Canadian State
Fighting neo-Liberalism in Ontario
The Neo-Liberal/Neo-Conservative agenda did not emerge overnight during the 1980s in the Canadian state. It began to take shape in the 1970s under the federal government of the Liberal Party. It was manifested in moves to control the public sector and slash the social welfare state in the form Canada had possessed since the period after World War Two.
Julia Barnett is a member of the Fourth International caucus in the New Socialist Group in the Canadian State. She has active in mobilising against the Harris government in Ontario before spending a year living in England. She recently returned to Canada. This article is based on a speech she gave to the Socialist Outlook event on November 15.
In the 1980s Brian Mulroney's Tory federal government came to power and marked a major shift in the strategy of Canadian business, which demanded a comprehensive attack on social welfare . The Tories main accomplishment was the severe cutting of the federal transfer payments to the social programmes of the provinces. The provinces, like local government in Britain, are very dependent on payments from the centre to provide the services that they are responsible for. The Tories also paved the way for cuts to unemployment insurance eligibility and benefit levels, lower taxes, low interest loans and handouts to private corporations.
As a result of the international neo-liberal offensive, major changes are being made in the highly decentralised Canadian state which comprises ten provinces ( of which one, Quebec, is a nation) and two territories. Provinces are directly responsible for health care, education, social welfare and labour relations. Mobilisations tend to take place on the provincial rather than the federal level.
In the 1980s the federal government took the lead in the neo-liberal offensive but did not have control over all the provinces. The New Democrats (NDP), which is supported by most of the unions, had control in the two most industrialised provinces with the biggest populations and resources; British Columbia and Ontario.
The NDP held office in Ontario from 1990 to 1995. Their election in 1990 was a great surprise to everyone. The union leaderships in the province were completely uncritical and encouraged no analysis or debate about how to relate to the NDP in power. The same held true for most of the social movements, with the exception of the pro-choice movement. which still demanded greater access to abortion facilities for poor women.
In order to understand the context in which we have been organising it is necessary to note that we have had the greatest number of demonstrations and mobilisations in Ontario in the last two years than probably North America has seen in decades.
Two years into its term, the Ontario NDP imposed public sector rollbacks that even the federal Tories wouldn't have attempted. They implemented a 'Social Contract' including wage freezes and mandatory unpaid leaves of absence. They prepared the elimination of thousands of public sector jobs. This is now being carried through by a Conservative government in Ontario.
While the NDP was introducing some of the worst austerity measures for years in the province, the Liberals came back to office at the federal level. Jean Chrétien's government came to power with the pretence of making the federal deficit the number one issue.
During this time the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed, and at the time there were major mobilisations against it. These have died away with the exception of solidarity actions with workers in the maquiladores in Mexico and the US.
On the federal level the Liberals have succeeded in imposing the most draconian cutbacks in social spending in the post-war era. Responsibility is being passed to the provinces through multi-billion dollar cuts in transfer payments. These affect health, post-secondary education and welfare. Despite the liberals promise of job creation, unemployment is still officially 10%, and over 20% in some Eastern provinces where the main industry is fishing.
Eligibility for unemployment benefits and welfare has been cut drastically, worsening the increasingly desperate conditions of the poor. One example is that recently the City of Toronto, the largest and most industrial city in the whole Canadian state recently declared homelessness a national disaster. The reason for this is that because of these cuts there is no money to build new housing.. The federal Liberals recently closed 12 hospitals in Toronto and now the City has opened up one of these as a homeless shelter.
On a federal level, none of these drastic cuts has led to mass radicalisation or a political shift to the left. The liberals won on the platform of cutting the deficit, while the Conservatives and the right-wing populist Reform Party fought amongst themselves over tax cuts for the rich and law-and-order rhetoric. The NDP talked about job creation, but its vote only rose from 7% to 11%.
After the defeat of the NDP in Ontario's last election, Conservative premier Mike Harris declared the goal of a zero deficit, 30% reduction in taxes pro-workfare and cuts in all social spending. The same programme had been declared in Alberta. In the name of the 'Common Sense Revolution', Ontario has its own Newt Gingrichification. In 3 years, Harris has been able to make cuts matching anything Thatcher and Reagan did in their whole period in power. The cuts were sharp, swift and brutal.
However there has been more opposition to this government than ever before. Mass mobilisations have taken place including students, welfare recipients, trades unionists and teachers. Protests and demonstrations followed Harris wherever he went in his first year in office.
This has occurred with a divided union leadership, a fragmented and small organised left and, for the most part, single issue social movements. The Ontario Federation of Labour put out a call to protest the new labour laws calling for 'Days of Action'. Large numbers were involved, climaxing in 200,000 on one occasion in Toronto. In London, Ontario, 24,000 congregated in sub-zero temperatures.
These days of action were inspirational to many sectors and movements. For the first time in decades, labour and community-based organisations worked side-by-side. However the union leaderships failed to take advantage and call a province-wide general strike.
This stemmed from their political failure to mobilise against the architects of NAFTA or neo-liberalism, or to examine the real divisions between organised labour and the bosses. This failure was due in part to the 1980s model of business unionism they followed and partly to their view that a NDP government was the pinacle of their ambitions.
The Days of Action were always limited and defensive in character. They were not strongly supported by the majority of the union leadership. There was no real strategy to mobilise a united fightback. The leaders would rather wait 4 years to re-elect the NDP.
Election will be taking place later this month in Quebec and Ontario . I strongly believe that those that have been mobilising against the neo-liberal offensive whether at the rank and file union level or through social movements will reap benefits here. In Quebec the nationalist Parti Quebecois (PQ) have also implemented austerity measures in power. The main electoral opposition is the Liberals – they are arguing for a 30% reduction in the provincial deficit.
In Ontario the Days of Action have been called off. The electoral strategy offered by the union leaders is to vote Liberal or NDP to get Harris out. The teachers went on a 3-week illegal strike, with 98% support across the province. However they were sold out by their leaders and face 230 school closures, with 30 in Toronto.. Many are disillusioned both with the union movement and their ability to beat the Tories out of office which failed to establish the basis for a long term strategy to mobilise against neo-liberalism.
At the same time our organisation, the New Socialist Group, has been able to build a new branch in Regina, Saskatchewan, of all places - this is predominantly made up of people under 25. Indeed 85 per cent of our membership is under 25, coming out of mobilisations against the Harris government. Many have been active on campuses, in anti-racist campaigns fighting the government on questions of immigrants and refugees. This is symptomatic of significant numbers of people who are not disillusioned but rather have turned to organise beyond the limits of the old official organisations.
Revolutionary socialists and activists have the opportunity to continue to build struggles in united fronts. We can look for ways to bring a range of forces together to make an impact both within the union movement and the various social movements - beyond the upcoming elections.