ee

GUEST COLUMN

Labour should participate
in New Democratic renewal

by Clay Perry

he Federal New Democratic Party,

prompted by its near-obliteration at the-
last election, is holding a series of “Re-

newal Conferences” to mull over its pur-

poses, and the means by which it proposes
to achieve them.

It should not panic, and it certainly should not
concern itself with the gleeful right-wing pro-
nouncements of the end of the Canadian Left. Au-
gust Theirs, Prime Minister of France, said in 1877:
“Nobody talks of socialism any more, rightly. We
are rid of it.” Similiar declarations of the 1990's
will be seen by history to be just as false.

Dangers accompany essential periodic reap-
praisals: they afford opportunities for a lot of sin-
gle issue folks. There is also the possibility, witness
the U.S. Democratic Party, that a political organiza-
tion can become more and more a vehicle for the
advancement of its activists, less and less a vehicle
for the achievement of substantial political results.

But a review is not a bad idea. Political parties
that are dedicated to anything beyond electoral
success should do such things more often, and
perhaps with more urgency following electoral
successes than electoral failures.

Union delegates to these conferences will come
equipped with a C.L.C. resolution from the spring
convention, which calls on Labour and the party to
assess the accountability of the party in Govern-
ment, the relationship between Labour and the
N.D.P. when it forms the government, and why
more union members have not supported the
N.D.P. in the past.

. None of these issues are as simple as they seem.
On accountability of an N.D.P. government, for ex-
ample, there is a tension between what party reso-
lutions might say, and the party's underlying
dedication to the democratic principle that gov-
emments are supposed to be responsible and re-
sponsive to the general citizenry, not only to

members of a political party. No party that propos-

es to govern governments will be taken seriously
im Canada.

party and the unions
that represent its em-
ployees is also a diffi-
cult one. Such unions,
and especially their
leaderships, have to
continue vigorous rep-
resentation of their
members’ interests.
They cannot be seen
to be settling for less
than tough demands
and negotiations can

The relationship between a social democratic

get. And where unions
have to act like con-
ventional unions, that sets up a dynamic that re-
quires employers, even social democratic
government employers, to act like conventional

employers. Strong

ment.” So they seized the opportunity, abandoned
their historic program of seeking substantial,
structural change, and won with a class of new
Congress persons that included many from pros-
perous, urban areas. To have any hope for reelec-
tion, these had to cater to the economic
conservatism of their constituents. And they did
so, in spades. (Those interested should read
Thomas Edsall’s “The New Politics Of Inequality.”)
A similar process is well on its way for the
N.D.P. Environmentalism bloomed, and its follow-
ers denounced the governments of the day. The
N.D.P. could have sought to synthesize many as-
pects of this new creed into a coherent social de-
mocratic world view, firmly rooted in both
humanity and nature. But distracted by the short-
term prospects of many new voters, it took an eas-
ier way out: promise all to everybody. Now it has
within its ranks those

forces beget strong
countervailing forces.
Two themes of the
first conference, held
in Ottawa this August,
were of more interest
to IWA-CANADA mem-
bers: how do nation-
based political parties
or governments grap-
ple with international

Canada needs a social democratic
party dedicated to a full range of
social objectives including full em-
ployment and labour rights

who demand, like the
U.S. Democrats, that it
abandon its traditional
commitments. The
party has now to make
some tough choices.

There is a bottom
line for the “Renewal”
conference: Canada
needs a social democ-
ratic party, dedicated

capital that, is facilitat-

ed “free trade agreements,” and more importantly,
by capital markets that can shift money to any
place in the world in the twinkle of an eye? This is
the most serious dilemma that faces both democra-
tic socialism and labour, in Canada and throughout
the world. One answer that comes to mind is that
our national institutions have to be much more ac-
tive at the international level; the N.D.P. with the
Socialist international and Canadian Labour with
the LC.F-T.U. and sector groups like our I-F.B.W.W.

I believe this to be an essential part of the an-
swer. But it, too, comes at a price, and not only in
finances and resources. How are we to reconcile
substantial action at the international level with
“grass-roots control,” with “taking ownership of
the party (or union)”?

The “need for the party to find its voice on re-
source community issues” was at last acknowl-
edged. This tortuous language demonstrates the
urgency of coming to grips with that problem.

In the U.S., the Democratic Party succumbed, in
1976, to the temptation that the post-Watergate era
presented. After Nixon, there was an opportunity
to win by simply promising “good, honest govern-

to a wide range of so-
cial objectives, including full employment and
labour rights, and electorally effective enough to
offer a defence of those objectives.

There is no vacancy for any other kind of party
in Canada: the anti-humanist section of the Green
movement will continue to “do its own thing.” And
notwithstanding the urgings of some that the NDP
should enthusiastically adopt the “market place”
approach, there is no scarcity of political parties
representing that line.

Delegates to these reviews need to take a longer
and more spacious view. Remind themselves, for
example, that it was Austrian Social Democrats
who in 1934 first took up arms against Fascism,
for humanist governance. The inheritors of that
tradition need not be panicked by the results of
one Canadian election.

Clay Perry is a semi-retired former IWA staff
member who has been the director of a number of
departments over the years. He still advises and

offers his services to the union on occasion.

Ontario forest Act

Continued from page one

oo now be put back into the for-
esi

Miron has served as a member of
the “Diversity Panel” which had im-
portant input into the policy frame-
work that went into the new
legislation.

The policies to be put into place
will be important for union members.

One of the underlying elements in
the policy is that “large, healthy and
productive forests are essential to the
environmental, economic, social, and
cultural well-being, both now and in
the future,”

‘The overall policy includes the pro-
visions that “forest ecosystem types
should not be candidates for harvest
where this practice threatens their
long-term health and vigour.”

Most importantly the policy frame-
work includes a strategy to sustain
community and resource use. It vows
to encourage an optimal level and lev-
el of employment.

Decision-making will be made as
close to the forests as possible, say
the policy guidelines, and “must func-
tion within the context of the provin-
cial interest.”

The IWA is panceet about ensur-
ing public participation in planning fu-
ae forests, says Brother Miron.

On August 23 Miron and Brother
Wilf McIntyre, president of IWA-
CANADA Local 1-2693, made a pre-
sentation on behalf of the union to the
Standing Committee on the Crown
Forest Sustainability Act. In the sub-
mission made IWA called for the new

Act to reach out to le.

people understand. We recommend
that the Ministry consider making this
Act available in the form of a guide
written in language the public can
readily understand.”

The union is also concerned that
the government must ensure the par-
ticipation of the public by establishing
local citizens committees.

Said the union: “We believe the cre-
ation of local citizens committees in
communities that depend on forests
for their economic stability is a key
piece of this legislation and will cer-
tainly help resolve land use conflicts.”

Another major area of concern for
the IWA is that of cutting rights. The
union expressed concern over the
new proposed law which gives the
Minister the power to reduce the an-
nual cut by 5% for licence transfers ,
assignments, or change.

The union says that all sections
dealing with licenses have increased
uncertainty, especially as it relates to
tenure and cut reductions.

“Tenure in the form of an assured
wood supply is a requirement for con-
tinued investment by the financial in-
stitutions and a clear responsibility
and incentive to the industry to man-
age the resource on a sustainable and
environmentally sound basis,” said
the union brief. “Our collective agree-
ments and our members livelihoods
could be drastically affected by any
change in licensing and tenure.”

The union recommended that the
Ministry consider redrafting all sec-
tions referring to licences to clarify
the types of licences and their terms.

The union also says that if there are
to be changes in a licensed area
where a union represents workers,
that the government give the union
prior notification and have the right to
make representations.

* In Ontario there are over 175,000 jobs connected to the forest industry and

Rae AOA daa: Agee

there are over 50 forest dependent communities.

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1994/3