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Tag: NDP

Gaza: Occupation is still the issue

The war in Gaza is a completely unequal contest. Israel – receiving billions of dollars in military aid every year from the United States – has one of the most sophisticated killing machines in the world. Gaza is an open-air prison, whose only outlet to the outside world for months has been through tunnels dug deep beneath the border with Egypt. Rockets fired from Gaza have killed a handful of Israelis. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 600 – including the slaughter of 40 at a U.N. school.[1] Yet in spite of these facts, the NDP official statement on the…

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The pink paper problem

MAY 14, 1996 – One of the strongest poles inside the NDP is formed by the so-called “pink paper” unions. Leaders of 12 major unions – a grouping nick-named “pink paper” because of the colour of the paper on which they printed a statement at the 1993 OFL convention[1] – co-signed a document August 30 last year titled “Toward the renewal of social democracy in Canada.”[2] These unions include the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).…

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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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