10-31-07, 10:21 am

Far from being a 'moderate' policy statement, the Oct. 16 Throne Speech revealed the determination of Stephen Harper's Conservatives to drive full speed ahead with their far-right agenda. The Speech calls for extending Canada's role in the US/NATO occupation of Afghanistan, and for wide-ranging 'law and order' legislation attacking civil and democratic rights. It also confirms the Tory push to scrap any real reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and seeks to remove any ability of the federal government to initiate and expand important social programs. In short, this is a blueprint for advancing Harper's goal of militarising the Canadian state, and removing 'social redistribution' functions achieved through generations of working class struggles.

The Throne Speech throws down the Tory gauntlet to the majority of Canadians who oppose extending the Afghanistan war. Harper's plan is to call a parliamentary vote on extending Canada's combat mission until 2011, spinning this as a 'humanitarian' effort. As anti-war groups have warned, Harper hopes to divide the Liberals in Parliament. He used the same tactic in 2006, holding a sudden vote to extend the mission until 2009, winning the support of Liberal MPs such as Michael Ignatieff. The other side of this strategy is Harper's appointment of a stacked five-member panel on Canada's role in Afghanistan, led by right-wing former Liberal MP John Manley. At a conference last year, Manley openly stated that 'the most important obligation of the Canadian Prime Minister' is to improve relations with George Bush.

Nor was the government telling the truth in the Throne Speech when it claimed to have delivered on child care. As Morna Ballantyne of Code Blue for Child Care said, 'Any parent knows that a $100 monthly voucher doesn't create child care and without child care there is no choice. Harper's claim is particularly misleading given that the Tories have not delivered a single one of the 125,000 child care spaces they promised.'

Ballantyne warned that the Tories intend to strip government of the legislative and financial levers to protect and expand social programs. 'Redirected to child care, the proposed 1% cut to the GST would provide every child in Canada between 3 and 6 with a full time child care space,' she said.

Harper's plan to limit federal spending is nothing new. Hostility to social programs was a key part of his efforts as head of the National Citizen's Coalition, and one of his first acts as Prime Minister was to cancel the child care plan negotiated with the provinces. The Tories aim is to remove the Constitutional mechanism of federal spending power which allowed Parliament to launch Medicare, and the initial steps towards a pan‑Canadian child care program.

The Tories are misusing Quebecers' desire to control their own social institutions to cover their actions, said Jody Dallaire, Chairperson of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. 'But Parliament has all the practical tools it requires to both protect and expand social programs while respecting Quebec's distinct status.'

For example, Bill 303, The Early Learning and Child Care Act, scheduled before Parliament this session, places conditions on provinces and territories that receive federal funding for child care, while also explicitly recognizing Quebec's right to set its own standards.

Environmentalists slammed the Throne Speech for blocking real action on climate change.


'By abandoning Kyoto commitments, expanding the tar sands, and failing to take any real action to prevent global warming, Canada is acting more like a rogue state than a bridge‑builder,' said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema. 'Science‑based emissions targets have been discarded, and environmental standards undermined as the government expedites the process to approve new projects. It's clear that the tar sands are a bigger priority for this government than the world's climate crisis.'

The Alberta tar sands projects are a particular problem for global warming as Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. While producing a million barrels of oil per day, the projects emit 40 million tonnes of CO2 per year, and this number is expected to double by 2012. Without limiting growth in the tar sands it will be impossible for the Canadian government to make serious emissions reductions.

Bill C-2, the so-called 'law and order' legislation outlined by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson in the wake of the Throne Speech, includes elements of several bills that failed to win majority support in the previous session of Parliament.

C-2 includes a Canadian version of the 'three strikes' laws in the United States, by imposing indefinite sentences on people convicted of violent or sexual crimes three times or more.

The bill would raise the age of consent to 16 from 14 years old, a move which youth rights advocates say will criminalise many teenagers who engage in mutually consenting sexual activity.

The bill would set high mandatory sentences for gun crimes, but anti-violence campaigners note that the Conservatives have done nothing to help prevent violence against women, the most frequent victims of spousal abuse. Drastic Tory cuts to funding for women's centres and organizations have already wiped out a critical line of defence and help for Canadian women.

Over 2,000 people at an Oct. 17 rally in Toronto to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty heard speakers slam Harper for planning to cut taxes rather than invest in public services that help achieve social justice.

'Mr. Harper, you cannot turn your back on kids ... you cannot turn your back on social progress in our country,' said Paul Moist, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. 'We don't want your tax cuts.'

Aboriginal issues were ignored in the Throne Speech, even though one in four aboriginal children live in poverty, more than 100 communities are required to boil their water before drinking, and many other First Nations people are homeless or living in substandard housing. Joanne Webb, a member of CUPE's aboriginal council, told the Toronto rally that First Nations poverty will cost Canada $11 billion a year by 2016. Harper's cancellation of the 2005 Kelowna Accord, in which Ottawa committed to spend $5 billion on First Nations, was a 'major setback to improving the lives of aboriginal people,' she said.

From People's Voice