A ‘rogue’ labour leader
CANADA VOTES
Earth to Buzz Hargrove: Paul Martin does not deserve another term as prime minister. Just because Stephen Harper deserves the job even less is no reason to completely whitewash the record of a politician utterly hostile to the interests of working people.
Hargrove likes to portray himself as the workers’ champion. But his bizarre statement in support of Martin and the photo of the two men hugging on stage suggest the CAW president has seriously lost touch with political reality.
It’s true the best outcome of this election is a minority Liberal government with the NDP holding the balance of power. But Hargrove is foolishly strengthening Martin’s scare tactics that cost the NDP several seats last time around. Strategic voting means only one thing — voting Liberal, for Bay Street’s prime minister. It could contribute to a Liberal majority government and that would be a disaster.
Hargrove has become the prima donna of the labour movement. He too often believes he is smarter than everyone else and doesn’t need to consult with anyone; not other union leaders, his own staff or other progressive organizations. His tendency to shoot from the lip is often destructive because, quite simply, his political analysis is frequently wrong.
For years, Hargrove ignored warnings about the WTO, until it suddenly declared the Auto Pact illegal. The secure future of Canadian auto workers changed overnight.
Hargrove could have used his considerable clout to fight for the Auto Pact. But, instead, he has been reduced to calling for huge subsidies — $900 million — for auto companies. Hethanked Martin for that corporate giveaway on Friday and seemed blinded to who the real Martin is.
Martin is primarily responsible for opening the door to medicare privatization by slashing billions from federal contributions in 1995 and then repealing the Established Program Funding legislation that obliged provinces to spend federal transfers on medicare. As prime minister, he has refused to enforce the Canada Health Act against creeping privatiza- tion; gutted employment insurance so that only 38 per cent now qualify for benefits; opposed antiscab legislation; eliminated the Canada Assistance Program that established some minimal national standards for welfare; deliberately kept unemployment at 8 or 9 per cent throughout the 1990s to suppress the wages and the bargaining power of working people and eliminated lowincome housing.
Martin deliberately underestimated surpluses seven years in a row so that he would not have to reinvest in social programs and in 2000 he passed the most unfair tax cuts in Canadian history; 77 per cent of the personal tax cuts went to the wealthiest 8 per cent of Canadians. More recently, of course, Martin absolutely refused to accept a deal with the NDP that would have seen continued parliamentary support from that party if the Liberal government simply pledged to halt the further privatization of medicare, which is supposed to be Liberal policy. None of this seems to matter to Hargrove, who seems to admire Martin.
It’s not the first time he has helped out this quintessential CEO. Back in 2002, delegates to an international labour conference in Vancouver were set to demonstrate against Martin because his shipping company, Canada Steamship Lines ( CSL), was union-busting in Australia. Hargrove intervened, offering to get Martin to arrange a meeting between senior CSL management and the Australian union. The demonstration was reluctantly called off, saving Martin huge embarrassment. The promised meeting never happened.
Martin does not deserve Canadians’ support. None of the progressive legislation he passed would have seen the light of day had he won a majority. He is dedicated to the long- term business agenda, just as he was as finance minister. Martin has already quietly signed an accord with the U. S. and Mexico committing Canada to a scheme called deep integration — the increasing “ harmonization” of our social, foreign, and defence policy and food and drug safety laws with the U. S.
Getting progressive policies out of Martin in a new minority government situation will be a dogfight and will only happen if the NDP gains many more seats. CAW members need to repudiate their rogue leader, as do other labour leaders who know what Martin stands for. Murray Dobbin is a Vancouver journalist. His latest book is Paul Martin: CEO for Canada?