TORONTO—As thousands of auto workers are hit with layoff notices in the wake of Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, the Communist Party of Canada is raising the call for decisive government intervention to save jobs and protect working people.
“The layoffs in the auto sector, including 3,200 at the Stellantis assembly plant in Windsor, are just the beginning of the impact from U.S. tariffs,” said Communist Party leader Elizabeth Rowley while on the election campaign trail in New Brunswick on April 3. Thousands more workers have received layoff notices in the days since she spoke.
“Over 100,000 jobs in Canada are directly connected to auto parts and assembly, and hundreds of thousands more to the communities that support the auto industry in Canada.
“U.S. tariffs on steel have likewise already led to layoffs at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, and workers at steel plants in Hamilton including Dofasco and Stelco are in the crosshairs as the impacts rain down on the industry and the country.
“This is a clear indication that the government has to intervene on behalf of workers, their families, and their communities,” Rowley said.
At the top of the list for necessary government action is the expansion of Employment Insurance so that it provides livable benefits to all unemployed workers.
“Too many unemployed workers can’t afford their immediate needs and have to choose between paying the rent or the mortgage, paying the heating and gas bills, or feeding their family,” Rowley told People’s Voice.
“The Communist Party is calling for immediate and sweeping EI reform to increase benefits to 90% of previous earnings, for the full period of unemployment, and for all unemployed workers. The Liberals and Conservatives claim they want to help working people – well there’s a good place to start!”
Communist candidates in the federal election are also calling for plant closure legislation that would require corporations planning to close and move their Canadian operations to the U.S. – which is Trump’s stated objective for imposing massive tariffs on Canada and elsewhere – to justify the closure and layoffs before a public tribunal which has the power to stop them.
The rapid impact of the tariff on the auto and steel industries underscores the need for decisive government action in those areas, to provide workers with long-term job security and stability.
“The way to deliver this is to finally end private ownership and control of these industries, by nationalizing the auto industry starting with GM, Ford, and Stellantis,” said Rowley.
“Public ownership and democratic control would pave the way to reorganizing the auto industry toward building municipal public transit and inter-urban transportation, an environmentally sound Canadian car and light industrial vehicles industry. It would also end the decades-long threats of layoffs and plant closures that escalated with the end of the Auto Pact and are now in free fall with Trump.”
Another immediate priority is to bring Canada’s basic steel industry under public ownership and democratic control. This step is key to building a strong Canadian economy with value-added jobs in manufacturing, secondary industry, and construction of social housing and municipal infrastructure. The objective could – and should – be full employment instead of mass unemployment, the party says.
The Communist Party argues that, instead of corporate free trade deals with the U.S., Canada needs multilateral and mutually beneficial trade with the world. This should include lifting Canadian tariffs on China which were imposed as a result of pressure from the U.S. – the same country imposing huge tariffs on Canada and the world today.
Mark Carney’s Liberal Party is campaigning to create jobs by building a military-industrial complex in Canada. This includes increased spending on NATO, NORAD, and Arctic militarization, all of which are the result of U.S. directives and reflect what Rowley calls “the de facto U.S. control over Canada’s foreign policy, which will lead to war.”
The Communist Party leader warns that these huge military expenditures will lead to massive job losses and to the loss of vital social programs like Medicare and public services like the CBC and Canada Post. “Social spending and public spending – not military spending – are what will meet people’s needs.”
The corporate parties and media in Canada are pushing the idea that militarizing the Canadian economy will frighten Trump and prevent his proposed annexation of Canada – and even stop Trump’s illegal interference in Canadian elections. But this is wishful thinking, Rowley and the other Communist candidates say.
Canada’s best defense against U.S. interference and domination, the party is telling voters, is an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament, including withdrawal from NATO and NORAD, and public investment to create jobs and address people’s needs while strengthening labor and democratic rights across the country.
As for Carney’s meetings in Europe to develop new trade partners, Rowley says that “these meetings are about the same old trade policies of foreign ownership, exploitation, and control, leaving workers and our country just as vulnerable as we are today with the U.S. and the USMCA agreement.”
Similarly, Carney’s talk of negotiating a “new and better” trade agreement with the U.S. only means extending and increasing the current disastrous economic situation.
“These ‘free trade’ deals with the U.S. have always been about strengthening the control of the biggest national and transnational corporations over the continent,” says Rowley. “That’s why the Communist Party has consistently opposed and fought these deals since 1988 – they have always been bad for working people, for sovereignty, and for democracy.
“Instead of free trade with the U.S., Canada needs multilateral and mutually beneficial trade with the world.”
People’s Voice
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
