Canada
Canada and Saudis in raucous diplomatic spat over Ottawa’s posturing over human rights
By Roger Jordan, 11 August 2018
The events of the past week notwithstanding, Canada—as attested by its $15 billion arms deal with Riyadh—is a staunch ally of the absolutist Saudi regime.
Ontario’s Tory government slashes welfare benefits, vows further cuts
By Roger Jordan, 4 August 2018
The Ford government has vowed to bring forward a plan to make welfare “sustainable” by further reducing benefits and restricting eligibility.
As lockout at Quebec smelter nears eighth month,
ABI management demands more concessions, job cuts
By Laurent Lafrance, 31 July 2018
The Steelworkers union is systematically isolating the ABI workers' struggle, even as the aluminum bosses escalate their concession demands.
Ontario government repudiates resettlement agreement, scapegoats refugees
By Laurent Lafrance, 28 July 2018
The Conservatives' xenophobic campaign is aimed at diverting attention away from their big business agenda and whipping up racism and chauvinism to divide the working class.
Ontario government passes draconian law to end five-month York University strike
By Jake Silver, 27 July 2018
The union, which in late June offered to voluntarily submit "major outstanding issues" to arbitration, immediately complied with the legislation.
Canada boosts support for US-led NATO missions in the Baltic and Iraq
By Roger Jordan, 23 July 2018
Trudeau’s new commitments have failed to satiate the ruling elite’s appetite for rearmament and a further militarization of Canadian foreign policy.
Ontario’s new Tory government slashes social spending, scapegoats refugees
By Roger Jordan, 10 July 2018
Employing the rhetoric of Trump and the European far right Doug Ford is accusing refugees of imperiling Ontarian’s access to housing and social support.
Trudeau beats nationalist drum as Canada imposes retaliatory tariffs against US
By Roger Jordan, 4 July 2018
Ottawa is waging trade war not to defend workers and their livelihoods, but to protect the markets and profits of Canadian big business.
Quebec construction unions shut down week-long wildcat strike by crane operators
By Laurent Lafrance, 30 June 2018
The Quebec Liberal government intervened aggressively against the strike, threatening to prosecute strikers and demanding the unions suppress it.
Ontario’s Ford-led government initiates class-war assault
By Roger Jordan, 23 June 2018
As a down payment on its plans to slash public services, Ontario’s incoming Conservative government has imposed a public sector hiring freeze.
Canadian establishment rallies behind Trudeau in trade war with US
By Roger Jordan, 13 June 2018
The collapse of last weekend’s G7 summit into acrimony and recrimination has thrown the Canada-US alliance into unprecedented crisis.
Lockout at Quebec aluminum smelter enters sixth month
By Laurent Lafrance, 12 June 2018
The workers are determined to resist ABI’s concessions demands. But the Steelworkers union is adamantly opposed to making their struggle a rallying point for opposition to the big business assault on jobs, wages and working conditions.
“We live in police states, but people don’t realize it”
Quebec City anti-G7 protest forced to “run police gauntlet” its entire route
By our reporters, 11 June 2018
The massive military-style deployment in Quebec’s capital underscores that Canada’s ruling elite, like those of its G-7 allies, is intent on criminalizing social opposition.
Right-wing populist Doug Ford wins Ontario’s election
By Keith Jones, 9 June 2018
Ontario’s Ford-led Conservative government will quickly come into headlong conflict with the working class, as the ruling elite uses it to push politics across Canada far to the right.
“I’m not Bob Rae”
Horwath seeks to disingenuously disassociate Canada’s NDP from its right-wing record
By Roger Jordan and Keith Jones, 7 June 2018
With her absurd claim that the anti-worker policies pursued by the only ever Ontario NDP government were an aberration, Horwath is seeking to conceal the fact that social democratic governments the world over have played a key role in enforcing capitalist austerity.
Canadian authorities prepare mass repression of anti-G7 protests
By Louis Girard, 6 June 2018
Canada’s Liberal government is mounting a massive police-military “security” operation around the G7 Summit, which takes place this Friday and Saturday in a small municipality 150 kilometers east of Quebec City.
Toronto Star endorses NDP-led government in Ontario
By Keith Jones, 5 June 2018
The Star’s endorsement signals that an important faction of Canada’s ruling elite now believes an NDP-led Ontario government will be the best means to suppress the class struggle, while boosting the “competitiveness” of big business.
Naomi Klein promotes pro-war, pro-austerity NDP as antidote to populist far-right
By Roger Jordan, 1 June 2018
Under conditions of a global resurgence of the class struggle, Klein has intervened in the Ontario election campaign to try to refurbish the NDP’s tattered “left” credentials and resuscitate illusions in the failed national-reformist perspective.
Teamsters scuttle Canadian Pacific Rail strike, laud Trudeau
By Keith Jones, 31 May 2018
The Teamsters have provided no details of the proposed four-year agreement, let alone given the striking train drivers and conductors the opportunity to study and vote on it prior to forcing them back to work.
Three thousand Canadian railway workers strike against long hours and speed-up
By Roger Jordan, 30 May 2018
The strike pits the CP Rail workers not just against a ruthless corporate giant, but also against Canada’s big business Liberal government, which stands poised to criminalize the strike.
Windsor casino workers continue strike following contract rejection
By Shannon Jones, 25 May 2018
Casino workers courageously defied the Unifor union, which has isolated the seven-week walkout and tried to starve the 2,300 workers into submission.
The fraud of the Ontario NDP’s “left” election platform
By Roger Jordan, 23 May 2018
The unions and pseudo-left are touting the NDP platform’s meagre social spending promises as a bold “left turn” and a return to the party’s social-democratic roots.
Ontario Liberals face electoral oblivion in June 7 provincial vote
By Roger Jordan, 19 May 2018
The right-wing populist Doug Ford has, thus far, been the principal beneficiary of the popular anger against Ontario’s trade union-backed, big business Liberal government.
Quebec’s “Nurses on the Move” Facebook page bans WSWS reporters for criticizing unions
By Louis Girard, 12 May 2018
“Nurses on the Move” banned the WSWS reporters because it feared their exposure of the unions’ role in suppressing opposition to austerity would win wide support.
Open letter to the moderators of the Facebook page “Nurses on the Move”
By Louis Girard, 12 May 2018
Ontario Liberals attempt to legislate end to York University strike
By Roger Jordan, 9 May 2018
The Liberals’ anti-strike bill underscores that in their fight against poverty wages and precarious employment, York contract faculty and graduate assistants face a political struggle.
Unifor shuts down strike by Lear auto parts workers in Ajax, Ontario using threat of plant closure
By Carl Bronski, 5 May 2018
The rejection of the original sellout that Unifor attempted to foist on Lear Ajax workers is a reflection of a growing movement of auto workers.
Trudeau defends Canada’s $15 billion arms deal with despotic Saudi regime
By Laurent Lafrance, 2 May 2018
The Trudeau government is fully behind Washington’s efforts to construct an anti-Iranian alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Unifor isolates workers as Windsor casino strike enters fourth week
By Shannon Jones, 30 April 2018
Workers voted down a sellout contract recommended by Unifor, in a rebellion against poverty wages and onerous working conditions.
Ontario Liberals give boost to Unifor union raiding strategy
By Carl Bronski, 28 April 2018
The new Labour Relations Board regulation is yet another illustration of the intimate ties between the big business Liberals and the country’s largest industrial union.
Assailant charged with murder following Toronto van attack
By Roger Jordan, 27 April 2018
The political establishment and bourgeois media have responded to Monday’s atrocity with a combination of reaction, Canadian nationalist appeals, and perplexity.
At least 10 killed in deliberate attack on Toronto pedestrians
By Keith Jones, 24 April 2018
Police have said nothing about a possible motive, only that they have not definitively ruled anything out.
British Commonwealth summit sees line up against China and Russia
By Mike Head, 23 April 2018
The CHOGM gathering saw a concerted drive to transform the 53-member grouping, long regarded as an imperial relic, into a confrontational vehicle.
Corporate Canada demands Trudeau quell opposition to Trans Mountain pipeline
By Keith Jones, 19 April 2018
The corporate media is demanding Trudeau do whatever it takes to ensure the pipeline is built, including invoking the Emergencies Act and deploying the army.
Trudeau joins Macron in celebrating air strikes on Syria
By Roger Jordan, 18 April 2018
Trudeau’s summit with Macron came just days after France joined the US and UK in launching illegal air strikes on Syria.
Political censorship in the name of #MeToo
Oppose union’s banning of Fightback from Toronto university strike picketline
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Canada), 16 April 2018
The Canadian Union of Public Employee’s resort to political censorship goes hand-in-hand with its determination to isolate and suppress working class struggles whenever they break out.
Québec Solidaire courts and flatters Aussant even as he rejoins Parti Québécois
By Louis Girard, 13 April 2018
Québec Solidaire seeks to channel growing working class opposition to austerity and war behind the big business PQ and pro-capitalist union apparatuses.
Canada rallies behind US in its incendiary anti-Russia offensive
By Roger Jordan, 11 April 2018
Canada has signalled its support for the coming US attack on Syria, by pledging to work with its “international partners” to punish Syria and “its backers” with “all available means.”
Canada’s trade union-backed Liberal government clamps down on steel and aluminum imports
By Roger Jordan, 7 April 2018
Trudeau’s protectionist measures, which help enforce Trump’s trade war tariffs, include corporatist initiatives aimed at further integrating the unions with big business and the state.
Windsor, Ontario casino workers strike after voting down sellout deal
By Carl Bronski, 7 April 2018
The one-sided rejection of yet another contract recommended by Unifor is further indication of the growing rebellion by workers against the official trade unions.
Ontario: Pro-austerity Liberals tout pre-election, “caring” budget
By Roger Jordan, 5 April 2018
Having slashed social spending to the bone and illegalized strikes to impose wage cuts, the Liberals are now cynically posing as the “pro-people” antipode to the big business Conservatives.
York University conspires with Ontario government to break contract-faculty and assistants’ strike
By Roger Jordan, 30 March 2018
Although the Liberals are manifestly preparing to illegalize the strike, CUPE is doing nothing to mobilize the working class in support of the 3,000 striking contract-faculty and graduate assistants.
Quebec nurses rebel against forced overtime, budget cuts
By Louis Girard, 29 March 2018
Nurses and other health care workers have taken action to protest against draconian working conditions and a drastic decline in patient care due to years of austerity.
Montreal meeting today to discuss Canada-US strategic alliance and the threat of world war
26 March 2018
Wednesday’s Socialist Equality Party (Canada) meeting will elaborate the socialist internationalist perspective that must animate the struggle against imperialist war and the Trudeau-Trump alliance.
Ontario Liberal government preparing intervention to end York University strike
By Roger Jordan, 24 March 2018
The big business Liberal government, which has enjoyed the unions’ steadfast support since coming to power 15 years ago, has repeatedly outlawed education strikes.
Quebec: Aluminum giants demand steeper concessions from locked-out ABI workers
By Laurent Lafrance, 22 March 2018
Even as ABI amplifies its concession demands, the steelworkers union has agreed to reopen the contract at a second Quebec smelter owned by Rio Tinto-Alcan.
GM and Unifor collude to cut labour costs in Canada
By Carl Bronski, 22 March 2018
The moves to cut labour costs through outsourcing and early retirements at GM’s Ontario engine plant further expose the reactionary nature of the 2016 “framework agreements” rammed through by Unifor.
Canada deploys “peacekeepers” to wage war in Mali
By Roger Jordan, 21 March 2018
Canadian mining companies have more than $1 billion invested in Mali and according to a 2014 estimate, more than $30 billion invested across Africa.
Ontario Conservatives select right-wing populist Doug Ford as leader
By Roger Jordan, 16 March 2018
Since Ford’s narrow victory, the corporate media has gone out of its way to dismiss claims he is a “Canadian Trump” and to proclaim him a strong candidate for Ontario premier.
Canada touts military-strategic alliance with Washington to win exemption from Trump’s tariffs
By Roger Jordan, 14 March 2018
Trudeau and his ministers are boasting that Canadian steel and aluminum exports are crucial to the US war machine.
Unifor shuts down ZF-TRW auto parts strike in Windsor, Canada
By Carl Bronski, 12 March 2018
The brief walkout halted production Saturday at the giant Fiat Chrysler Canada Windsor Assembly Plant, but the union pushed through the same wage terms already rejected by a 62 percent margin.
“The issues we are facing are not just related to university teachers, but affect the entire working class”
An interview with a striking York University contract faculty member
By our reporter, 8 March 2018
Around 3,000 contract faculty and support staff are on their fourth day of strike action at Toronto’s York University over poverty wages and job security.
Canada: 3,000 contract teachers and graduate assistants strike York University
By Roger Jordan, 7 March 2018
CUPE is doing all it can to ensure the strike remains isolated and does not become the starting point for a broader mobilization.
Canadian ruling elite reacts to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs
By Roger Jordan, 7 March 2018
Signaling the Canadian ruling elite’s readiness to support Washington in a trade war against China and other rivals, Ottawa is pleading for an exemption from Trump’s tariffs.
Unifor scuttles Windsor auto parts strikes
By Carl Bronski, 6 March 2018
Union officials called off two strikes at critical parts supplier plants before the walkouts could have any impact on production at the giant Fiat Chrysler Windsor Assembly Plant.
Canadian auto parts workers strike in Windsor
By Carl Bronski, 5 March 2018
In previous strikes by parts workers, the Unifor union has intervened to engineer a return to work before production at major auto assembly plants was disrupted.
Nova Scotia Teachers Union abandons strike mandate, capitulates to Liberal attack on education
By Roger Jordan, 3 March 2018
In exchange for the NSTU’s suppression of teacher opposition to its right-wing education “reform,” Nova Scotia’s Liberal government has agreed to changes that will bolster the union apparatus.
British Columbia NDP retreats on election promises in first budget
By Janet Browning and Roger Jordan, 27 February 2018
“This could have just as easily been a budget under the previous government,” observed Business in Vancouver .
Canadian auto parts workers set to strike Windsor plants
By Carl Bronski, 26 February 2018
That a top Unifor official should begin negotiations with a public statement decrying worker wage demands as “unrealistic” should come as no surprise to auto workers.
In merging with split-off from big business Parti Quebecois
Pseudo-left Québec Solidaire shifts further right
By Louis Girard and Richard Dufour, 26 February 2018
Québec Solidaire’s aim is to convince Québec’s ruling elite that it is ready to play a larger role in establishment politics.
Nova Scotia teachers vote massively in favour of “illegal” strike
By Roger Jordan, 23 February 2018
The province's Liberal government is seeking to ram through changes to the education system that will enhance its managerial power over teachers and facilitate further spending cuts.
The fraud of the “left turn” in Canada’s NDP
By Roger Jordan, 22 February 2018
The claims of the pseudo-left that Canada’s social democrats are moving “left” are aimed at masking the NDP’s pro-war, pro-big business character.
Canadian big business presses Trudeau to push through Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
By Roger Jordan, 20 February 2018
Notwithstanding Trudeau’s attempts to pose as a “progressive,” his government is just as determined as its Conservative predecessor to push through socially and environmentally destructive resource projects.
Carillion Canada bankruptcy threatens 6,000 jobs
By Janet Browning and Roger Jordan, 17 February 2018
Carillion was one of the main beneficiaries of hundreds of P3 contracts implemented by all three major parties across Canada, including the trade union-backed NDP.
Cross-Canada protests after acquittal of Saskatchewan rancher in fatal shooting of Indigenous youth
By Roger Jordan, 15 February 2018
Despite shooting Colten Boushie in the head at point-blank range, rancher Gerald Stanley was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter, provoking popular outrage across Canada.
Quebec: Steelworkers union maneuvering to impose concessions on locked-out aluminum workers
By Laurent Lafrance, 10 February 2018
The USW has touted phony claims of support for the workers from various capitalist politicians, most notably Martine Ouellet, a former Parti Québécois cabinet minister.
Canada’s defence minister touts new offensive cyberwar powers
By Laurent Lafrance, 8 February 2018
CSE is to be empowered to launch offensive cyber attacks on foreign targets, including individuals, state organizations, and reputed terrorist groups deemed a threat to Canada’s “national security.”
Unifor disaffiliates from Canadian Labour Congress in spat over “raiding”
By Carl Bronski, 1 February 2018
None of the rival rightwing factions involved in the current inter-union squabble over union dues represents the interests of the working class.
Ontario Tory leader felled by unsubstantiated sexual misconduct allegations
By Roger Jordan and Keith Jones, 27 January 2018
Within the space of four hours, Brown went from being the favourite to be Ontario’s next premier to a political outcast—all on the basis of unsubstantiated, anonymous allegations.
Lockout of Quebec aluminium workers at ABI plant enters third week
By Laurent Lafrance, 26 January 2018
The attack on pensions is part of a worldwide corporate assault on the social rights won by generations of workers.
Asia-Pacific trade bloc reshaped, without the US
By Mike Head, 25 January 2018
The “TPP 11” announcement points to the increasing isolation of the US, and the escalating tensions between the rival capitalist powers.
Ontario unions hold bogus “day of action” over wage clawbacks at Tim Hortons
By Roger Jordan, 25 January 2018
The unions are working to exploit the anger over Tim Hortons’ clawbacks to boost their campaign to re-elect Ontario’s big business, pro-austerity Liberal government.
Opioid overdoses killed over 4000 Canadians in 2017
By Janet Browning, 23 January 2018
Preliminary statistics for 2017 show opioid deaths in Canada rose by more than 30 percent last year.
Celebrated author Margaret Atwood challenges #MeToo’s lynch mob justice
By Linda Tenenbaum, 23 January 2018
The Canadian author of The Handmaid’s Tale has made a direct challenge to the right-wing, reactionary nostrums of the #MeToo campaign.
Canada joins US in stepping up threats against North Korea at Vancouver summit
By Roger Jordan, 18 January 2018
The talk of negotiations and a diplomatic solution is a smokescreen behind which preparations for a military attack are well advanced.
After Ontario minimum wage hike
Canadian businesses claw back wages from low-paid workers
By Carl Bronski, 17 January 2018
While there is widespread anger in the working class at the outrageous actions of big business, it finds no political expression in the bogus protests launched by the trade unions.
Homeless deaths skyrocket in major Canadian cities
By Janet Browning, 15 January 2018
The rising death rate among Canada’s homeless underscores the cynicism and insincerity of the federal Liberals’ housing strategy.
Aluminum giants lock out one thousand ABI workers in Quebec
By Laurent Lafrance, 13 January 2018
A joint venture of Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan, ABI has locked out 1,030 workers at its Bécancour smelter after they massively rejected the company’s final offer.
Canada: Ontario Liberals impose two-tier employment on autoworkers
By Carl Bronski, 10 January 2018
The unions’ hypocritical hand-wringing over the anti-worker legislation cannot disguise the fact that Unifor helped elect successive Liberal governments in Ontario.
Alberta’s NDP government imposes wage and hiring freezes on public sector
By Janet Browning and Roger Jordan, 30 December 2017
The NDP’s anti-working class austerity measures are aimed at wooing big business, which has rallied behind the newly-established United Conservative Party.
Canada: Former CUPE chief steward caught in cash-for-jobs scandal
By Carl Bronski, 29 December 2017
The case is yet another example of the pro-corporate union bureaucracy’s descent into corruption and outright gangsterism.
Court ruling allows Canadian spies to conduct mass surveillance of cellphones
By Laurent Lafrance, 22 December 2017
Chief Justice Paul S. Crampton ruled that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service can make use of cellphone surveillance technology to carry out warrantless spying.
Why is Canada’s Liberal government endorsing the #MeToo witch-hunt?
By Roger Jordan, 19 December 2017
The Trudeau government’s goal is to use #MeToo to mobilize support for its reactionary militarist foreign policy among a well-heeled section of the middle class on the basis of identity politics.
Investigation reveals employer impunity in Canadian workplace deaths
By Lee Parsons, 15 December 2017
The conditions documented by the CBC are the result of decades of cost-cutting and deregulation.
Canada avoids criticizing Trump over Jerusalem provocation
By Roger Jordan, 13 December 2017
Ottawa’s muted response was aimed at avoiding antagonizing the Trump administration, but was also bound up with Canadian imperialist strategy in the oil-rich Middle East.
Canada: Alberta’s “united right” elects key Harper aide to lead new party
By Riksen Stewart and Roger Jordan, 9 December 2017
Kenney has pledged to implement a 20 percent cut in public spending and signalled that a UCP government would freeze or partially roll back the provincial minimum wage.
Trudeau fails to launch free trade talks with China as divisions rage within Canadian ruling elite
By Roger Jordan, 8 December 2017
The real reason for the stalled trade talks is a bitter dispute within Canadian ruling circles over its China policy.
Trudeau slams door on desperate Haitian refugees
By Laurent Lafrance, 5 December 2017
The Canadian government’s cruel treatment of refugees is in keeping with its determination to deepen Ottawa’s military-strategic partnership with the Trump administration.
Canada: Federal and provincial governments underfund indigenous childcare
By Janet Browning, 4 December 2017
The chronic underfunding of indigenous childcare and the terrible conditions it produces are sharp expressions of a broader assault on public spending and social services.
Oppose Trudeau and Trump, the Canada-US alliance, and imperialist war!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Canada), 4 December 2017
If the working class is to mount a successful counter-offensive against the ruling class assault on its living standards and democratic rights, and Canadian imperialism’s reckless drive to war, a new political perspective and new organizations of struggle are necessary.
Canada to co-host meeting with US to prepare for war with North Korea
By Roger Jordan, 2 December 2017
References to a negotiated settlement are for public consumption alone, with the Trudeau government well aware that a conflict on the Korean peninsula is deeply unpopular.
Oppose Trudeau and Trump, the Canada-US alliance, and imperialist war!
For a working class counter-offensive based on socialist internationalism!|Part two
By SEP (Canada), 1 December 2017
If the working class is to mount a successful counter-offensive against the ruling class assault on its living standards and democratic rights, and Canadian imperialism’s reckless drive to war, a new political perspective and new organizations of struggle are necessary.
Oppose Trudeau and Trump, the Canada-US alliance, and imperialist war!
For a working class counter-offensive based on socialist internationalism!|Part one
By Socialist Equality Party (Canada), 30 November 2017
If the working class is to mount a successful counter-offensive against the ruling class assault on its living standards and democratic rights, and Canadian imperialism’s reckless drive to war, a new political perspective and new organizations of struggle are necessary.
Canada adopts anti-Russia Magnitsky Act
By Laurent Lafrance, 25 November 2017
The legislation provides a ready mechanism for Ottawa to ratchet up tensions with Russia and other countries in the cross-hairs of Canadian and US imperialism.
12,000 Sears workers laid off as Canadian retailer liquidates operations
By Carl Bronski, 21 November 2017
Sears Canada workers will receive not a single cent in severance pay from a company that provided $1.4 billion in special payments to its owners over the past decade.
Canada backs Spain’s crackdown on Catalan independence referendum
By Roger Jordan and Keith Jones, 18 November 2017
The Trudeau government’s support for Spain’s suppression of the Catalan independence referendum makes clear it would be ready to use similar methods to uphold the integrity of the Canadian state.
Ontario Liberals to outlaw college teachers’ strike
By Dylan Lubao, 18 November 2017
The trade union-backed Liberals of Premier Kathleen Wynne have introduced strikebreaking legislation to end a five-week-long strike by 12,000 community college faculty.
Teamsters Canada sells out Swissport ground crew strike at Toronto’s Pearson Airport
By Dylan Lubao, 13 November 2017
After 11 weeks of union-imposed isolation, 700 Swissport workers reluctantly ratified a sell-out contract.
Ontario colleges issue ultimatum to striking faculty
By Dylan Lubao, 11 November 2017
Making use of Ontario’s reactionary labour laws, college administrators are forcing 12,000 striking faculty to vote on a “final offer” that addresses none of the workers’ demands.
“We have to know that we’re fighting the same fight”
Striking Ontario college faculty speak out
By our reporters, 9 November 2017
Now in its fourth week, the strike by 12,000 Ontario community college faculty is a struggle against precarious work contracts and for greater academic freedom.
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