Canada
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.
Education is a social right!
Students must come to the defense of Ontario’s striking college teachers!
By International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Canada), 7 November 2017
The struggle must be broadened, mobilizing students as well as teachers and other workers across Canada in a political struggle to defend public education and win decent-paying, secure jobs for all.
Lessons of the CAMI autoworkers’ strike in Canada
By Carl Bronski, 28 October 2017
The strike did not fail to achieve its goals due to a lack of readiness among GM workers to fight, but because it was sabotaged by Unifor with its pro-corporate and nationalist agenda.
Trudeau courts Amazon CEO to locate its second headquarters in Canada
By Laurent Lafrance, 27 October 2017
In a “Dear Jeff” letter, Trudeau served up Canadian workers on a silver platter to the mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos whose giant conglomerate ruthlessly exploits its global workforce.
Quebec “clarifies” application of anti-Muslim law
By Keith Jones, 26 October 2017
Bill 62, which denies public services, including health care and education, to women wearing Muslim face-coverings, is an attack on democratic rights, aimed at inciting prejudice and splitting the working class.
Trudeau exploits Edmonton attack to lay groundwork for anti-refugee measures
By Laurent Lafrance, 21 October 2017
Aping the chauvinist hard-right, Trudeau is claiming that the Edmonton attack indicates Canada’s refugee system needs to be made more restrictive.
An educational Walmart
Ontario-wide community college teachers on strike
By Carl Bronski, 18 October 2017
12,000 teachers and librarians have walked out against precarious job security and the undermining of academic freedom.
Unifor imposes new round of concessions
CAMI strike in Canada ends
“We struck for a month and got nothing”
By Carl Bronski and Jerry White, 17 October 2017
Lacking any confidence that Unifor would oppose GM’s job threats, workers reluctantly accepted another concessionary contract.
12,000 professors and instructors strike Ontario colleges
Workers Struggles: The Americas
17 October 2017
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
No to Unifor-GM blackmail!
Before any ratification vote, CAMI workers must see the full contract and have time to study it
Statement of the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 16 October 2017
CAMI workers have not stood out on the picket lines for a month to accept yet another concessionary contract from an auto giant that made $11 billion in profits last year.
Unifor announces deal to end CAMI strike
Reject Unifor-GM blackmail! No vote until CAMI workers have full contract and time to study it!
Statement of the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 14 October 2017
Displaying the same contempt for rank-and-file workers it has since the CAMI strike began, Unifor announced it would release no details of the settlement until Monday’s ratification meeting where it expected to pass the deal.
Trump threatens to jettison NAFTA, as trade disputes intensify
By Roger Jordan and Keith Jones, 13 October 2017
The collapse of NAFTA would mark a new stage in the eruption of 1930s-style “beggar they neighbor” trade conflicts.
Build rank-and-file committees! Unite Canadian, US and Mexican workers against job cuts!
GM threatens CAMI plant, demands Unifor end month-long strike
By Carl Bronski and Jerry White, 13 October 2017
Workers must break through the conspiracy of silence enforced by union and management and demand all details of the Unifor-GM secret negotiations.
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12 October 2017
Canadian Fiat Chrysler worker: “Stay strong, workers, and demand answers to your questions”
Talks resume in CAMI strike as Unifor continues to isolate embattled workers
By Shannon Jones, 12 October 2017
Canadian autoworkers expressed their solidarity with the striking CAMI workers and denounced last week’s physical assault on a WSWS reporter by a Unifor operative.
205 CAMI strike/UNIFOR assault on WSWS
11 October 2017
Canadian autoworkers warn CAMI strikers on role of Unifor, condemn attack on WSWS
By Shannon Jones, 10 October 2017
Ford and GM workers in Canada expressed their support for striking CAMI workers and denounced the treacherous role of Unifor.
Canada integrating universities into its militarist foreign policy
By Laurent Lafrance, 10 October 2017
Ottawa’s 70 percent military spending hike includes funds to intensify collaboration between the armed forces and universities.
Unifor operative assaults WSWS reporter at CAMI strike rally
By Jerry White, 9 October 2017
The physical attack is aimed not only at silencing the WSWS but at gagging and intimidating rank-and-file workers.
As CAMI strike ends third week, Unifor peddles Canadian nationalism at rally
By Jerry White, 7 October 2017
Unifor is using CAMI workers as pawns in their maneuvers with the Canadian and US governments over renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“Love and courage”—Canada’s NDP elects Obama-style pitchman as leader
By Roger Jordan, 7 October 2017
Singh’s elevation to the position of party leader was greeted with enthusiasm by the corporate-controlled media, reflecting the fact that he was the preferred candidate of the most right-wing elements among Canada’s social democrats.
As CAMI strike continues, Unifor sheds crocodile tears for Mexican workers
By Carl Bronski, 5 October 2017
Dias does not explain how his supposed concern for the plight of Mexican workers squares with the union’s demand that GM lay off workers in Mexico before any workers at CAMI.
Unifor, the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter and the politics of the CAMI strike
By Jerry White, 4 October 2017
The struggle to defend jobs and living standards demands politics: not the politics of Unifor—a close ally of the federal and Ontario Liberal governments—but socialist politics.
Trudeau rushes to declare Edmonton attack a “terrorist” act
By Roger Jordan, 2 October 2017
The revelation that the alleged assailant was on a terrorism watch-list raises questions, including why authorities said there was no threat to public safety, shortly before initiating a high-speed chase through downtown Edmonton.
Unifor president at CAMI picket line: A declaration of bankruptcy
By Jerry White and Carl Bronski, 2 October 2017
Far from advancing any strategy to win the two-week strike, Unifor officials promoted economic nationalism and illusions in Trudeau and Trump.
Unifor leaders plot with GM to beat back resistance of CAMI strikers
By Jerry White, 29 September 2017
The top leadership of the Canadian auto union met with GM executives in Detroit even as the strike by 2,800 CAMI workers continued.
As Unifor plots to end CAMI strike, corporate press hails union head
By Keith Jones, 27 September 2017
The union is maneuvering to shut the strike down and subordinating the struggle to Unifor’s alliance with the Trudeau Liberal government and its efforts to renegotiate NAFTA.
Trudeau government bans Chelsea Manning from entering Canada
By Tom Hall, 26 September 2017
Ottawa’s justification for barring Chelsea Manning amounts to a declaration that whistleblowers in the Canadian military can expect the same horrific treatment meted out to Manning.
CAMI autoworkers strike against GM Canada at the crossroads
By Carl Bronski, 26 September 2017
While CAMI workers remained determined, officials from the Unifor union have presented GM Canada with an “olive branch” proposal to shut down the strike.
Nova Scotia Liberals slash public sector workers’ wages
By Janet Browning, 26 September 2017
Nova Scotia’s government, a close ally of the federal Liberal regime, is imposing a substantial, real-wage cut on 75,000 provincial public sector workers.
Canadian union seeks to shut down CAMI strike by offering concessions to GM
By Roger Jordan, 23 September 2017
Unifor has focused on bolstering its partnership with the big-business Liberal government and promoting reactionary Canadian nationalism.
GM Canada strike in danger
Why is Unifor trying to gag CAMI strikers?
By Carl Bronski and Jerry White, 22 September 2017
Officials from the Unifor union said Wednesday that they have offered an “olive branch” to GM to end the strike.
“What these companies are doing is a new form of slavery”
CAMI strikers determined to resist GM Canada job and wage cuts
By Jerry White and Carl Bronski, 21 September 2017
CAMI workers are fighting to defend their jobs and living standards, while Unifor seeks to tie workers to the Liberal government and Trump's anti-Mexican trade war policies.
CAMI autoworkers locked in fight against GM Canada over jobs and wages
By Jerry White, 20 September 2017
Autoworkers at the General Motors CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario are locked in a critical battle that raises fundamental questions for autoworkers in Canada and around the world.
Top Canadian general stokes fears over North Korea to justify joining US ballistic-missile defence
By Roger Jordan, 20 September 2017
Canada’s top general in the North American Aerospace Defence command has made the sensationalist claim that the US would not defend Canada from a ballistic missile strike.
For an international strategy to win the CAMI workers strike
By the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 19 September 2017
To prevail in the struggle against GM, CAMI workers must fight to mobilize autoworkers across North America in a counter-offensive against all concessions and job cuts.
GM CAMI workers strike in Canada
By Carl Bronski, 18 September 2017
The walkout is part of a growing wave of struggles by autoworkers around the world, including in the US, Korea, Serbia and Slovakia.
Why is Canada’s pseudo-left rallying behind NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton?
By Roger Jordan, 16 September 2017
Fightback, the International Socialists and Socialist Action hope that Ashton’s tepid “left” rhetoric can rehabilitate the deeply discredited New Democrats under conditions where working class struggle in Canada and internationally is rapidly intensifying.
British Columbia NDP government abandons $15 minimum wage pledge
By Roger Jordan, 11 September 2017
The NDP’s abandonment of one of its main election promises just weeks after coming to power shows that, no less than its Liberal predecessors, it is a right-wing party beholden to big business.
Toronto Airport Authority imposes injunctions on striking ground crew
By Lee Parsons and Roger Jordan, 9 September 2017
Following a protest by the workers on Sunday that temporarily blocked traffic into Pearson Airport, the Greater Toronto Airport Authority has intensified its strike-breaking efforts.
Quebec Liberals expand chauvinist bill targeting Muslims
By Louis Girard, 8 September 2017
While posturing as opposed to smearing asylum-seekers as “illegals,” Quebec’s Liberal government is seeking to ban women wearing Muslim face-coverings from accessing public services.
Deaths of children in government care skyrocket in Canada
By Riksen Stewart, 6 September 2017
The rising number of deaths in foster care is a product of the refusal of governments at all levels to provide adequate funding for social services.
“Whatever happens to us is going to happen to everybody else”
Toronto airport strikers speak out
By our reporters, 4 September 2017
700 employees of Swissport at Toronto’s Pearson Airport are resisting management’s attempt to slash their real wages and gut their working conditions.
Canada toes Trump administration’s provocative line on North Korea
By Roger Jordan, 2 September 2017
Citing the alleged threat from North Korea, a growing number of Liberal politicians are urging Canada to join Washington’s ballistic missile defence shield.
230 Five years since the Quebec student strike
31 August 2017
GM CAMI workers authorize strike in Canada
By Carl Bronski, 30 August 2017
Workers voted by 99.8 percent to walk out if a new labour agreement is not reached by September 17.
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