Notwithstanding…
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a part of the Canadian Constitution, is popularly known as the Notwithstanding Clause.
The “Yes, we know we’re breaking the law but we don’t care…” clause of Canadian politics essentially allows a government to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a period of five years. The clause was offered as a bribe to provincial governments during the constitutional wrangles four decades ago to assure them they wouldn’t be forced to adopt progressive measures… right away. To date, it has been used most often by Quebec with regard to its language laws, but also over its racist headcovering laws. However, a new challenger is emerging.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government was re-elected in June 2022 with an increased majority despite gaining only 41% of the lowest turnout in Ontario history (43%) . Ford has promoted himself as a business leader (in reality he inherited the family business), but he and his government have demonstrated the totalitarian culture common to capital. Even its minor elements.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees representing education workers, but not teachers, in the province’s schools has been in negotiations with the province for several months. In a province where inflation is running around 8%, the government offered 2% for workers earning under $40,000 and 1.25% for those earning over $40, 000 along with strips to sick days; needless to say, any demands raised by CUPE were ignored.
The union followed the traditional path of negotiations: Make demands, make threats, call a strike vote, and finally present the employer with the five day warning. Yesterday, the government responded to the strike notice by upping its offer to 2.5% for workers under $43,000, and 1.5% for over $43,000. (The strips to sick days would remain) It described this as generous, but at the same time, it warned that it would be tabling legislation to ban CUPE’s right to strike.
Today it introduced legislation, that, for the first time since the introduction of the Charter, used the Notwithstanding class to “settle” a labour dispute. By invoking this clause, the Ford government continues to signal its willingness to ignore “democratic ” niceties in order to get its way. In 2018, Ford threatened to use the clause to get his way on the reduction of the size of Toronto city council, but did not as the courts ruled in his favour. In 2021, Ford did use the clause in order to get his way around issues of election advertising. Now, rather than actually deal with CUPE, a lazy government has employed a constitutional sledgehammer. As bargaining has only just begun with the other education unions, it seems inevitable that Ford will not use the same tactic. Why even bother to show up to bargain it the end game is to bulldozer the opposition in this way?
CUPE however has announced that despite the almost inevitable passage of the law tomorrow and the imposition of a contract, they will still call a full strike on Friday at a cost of $4,000 per day per member and a $500,000 fine for the union: A last stand which will accomplish nothing or the beginning of a fight leading to a general strike? More likely the former.
The other education unions, OSSTF, OECTA, and ETFO have expressed twitter solidarity and condemned the Ford government’s actions. But that and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee. At countless rallies and on picket lines, I’ve heard union leaders, education and otherwise, pledge to fight to the end, only to watch them fold abandoning those they supposedly represented.
Many leftists frame this in terms of betrayal. It’s not a betrayal. The unions are a part of the machinery of capitalism, but oddly they don’t always seem aware of it. Rather the leaders insist that the capitalists play the game by the rules the capitalists designed, never quite seeming to be aware that the rules were designing to handcuff the working class. And at the very real risk of mixing my metaphors, you can’t use the master’s tools.
The Continuing Evolution of the League for the Revolutionary Party
Two years ago, the League for the Revolutionary Party changed its line.
Among Trotskyist groupings in Canada, the question was always whether to vote for the social-democratic New Democratic Party or not. The Mandelites and the I.S. always did, but the Sparts and the IBT generally did not. The temptation for the CP and the Trot was that the NDP did command the support of “progressives” in Canada and was tied to the unions. If they hitched their wagon to the social dems, maybe some crumbs would drop their way…
In the U.S., the choice seemed clearer. There was no choice between the twin parties of capital, the Democrats and the Republicans. But in the 2020, presidential election, the LRP broke ranks arguing that a victory for Trump and the Republicans would be a disaster for working people. At the time, it was unclear whether this was a one-time allowance or the beginning of a new orientation. With the publication of On the U.S. 2022 National Elections, it is the latter.
The LRP’s position is simple, while the Democrats remain a party of capital albeit one with considerable support from the working class and POC, not to mention the Sanders/DSA wing (less important than people think), the Republican Party has become something different. While the LRP do not use the term fascist, with the open embrace of white Christian nationalism, QAnon and openly racist organizations by Trump and the leadership of the party, it is difficult to escape that conclusion. Should the Republicans gain control of one or both the House and the Senate, leading to a Trump victory in 2024, what we have seen so far will seem like a walk in the park, and that’s leaving aside Trump’s lust for vengeance against his enemies (“Lock her up” will seem mild in comparison).
Still, the LRP twist themselves into knots arguing against their past that Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky never said you couldn’t vote for the Democrats or bourgeois politicians (you know, I’m pretty sure, that’s wrong…). But from their position it makes sense. For a United Front of mass leftist parties, there must be mass leftist parties. In the US, there are not, so the LRP is left to talk to organizations as largely irrelevant as themselves. The Democrats and the DSA/Jacobin group, not so much.
Over sixty years ago, the Independent Socialist League dissolved into the Socialist Party- Social Democratic Federation, itself an adjunct of the Democrats. By the mid-1960s, the Independent Socialist clubs had emerged in the Bay Area. From these clubs came the International Socialists, which in turn birthed the Revolutionary Socialist League in 1972. Within a year, a faction led by Sy Landy was expelled becoming the League for the Revolutionary Party. The LRP appears to be running the film backwards.
Brief Note on the Ontario Municipal Election
Non programmatic musings on Yesterday’s election
Yesterday’s municipal elections in Ontario produced few surprised, but were not entirely without interest. My favourite was in Port Colborne where two brothers who hadn’t spoken in three decades ran against each other for mayor – the incumbent emerged as the winner in a 60-40 split. And in Hamilton, former New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath became the city’s first female mayor proving that while she may have been uninspiring as a leader at the provincial level, she had what it took to be mayor. Perhpa even a “strong mayor,” but more about that in a bit.
Municipal politics are often both more and less interesting than other levels of government. Dealing with local issues such as street parking, snow and garbage removal, etc seem pretty dull, but the fact that candidates are not officially running as members of political parties makes for some interesting personalities to emerge. I once voted for a member of the Socialist Equality Party running for city councilor. In the Toronto mayoralty race 31 people stood for election, many of them…odd
Despite generations of school children being taught Canada has three levels of government, constitutionally, there are only two as municipal power is covered through the province. During the last municipal election in 2018, Premier Doug Ford, previously a Toronto councilor, announced mid-way through the campaign he was reducing the number of seats on Toronto’s council by half- while he claimed this would save money and be more efficient, everyone knew this was to fuck with Toronto because people had been “mean” to him and his brother Rob , who was mayor during Doug’s time on council.
This time around, Ford announced he would granting big-city mayors, “strong mayor” powers to allow things to get done more efficiently. It went without saying that the strong mayor powers will be limited to agreement with the province. In other words, the province was allowing mayors the authorities to implement the province’s agenda more easily.
In Toronto, at the mayoral level, two candidates emerged. Two-time mayor John Tory and urban planner Gil Penalosa.
John Tory was a long time executive at the Rogers Communication network, who first ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003. After a disastrous tenure as Conservative Party leader, Tory retreated from the political area only to run for mayor in 2014, defeating Doug Ford. Tory was re-elected in 2018, and at the time promised he would not run for a third time. Despite his public image as a bland moderate Tory has always acted in the interests of corporate Canada. A few days before the election, the “liberal” Toronto Star endorsed Tory but essentially asking him not to be the politician he had been in his first eight years as mayor. Pelanosa was dismissed as a dreamer.
Gil Penalosa is an urban planner from Colombia. His campaign centred around two points – making Toronto a livable city, and that Toroy had failed the city. Perhaps he was a dreamer. In any event, Tory easily won re-election with 62% of the vote, while Penalosa took only 17% (in the 2018 contest Tory took 63%, while his nearest rival Jennifer Keesmaat got 23%)
There have been numerous efforts to create a more just social order at a local level although none of the campaigns in this election were that fundamental. Decades ago, Murray Bookchin developed the idea that fundamental social change could best be organized at a local level through a libertarian municipalism; whether or not “villages of socialism” could be developed as a sort of focu is an interesting point. It certainly won’t be happening in Toronto anytime soon.
But, to see the kind of disaster that could occur by concerned action by right wing libertarians, , read Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling’s book A Libertarian Walks into a Bar.
Music Notes October 2022
Just singles this time…
LCD Soundsystem – “New Body Rhuma”
Ooh, classic dance punk. LCD Soundsystem is playing at my house. Seven minutes of greatness
Queen – “Face it Alone”
How long you been waiting for this? Decades? And while Queen fans will no doubt love a new track, it’s, well, mediocre. Not terrible, but love them or not, it doesn’t sound much like Queen’s greatest stuff.
Weyes Blood – “Grapevine”
It builds slowly, but what a great sound. Sparse, but it pulls you in.
Alvvays – “Pharmacist”
With a running time of just over two minutes, it’s another great pop track from the Charlottetown band (who now live in Toronto)
Tegan and Sara – “Smoking Weed Alone”
Don’t smoke weed myself, but I know how sad drinking alone is. A poppy slice of electro-beat from T&S. Four other songs on this EP.
PJ Harvey – “Run on”
PJ tackles an old gospel song from the soundtrack to Bad Sisters.
Buzzcocks – “Manchester Rain”
Isn’t it always raining in Manchester? Great pop-punk single in the classic Buzzccks format. After Pete Shelley died, you could be forgiven for thinking that was it. Glad it’s not.
Beaches – “My People”
Never seen Beaches live, but their records are just so good – very retro new wave (not a diss at all).
Sleaford Mods – “Dirty Rat”
More of an electro-pop sound to this one than usual, but no less irresistible.
The Sex Pistols – “God Save the Queen”
Remember the first time you heard this? The danger and how it sounded like nothing else.
Back to albums next month.
Hard Crackers: The Silos of History
Lately on Netflix, I’ve been watching the final season of Derry Girls, the Sandman, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and the odd comedy special (the new Patton Oswald one is very good). But, I missed Athena. The Hard Crackers piece make me think it’s worth a look.
Changing Lines…
Everyone changes their mind. In the four decades I’ve been politically aware, I’ve been a social-democrat, a Trotskyist and a council communist / left communist. Still, broadly speaking, these have always been “leftists” of one sort or another (Yes, I know the council communists and left communists use “leftist” as a pejorative, but let’s leave that aside for now). What’s that comment about living long enough to betray the ideals of your youth? On the whole though, these changes occur on a personal level. When it’s at a group level, it becomes more interesting.
On the North American left we’ve seen a few. In the 1970s, we saw the transformation of the Lyndon LaRouche group from a sort of odd ultra-left Luxemburgism (I know that’s wildly inaccurate) to far-rightist conspiracists via Operation Mop Up. Later that decade the Canadian Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) while remaining leftists of a nutty sort went from being 110% super-Maoists to 150% anti-Maoists in the space of about six months without a split. As it formally abandoned Trotskyist, the American Socialist Workers Party purged its ranks. And lastly, the Spartacist League and its clones (please no comments) seem to be undergoing a kind of convulsive evolution into I don’t know what through the death of their great leader and the covid pandemic.
Still all of this aside, I am absolutely fascinated by the British group around Frank Ferundi. From the International Socialists to the Revolutionary Communist Group, the Revolutionary Communist Tendency (then Party), Living Marxism to LM, and now Spiked! A trajectory from state-capitalist Marxism through a libertarian Marxism and ultimately capitalist libertarianism (though they’re still capable of using the Marxism verbiage when necessary). They’ve been quite successful by many standards running as government candidates and lurking and influencing those in power.
Paul Demarty has an interesting update in a recent issue of the Weekly Worker, Original Takester.
Notes from Underground 