CPC Statement on the Parliamentary Crisis - Drive the Harper Tories Out!

In January 2006, taking advantage of widespread voter anger, Stephen Harper's Conservatives — with just 37% of the popular vote — narrowly won a minority in a divided Parliament. Despite the backing of big business and the corporate media, the Tories have failed to build public support for their agenda. Yet they cling to power, advancing their pro-war, anti-working class policies, and manoeuvring to win a majority in the next election.

Consider the wretched record of the Conservative government:

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A large majority of Canadians and MPs want to end the military mission in Afghanistan — now or by February 2009 at the latest. But the Harper government, aided by the military brass and the media, are trying to whip up a "patriotic" frenzy, sacrificing Canadian troops to prop up US-aligned warlords while doing nothing to improve the lives of the Afghan people.
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Real wages and income supports are being eroded, homelessness is on the rise, and one-fifth of Canadian children live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, annual corporate profits have soared past the $200 billion mark, and corporate taxes are being slashed.
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The last vestiges of Canadian sovereignty are being shredded in the push for "deep integration" into the US economy and military machine. The August summit meeting of Bush, Harper and Calderon will focus on the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" agreement, a wide-ranging scheme to advance North American integration.
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Natural resources, industries and service sectors are being sold off to the highest foreign bidders — primarily US-based capital.
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250,000 manufacturing jobs have been wiped out over the past five years, and the Harper government is doing nothing to reverse this dangerous trend.
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Acting in the interests of the big energy monopolies, the Harper Tories have torn up Canada's Kyoto commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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The Harper government has ripped up the Kelowna Accord and signalled support for racist efforts to remove inherent Aboriginal hunting and fishing rights.
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Aboriginal peoples, and Canadian-born and recent immigrants, are increasingly forced into low-paid, temporary and precarious jobs.
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Young people face high unemployment, enormous student debt loads, marginalized jobs, and discriminatory "training" minimum wages, while the Tories step up military recruitment drives and cut summer job programs.
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The Conservatives refuse to use the Canada Health Act to block the for-profit health care policies of provincial governments.
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Women's equality rights and programs have been devastated by the Conservatives, and the National Childcare program was scrapped.
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While Prairie farmers face the bleakest economic prospects in decades, the Tories are gutting the Canadian Wheat Board despite massive public opposition.
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Using the so-called "war on terror" as a justification, the Tories have continued the policy of state repression against the Arab and Muslim communities.

Every day Harper remains in office is another threat to the social gains and equality rights achieved through decades of struggle by working people, another step towards the elimination of Canadian sovereignty. Stephen Harper and his big business gang have no mandate to govern! The parliamentary opposition parties must be compelled to put the survival of Canada ahead of their narrow partisan interests, and to bring down the Harper government as soon as possible.

Many important struggles are taking place, such as the resistance movements of Aboriginal peoples, anti-war coalitions, and trade unions, and the defenders of Medicare, Canadian sovereignty, women's equality, and LGBT rights. These threads of resistance must be drawn together into a united fightback, building unity-in-action around the concept that "an injury to one is an injury to all." Only by moving hundreds of thousands of people into the streets and onto picket lines can we force the Tories into retreat, stiffen opposition in Parliament, and lay the basis to bring down this government and then to press for progressive change.

Allowing the Harper Tories to remain in office for as long as another two years is not an option. By that time, Canada may be too far down the road of continentalism and the destruction of social programs to turn back the clock.

The Communist Party of Canada urges the working class and all democratic forces to take up this crucial issue, in our trade unions and our social justice movements, at our workplaces and campuses: unite around the common demand to DRIVE OUT THE HARPER TORIES NOW!

Canadians need and desrve a new Parliament, one that will break with the right-wing agenda, and put people's needs before corporate greed. A new Parliament that will end the war, defend Canadian sovereignty, guarantee labour and democratic rights, and oppose sexism, racism and the rising threat of fascism. Together, we can win such a new direction for Canada!