(The following articles are from the May 1-15, 2008, 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.)

In a statement addressing the Manitoba provincial budget, the Communist Party of Canada-Manitoba warns that the global economic slowdown means "now is the time to demand government action and spending, not `staying the course' or gutting social programs.

     "In Manitoba, child hunger and poverty have been growing for years and are unacceptably high. More than 18,000 children in Winnipeg rely on food banks every month, up from 5,500 in 1995. Welfare rates are far too low. Wages continue to fall behind inflation. Housing, fuel and food are getting far too expensive. Climate change is not a government priority.

     "The Manitoba NDP government's constant bowing down to big business interests is fueling the confidence of big business parties, just like in Saskatchewan where the NDP lost power last year.

     "And now Premier Gary Doer has formed an alliance with Wal-Mart, Sears and Rona to carry out a yellow ribbon campaign in support of troops going to Afghanistan. Students will be signing yellow ribbons in schools to glorify the Afghan mission....

     "The Manitoba legislature is following a dangerous and misguided policy of investing in a big oil corporation's biofuel refinery, converting edible grains into ethanol. This is helping to boost food prices globally, sparking food riots and `food crisis' in 37 countries, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation. Farmers don't gain from the higher prices because of skyrocketing costs - the usual cost-price squeeze. And it does nothing to prevent climate change! This exercise is a sham!

     "It is politics like this and fiddling around promoting a new tourist slogan like `Spirited Energy' that makes people realize what other priorities should be taken up by the Legislature.

     "We need action on climate change, sustainable farming practices, fighting for the family farm, for a big increase in wages and welfare rates. We need a Legislature that supports peace, not war.

     "Aboriginal people in Manitoba already know that their hydroelectric energy is being spirited or stolen away. All of Manitoba's hydro energy will be stolen until such time as we have a new, equal and democratic relationship between all the nations in the province, until such time as a new Constitution recognizes that new relationship and that Aboriginal rights and claims never disappear just because the colonial theft of land is `history.'

     "We can continue on the path of cultural and other forms of genocide (job discrimination, jail, destruction of families, etc. for Aboriginal peoples) or we can arrive at a new relationship between nations in the province. We can continue to allow big business to use anti-Aboriginal racism to divide the working class movement, or we can recognize the full rights of Aboriginal peoples and realize justice for Aboriginal peoples is a key strategic question for progress...

     "Is spending $20 billion on new hydro dams the best use of our resources, just like 20 years ago? Constantly increasing energy supplies is not an option. We need to renovate homes and buildings to save heat, invest in public transit, and cut military spending. One quarter of all fuel consumed in the United States goes to war-related activities. The more hydro we export, the more fuel the U.S. military can use!

     "We need decent housing and jobs for everyone. We need free, quality higher education just like in Cuba, a country that is far less wealthy than Manitoba.

     "We know that our policies are those of the future, ideas that millions of people are already advancing in other parts of the world where socialism is gaining ground again."