for several more
months.
In fact,
these federal surpluses
have been taken directly from the working class of Canada over the past
generation. Successive Tory and Liberal governments have made it
increasingly difficult for laid-off workers to collect unemployment
insurance, to the point where less than 40% are eligible for the
scaled-back benefits. The resulting surplus of more than $50 billion in
the EI Fund has been transferred into general government revenues to
provide huge tax cuts to the rich, while social programs are slashed.
Consider the
forestry industry,
which laid off 6,559 workers during the first nine months of 2007, from
54 mill closures. This industry, which directly employs over 300,000
people, has been devastated by the collapse of the U.S. housing market
and the rising Canadian dollar. The softwood lumber sellout has already
taken $1.5 billion out of communities dependent on this industry,
costing 10,000 jobs. One billion dollars will not come near the losses
suffered by forestry workers.
Instead,
Canada needs policies
for people's needs: an end to "continental integration" under U.S.
domination; urgent measures to protect and build goods-producing
industries, the cornerstones of our economic base; and legislation to
block plant closures and mass layoffs.
Found
at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/Harper's_paltry_handout_-_Editorial.html