Communist Party of Canada

Trudeau’s Pension Reform: Where’s the Beef?

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The best thing about the federal government’s pension reform is its pending decision to restore the age of eligibility for Old Age Security (OAS) to 65. It was Harper who raised the age to 67, citing the OECD countries which had re-set the pension age to 67, and in one case to 68. Canadians were living too long, was the argument, and ought to be working – not retiring at 65 – like the Europeans.

These are the same governments that imposed vicious austerity measures right across Europe, that in Greece have led to the suicides of pensioners including a pharmacist who said he refused to eat out of garbage cans.

In Canada the OAS is a significant amount of money for many retirees without a private plan, and can easily double the CPP payments for low-income workers. Harper’s plan was to force seniors to stay in the workforce, many competing with young workers for low-waged entry level jobs.

But the CPP reform, touted by federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau as an agreement that will make “a real difference in all our children’s future lives and I hope for many of you… It’s a historic day”, won’t make any difference at all for today’s pensioners whose incomes won’t rise by a single nickel.

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On the Brexit and the Fight for Real and Fundamental Change

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In the lead up to the June 23 Brexit vote, Canadian media reported almost daily on the line-up of right-wing, anti-immigrant, racist and fascist organizations that were campaigning in support of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union: the Brexit referendum.

The message to Canadians was clear: Brexit is dangerous; the European Union is safe. To nail down that assessment with working people, the leader of Britain’s TUC, Frances O’Grady, confirmed that maintaining Britain’s labour rights and standards hinged on enforcement by the European Union – not the British government which she said, would first erode and then eliminate workers’ rights and standards.

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Support Postal Workers!

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The Communist Party of Canada today called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene with Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra to restart negotiations and stop the clock on the 72 hour countdown to a lockout initiated by the corporation July 3rd to take effect at 12:01 am Monday.

“Canada Post’s Deepak Chopra’s “my way or the highway” approach to bargaining won’t lead to a collective agreement and will suspend public postal services across Canada, while lining the pockets of Fed-Ex, Purolator, UPS, and other private, for-profit multi-national corporations.  These companies are licking their lips at the prospects of a long work stoppage delivered by Pitney Bowes’s ex-boss Deepak Chopra, which begs the question:  Whose interests is Chopra working for anyway?” said CPC leader Elizabeth Rowley.

“Canada Post’s demands for massive concessions on the defined benefit pension plan, including the introduction of an inferior defined contribution plan for new hires that will eliminate any kind of pension security for the youngest workers, is a declaration of war.   It will lead to the elimination of defined benefit pensions for all postal workers, likely sooner than later, as workers in the private sector have found out after hard struggles with employers to stop the theft of their DB pensions.

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No NATO Warmongering in Europe!

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Demand that Canada stay out of NATO escalation against Russia

Since the United States-orchestrated coup d’état in Ukraine in February 2014, NATO has escalated its campaign of aggression against Russia, to the point that there is currently a very real risk of open war between nuclear weapons states. NATO’s current Anakonda 2016 war games – its largest military training exercises in more than two decades – combined with the push to deploy a large multinational military force in Latvia, are the latest steps in this dangerous warmongering march that threatens the survival of the entire planet.

The Communist Party of Canada denounces the Canadian government’s decision to deploy and command 1000 Canadian military as part of NATO’s permanent anti-Russia contingent in Latvia. We demand that the Canadian government immediately halt this deployment, withdraw from the Anakonda wargames, and actively oppose NATO’s anti-Russia escalation in Latvia and other areas of Eastern Europe. We further call on Canada to withdraw unilaterally from NATO, as a necessary first step to adopting an independent foreign policy of peace.

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Unite to Defend and Strengthen LGBTQ2SI Rights!

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An Injury to One is an Injury to All!

Pride 2016 Statement from the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League

The massacre in Orlando at the Pulse gay night club makes it clear that the struggle for the rights of LGBTQ2SI people is far from over. (Note: In this statement, the acronym “LGBTQ2SI” and the term “Queer” refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender variant, two-spirited, queer, questioning, intersex and others.) In the Queer community, a gay-bar is often the one place Queer folk feel safe and able to be ourselves. Pride marks the anniversary of a riot of resistance -Stonewall- defending gay-bars from police attacks. Pride marches and events have grown into global movement to assert human rights. Pride’s political significance cannot be forgotten.

The Orlando shootings, the victims of which were mainly Latinx and Black members of the LGBTQ2SI community, must be seen within the context of the well-organized backlash by, in particular fundamentalist Christian, right wing groups against the gains made by the Queer movement. In the USA, reactionary laws are being passed to abolish the civil rights LGBTQ2SI people have won, and in particular attack trans rights.

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Keynote address – 36th Central Convention, CPC

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Keynote address delivered by Elizabeth Rowley, leader of the Communist Party of Canada at the occasion of the Parties 38th Central Convention in Toronto.

Comrade Chair and Comrades:

We open this convention with a warm welcome to all of the Delegates and Alternates who have traveled from all over Canada to attend this 38th Convention of our Party, which takes place just one week short of the 95th anniversary of our Party’s birth on May 28, 1921.

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Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth

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In 2018, the international communist movement, and other workers, socialists and revolutionaries, will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth.  The Communist Party will make this anniversary a time to disseminate knowledge of Marx’s life and understanding of his revolutionary ideas. Clubs and all other Party collectives are directed to mark this anniversary as broadly … Read more

97th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike

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The labour movement across Canada, and especially in Winnipeg, will mark the anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike this year. The Communist Party of Canada welcomes these celebrations and will work for the success of these important tributes.

The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike is one of the greatest working class struggles in Canadian history, a strike that combined the militancy, enthusiasm and solidarity of the overwhelming majority of Winnipeg’s workers against the capitalist big shots who still trample on the rights and lives of workers.

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2016 Federal Budget: New Car – Not Much Gas

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The 2016 federal budget proposes to make good on the slew of Liberal election promises that resulted in a Liberal majority last fall.   Fed up with the Tories, Canadians chose the Liberals as the preferred vehicle to drive the Tories out and move the country away from a decade of austerity, war and corruption, to the ‘sunny ways’ agenda of promised jobs, prosperity, democracy, and action on climate change.

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Ontario Communists elect new leader

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The Ontario Committee has elected Dave McKee as the new leader of the CPC (Ontario) following the release of Liz Rowley, who was elected CPC leader in January. McKee is a long time activist in the peace movement and current president of the Canadian Peace Congress. He has been part of the CPC’s Ontario leadership for … Read more