PensionersCantAffordHarper,Flahertyand Carney!

DefeattheSchemesoftheBayStreetTroika! EndSupplementaryBenefitstotheBanksandtheWealthy! EndtheCorporateTyrannyOverParliament.

DonCurrie,EditorFocusOnSocialism,ChairCPS
February2,2012

www.FocusOnSocialism.ca

PrimeMinisterStephenHarper,FinanceMinisterJimFlahertyandBankofCanadaGovernor Mark Carney, a Bay Street Troika, acting for a small class of wealth and privilege, have declared class war on poor pensioners. Themost vulnerable Canadians, pensioners relying on OAS and Income Supplement have been chosen by Prime Minister Harper as the first victimsofanillegalandimmoralappropriationandreallocationofstatefunds. Fordecades,theCanadianworkingpeople,outoftheirlabourandtaxdollars,entrustedthe statewithfundsmorethanadequatetopayforperpetualuniversalentitlementtopublicly fundedhealthcare,retirementpensionsandinsurancepaymentstotheunemployed. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have directed such funds to general revenues to pay for NATO wars and outlandish military expenditures, corporate tax reductions and bailout funds for corporate boondoggles, and now seek to make the Canadianpeoplethevictimsoftheirgrossnegligenceandincompetence. Betrayingthetrustofthepeople,Harper,FlahertyandCarney,relyingonautocracticpower have been meeting for months behind closed doors at the IMF in New York with foreign financiers and with elite groups of privileged and unelected Canadians, to devise ways to undermine the profoundly Canadian principle of universal and free public health care, pensionsandunemploymentinsurance. ThefirstdutyofanyCanadiangovernmentistoprotectandallocatestatefunds,toprovide workorunemploymentinsurancefortheworkingclass,freepublichealthcareforall,well fundedpubliceducation,affordablepublichousingforthehomelessanduniversalpensions forall.Thatshouldnotbeanoccasionaltemporaryrequirementofgovernment.Itmustbea fundamentalandpermanentrequirement.Thatiswhattheeconomyisforisitnot? LetthePrimeMinisterandhisConservativesupporterssayotherwise.Iftheeconomyand governmentservessomeotherpurpose,letthePrimeMinisteratleasthavethecourageto saywhatitis. ThegovernmentofPrimeMinisterStephenHarperisatoddswithCanada.Thegraspingand parasiticalclassofwealthandprivilegeherepresentshasseparatedtheirindividualinterests fromthecommongoodofthecountryandmadeaconsciousanddeliberatepoliticalchoice toabandonthevisionthatmostCanadianshaveourcountry.Thatvisionisofaprogressive and industrious and peaceful society. Under his tutelage,Prime Minister Harper by stealth hasimposedanalienimperialvisionofaCanadaperpetuallyengagedinNATOwars,reliant onasinglesectoreconomy,energyexports,withtheoversightofbanktyranny.
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TheliberalandtheNDPoppositionisflounderinginpresentinganalternativevisionofour countrythatchallengestheimperialvisionofPrimeMinisterHarperandcapturesthespirit ofwhattheCanadianpeoplebelievetheyhavebeenworkingforsinceconfederation,peace andprogress. The next federal budget will be pivotal. It will represent another incremental step by the Harper Conservative Governmentin the direction ofimposing a more open and dictatorial ruleoffinancecapitaloverCanadianeconomicandpoliticaldevelopment.Anyillusionthat the Harper Government is simply a pendulum swing to the right that can self correct is illusory. Thenextfederalbudgetismorethananeconomicstatement.Itisapoliticalstatementof intent.TheFlahertybudgetisnotjustabigbusinessbudgetitistheeconomicframework supporting the doctrine of open corporate rule and as such is profoundly antilabour anti democraticandantipeace. Thenextfederalbudgetwillbeabouttearingupwhatisleftofthesocalledsocialcontract withworkingCanadiansanddevisinganewoneonbehalfofabsolutecorporatepowerover thestateandtheallocationofitsresourcesexclusivelytothepursuitofmaximumprivate profit.WhathappenstothelivingstandardsoftheCanadianpeopleisincidentaltothecold bloodedplannersofsuchapredatoryviewofgovernance. TheBayStreetTroikahasconcoctedabudgetaryscam.Ifsuchanenterprisewasdevisedby anyentityotherthangovernmentandtheBankofCanada,itwouldbeconsideredabetrayal offiduciarytrustandgroundsforprosecutionandconviction. TheConservativegovernmentofPrimeMinisterStephenHarper,withtheactiveassistance of the Governor of the Bank of Canada, has setitself against the aspirations and needs of themajorityofthepeopleofCanada,whorelyonwages,salariesandpensionstolive.Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the leader of the party and the government of the separate interest;corporatepower,extremewealthandprivilege.Assuchitsmandatetogovernis strictlyformalandcompletelywithoutmoralauthority. TheprivatelyownedandcontrolledcorporatemassmediaactivelycollaborateswithHarper, FlahertyandCarneytocallouslydemonizepensionersasthepreliminarysteptodemonizing the working public civil service, their wages, benefits, pensions and union representation. The attack on the civil service if not opposed will lead to an assault on the private sector

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unionsandultimatelyonallofthelawsthatprotectcollectivebargaining.Itistheaimofthe Harpergovernmenttodisarmtheorganizedlabourmovement. Moraloutrageandappealstoreasonarefutileagainstsuchunconscionableandpredictable class hatred. The only appropriate answer is to organize and adopt working class mass independent action. Either the labour movement by its action leads the Parliamentary oppositionoritisrelegatedtoanineffectualcheerleader. EveryworkingclassleaderknowsthatwhatissaidbyPrimeMinisterHarperisanaffrontto the working people who are denied the wealth they have created. To be a working class familystrugglingonsurvivalwagesandlivingtwopaychequesawayfromeconomicdisaster andbealsohectoredbygovernmentleadersandtheirilk,wholiveincomfortandsecurity, tosavemoreforretirementistheultimateinsult.Suchcapitalistarrogancetakestheroyal adageletthemeatcaketothelowestdepthsofaristocraticcapitalistcynicism. MarkCarneysdirewarningofretirementhardshipwhilehelpingtosinkeverylifeboatand destroyingeverylifepreserverthatworkingpeoplehave,establishesanewlowincorporate cynicism.MarkCarneyandFinanceMinisterFlahertyknowthateveryCanadianwhoworks foralivingyearnsforsecureretirementanddoesnthavethefundstoprovideit.Thatiswhy workersfordecadeshavevoluntarilypaidoutoftheirmeagreearningsintoafundforOAS andtheIncomeSupplementaswellastheCPP.Tobetoldnowbygovernmentthatthere areinadequatefundsisanactofbetrayalplainandsimple. The Federal Government and the Bank of Canada has the power, legislative, fiscal and monetary, to provide all of the funds necessary to provide full retirement incomes for all Canadians now and into the future. The Canadian working people have created unimaginable wealth out of their combined labour. They have an entitlement to it. The peopleswealthhasbeenmisappropriatedanddirectedtoprivatehands. Theorganizedlabourmovement,theNDPandalloppositionforcesinthecountryarecalled upon to do their job. Stop pleading with the main architects of corporate privatization of Canadashealth,pensionandunemploymentinsuranceprograms.Stopcreatingtheillusion that with exposure and clever arguments in Parliament that that alone will change the situation. ThereisnoalternativeforanyParliamentarianclaimingtorepresentthepeople,anylabour leader elected to a position of trust, except to organizine a massive unstoppable protest movementtonullifytheHarperFlahertyCarneyscheme.
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The opposition parties must get on message and over the heads of the establishment go directlytothepeoplewheretheyliveandworkandstopthiscorporatesteamrollerbefore itbulldozeseverysocialgainevermadebythestrugglesoftheCanadianworkingpeople. Thebudgetmaypass.Whatisvitalisthatitnotbeallowedtopasswithoutagreatpublic massmovementagainstit.

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