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January 30, 2012 - No. 9 Agenda of the Harper Government Parliamentary Agenda for the Winter Session  • Parliamentary
Agenda for the Winter Session - Enver Villamizar Agenda of the Harper Government Parliamentary Agenda for the Winter SessionParliament will resume its 41st session on Monday, January 30 after its holiday recess. The fall sitting came to an end on December 16 amidst broad opposition by Canadians to the Harper government's passage of the legislation to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. This opposition revealed Canadians' desire to hold the Harper government accountable for its nation-wrecking. The swift passage and implementation of the legislation also revealed the power the monopolies exercise over the Harper government to mobilize the force of the state behind their demands. During the recess, new aspects of the Harper agenda have come to light. Harper has re-established the practice of regular meetings between the Prime Minister and the Governor General. According to the media this is a positive development as Governor General David Johnston is an "advocate of diversity" and well versed in constitutional matters. This arrangement apparently comes under the Governor General's role "to be consulted, to advise and to warn." The impression is conveyed that the consultations will guarantee that Harper keeps his plans of action within the constitutional framework and that therefore Canadians can rest assured that they will cause no harm. This is not the case. Whether or not they conform to the constitution does not mean they are good for Canadians. For example, the Harper government is giving more prominence to the role of the Governor General as "Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces," including hyping the fact that Johnston wears the military fatigues when visiting the armed forces despite his initial statement when appointed that he would not.
"I think it's, in a sense, good that Canadians feel that way [fearful] because we have some major challenges in front of us," Harper said. His government is going to have to do things to "secure the sustainability of key programs, reduce deficit and make major reforms" to continue to grow the economy so "we can keep our standard of living," he added. To get a sense of what is meant by "secure the sustainability of key programs," consider that the interview followed a meeting of provincial finance ministers with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on the Canada Health Accord. At the meeting, Flaherty unilaterally declared that there would be no negotiations with the provinces on health care funding given that the Accord expires in March 2014. He stated that the federal government will continue to increase federal health care transfers by six per cent until 2016-17, following which increases will be tied to "economic growth including inflation," but never fall below three per cent. Following the announcement, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq delivered the marching orders for provinces to "get over it" and get on board. She stated that the announcement "provides the opportunity to put the divisive issue of funding behind us to allow us all to focus on the real issue -- how to improve the system so you can ensure timely access to health care when needed." Aglukkaq demanded that the provinces work with the federal government to "start work on an approach to measuring and reporting performance across health systems using common metrics." This set the stage for the meeting of the Council of the Federation in Victoria, BC on January 16 and 17 where the premiers of all the provinces and territories met to discuss the new arrangement and how they would focus on "innovation" in the system, rather than demands for more funding. Another federal-provincial concern was dealt with during the recess when the Supreme Court ruled that it is not necessary to establish a national Securities Regulator since the Constitution gives this authority to the provinces which already have functional regulators. The Harper government, as well as the Government of Ontario had both argued that federal control was required to ensure the "stability" of Canada's economy. The Court encouraged the Harper government to work cooperatively with the provinces to put in place arrangements that it wants to see regarding securities regulation. On January 26, Harper more fully outlined his
government's plans for the economy in the keynote address he delivered
at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said there is
"too much focus on our services and entitlements" and "too much general
willingness to have standards and benefits beyond our ability to pay
for them" and announced "major transformations" to reduce services,
standards, benefits and pension payments.
Government Cuts Threaten Public Health and Safety
On January 11, 60 Environment Canada scientists were told their jobs were being cut. These cuts were part of a previous spending review completed in 2010. The workers were among more than 700 public servants at Environment Canada who were notified last summer that their jobs could be affected by the department's strategic review. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) which represents professionals and scientists across Canada's public sector, informs that Environment Canada is under "strict orders" not to reveal precisely what work was done by these 60 scientists. Broadly speaking, they include engineers, scientists, biologists, climatologists and chemical analysts from across the country, including 18 or so in the national capital region. They work in areas such as pollution, monitoring water quality and climate research. "While the government pays lip service to protecting the interests of all Canadians, it continues to target science-based departments, the front line when it comes to protecting our environment and the health of our citizens," said Gary Corbett, President of PIPSC. "It calls it streamlining the public service. But when you look at its priorities and its actions, this government is clearly relegating the protection of Canadians to the backburner in favour of the bottom line." "Canadians have every right to ask their government how less regulatory oversight of key industries, reduced environmental protection and fewer independent public service professionals tasked with ensuring their health and well-being somehow adds up to a better Canada," concluded Corbett.
On January 16, it was reported that the federal government plans to cut the additional inspectors who were stationed at meat plants across the country after the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis outbreak killed 23 Canadians in 2008. A recent report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA) says: "resources will sunset for listeriosis and for increased frequency of food inspection in meat processing establishments" at the end of the current fiscal year. The CFIA's 2011-12 Estimates Report on Plans and Priorities forecasts a reduction of $21.5-million in the annual budget and 234 fewer staff due to government cuts. Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union, a division of the Public Service Alliance of Canada resolutely opposed the possibility of such cuts. "This looks like an exercise to make regulation cheaper, not safer or smarter. Ottawa should worry about undermining public confidence with food safety cuts because that will be bad for the industry," he said. Karen Clark, whose mother Francis died from listeriosis after eating tainted cold cuts also opposed the threat to public safety the cuts represent. "It scares me, quite honestly, to see the federal government's attitude. It looks like they think Canadians have forgotten about the listeriosis outbreak and all the people it affected. That they [think they] can reduce these inspectors and safety programs and no one will notice. Something terrible happened to me and my family, we're not special. If the federal government does not maintain adequate safety oversight and inspection it could happen again to anyone's family." The Agriculture Union announced that it is launching a campaign to allow the public to call on companies like Maple Leaf Foods to oppose the cuts. The online campaign that can be used to send a message to food industry leaders, urging them to get on board can be found at: FoodSafetyFirst.ca. In related news, a similar strategic and operating review of the House of Commons, the Senate, and the Library of Parliament is being carried out with the aim to reduce spending by five to 10 per cent. The review is being done in camera by the Board of Internal Economy that oversees Parliamentary spending. (Globe and Mail, Hill Times, National Post) Red Tape Commission Releases RecommendationsOn January 18, Treasury Board President Tony Clement received the recommendations from the Red Tape Reduction Commission. The Commission was established as part of the Harper government's last budget and was chaired by Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism Maxime Bernier. Its aim was to review Canada's regulatory regime in order to: "Identify irritants to business that stem from federal regulatory requirements and review how those requirements are administered in order to reduce the compliance burden on businesses, especially small businesses. The focus is on irritants that have a clear detrimental effect on growth, competitiveness and innovation; and "Recommend options that address the irritants and that will control and reduce the compliance burden on a long-term basis while ensuring that the environment and the health and safety of Canadians are not compromised in the process." From December 2010 to March 2011, the Commission held "consultation round tables" with those "most affected by red tape" to come up with its recommendations. Upon recieving the recommendations, Minister Clement announced that the government will implement the "One-for-One Rule" recommended by the Commission. This means that Ministers will be required to remove at least one regulation each time they introduce a new one. In addition, "regulatory changes that increase the administrative burden on business need to be offset with equal administrative burden reductions."
Passing Information to Foreign GovernmentsOnce again, the Harper dictatorship is trying to obscure that it is the real foreign agent in Canada by floating a "spy scandal," this time directed at one of the United States' main rivals, Russia. A 40-year-old Canadian naval officer, whose unit collects information that is then shared with other countries, has been charged with "breach of trust" and "passing on restricted information." According to reports, the affair was likely part of an organized sting operation by the Canadian state. The charges against the officer are the first ever laid under Canada's Security of Information Act, passed after September 11, 2001, and the offence carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. But, clearly, what the Harper dictatorship is making the issue here is not that information is being passed to foreign governments but which foreign governments it might be passed to. In fact, the information that is referred to in the charges is routinely given to the United States and certain other foreign countries without any fuss whatsoever. This latest "spy scandal" is reminiscent of June 22, 2010, when the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Richard Fadden, stated publicly that foreign governments have infiltrated Canadian politics and that Cabinet ministers in two provinces are under control of foreign governments. Fadden's comments attempted to cover up that the main job of CSIS is to routinely violate national security in order protect the Harper dictatorship and whoever it serves, which also means protecting the U.S., a foreign government and its agents, the very thing that Fadden was railing against. This is in addition to CSIS's routine commission of crimes against the Canadian people (e.g., spying on the people, using an agent to funnel money to a neo-Nazi organization, fabricating plots, leaking sensitive information to the U.S. and Israel, and so on). Obviously, the Harper dictatorship, Fadden, and CSIS have their own definitions of "foreign governments" and "foreign agents," that is, anyone who does not support U.S. imperialism. Meanwhile, they define an "ally" or a "patriotic Canadian" as anyone who abjectly submits to the U.S., just as Harper does. The U.S. imperialists long ago infiltrated Canada's economy, politics, and culture for the purposes of control and exploitation, and the Harper government and various provincial politicians, e.g., those who serve the foreign oil monopolies in Alberta, have long been agents of this takeover. What can one call such shameless obeisance to a foreign government other than acting as a foreign agent? The subservience of the Harper dictatorship to the U.S. puts it totally out of touch with the vast majority of Canadians. Canadians were outraged when Harper's security forces attacked demonstrators during the June 2010 G8/G20 talks to prevent them from denouncing the imperialist system of states dominated by the U.S. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Canadians oppose the use of Canadian troops to support the continuing U.S. aggression in Afghanistan. There is rising militant opposition to the nation-wrecking carried out by U.S. monopolies which devastate entire communities with the connivance of the federal and provincial governments who refuse to stand up for the interests of the people. Many other examples can be given. From Harper's perspective, then, the majority of people
in Canada must be foreign agents while the "real" Canadians are the
U.S. imperialists before whom he prostrates himself. The people must
not be fooled by these phony spy scandals which have as their main
purpose
to spread disinformation about "national security"
and to demonize certain countries, while whitewashing the world's
biggest war criminals, the U.S imperialists. The people need to resist
the Harper dictatorship and all those who hold power on behalf of
foreign imperialism by building independent nations and economies. It
is the people who must control their
own destiny and not the foreign powers and their agents such as Harper.
Billions Spent to Integrate Canada into
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Harper also used the recess
to prepare Canadians to
tighten their belts in the new year. In his year-end interview with
CTV, he indicated he will use the instability the U.S. and other big
powers along with Canada create internationally to fearmonger about the
dangers which he says face health care, pensions and the economy. His
aim is clearly to soften people up to accept the new arrangements
demanded by the
monopolies.
As the House resumes, the
Harper government can be
expected to intensify its activities to implement all kinds of
arrangements to secure the private interests of the monopolies,
equating this to "the national interest." This will include the free
trade deal with Europe amongst others, signing new arrangements
with Canada's First Nations to do away with its obligation to uphold
hereditary rights on a nation-to-nation basis and enacting new laws to
enforce monopoly right. For the working class and its allies across the
country the issue will continue to be to take practical measures to
hold this government to account. Sorting
out how to do this is on the minds of many Canadians. The recent
mobilization of workers from across Ontario in opposition to
Caterpillar's demands for concessions against its workers in London
shows this. So
too does the resistance of the Alma workers in Quebec to the attacks on
their union through contracting out, as well
as the concerns expressed by Canadians and First Nations on the West
Coast to the construction of the Northern Gateway Pipeline. All of this
opposition and more reflect that Canadians and First Nations are coming
forward to say "Enough!"
On January 10, Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed
that as part of the strategic and operating review, some government
departments may be instructed to cut more than the five to 10 per cent
of their operating budgets as originally planned in the 2011 budget.
This comes on top of the arrangements introduced
in the fall to try to bribe senior public servants to participate in
the anti-social agenda by tying their performance-based pay to how much
is cut from their departments. The sub-committee overseeing the cuts
has been reviewing departments proposals since October 2011. The review
is working out from where
at least $4 billion annually will be cut by 2014-2015 from 67
government departments.
While the Harper government claims
that tough economic
times mean less government spending on the services Canadians require,
it is handing over tens of billions of dollars to monopolies involved
in war production via projects to establish an integrated military
system under the command of U.S. imperialism.
Recently the Harper government has announced a number of new
investments which are over and above the 63 major procurements on the
go from "major defence and security contractors" amounting to $22
billion of Canadians' money. This increasing integration of Canada's
economy with the U.S. war machine
means that Canadian industries will more and more be declared part of
U.S. strategic interests and workers' resistance will be outlawed in
the name of national security. It must not pass!
According to a government
news release, traditional
radar detects targets that are within the line of sight and cannot
detect those which are over the horizon. Consequently, long-range
detection of surface vessels currently requires patrols by aircraft,
which are costly and do not always provide persistent coverage.
Ground-based HFSWR has the potential to address this shortcoming by
transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves that follow the
curvature of the ocean surface, allowing over-the horizon detection of
vessels. Showing the way in which millions of dollars in Canadians'
social product are being put at the disposal
of monopolies involved in military production, the release states:
"Because Canadian industry has been involved in the development of
HFSWR from the beginning, it is in a good position to capitalize on the
technology and develop commercial products."