MONTREAL — “We have an internationalist political program, and Betsy Farley’s participation on the panel tonight illustrates this,” Philippe Tessier, the Communist League candidate in the Dec. 7 federal by-election in the Montreal district of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, told a Militant Labor Forum here Nov. 7.
Twenty-five people attended this launch of his campaign. Tessier works as a freight rail conductor and is a member of the Teamsters union.
Farley, a member of the Cincinnati branch of the Socialist Workers Party and a factory worker, a member of the Bakery Workers union, said she had come to Montreal to help get out the word about the Communist League’s campaign.
“We are deluged with anti-American, Canadian-nationalist propaganda, but as a class workers in the U.S. and Canada have a common enemy, the capitalist rulers. We have the same interests on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border,” Tessier said.
“I’m really happy to be here,” Farley told the meeting. She reported on the just-concluded campaigns of the SWP in the Nov. 3 U.S. elections.
The election results “are no surprise,” Farley said. “Working people, under the impact on their lives of today’s deepening crisis of capitalism, voted against the party in power.”
But the Democratic Party’s new majority in the Senate and House of Representatives does nothing to advance the struggles of working people, she said. “The two-party lesser-evil system is a trap for workers. Both parties act in the interests of the ruling rich.”
There is no “Team USA” for working people there, just as here there is no “Team Canada.” All capitalist countries are class-divided, Farley said.
The Democrats’ gains did register a dangerous trend in bourgeois politics, she said, “the advancing normalization of Jew-hatred.” There’s a growing number of members in Congress who stand against the right of Israel to exist as a refuge for Jews, peddling the lie that Israel is an “apartheid” state that commits “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
“Working people and our unions should support Israel’s defensive war against the reactionary regime in Tehran and its proxies like Hamas who are determined to carry out another Holocaust.
“In contrast, Washington’s war against Iran is an imperialist war for control of the resources, markets and labor power of the Middle East,” Farley said. “The SWP calls for all U.S. military forces to get out of the Middle East, now.”
Ottawa’s war on workers’ rights
Tessier described how Ottawa, under the slogan “Build a strong Canada,” is preparing for new wars abroad while at the same time carrying out a war against working people here and attacking our right to strike.
“The Canadian Labour Congress campaign against Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Bill C-39 reflects the sharpening class struggle in Canada,” said Tessier. “It would give the federal government more power to try to break strikes.” The bosses say their government needs this power to end any threat to the Canadian capitalist economy, meaning their profits.
“However, the leaders of the Canadian Labour Congress are not demanding the law be scrapped outright,” the Communist League candidate said. “They want it amended to give Parliament the power to end strikes if a panel of ‘experts’ say they will hurt the economy, rather than allowing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to do it. But under capitalism there are no ‘neutral’ experts. They’re ‘neutral’ on behalf of the bosses.”
Defend socialist Cuba
Both speakers underlined the need for working people and our unions to fight to build opposition to Washington’s economic war against Cuba’s workers and farmers. Ottawa is complicit in this war, Tessier said.
“Washington’s oil blockade is causing tremendous hardship for the Cuban people,” said Farley. “But the Cubans are not surrendering. They are working together and fighting to win support around the world. SWP candidates have called for ongoing demonstrations to demand an end to the blockade and the over 60-year U.S. economic war against Cuba.”
“Many unions in Canada and the U.S. have taken a position against the blockade,” Tessier added. “Some participate in sending medical aid to the Cuban people.” These efforts need to be expanded.
“Ottawa’s complicity with Washington has done serious damage to the Cuban economy,” he said. “Several months ago, the Canadian rulers shut down all air travel to Cuba, a body blow at the Cuban tourist industry. At the same time Ottawa issued a travel warning telling Canadian tourists not to visit there.”
In the lively discussion period people asked about the sizable demonstrations in Europe protesting the high cost of living, degenerating education and healthcare systems, and more.
“This resistance shows working people need to build our own political party to fight for political power, our own government, a workers government,” said Farley. “Today this means building the SWP and Communist League.”
After turning in almost 150 signatures, far above the 100 required, Tessier was notified Nov. 9 that his name will be on the ballot.