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Socialist Action Canada

Socialist Action Canada | Ligue pour L'Action Socialiste

Category: Poverty

Socialist Digest –  February 2023

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Discontent with the capitalist status quo is spreading rapidly. At the forefront are mobilizations in France against President Emanuel Macron's reform of the country's retirement law. Under Socialist Party President Francois Mitterrand and up to the 1990s the legal retirement age with full pension was 60 years. Since then, right wing governments have pushed it up to 62 years. Macron announced a move to raise it to 65 years, but backed down. He now proposes age 64. Mass action involving strikes and demonstrations, one day at a time, usually once or twice a week, have followed the parliamentary calendar. More militant sectors in the union movement have been calling for renewable strikes from one day to the next, towards a general strike.

silhouette of man holding flamethrower

Socialist Digest –  January 2023

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Canada’s 100 highest-paid corporate executives made an average of $14.3 million in 2021, exceeding the previous record of $11.8 million set three years earlier.  By January 3, the average CEO on that list made $58,800, the amount an average Canadian worker earns in an entire year, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Alternative to Pandemic-Era Housing Crisis

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Whether a couple is planning to settle down or a family is seeking a place to raise kids in the province, they are sure to feel the heat in the Canadian housing market. The question:  'How did we get here?' often leads to inconclusive answers and simply pointing a finger at the easiest target. The predatory nature of housing market big players means they have no interest in addressing the needs of the people.  For them, housing is a commodity designed to make shareholders happy.  Actually, the housing market is doing very well to meet its mandates - funneling wealth upwards.

Vote NDP in Ontario – Without Illusions

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In the lead-up to the June 2 provincial election, Conservative and Liberal leaders are scrambling to align with public opinion by professing ‘progressive’ policies.  Tory Premier Doug Ford hopes voters will forget he spent years attacking workers’ rights, broke a teachers’ strike early in 2020, privatized nursing homes and grossly mishandled the pandemic.  Claims by Liberal leader Steven Del Duca that he will hike funding for healthcare and education are belied by his record as a cabinet minister in the Kathleen Wynne government which watched hospital services and schools deteriorate drastically, and sold off Ontario Hydro for a pittance.

Palestine Land Day Rally in Toronto on April 2, 2022

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Palestine Land Day was marked in Toronto by a rally at Land Back (Yonge-Dundas) Square on April 2, 2022.  About eighty participants chanted in English and Arabic, and applauded speakers who demanded an end to Zionist apartheid and the occupation of Indigenous lands, from Turtle Island to Palestine.  At the end of the 90 minute gathering a Socialist Action spokesperson addressed the crowd, calling for an end to Canadian state and big business complicity with Zionism.  SA's predecessor organizations opposed the creation of the colonial settler state by the United Nations (pushed by the USA, Britain, France, Canada and the USSR) in 1948.  SA supports the struggle for a Single Democratic, Secular state.  "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!"

LifeLabs couriers and mailroom clerks reach tentative agreement with employer

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Toronto – After nearly two weeks on strike, the bargaining team representing roughly 160 LifeLabs couriers and mailroom clerks in the GTA has reached a tentative agreement with the employer.

If a majority of the 160 OPSEU/SEFPO Local 5119 members vote to accept the tentative agreement, the strike will be over. The vote will take place electronically on Saturday, March 26, and the workers will soon be sent the voting information.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency – A Hypercapitalist Nightmare

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The technology of blockchain continues to gain in popularity. It’s been advertised as disruptive, even revolutionary. Proponents believe it will change the world economy for the better, making it a more fair and equitable place. From the rooftops they shout, “Decentralization! Immutability!”

But is the hype all it’s cracked up to be? Is this a fad destined to fizzle? Or, even worse, is the blockchain push just a smokescreen for something much more sinister?

Build Housing For All! Nationalize Big Landlords!

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Demand that Toronto City Council vote to expropriate vacant properties, use existing habitable spaces and create new housing. Why?  Because the housing crisis is severe. Skyrocketing rents are driving working class families, communities of color, seniors, and students out of the GTA, into debt, into unsafe or deplorable living situations, into the shelter system or on to the streets.  Those who can’t pay inflated rents are being exploited. The housing market is dominated by real estate and development speculators. The establishment is completely unwilling to fight for the solutions we need.  The 'inclusionary zoning' bylaw is woefully inadequate.

The Red Review Episode 5 — September 2021 in Review and Election Recap

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In this September 2021 edition of The Red Review, brought to you by Socialist Action, we magnify demands that weren’t on offer during the 2021 federal election. 

Featuring (vote) Palestine, defunding the RCMP and police, encampment evictions, the fight for abortion rights, the collapse of the Green Party, Western University students walk out of class, Albertain Superstore employees vote for strike mandate, and the release of Meng Wanzhou. 

Do not Abandon People on ODSP and OW.  Act now!

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On Saturday, September 18, 2021, a small crowd rallied in Toronto at the Yonge and Dundas intersection calling for an end to discriminatory funding to ODSP and OW programs. POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding is a community group striving to end Homelessness and Poverty for people on ODSP, Ontario Disability Support Program and OW, Ontario Works benefits. The event organizer, Isabella Gamk, said that people on ODSP and OW benefits are abandoned by all 3 levels of Canadian Government and left to fend for themselves with less than a livable income support. Sadly, the City of Toronto has no tangible plans to help marginalized people living on a poverty income. 

A Shameful Showcase of Toronto State Violence

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It's impossible to maintain the capitalist system of exploitation without force. Police violence has escalated across the country, as cop funding is increased. Public pressure has pushed the state to slow down evictions, but they have continued throughout the pandemic by order of the city and province through the Landlord and Tenant Board, and enforced by Toronto Police Services. Tenants’ groups like Acorn, People’s Defense and Parkdale Organize demonstrate that collective action protects vulnerable people from repression. They continue to support and organize communities via food banks, child care and events, while the City of Toronto works to shut them down and enforce the for-profit system.

Toronto Rally Demands “Drop the Charges”

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On Sept. 16, 2021, for the umpteenth time, protestors gathered outside Mayor John Tory's luxury condominium at 1 Bedford Road.  This episode of the "The Mayor Tory Gong Show" was brought to you by the Toronto Police Service.  On July 21, cops stormed an encampment at Lamport Stadium.  With considerable violence, Toronto police and private security staff evicted the people living there.  Police dished out the same violence to those who defended their house-less neighbours from eviction.  Twenty-six encampment defenders were charged, including Socialist Action member Corey David.  The charges are standard cop nonsense: "resist arrest", "obstruct a peace officer", "assault officer", "trespassing", etc..  

Action socialiste sur les élections fédérales du 20 septembre 2021: Votez NPD, mais luttez pour un gouvernement ouvrier

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Le 20 septembre, les électeurs se rendront aux urnes dans lecadre de l'une des campagnes électorales fédérales les pluscourtes de l'histoire du Canada. Alors que l'écart se resserreentre les libéraux et les conservateurs, les médias grand publicspéculent que Justin Trudeau…

Read More Action socialiste sur les élections fédérales du 20 septembre 2021: Votez NPD, mais luttez pour un gouvernement ouvrier

CE À QUOI RESSEMBLERAIT UNE PLATEFORMEÉLECTORALE SOCIALISTE DU NPD

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L'élection fédérale ne devrait pas porter sur la popularité personnelle de Trudeau,O'Toole, Singh et Paul ; elle devrait se concentrer sur la calamité à laquelle font faceles travailleurs, et sur la cause première de cette calamité : le système capitaliste. Lecapitalisme…

Read More CE À QUOI RESSEMBLERAIT UNE PLATEFORMEÉLECTORALE SOCIALISTE DU NPD

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