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April 2, 2012 - No. 46 Federal Budget 2012 The Harper Budget Is an Affront to Canadians  Federal
Budget
2012
Federal Budget 2012 The Harper Budget Is an Affront to Canadians
The Harper budget at a time of over 8 per cent unemployment is eliminating 19,200 federal public sector livelihoods. The approximately $5.2 billion claim of those public service workers on government revenue will be eliminated. All federal departments have apparently been asked to force through the cuts regardless of their workloads and existing and projected responsibilities. The biggest cuts are in the important Department of Agriculture, which handles food safety, with a reduction of 9.02 per cent of its current budget followed by the Department of Health with a cut of 5.72 per cent. Many of the cuts, such as at the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fisheries and Ocean (DFO) are connected with the removal of regulations that affect the operations of the private monopolies, some of which are designed to defend food safety and the environment. The cuts to the DFO dovetail with proposed changes to the Fisheries Act. Those regressive changes are exposed and analyzed in TML Weekly Information Project March 17, 2012 - No. 11.
The budget attacks the right to conscience of those involved in charities and their right to speak out publicly on issues of concern, in particular if a charity feels the government has failed in fulfilling its responsibilities. The budget says, "The Government is introducing measures to ensure that charities devote their resources primarily to charitable, rather than political, activities, and to enhance public transparency and accountability in this area." If the government does not like what a charity is saying, Revenue Canada will be given powers to investigate the charity and remove its legal charitable status. Revenue Canada will determine if the charity is spending more on advocacy and speaking out on issues that are of concern than what the government considers acceptable. This details only some of the reactionary content of a budget from a government that considers cutting social programs and public services, privatizing and selling off public assets and organizing scheme after scheme to pay the rich as a badge of honour for service to the financial oligarchy. Denounce the Anti-Social Harper Budget! Is This Any Way to Manage the Country's Economy?After months of secrecy, disinformation and speculation as to the contents of the Harper federal budget, Finance Minister Flaherty March 29 presented to Parliament what he calls his "Economic Action Plan 2012." The lead-up to the release of the budget was meant to frame the discussion in the mass media and amongst commentators in a way to distract any serious discussion of the economy, its renewal and resolution of the many social and economic problems the country faces.
So What Does the Harper Dictatorship Propose in Its Budget?Over eight per cent of the workforce or around one and a half million workers are unemployed, with many more between the age of 18 and 65 not engaged in the socialized economy and therefore counted as members of the workforce. This mass unemployment is a disaster for those individuals affected and an enormous loss of potential social product and services. So what does the Harper dictatorship propose in its budget? Fire 19,200 public sector workers and cut billions from social programs and public services! And additionally keep transfer payments to Quebec, the provinces and Territories below what is required to meet the claims of Canadians for public education, health care and other social programs and public services. Canadians demand reform of the federal and Quebec pension systems to guarantee Canadian standard pensions for all. So what does the Harper dictatorship propose in its budget? Raise the pension age to 67 years and tell everyone to save more because the government refuses to meet its social responsibilities to seniors!
People are concerned that the $30 billion a year in interest payments on the national debt is mostly a pay the rich scheme where money is taken out of the economy and put into the coffers of the financial oligarchy. So what does the Harper dictatorship propose in its budget? Nothing! Nothing is to be done and the $30 billion annual payment to the rich is bound to increase, as it is an integral aspect of every capitalist economy. The national debt serves the purpose of the ruling financial oligarchy as a source of constant secure income yet while happily clipping their government debt coupons and seizing their share of the $30 billion in public funds, the financial oligarchy can rave like the madmen and hypocrites they are against debts and deficits and label them the root of all economic evil and the reason that social programs and public services must be cut or privatized. Their bluster includes also the demand that government revenue should continue to come mainly from individual taxation, user fees and issuing of more debt rather than directly from enterprises at the point of production and delivery of services. People Are Blocked from Solving ProblemsA problem with this budget and the economy in general is that the actual producers of goods and services are blocked from participating in solving problems, especially in those sectors where they work or have expertise. They are blocked from taking decisions that could turn the economy around and set it on a new direction that favours the people.
The Human Factor/Social ConsciousnessNo one can deny that today's economy is socialized, interconnected and highly complex. Its fundamental strength is the human factor, the highly educated modern working class that is striving to develop a social consciousness and relations of production in harmony with today's society. Individual workers play a pivotal role in the economy where the collective whole is greater and more productive than the sum of its parts, where collective work and individual responsibility should be the watchword but where in reality, collective work is turned into a means to enrich a privileged elite and individual responsibility for workers is denied and even criminalized as it increasingly comes into contradiction with the private interests of owners of capital. Why is the managing of such a socialized interconnected complex economy kept away from the human factor and the social consciousness required to make it work without crises? Why is the human factor not only kept away from the managing of the economy of which it plays the decisive role but considered a burden to that economy and stigmatized as a cost of production? Because the country is under the dictatorship of the private global monopolies that want all the control in their private hands to enrich their Empires and serve their private interests and the people be damned along with their society.
The Harper dictatorship begins from a capital-centred outlook that declares workers a cost to the socialized economy even though they create the social product on which the economy and society depend. Also, the obsolete outlook of owners of capital considers the people and their claims on society as a cost to the economy. The people's claims and the government revenue required to meet them are viewed as a burden on the private monopolies and their obsession for private interest over public interest, empire-building and nation-wrecking. This outlook only recognizes the claims of the private monopolies as legitimate and opposes the modern definition that people have rightful claims on society that are theirs by virtue of being human and the state is duty bound to guarantee those claims. Scientists Take Firm Stand Against Harper Government's Threat to Fish Habitat
In a news release along with the letter, David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta and lead author of the letter said: "It is the explicit role of government to find the balance between protecting this habitat and encouraging sustainable economic growth -- not to pit them against one another." Giving a sense of the significance of the proposed changes to the Act, it is reported that "mega-projects" like the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline will have to cross 600 different rivers and streams -- important fish habitat -- to bring bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to British Columbia's coast for transport. Attempts to eliminate protection of fish habitat are directly linked to eliminating any impediments to such projects, or what the Harper government has labelled "red tape." It is clear in this case that regulations which restrict the ability of the monopolies to push full steam ahead with their program to sell out the resources of the nation as soon as possible are viewed as a nuisance to be eliminated. Talk about balancing environmental protection with economic prosperity is to fool the gullible into believing that the monopolies have any concern for ensuring a sustainable future for Canada.
"We will implement responsible resource development and smart regulation for major economic projects, respecting provincial jurisdiction and maintaining the highest standards of environmental protection. We will streamline the review process for such projects, according to the following principle: one project, one review, completed in a clearly defined time period. We will ensure that Canada has the infrastructure we need to move our exports to new markets," he said. Harper Government Attempts to Dismiss ConcernsResponding to a question in the Parliament from Liberal MP Judy Foote regarding the letter from scientists, Conservative MP Randy Kamp, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, gave a typical Harper government answer, claiming that they are for all that is good, but that what is good must be balanced (i.e.: transformed in order to eliminate the fraudulent deficit through government actions to pay the rich using Canada's natural and human resources). He stated: "Fisheries and Oceans Canada is committed to the conservation and sustainable use of our ocean resources using the best science possible [...] Given the current financial environment globally, within Canada and within government, it makes good sense to step back, re-calibrate and set a new direction [...] What I am saying is this. Deficit reduction is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity for renewal and transformation. We need to take advantage of this opportunity to take a hard look at ourselves to find better ways to do things. We need to ask ourselves what our core business should be, what the right capacities are, and whether there are better systems and ways of delivering services that will help us keep delivering excellence to Canadians and meet the many demands of the 21st century." When asked point blank to explain the contradiction between his statements supporting the role of science to inform his department, and the opposition of so many prominent scientists -- many of whom are experts in fish habitat protection -- Kamp could not provide an answer, only claimed that any changes are still a secret and those most concerned about the future of the fisheries as a result are uninformed. "[...S]ome scientists have raised concerns, they are commenting on something they have not been informed about and they need to wait for that," he said. Kamp's remarks reveal the utter contempt in which the Harper government holds the Canadian people and experts in their fields. They also reveal the importance of professionals and scientists standing as one with the Workers' Opposition to break new ground in empowering Canadians to block the government's nation-wrecking agenda. Letter to Prime Minister Demands Protection
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The content of the Harper
budget is predictable in its attacks on Canadians and refusal to solve
any problems, such as mass unemployment, poverty, the wrecking of
manufacturing, the disequilibrium in relations between global investors
and Canada where a one-sided relation in favour of global investors has
completely overwhelmed any concept of mutual benefit, and the
regressive trends of the rich becoming richer, the poor poorer and
economic and political control becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer
hands.
The changes to Old Age
Security fly in the face of the national sentiment to strengthen the
pension system to ensure the rights of all seniors to a dignified
retirement at a Canadian-standard income. The government has
unilaterally extended the retirement age to 67 years old without any
respect or preparations
for the disasters that will occur for many seniors who will simply not
be able to work those extra two years at their present jobs or the many
other seniors who are unemployed for long periods as they become older
or are forced to work at minimum wage as greeters in Wal-Mart and
similar jobs.
The budget also directly
attacks the review process surrounding "big projects" such as the
Enbridge bitumen pipeline across northern BC and all other resource
extraction and mining projects. The budget lists these projects as
relating to "natural gas in British Columbia, oil and minerals on the
Prairies, the Ring
of Fire in Ontario, Plan Nord in Quebec, hydro power in Atlantic
Canada, and mining in Canada's North." It greatly shortens the review
process, restricts the amount of federal money allowed to conduct any
particular review and allows only one review per project regardless if
a project may affect varied aspects
of life and the natural environment. For example, the Enbridge project,
which is designed and controlled by global monopolies, touches areas as
complex and varied as First Nations' sovereignty, public health and
safety, environmental concerns on land and sea and whether such
exporting of a mostly unrefined natural
resource (bitumen) violates the principle and spirit of Canadian
nation-building.
The government deliberately
suggested beforehand that the budget would generate tens of thousands
of public sector layoffs, huge spending cuts for programs and degrading
of the Old Age Security pension system and the Guaranteed Income
Supplement for impoverished seniors. The actual content did just that
but not exactly the way the rumours suggested. The mass media then
forced everyone, including Public Service and other union leaders, to
concentrate on the difference between the speculation and the actual
rather than the refusal of the government to address the problems
Canadians and their economy are facing
and the dictatorial method it employs to keep the people out of the
management of their economy.
Canadians concerned about
unrestricted monopoly development of resource projects, including the
attendant problem of wrecking of manufacturing, want a say and the
right to decide, including importantly the First Nations on their
territories. People want a say so that the economy is developed in an
all-sided
self-reliant manner where the bounty of Mother Earth is mostly
transformed within Canada into manufactured products and does not
pollute and otherwise harm the environment. So what does the Harper
dictatorship propose in its budget? Shorten and emasculate even further
the public hearings on resource projects
and shut out the public including First Nations from having any
meaningful say let alone the right to decide! Harper is determined to
give the global resource companies unrestricted monopoly right to
plunder Canada's raw natural bounty and send it out of the country for
a quick buck while trampling on the rights
of Canadians and First Nations, and polluting Mother Earth.
Canadians want government to
side with them in their struggle to claim Canadian standard wages and
benefits on the social product workers produce and the services they
deliver. They also demand government claim enough revenue directly from
enterprises to guarantee the rights of all and their well-being under
all conditions, and restrict monopolies from taking more revenue out of
the economy and country than they put in. Canadians do not want their
fellow members of society to be left alone to fend for themselves,
something that is impossible within a socialized economy, or be forced
to rely on the vagaries of charities
in the battle with social and other problems, including dangerous
diseases. So what does the Harper dictatorship propose in its budget?
Eliminate billions of dollars in program funding, which does not even
take into account the losses from price inflation! On top of refusing
to have government guarantee the people's
right to their claim on social product, both as workers and members of
society, Harper threatens charities that may publicly advocate
government do more to meet its social responsibilities. He says
charities and their organizers have no right to conscience and has
directed Revenue Canada to spy on them and report
back, if they are saying negative things about his dictatorship for
then he will eliminate their status as charities. What hypocrisy for a
government that is infamous for its use of phony PR; just look at the
millions of dollars in government money used to pay for Harper ads
singing the praises of his "Economic Action
Plan," which uses public funds to pay the rich and their monopolies.
Teachers are attacked
instead of mobilized to lead in the solving of problems of public
education. Teachers and other education workers from daycare to
post-secondary education can give precise details of the needs of
public education and the revenue required to run and advance the
system. They are ordered
to keep quiet and do their work without comment. Municipal workers are
attacked for defending their cities and the services they provide
against the wrecking and privatization of predatory monopolies. Health
care workers are denied any say in solving the problems in the health
care sector; the same is true for the
building of a self-reliant and sustainable steel industry where
steelworkers have no say and likewise in aluminum production,
manufacturing in general, mining, oil and gas, forestry, construction
and public services, where those who work are shut out from making
decisions that affect their workplaces and sectors.
All the expertise and enthusiasm of the human factor is wasted instead
of mobilized to solve problems in a way that serves the people and
their economy. Workers are blocked from having a say and deciding the
crucial matters of nation-building and development. The ruling
oligarchy has handed the entire economy
over to global monopolies that only have the narrowest of private
interests in mind and view Canadians as "costs" and as competitors in a
fight over the social product that Canadians themselves have produced
and need for their well-being and for the general interests of society.
Wages are said to be costs
to the owners of capital; social programs are denounced as costs to the
economy. All this forms part of today's dictatorship over the economy
by those who are not the actual producers but dictators who lord over
the economy as a privileged ruling oligarchy and make decisions in
secret
behind the backs of the workers and against their interests. That is a
major problem with all government budgets in Canada under the rule of
the rich, and Harper's is no exception.
On March 22, 625 Canadian
Scientists signed an open letter to Prime Minister Harper opposing
amendments to the Fisheries Act contained
in the federal budget. The letter reflects the growing opposition
amongst professionals to the wrecking of the Harper government. In the
letter scientists oppose
the attempt by the Harper government to jeopardize Canada's fisheries
through attempts to eliminate the protection of fish habitat and to
create categories of "economically valuable fish"; in direct opposition
to the notion of the interconnection of ecosystems and organisms within
them.
A statement by Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty in his budget speech
gives an indication of the direction the Harper government is taking in
this regard. "Recently it has become clear that we must develop new
export markets for Canada's energy and natural resources, to reduce our
dependence on markets in the
United States. The booming economies of the Asia-Pacific region are a
huge and increasing source of demand, but Canada is not the only
country to which they can turn. If we fail to act now, this historic
window of opportunity will close.