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Following last Saturday’s successful day of action against the Harper Conservative’s “police state” Bill C-51, the Communist Party of Canada is calling for continued united action to block and defeat the proposed legislation. Over 75 actions, from Halifax to Victoria to Yellowknife, took place drawing many thousands into the streets at marches and rallies.
“Every single day that passes, more and more people are coming out against Bill C-51”, Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada told the Winnipeg rally. “Notwithstanding the Conservatives’ bravado, they are scared,” he said, noting the breadth of opposition to C-51.
Aboriginal leaders, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux of Quebec, as well as civil liberties groups, legal experts, the Official Privacy commissioner, four former Prime Ministers, artists like Margaret Atwood, and even BC Premier Christy Clark have criticized the Bill. A recent Forum Poll conducted just before the day of action suggests support for the Bill is actually weak — including among some Conservative Party supporters.
The Communist Party has repeatedly condemned the Bill, and denounced the Harper Conservatives use of “fear tactics” to push this Bill, and their broader agenda of war and racism as they demand extending Canada’s illegal bombing and ground campaign in Iraq and Syria. This includes Prime Minister’s recent inflammatory “boogeyman” comments about gun control and rural vigilante justice, as well as the increasingly Islamophobic and chauvinist tone coming out of his party.
Yesterday, after public outcry, Conservative MP Larry Miller partially stepped-back from his racist “stay the hell where you came from” remarks about citizenship. MP Diane Ablonczy, however, has not retracted her slanderous accusation last week during Bill C-51 committee testimony that the National Council of Canadian Muslims (which was presenting as a witness) supports terrorism. On the same day, Conservative MP Rick Norlock launched a vicious attack against expert witness Carmen Cheung of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, suggesting that she is “fundamentally opposed to taking terrorists off the streets.”
“The Conservatives may succeed in ramming this legislation through — they have the votes — but our job is to do everything possible to make sure that the Harper Conservatives, and their big business supporters, understand that there is going to be a massive political price,” Figueroa said, describing the Bill as “part and parcel of a larger agenda to fashion a national security state in Canada.”
The Communist Party will be submitting a brief to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security against the Bill, and urges all other concerned individuals and organizations to do the same. The CPC repeats its call for all those who care about civil, labour and democratic rights, to help build a powerful, mass, united campaign against this dangerous, anti-democratic legislation and find every way to draw the growing number of people unhappy with the legislation into visible public protest, be it mass leafleting, banner drops, occupations of MP constituency offices, and continued mass pickets and rallies.
Central Executive Committee
March 20, 2015