Ontario Election: Communist Party Platform

This is from the CP election website.
There are only eight candidates listed on the website two of whom are women. The party is hoping that there will be a minority government. To expect some left-wing Greens to be elected is probably wishful thinking and the election of some of their own candidates is not impossible but I wouldn't bet much of my pension on it!


FOR A PEOPLE’S AGENDA VOTE COMMUNIST

Block the Right! Elect a Democratic Majority!

This election, we stand at a crossroads. We can move forward towards political, social and economic reforms, desperately needed after more than a decade of right wing governments. Or we can go back to the reactionary prescriptions of the Tories and the broken Liberal remedies that will erode democracy, privatize health care and education, shrivel social programs, destroy jobs and futures, and make civil, democratic and labour rights disappear.

The best outcome of this election would be a minority government, where the public could hold the government’s feet to the fire, forcing it to enact essential legislation benefiting working people. The last minority government in Ontario – a coalition government of NDP and Liberal – ended 50 years of Tory government, and forced the delivery of some very progressive legislation.

To move in a new direction, Ontario needs a new balance of forces inside the Legislature. We need a strong progressive block of MPPs, including Communists, left-wing Greens and NDPers, and others; who can work together to break up the neo-liberal grip on the Legislature, and fight to implement a People’s Agenda - policies aimed to meet people’s needs, not corporate greed.

A PEOPLE’S AGENDA FOR ONTARIO

New Energy Plan for Ontario

Regulated, public power in an east-west power grid
Cut residential rates by 50%
Restore public ownership and control over nuclear power plants/li>
Phase out nuclear and coal fired power; expand hydro electric power
Develop new sources of energy: solar and wind power
New Financial Deal for Municipalities

Provide adequate, stable funding in statutory grants, or, provide cities with the power to tax corporate wealth
Cut property taxes by 75% - upload the costs of education, health, housing, welfare and transit off the property tax and onto the province
Transfer 50% of gas and road-user taxes to municipalities
Fight to give municipalities status in Canada’s Constitution
A Transportation Policy for People

Full federal and provincial funding for public transit to reduce fares and increase ridership
No toll roads
Expand GO Transit service; lower the fares; keep it public
Make Ontario a Voice for Peace and Disarmament

Get out of Afghanistan – bring our troops home alive
Cut the military budget by 50% - build homes, not bombs!
Say YES to an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament
Protect civil and democratic rights – restore habeus corpus
Ban handguns and tighten borders against them
Just Settlement of Land Claims Now

Immediate action for a just and early settlement of Aboriginal land claims
Enact the recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry now
Return the Stoney Point Reserve to Kettle and Stoney Point First Nations
Protect the Six Nations reclamation sight at Caledonia; speed up negotiations on the Haldimand Tract site
Immediate public investment in Aboriginal healthcare, housing, water and sewage treatment, public and post-secondary education, job creation
Recognize Aboriginal self-government and self-determination
No more suicide, no more genocide
Civilian Control over Police and Prisons

Put municipal police, OPP, RCMP and CSIS under public, civilian control
Close the Harris boot camps – open up jobs, schools, community and sports facilities
No private jails – no contracting out policing or prisons
Fight Racism

End racial profiling
Strengthen and enforce hate laws
Enact and enforce equity in education, employment, healthcare and housing as a priority
Fight to change racist immigration and refugee laws
Universal, Accessible, Affordable, Quality Public Child Care Now

Build an Ontario system of quality public child care now
Implement low $7 per day per child fees (like those levied in Quebec)
Create thousands of new, subsidized child care spaces annually
Require ECE diplomas for child care workers; improve wages and benefits
Fight for a national system of universal, accessible, affordable, quality public child care
Universal Quality Public Health Care – People Before Profits!

Stop the privatization train! Fight to implement the Romanow Report now
Expand public health care to include dental and eye care, pharmacare and long term care
Enforce the Canada Health Act. Ban public-private partnerships. Ban private clinics. Say NO to LHINs!
Reverse the de-listing of insured health services
Rescind Balanced Budget legislation: Fund public health care and hospitals!
Recognize credentials of internationally trained physicians and health care workers
Affordable Housing and Rent


Build 100,000 units of affordable social housing over the next 5 years
Legislate real rent controls; roll back rents
Fund emergency shelters and transition housing
Enforce housing standards by-laws
No evictions or utility cut-offs due to unemployment
Accessible Post-Secondary Education

Reduce, and then eliminate tuition fees. Grants, not loans!
Fund public, post-secondary education
Universal, Quality Public Education

Public funding for one universal quality public school system open to all
No public funding for private or religious schools
Invest $20 billion over 5 years; legislate a needs-based funding formula
Ban user fees and fund-raising for school essentials
Reverse 15 years of staff and program cuts
Enact equity in staffing, curriculum; make schools the hub of communities
Reduce class size
Strengthen local democracy and autonomy
Tax the Greedy

Introduce a progressive tax system based on ability to pay
Raise corporate taxes; rescind corporate tax cuts
Eliminate taxes on incomes under $35,000; Scrap the PST and GST
Keep the capital tax; restore the corporate minimum tax
Collect billion$ in upaid and deferred corporate taxes
Implement wealth and inheritance taxes on estates over $500,000
Make the polluters pay!
Jobs for All

Fair trade, not free trade – protect Canadian jobs and sovereignty
Say NO to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)
Emergency action to save Canadian manufacturing
Enact a new Auto Pact – foreign investment must require Canadian made parts and assembly
Build a Canadian car, machine tool industry, ship-building and agricultural implements industry
Rebuild ageing provincial and municipal infrastructure
Reduce the work week to 32 hours with 40 hours take-home pay
Restore and expand social programs; build affordable housing
Introduce plant closure legislation with teeth
Ensure environmentally sustainable development
Economic Justice

Increase the minimum wage to $15 and raise all wages
Raise social assistance and ODSP rates above the poverty level now
Reduce the pension age to 60, increase pensions and benefits
Legislate pay and employment equity; close the gap
Strengthen overtime laws, and ban compulsory overtime
Increase statutory vacations to 4 weeks annually
Make May Day a statutory holiday
Fight to increase EI to 90% of previous earnings; restore eligibility to cover all unemployed; remove eligibility requirement to use up severance pay
Restore anti-scab legislation
Enact a Labour Bill of Rights: guarantee the right to strike, picket and organize
Implement public auto insurance
Clean, Safe Environment

Phase out nuclear power; put all nuclear plants under public ownership and control pending closure
Replace coal fired plants with new publicly owned sources of energy: solar, wind and new safe and secure energy technologies
Protect farmland from urban sprawl; expand parkland
Reduce landfills, corporate packaging, and divert reuseable, recyclable materials
Oppose privatization and user fees, protect the Great Lakes, oppose sale of Canadian water
Fight for Kyoto!
For Democratic Electoral Reform

Legislate MMP and then eliminate the 3% threshold
Lower the voting age to 16
Introduce right to recall legislation
Sharply reduce election spending limits
Legislate to provide equitable media coverage to all political parties
FOR A PEOPLE’S AGENDA VOTE COMMUNIST