Ontario Communists Prepare for Spring Election

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/b550.jpgby PV Ontario Bureau

The Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) met on March 15‑16, to discuss the situation in the province and prepare for a widely anticipated spring election. The minority Liberal government of premier Kathleen Wynne is expected to table a budget in April, and most indications are that the opposition parties will vote it down.

The CPC(O) meeting was held against a backdrop of the highest provincial unemployment rate in Canada outside the Atlantic region, and youth unemployment as the highest in the country. The deepening jobs crisis has been exacerbated by several recent announcements of plant closures. Among the high profile closures are Heinz (740 jobs), Kellogg’s (500 jobs), automotive supplier Faurecia SA (650 jobs), and US Steel. (more…)

Save Public Schools: One Secular, Public Education System Now!

The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) is calling on the Ontario government to take immediate steps to develop a single, universal and secular, public education system in the province. The CPC (O) urges all progressives in Ontario to raise this demand, along with the introduction of a needs-based funding formula, as the most effective means for saving and improving public schools and delivering universal, quality public education.

Specifically, the Ontario government must end the public funding of the provincial Catholic school system. Governments have tried to justify this through references to constitutional education rights for Catholics. In reality, however, this is an outdated, regressive and discriminatory practice that the public cannot afford, from either a financial or a democratic viewpoint. Ontario is now the only province in Canada to publicly fund a parallel system of religious education. (more…)