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Author: Paul Kellogg

I am a writer and teacher with a focus on political economy (international and Canadian), social movements (with a focus on labour) and 20th century political movements.

How Bob Rae destroyed his base

MAY 15, 1995 – The NDP looks set to lose the June 8 election in Ontario. Membership in the party is down by thousands. “After the Social Contract negotiations in the summer of 1993, thousands of NDP members tore up their cards and quit the party. Membership has fallen by about one-third to about 22,000”. [1] Riding after riding has fewer workers prepared to go door to door than in the last election. Rae and the party leadership have no one to blame but themselves. There was euphoria in 1990 when the NDP won a majority at Queen’s Park. Many…

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Fear of striking

MARCH 27, 1994 – For a few days, everything seemed possible. On March 11, 1994, Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, in a letter to CUPE Ontario Executive Board members, laid out a plan of action that had the potential to galvanize the Ontario labour movement. In the confidential letter, widely leaked to militants in the labour movement, Ryan spelled out exactly how serious the attacks on Ontario workers have been in the last two years. “A recent survey of 30 percent of CUPE locals has indicated a staggering job loss of…

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