The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.23           June 10, 1996 
 
 
Vancouver: Communist League announces candidate  

BY NED DMYTRYSHYN

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - At an election rally held at the Pathfinder Bookstore here May 10, Dan Grant announced his candidacy for the Communist League in the May 28 British Columbia provincial elections. Grant, a member of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union, is a production worker at Domtar Packaging in Richmond.

"Your struggle is an important example to all workers and my campaign brings you complete support," said Grant when he visited independent fishers occupying the Canadian Federal Government Fisheries and Oceans offices in downtown Vancouver May 15. This action was one of a half dozen occupations across the province protesting the federal government's "Mifflin plan."

"This plan is going to drive out the small fishers and corporatize the industry," explained Ross Wetzel, an independent fisher and member of the United Fishers and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU). A sign saying "Save our salmon - Stop Mifflin" adorned the wall.

The Mifflin plan, in the name of conserving dwindling salmon stocks, would limit the area that a fishing license can cover. Fishers would be forced to buy several licenses at a prohibitive expense to be able to fish the entire coast, effectively driving them out of the industry. "This has nothing to do with conserving the salmon stock," added Wetzel.

"This occupation has brought us together, Native and non- Native, fishermen and fisherwomen," said another UFAWU member, Barbara Groening. "Native fishers will be hit hardest by this plan."

On May 18, Grant spoke at an all-candidates meeting in Vancouver, organized by the Committee For Equality For Immigrants And New Canadians and the U.B.C. Law Students Legal Advice Program.

In addition to Grant, candidates from the Green Party, the Reform Party, The Liberals, the Communist Party, and the governing New Democratic Party (NDP) spoke. The NDP is a social democratic party.

The Communist League candidate was the only one to call for full citizenship rights for all immigrants, an end to the federal government head tax for new immigrants, and solidarity with the members of the Canadian Autoworkers Union on strike against CLS Catering, the majority of whom are immigrants and women.

The CLS Catering workers went on strike on May 14 at the Vancouver Airport against concessions and a wage freeze demanded by the bosses. From day one, the employer hired goons who physically tried to intimidate the strikers and used racist epithets.

"It's in the interests of working people to defend immigrant rights. The bosses scapegoat immigrants for the economic crisis to justify the existence of a second-class layer in society. It's capitalism and the drive for profits that is the problem, not immigrants," Grant stated.

"We need to fight to raise the minimum wage, and for a shorter workweek with no cut in pay to create jobs," Grant said. "The economic crisis will continue no matter who is elected. The important thing is to rely on our own struggles and build solidarity with all those resisting."

In response to a question on Native rights, Grant said that "Canada is a prisonhouse of nations, of Quebecois and Native people who are oppressed. We in the Communist League defend Native sovereignty unconditionally. The NDP and the Liberals' answer to Native struggles is to send in the cops. Reform Party leader Jack Weisgerber calls for taking out the guns to deal with Native blockades."

Strikers at the CLS Catering picket line gave a friendly response to Grant as he and his supporters visited the strikers two days later.

"It's important that we stand up for our rights," declared striker Arlene Labrador, a former student activist in the Phillipines. "The manager called us a bunch of Philipina nannies and stupid drivers," Labrador explained. "But we're fighting back."  
 
 
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