Keynote Address to the Triennial Convention of Union of Northern Workers

Yellowknife, N.W.T.

It's a pleasure to be here among union friends as we head into the Labour Day weekend. And it is a pleasure to be here in Yellowknife again. I have visited Yellowknife on a number of occasions. I remember coming here with the Transport Committee to conduct hearings on deregulation north of 60. I’m sure that many of you here remember all the false promises of deregulation.

 

 

Labour day is more than a chance to look back on a too-short summer. It should also be a chance to reflect, not just on the contribution made by working men and women to our society, but also on the way our country has been made better through the political efforts of the labour movement. I will have more than one opportunity to join with friends in the labour movement this weekend. On Monday I will be in Toronto to march in the Annual Labour Day parade.

 

The New Democratic Party has traditionally worked alongside labour to advance the causes that we have in common. Our shared commitments to workplace fairness, to decent wages and pensions, to social equality, and to the right to collective bargaining have deep historical roots, roots which nourish the struggle we still have to endure today. Indeed, just this Thursday I visited a picket line in Edmonton where UFCW members are striking for a first contract with the Shaw Centre, an enterprise owned by the City of Edmonton. There is no first contract legislation in Alberta. In Manitoba, where we have had NDP governments, there is such legislation, and such strikes are unnecessary.

 

But there is another source of affinity between the Union of Northern Workers, and New Democrats. It is our shared knowledge that here in the North, like elsewhere in Canada, a healthy, respected, and respectable public sector is key to building the kind of socially and economically just society that we hope for. The private sector, or the market, cannot be counted on to run everything. Nor should it be counted on. I am before you today as someone who believes in quality public services provided by fairly paid public servants, quality public servants who are defended by politicians rather than scapegoated as has often been the case in recent years.

Many would argue that Canada has never made sense from a purely market based economic point of view. Pure market-based solutions would not have met the challenges posed by Canada's geography, by distance, or by climate. Northerners understand this perhaps better than anyone. The people of Inuvik are every bit as Canadian as the people of Toronto. The people of Hay River are just as Canadian as the people of Trois-Rivieres. That's how it should be. But without significant effort by the public sector, and without the hard work of the members of the public service, that \"fact\" would mean a lot less to the people of the North.

 

So I think it's appropriate that here in Yellowknife we should celebrate the work of the public service on this Labour Day weekend, public service rendered for the benefit of all Canadians. We are not among those who were being referred to by former U.S. Supreme Court judge Earl Warren when he said. – “Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others to be socialism.”

 

I was struck by the theme of your convention: securing the future through solidarity and service. Those two words, solidarity and service, have particular relevance both in the labour movement, and here in the North. But those words also have particular relevance for the NDP as we go through the process of choosing a new leader. Solidarity has long been one of the most important words in the labour movement and the NDP. But I want to start this morning by talking about the other part of your theme: service. As members of a public sector union, you should be particularly proud of the contribution you make to Canada. It was not that long ago that a career in the public service was widely seen as noble and worthy. I still believe that it is, despite the constant denigration that the public service has faced in recent years. Improving the quality of life of our fellow citizens is every bit as important, I would say more important, than improving the bottom line of some corporation, especially if that is done at the expense of worker safety, the environment, or at the expense of the truth, as we have seen recently with the scandals at Enron and World.Com.

 

But too many of our business elites, not to mention political leaders believe in the natural superiority of the private sector. They have the simplistic view that the profit motive automatically makes a person work harder, or smarter, or better. What the profit motive does do far too frequently is cause manager and owners to overlook safety concerns, to resist the formation of unions, and to treat employees as if they exist only for the benefit of the company’s bottom line or increasing shareholder value.

 

You know that this exaltation of the private over the public is wrong. I know that's wrong, and I think most Canadians know that's wrong. People who work for the public good, who serve society by teaching our children, taking care of the sick, protecting our environment, fighting fires or enforcing and administering our laws are not second class employees, and they should not be regarded that way. Neither should those who work for Crown Corporations. Indeed public ownership has also come under fire in this same era.

 

When Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister, I used to reflect on the difference between us. He grew up, the son of an electrician, in a company town, where the company was owned by Americans, and young Brian would sing for the Colonel owner from Chicago whenever he came to town. I grew up, the son of a machinist, in a company town, where the company, the CNR, was owned by the people of Canada. And my Dad worked just as hard, and his work was just a valuable and meaningful, if not more so, than the work of those whose labour was for the benefit of the distant shareholders. Thanks to the Liberals, the CNR was privatized and is now owned and run by Americans, and Mulroney’s Canada is the dominant one.

 

Unfortunately, Canadian governments have too often been willing to swallow the myth of private-sector supremacy. They are so convinced of the public sector's inferiority that they have willingly tried to neuter their own ability to act in the service of the people. Privatization, deregulation, and trade deals that tie our collective hands, these are the natural consequences of governments who feel that they can't do a good job because they aren't trying to make a buck.

 

Canadians deserve better. We need a government made up of women and men who see themselves as defenders of the public good - people who want to serve the public by building up and protecting the collective assets that we all share.

 

How would such a government act? An obvious first step would be to have a national commitment to the preservation of medicare as a social right. Slowly, but surely, our system is coming under increasing threat from corporations eager to make a living off of sick Canadians, and governments - federal and provincial – who seem far too ready to let it happen.

 

By a national commitment, I mean having a federal government that takes not just the moral, but the fiscal high ground, and restores medicare to the full federal-provincial partnership that it used to be. I'm not suggesting a lack of money is the only challenge facing our health care system, but under funding is clearly the root cause of a lot of its current stresses.

 

Canadians' support for the idea of a single-tier health care system is clear. But Canadians are not served when different levels of governments starve the system and blame each other for the problem, while at the same time promising ever greater tax cuts. A government committed to public service would not be afraid to say that this public good, universal health care, is our top priority and to guarantee that is funded properly.

 

A government committed to public service would also be committed to our environment. By hemming and hawing about the Kyoto accord, by trying to sound green while keeping the oil patch happy, by trying to find every possible loophole to duck our commitments, the federal Liberals are serving nobody's interest. I hope the Prime Minister is finally coming to his senses. Canadians who used to joke \"Bring on that global warming!\" aren't laughing anymore. Northerners have seen how traditional ways of life are being destroyed by subtle environmental changes. Even in Alberta, where oil is king, ranchers are having to sell their livestock rather than watch them starve in this latest drought.

 

There can be no more essential public goods than the air we breathe and the water we drink. Not only would a government committed to public service ratify and implement the Kyoto Accord, it would promote investment in environmentally friendly products and energy and transportation technologies. It would have a policy to provide for safe drinking water for all Canadians. It would protect our lakes, rivers and oceans. And it would make sure that water can never be treated as a commodity to be bought and sold under NAFTA.

 

These are just some of the areas where a government committed to public service could act. If it sounds like a step in the right direction, let me talk now about how we can make this, and so much more, happen. And that's through the other key word being talked about here: solidarity.

Above all else, the word solidarity distills the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By themselves, individual workers will always be at the mercy of their employer. But when workers come together in a union, their power is multiplied. And over the years, the labour movement has used that power to improve the quality of life for workers and their families. Through solidarity, unions have achieved decent wages, safer workplaces, better working conditions and so on.

 

Following the Second World War, Canadians exercised solidarity not just in the workplace but also at the ballot box. The results were tremendous. Wages and equality rose, while poverty fell. We saw for the first time adequate pensions for the elderly, along with decent unemployment insurance and expanded public education. And the universal, public health care system I spoke of earlier came into being.

 

Now once again, Canadians need to apply the same logic of solidarity to the political arena. We need to join together to demand changes to our electoral system. The prime minister has too much power in our current system, and money has too much influence over who becomes prime minister. We need to reform the way we fund elections, cast ballots and run our Parliament. We need some form of proportional representation so that all votes count equally, no matter where they are cast.

 

Through solidarity with Canadians who want to end the politics of cynicism and despair, we can revive democracy in this country. And we can bring about a government committed to democracy, and not beholden to trade agreements that prevent democratically elected governments from acting in the public interest.

 

Through solidarity, we can reverse the erosion of our public institutions that is bringing us more inequality, reduced unemployment benefits, and a medicare system stretched to the breaking point.

 

Through solidarity, we can make sure that all Canadians have access to the education system. More and more young Canadians are being turned off higher education because tuition fees have soared out of reach, and because they are scared of being saddled with a mammoth debt load before they graduate. Canada must be a country where every student has access to post-secondary education. And through solidarity, we can elect a government committed to finding a national strategy for reducing, and ultimately eliminating, tuition fees, because everybody benefits from living in an educated society.

 

Our solidarity must also extend beyond our borders. We need a government that will push for integrating core labour standards into the World Trade Organization. Workers in other countries must at least have the same rights to organize and struggle for a living wage for themselves and their families. Canadian workers shouldn’t have to compete against workers without such rights. Those who promote free trade like to talk about a level playing field. Let there be a level playing field when it comes to core labour standards. We need a Canadian government willing to stand up for such a vision in global negotiations.

 

Instead, what we have now is a Liberal government that fails to make any link between trade and even the most basic human rights. The only rights this government seems to care about are the rights of businesses to sue democratically elected governments for having the temerity to act on behalf of their own citizens. Through solidarity, we have the power to change not just the government, but the country and the world, for the better.

 

Of course, this solidarity won't just happen by itself. It is up to Canadians who care about these things to get our collective act together. Seventy years ago a diverse coalition of interests came together - including trade unionists, farmers, and followers of the social gospel. They formed the CCF, which would later forge a formal link to the labour movement to become the NDP. We sorely need a similar coming together today.

 

The good news is that it is happening. If you look at the protests which now accompany every meeting of the WTO, or IMF, or G7, you will see an incredible range of interests joining together to make their complaints heard. Among others there are environmentalists, aboriginal people, food safety activists, and as always, members of the labour movement fighting for social justice, coming together to resist the rising tide of corporate rule.

 

But it is not enough just to come together to protest. What is needed now is to channel the solidarity seen in the protests into political action. If there is a single challenge facing the next leader of the NDP, it is to unite all these various agendas and activists into a single political force. We need to create a political force that can not only restore what has been lost, but imagine and work for a better future, for Canada and for the world. That is the goal I have set out in standing as a candidate for the leadership of the NDP.

 

I don't pretend that achieving this solidarity will be an easy task. Interest groups who have traditionally stayed out of partisan politics will need to be persuaded to join the fight. The youth with the energy to march in the streets will need to be shown that their energy is equally useful and needed in the political arena. Canadians who have grown tired of cynical politicians will need to see a reason to re-engage with politics. None of this will be easy.

 

But there are examples that give us hope. The multilateral agreement on investment, which was supposed to be a bill of rights for investors to further trample democratic rights, was defeated. It was defeated not only by the hard work of pressure groups such as the Council of Canadians, but also by elected politicians including New Democrats here in Canada, and in particular, the socialist government of France, who ultimately made the difference, showing once again that it can matter who gets elected and who doesn’t. The protests themselves are a sign of hope, if the energy of Seattle, Quebec City and elsewhere can be translated into political results.

 

Across the country, elected New Democrats both in government and in opposition, have made a difference for labour, for women, for Medicare, for the environment, for farmers, for aboriginals, for all Canadians.

 

I know, because I was in the room at the time, that aboriginal rights wouldn’t be in the Canadian constitution were it not for NDP insistence.

 

I know, because I was in the room that the language in the Charter of Rights having to do with equality of women would be weaker, were it not for the insistence of the NDP, led on this issue by former NDP M.P. Pauline Jewett.

 

I know, because I was there, that the Canada Health Act would never have been, but for the pressure of the NDP at the time, and my own work as NDP Health critic.

I know because I’ve been there this year when only the NDP has been pushing the Liberals on the Kyoto Accord.

 

I know that it’s only in NDP governed provinces that publicly owned Hydro is safe from privatization, and that in Ontario, it’s the NDP opposition that has successfully fought, alongside the trade union movement, and CEP in particular, against privatization of Hydro One.

 

I know that privatization of water will be next on the agenda and that Canadians will need a strong NDP to prevent the corporate takeover of our water supply.

 

And I know as NDP Justice Critic, that it’s the NDP that has been working with the Steelworkers to get the kind of corporate criminal liability legislation that would deal with tragedies, or crimes, like the Westray Mine Disaster.

 

Next January, all New Democrats will have the opportunity to take part in the selection of a new leader. It is the first step in what I hope will be the renewal of democracy in Canada, and in the renewal of Canada itself. And labour will decide how one-quarter of the votes in that process will be allocated.. So I urge you to take part, either as New Democrats or through your union in that important decision. I hope to have the opportunity to serve as leader, and to build the solidarity that will secure our future.

 

I want to work with labour leaders like Nicole Turmel, whom I have worked with before, in the NDP, and with Ken Georgetti, CLC President, who said in his Labour Day message released this week.

 

“Working people have to get back in the game. If I have only one resolution as the leader of the country’s labour movement, it is to break people out of the political trance they have been lulled into by greedy people who tell them that government no longer works for them.”

 

You know and I know that governments can work for the people. Lets work together to elect just such a government.