George Gidora: A socialist Canada will put people’s needs before corporate greed

George Gidora is the Communist Party of Canada candidate for Burnaby-Douglas.

While we have had elected members in the past at all levels of government, the Communist Party of Canada is a small party with very limited resources. We are the third oldest political party in the country, having been founded in 1921.

The most asked question we are asked in any election campaign is “Why do you bother? You know you won’t get elected so why?” The answer is easy. We believe that we have an important message for Canadians, the same message we have been putting forward year after year and that message is that there is a fairer, more equitable, and humanitarian way to manage our country and in fact the world. That is socialism.

We hear over and over again from the Harper government that Canada’s economy is strong. I can’t argue that profits are up and that corporate Canada is doing so well, after all what corporation could not do well with a corporate tax rate of only 16 percent—the world’s bastion of capitalism, the USA, has a corporate tax rate double that. However unemployment is too high, health care and education are being eroded, child poverty is at an all time high, aboriginal peoples are suffering, and our country is deeply mired in a series of wars which the people of Canada do not support and is costing us billions of dollars. This is not a country whose economy is booming; it’s only booming for our corporations.

The May 2 election will be crucial for our country. We need to dump the Harper Tories, as a first step to stopping pro-corporate policies and taking Canada in a new direction that puts people’s needs before corporate greed.

The Communist Party of Canada is campaigning to make full employment a top priority. We demand a $16 per hour minimum wage, and increasing wages for all working people.

We can create millions of jobs, through a universal, public childcare program; by building affordable housing; and by creating publicly-owned steel, auto, and mining industries.

The Communist Party of Canada calls for justice for aboriginal peoples, for employment equity for women and racialized communities, for expanded public health care, for a progressive immigration policy, for the elimination of tuition fees, and for severe reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

We can pay for this with a progressive taxation system, by nationalizing energy and natural resources, and by cutting the military budget by 75 percent.

Canada needs an independent foreign policy based on peace and disarmament—out of Afghanistan and NATO, and stop bombing Libya.

We know that the battle for real change isn’t just at the ballot box. It is in the workplace, in the community, and on the streets. The Communist Party of Canada campaigns for a broad people’s coalition that can unite the working class and people’s movements in the struggle for social change and, ultimately, for a socialist Canada where the people control the economy.

On May 2, send the strongest message for peace, jobs, democracy, and sovereignty.

Vote Communist!

George Gidora is the Communist Party of Canada candidate for Burnaby-Douglas.