Neoliberal Rampage in Canada

But we can't vote NDP because they cast token votes for a UN-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya. Goodbye oil profits funding free health care, free education etc for Libyans, and it's NO THANKS TO THE NDP RUNNING NATO!!

You know what they say, a corrupt US-stooge in Ottawa dismantling your health care system is worth more than an unknown quantity in the NDP and exercising our democratic right on election day every time.

We'll have shitty national health statistics like those of our NAFTA partners before we can say Yanqui doodle. 

Next thing we know we'll be laying in emergency rooms and relying on crooked insurance companies like Kaiser Permanent to decide if we have lives worth living Nazi style.

But at least some of us will be comforted in knowing they never voted NDP.

Federal bureaucrats worry about jobs as cuts draw near

Treasury Board president Tony Clement is leading the strategic review that is searching for $1 billion in cuts in the upcoming 2012-13 spring budget, $2 billion for 2013-14, and $4 billion annually by 2014-15 and beyond.

Nearly 70 government departments and agencies have submitted scenarios for a five and 10 per cent cut to their budgets as part of an examination of about $80 billion in direct program spending. More than 600 proposals are being considered.

quote:

The Conservative government is paying Deloitte Consulting nearly $20 million — almost $90,000 a day — to advise the cabinet and senior officials until next spring on how to find savings to balance the books in the coming years....

http://www.canada.com/business/Federal+bureaucrats+worry+about+jobs+cuts...

These are political considerations that have nothing to do with managing anything effectively.  They've already forecast a deficit reduction in the years ahead, which can't be accomplished if they're still propping up corporatism at home, and with their talk now about participating in European 'stability' fund arrangements on top of the continuing requirement to purchase US bonds.

Perhaps we could first observe the reaction to what New Democrats will have to say after March 24 - the message that there is a greater likelihood of defeating the globalists with a pan-Canadian defence from social democracy, defending the social safety net AND an economic system that can pay for it?

Before folding the tents.

It'll be great if the NDP can mobilize widespread resistance (including a General Strike?) against Harper's policies, but I ain't holding my breath.

Public service workers strike against government austerity measures

By The Associated Press  | December 19, 2011

ROME - Thousands of government workers staged strikes Monday and joined demonstrations across Italy to protest tax and pension changes that are part of the government's austerity package.

The strike hobbled services in hospitals, post offices and government offices for the entire day. Unions guaranteed emergency services in hospitals.

Union leader Susanna Camusso told a rally in front of the Parliament building that the reforms put an unfair burden on the working class and do little to fight tax evasion.

"It is not acceptable for the workers, it is not acceptable for the pensioners, it is not acceptable for those who already struggled to get to the end of the month," Camusso said.

"The government should come down from its teaching chair and join the real world," she said, alluding to the university background of Premier Monti and many of the ministers in his government of technocrats.

The government package of €30 billion ($39 billion) in new taxes and pension reforms has already been approved by the lower house of Parliament and final approval by the Senate is expected by Friday.

Monti is counting on the support of the major political parties in his efforts to protect Italy from becoming the next victim of Europe's debt crisis.

Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has been backing Monti's program, denied Monday that he intended to "pull the plug" on Monti next month.

"I don't believe there is anybody who can predict how long the government can last," Berlusconi told reporters during a pause in his trial in Milan on corruption charges,

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/62665--public-service-workers-strike-against-government-austerity-measures

Yes, one can almost imagine that happening in Canada. And accomplishing boo-all in Rome or Athens or ......

No, social democrats have to make use of saved capital to save the welfare state.

Haven't they saved capital for long enough? [ducking...]

Austerity measures driving Canada into recession, opposition says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with his finance minister and the Bank of Canada governor Tuesday amid predictions from opposition parties that the Conservative government's focus on austerity could drive the country into a recession.

It was a charge immediately rejected by Harper, who told the House of Commons the Tories are pursuing an economic plan that is widely respected. Moreover, he said that while his government is now implementing an "expansionary" spending policy, it is determined to eventually cut costs so that the deficit can be eliminated.

But the NDP and Liberals dismissed that defence, citing economic experts who have compared Harper to Herbert Hoover, the U.S. president who helped plunge his country into the Great Depression through austerity measures.

The political battle is being played out on Parliament Hill as Harper has identified the economy as his priority issue this fall and in the wake of his recent warnings that Canada's economic stability could be imperilled in the face of a looming global economic slowdown.

Harper met with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney. Flaherty and Carney attended meetings with their international counterparts last week in Washington, D.C.

They briefed Harper on those sessions as he plans for a crucial gathering of G20 leaders in France in early November. Harper is calling for a coordinated international approach to deal with the looming global economic storm....

Does Harper even have a mandate to change Medicare and Canada Pension? Did his election platform include changing those?

How is running a $20 billion deficit "austerity"? People are still getting their cheques.

It would be a refreshing change if you'd offer up some wisdom toward viable solutions Gaian.

No one is saying the NDP is perfect, but I'd much rather have them in power in Ottawa than the Cons or Libs any day.

..the spanish experiment does not call for a traditional revolution. the tradition revolution being massive battling with the police/military forces and if successful the popular political party of the day takes power. the indignados are instead calling for transition. my understanding of this is building a new world within the old. this begins by organizing at a community level and yes, on the street. the self contained occupy is a rudimentary vehicle that creates the space for this to be done. what does not need to be is a continuous confrontation with military forces but requires going to the edge then pulling back and avoiding being crushed.

..this gives breathing space to create their own political candidates that are accountable in a very direct way. to collaborate with environmentalist, labour and other peoples to implement ways that work to transform at a community level. it's true that the powers can crush it all if they so desire but this becomes more difficult for them when it is done incrementally. and against occupies that are organized in small pockets all over the country. things can be done for example transferring bank accounts to local credit unions. feeding and housing the homeless, preventing foreclosures, one house at a time. being global certain governments can be targeted to force them not to sign that trade deal. or any other economic/environmental pacts. it does though mean reclaiming public space and using it to build a direct democracy.  all imho.

edit to add:

..as the global economy begins to collapse it's grip on local communities weakens. for example, a factory shuts down causing much distress. it is taken over by the workers. the determination of a collapsing corporation to hang on to it is diminished as is the opposition to the take over by local or provincial governments facing rising unemployment numbers and declining revenue. corporate power may very well remain at a federal gov level but that power is also diminished as the politics begin to change at the local levels where there is a demand for a quality of life different from a mad max type world.

Yep, there are only 18 countries ahead of Canada in terms of social spending. In Sweden the program is so successful that social democrats can afford to take four year holidays at a time and still be in strong opposition.

The statistics backup SJ's argument as long as he isn't referring to Nordic social democracies. And from what I can tell, the French and Germans still have socialized medicine, free or inexpensive post-secondary education and less inequality in general. Even the very neoliberal USA spends more on social housing than Ottawa does.

Apparently their biggest concern is that Canadians will not see through social democrats' "hidden agenda" for neoliberalism, or something. They should wait until the neoliberals really do privatize health care and life in general in this country. If they thought they were having fun now, they should advocate not voting NDP some more because the fun is only just beginning.

Yes, Nordic social democracies still rank higher than neoliberal Canada in terms of economic competitiveness.

And Norway ruled by social democrats for many years was a net creditor nation when neoliberal Alberta raided a "Heritage Fund" to pay down highest per capita debts in Canadian provincial history. The socialist bastion of Norway has an oil fund worth more than $570 billion USD. Meanwhile neoliberal Canada is up to its eyeballs in national debt by the same amount. 

 Compare Norway's oil fund savings to neoliberal Alberta's Heritage Fund worth a piddling $14 billion after years of being robbed blind by foreign oil companies. Neoliberal Alberta has one of the highest costs of living in the country and little to show for decades worth of conservative government "shenanigans."

Meanwhile net creditor Norwegians are enjoying high incomes on average, free post-secondary education, well funded socialized medicine and generous social benefits.

Yes, the neoliberal ideology has been working its magic in Nordic social democracies same as in Canada as SJ says. Canada and the social democracies are virtually indistinguishable by direct comparison. Much more of the neoliberal baloney and Canada will look EXACTLY LIKE those social democratic hell holes in the Nordic countries, we can be sure. Let this be a warning to anyone foolish enough to consider voting for Canada's social democrats and treacherous tricksters, the NDP!

Yes, good question. Jimmy "Flip-flop" Flaherty betrayed Canadians on pension reform

Give us more neoliberal shenanigans, for sure. We can't get enough.

Well if there will be nothing more than the usual begging and pleading with us, and not so far removed from BY GOD! Please don't NDP whatever you do!', then I'm outa here. 

My cheque's been reduced by 19% within the last 6 months. It sure feels like austerity to me.

fidel:

..in my mind i want to believe that the ndp will not do what has been done in europe. i read an article yesterday where canada was a signatory to a letter to europe to stay on the austerity track. it was co-signed by a few countries that included australia. why? questions like how will the ndp behave towards those that protest the cuts and changes to our medical plans the provinces will face. so all will become clear in time.

..my overall position is that all governments fuck us over. i'm sick and tired of being fucked over and i may have come to agree with chomsky's view that all governments are illegitimate. having said that i am very much wanting to participate with others in defeating these austerity measures.

..yes, and capital owns the us government.

eta:

..to have a serious scrap with capital a goverment needs the support of active social movements, as is the case in venuzuala and bolivia.

Highest-paid Canadian CEOs got 27 per cent pay hike

Canada's highest paid CEOs got a 27 per cent pay raise in 2010, while ordinary workers earned just 1.1 per cent more, report says.

How much longer will this country tolerate this inequality?

Thanks for your continuing insight, epaulo13. And don't let the petty partisanship get you down.

..txs for your support!

Unions brace for job cuts

 Ottawa slashing public service positions

Unions are bracing for potentially tens of thousands of federal job cuts from the Conservative government's operating review, as Treasury Board president Tony Clement argued Thursday he's not getting much help from labour groups in finding savings.
quote:

Unions, however, are bracing for potentially thousands of additional layoffs and are urging Clement to tread carefully in his search for billions in savings.

"We know that there are going to be job reductions. I think they're going to be in the executive level as well," said Gary Corbett, CEO of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

"It's in the thousands - maybe even tens of thousands," added Corbett, whose group represents approximately 58,000 scientists and other professionals employed mostly at the federal level.

The union wants to work together with Clement on austerity measures, he said, but is cautioning the government against across-theboard cuts that purge built-up expertise that's necessary for an efficient and effective public service....

Uncle John's truth really is stranger than fiction.

Given what I have read on MSM message boards, I think the public sector workers are political low hanging fruit. You get the odd post from a public sector worker, but most of them say a bunch of predictable expletives about how the taxes from their $11 an hour job are going to pay for bla bla bla. Oh, and don't even mention pensions. They don't have any, except for what they will get from the government, however ironical and LOLz-worthy that is. Government by Kevin O' Leary. LIKE A BOSS!

Oh and someone mentioned I was being what they called Social Darwinist, so I read up on Social Darwinism using the totally-unbiased Wikipedia. It does say somewhere in there that collective action by a species can be a good survival trait, and I am all for that. I do not however believe that whole segments of the population should be herded into gas chambers, whether you call them Jews or enemies of your Revolution. So if your calling me a Social Darwinist is an attempt to call me a Nazi, I will take it as an insult, which will mean I have won the argument, as I do most of the time any way.

SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK

July-August 2010
A PERMANENT 
ECONOMIC EMERGENCY

During this year’s protests against the Eurozone’s austerity measures—in Greece and, on a smaller scale, Ireland, Italy and Spain—two stories have imposed themselves. [1] The predominant, establishment story proposes a de-politicized naturalization of the crisis: the regulatory measures are presented not as decisions grounded in political choices, but as the imperatives of a neutral financial logic—if we want our economies to stabilize, we simply have to swallow the bitter pill. The other story, that of the protesting workers, students and pensioners, would see the austerity measures as yet another attempt by international financial capital to dismantle the last remainders of the welfare state. The imf thus appears from one perspective as a neutral agent of discipline and order, and from the other as the oppressive agent of global capital.

There is a moment of truth in both perspectives. One cannot miss the superego dimension in the way the imf treats its client states—while scolding and punishing them for unpaid debts, it simultaneously offers them new loans, which everyone knows they will not be able to return, thus drawing them deeper into the vicious cycle of debt generating more debt. On the other hand, the reason this superego strategy works is that the borrowing state, fully aware that it will never really have to repay the full amount of the debt, hopes to profit from it in the last instance....

http://newleftreview.org/?view=2853

eta:

One thing is clear: after decades of the welfare state, when cutbacks were relatively limited and came with the promise that things would soon return to normal, we are now entering a period in which a kind of economic state of emergency is becoming permanent: turning into a constant, a way of life. It brings with it the threat of far more savage austerity measures, cuts in benefits, diminishing health and education services and more precarious employment. The left faces the difficult task of emphasizing that we are dealing with political economy—that there is nothing ‘natural’ in such a crisis, that the existing global economic system relies on a series of political decisions—while simultaneously being fully aware that, insofar as we remain within the capitalist system, the violation of its rules effectively causes economic breakdown, since the system obeys a pseudo-natural logic of its own. So, although we are clearly entering a new phase of enhanced exploitation, rendered easier by the conditions of the global market (outsourcing, etc.), we should also bear in mind that this is imposed by the functioning of the system itself, always on the brink of financial collapse.

Austerity czar sees pain ahead in Ontario

A government-commissioned review of Ontario’s public services is set to deliver a grim diagnosis of the province’s financial prospects, and propose a sweeping overhaul of the way it spends money.

At the heart of the new spending model would be a much tighter clampdown on health costs than Dalton McGuinty’s government has previously forecast. And among the roughly 400 recommendations for spending reforms are changes to some of the Premier’s signature education policies, including a shift away from mandated smaller classes....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/austerity-czar-sees-pain-ah...

>>Passes the spliff>>Ya he's been a real dictator non-stop. I can hardly stand it. Harper was forced to spend a little on stimulus since lying to Canadians about the state of the economy two weeks before the 2008 election. Let's see them make abortion or SSM an election issue. I highly doubt it. The Harpers are walking on pins and needles from now to 2015. Let's get wide...

Canadian financials downgraded

Barclays Capital downgraded the Canadian financial services sector to neutral from positive in anticipation of slower earnings growth in 2012.

Analyst John Aiken warned clients that both domestic and global headwinds will likely weigh on valuations.

“It appears that the steam is dissipating from the Canadian economic engine, with greater downside risk than upside surprise to current forecasts likely,” he said in a research note....

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/05/canadian-financials-downgra...

That only accounts for so much you know.

Well Gaian, it is normally the case that when a proposition is tabled, ideally the next step is for a debate to ensue on the merits of such a proposal. In defining what it means to oppose something, there should also be an assessment of its effectiveness. Examples can be brought in to support one contention or another...either the prospects for opposing the march of neo-liberalism appear hopeful, or not. For instance, I would bring in the European examples...social democratic governments...various shades of opposition...the current levels of unrest in the street etc; and weigh them as they might pertain to the North American situation, or more specifically here in Canada. In all cases it would appear that we'd be talking about speed bumps in the best case scenarios. In our situation, a collective approach seems to represents the best and only way forward, but we can hardly rely on honesty or initiative from the traditional sources of opposition, where in the distant past they were able to mobilize their resources in certain circumstances.  The street is made up of handfuls of refugees that few seem to care about anymore, which is why it is increasingly difficult to imagine how this will work in our context. What is really needed, before contemplating anything else, is a sustained general strike from coast to coast...a grand coalition of First Nations, communities everywhere, unions, opposition, communists, anarchists, occupy groups....open to all efforts and persuasions. The question is whether something is worth saving or not, and in this it should be made explicit that we are talking about humanity and their wars against people and the environments we live in. The current path of opposition suggests to us every day that the people we entrust with confrontation on our behalf fully believe it is not worth the effort, when all we see are dress rehearsals practicing the motions, and sickening, never ending displays of superficial leadership pageants. In which case I would say the nihilists should be put on speed dial as well, just to get things over with.

It's the backroom table where competing business interests are hashed out.  The public is not dealt in around that one.  Instead, we're treated to the daily theatre of the absurd during question period, where the only real question involves how much more of this play act can we tolerate.

B.C. balks at federal health-funding plan

After initially applauding federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s plan for health funding, the B.C. government is now demanding changes to the formula to prevent “devastating” cuts to seniors’ care.

“It’s just not going to work,” said B.C. Premier Christy Clark, who will host Canada’s provincial premiers for a three-day conference that starts Sunday....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politic...

Canadians want feds to play strong role in health care: poll

quote:

Among the poll's findings:

- 97 per cent of Canadians think the federal government's responsibility for the Canada Health Act is important. In return for receiving federal money, provinces must adhere to the principles of medicare as outlined in the Act. Those principles include accessibility to services, universal availability, and portability from province to province.

- 70 per cent say they are "worried that without accountability to the federal government, provinces will have no incentive to achieve health care efficiencies."

- 88 per cent are worried that "without national standards, Canadians will have different levels of health care depending on where they live."

- 74 per cent believe that health care is a shared responsibility between the provincial and federal governments. Few believe it is solely a provincial (13 per cent) or federal (11 per cent) responsibility.

- 56 per cent are not confident that the premiers will be able to agree on a plan to improve health care in Canada.

- 69 per cent "strongly agree" that they would encourage their premier to "adopt a series of principles that make the health-care system more concentrated on the needs of the patient."

The telephone poll of 1,000 Canadian adults was conducted Jan. 4-9. With a sample of this size, it has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

quote: "The private sector has been drooling to get its hands on public assets for a long time."

Right on. And farther back than 2008. The Chicago School in the 1970s demonstrated for neo-conservatism how finance capital could co-opt entire nations with their own savings, the gradual "destruction of the liberal state," as Lady Barbara Amiel Black used to love describing the process, was a foregone conclusion.

But nothing's really been done about it because folks really don't want to give up on their pensions: "Growth - and investment capital - is good" (to paraphrase that infamous Hollywood character on the subject of greed. Was is Gekko?) So those "public assets" are now the safest, soundest investments for everyone's pension, worker and WAll Street denizen. And until people realize that their own savings are driving the vehicle, we'll continue to just bemoan our fate.(Like, we really COULD be creating sovereign pension plans, building the CPP, etc. rather than just carrying on in gormless protest).

quote:"But until democracy is achieved and unpayable debts are wiped, the western world is headed for a new dark ages."

Jeez, Fidel, posing a possible descent to a "new dark ages" and salvation from that fate handicapped by debt and need for democracy? Can't you be more optimistic than that? :)

Roger L.Martin has a partial answer in his Fixing the Game, Fidel. He's a bit of an apologist, but if the market can go "bad" as easily as he suggests, it seems to me a corrective is only a detmined re-regulationist and honest government away. But of course positing such a rational remedy in a world of such complete ignorance and gullibility is a bit rich, eh?

Unemployed outnumber jobs more than 3 to 1: StatsCan

OTTAWA — There were an average of 3.3 unemployed people for every available position in Canada in the three months ending in September, according to a new Statistics Canada job vacancies report.

There were approximately 248,000 job vacancies in the period, the federal agency reported Tuesday, with the highest number of unemployed in educational services (a ratio of 10 people per vacancy) and the lowest in wholesale trade, and health care and social assistance (1.4 to one in each sector)....

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/24/unemployed-outnumber-jobs-m...

Stephen Harper says 'major' changes coming to Canada's pension system: speech

DAVOS, Switzerland — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has signalled his government will bring forward "major transformations" to the country in the coming months — in areas such as the retirement pension system, immigration, science and technology investment and the energy sector.

Of those reforms, Harper said, getting a grip on slowing the rising costs of the country's pension system is particularly critical.

In the wake of Harper's speech, it now appears that the Conservative government could be poised to gradually change the Old Age Security system so that the age of eligibility is raised to 67 from 65.....

..italy, just a few short manouevers ahead of us.

quote:

This rescue will not cost anything for our entrepreneurs, financers, bankers and the tax-evasion economy, whose profits and goods have not suffered loss of any kind. The so-called Phase 1 of the Monti techno-government has now come to a close with an enormous draining of financial resources, taken from waged workers, pensioners and home-owners (of a single house). In the meantime any chance for an increase in wages has been blocked with a freeze on public sector agreements, despite rising inflation, and with the cancellation of the national collective agreement by FIAT and the metalworkers sector.

This unilateral, parallel and interconnected action on the part of Marchionne and Confindustria introduces into the context of acute crisis an element that is not so much simply the taking of our money, but the taking of our freedom and the dignity of workers, our right to organize ourselves in the workplace, to protest, to strike. Punishment and dismissals will be the fate of anyone who does not buckle down. And this is the basis on which the government’s so-called Phase 2 lies....

http://takethesquare.net/2012/01/27/15mglobalstrike-italian-grassroots-s...

On their behalf it won't.

How the Banks Broke the Social Compact, Promoting their Own Special Interests by Prof. Michael Hudson

Economic historian Michael Hudson on how the banks convinced governments that they needed "brokers" to decide whether a loan is responsible, and that private money creation would make economies more efficient and passing on savings to citizens and governments. And basically the opposite has occurred.

It's a very good essay, and I'm sure Rabble's Duncan Cameron et al would agree.

And if you begin to focus on this problem from a position where we can do something about it - setting aside Romania in its frozen state for a moment - deciding how we can free ourselves from capital's grip, would be a good start. Right now, everyone's scared shitless about the possibility of losing their pensions - their savings that are now so depeendent upon the market. Any ideas about how that could be corrected for a start? Because if you can't begin to answer that one, outlining events in Romania won't begin to solve diddly squat, just display more depressing news. That's easy to come by, takes no thought at all, really.

..this article represents some of the thinking going on re building a new world.


Take the City – Toma la Ciudad (Video)

quote:

We have realized business and state production ways do not respond to either our wishes or our needs, and, instead, it generates corrupt and unjust structures and is hugely damaging for the environment.

What would happen if we started managing the world ourselves, from below, in a different way?

Let’s imagine, for instance, a transformed city, more natural, where, instead of so much tarmac, paving stones and sterile gardens, we grew aromatic herbs or plants from which we could extract natural remedies; where, instead of ornamental parks, we had orchards and ecological vegetable gardens, looked after by all together, children, grown ups, elders and youths.

What would happen if, instead of maintaining a highly expensive and often inefficient state public sector, we built a network of people’s services, autonomous, where the labour that supported it was managed by people’s assemblies and not according to the profit of a few; where each of us would contribute as we can and where we can; where we could develop in a wholly way as persons, both to give and to receive, not being mere passive consumers anymore?...

http://takethesquare.net/2012/02/07/take-the-city-toma-la-ciudad-video/

I guess I'm always concerned about what to tell the electorate, 13. I resist the finance capitalists, those folks now calling the shot from the Cat-bird's Seat, by trying to direct challenges at that sector of capitalism. We have to amass enough saved capital to be able to break free of the internationals. Sovereign funds NOT dependent on the sale of oil would be good.

But right now, everyone's savings hereabouts are being used to control and manipulate people around the world in the name of personal security in everyone's old age, and I can only make noises about "slow money" or some other bloody agrarian use for savings, apre le deluge.