ea
o
=
©)
=
—
Lu
>

° Bob Matters, Local 1-405

° Dave Haggard, national president

Economic policy debated

One major Stee for the union at this year’s
convention was the passing of a resolution to
influence the economic policy of the New
Democratic party of Canada.

A resolution on trade and jobs in a globalized
economy was unanimously passed at the
national convention. It was then referred to the
CLC and then, with a few amendments, was
forwarded to the NDP national convention in
November. s

The resolution approved at the union’s
convention supports programs and policies
aimed at fair trade and fair market access,
including measures that:

e help expand markets through fair and
equitable trading relations;

e enter into bilateral or multilateral
agreements that expand our export
opportunities while ensuring the labour rights,
human rights, civil liberties, working conditions
and living standards of Canadian workers;

e encourage Canadian companies to increase
international competitiveness and expand their
markets; : = ists

e encourage Canadian companies to diversify
their product-lines, find new markets for old
products and develop new products;

° ie pauper aide pecctiction to increase

value of Canadian ore 3
oe increase research ant development spendi
by Canadian government, industry, an:

universities; ‘
e enable pecnnglogy transfer and the public
availability of results and innovations.

The resolution says the federal government.
should design taxation, regulation, legislation
and international (trade) agreements to
stimulate and promote exports while protecting
Canadian jobs, along with working and living
standards, in addition to respecting international
responsibilities and commitments.

Local 1-405 president and national executive
board member Bob Matters said the wordy
resolution was designed to get the NDP to
change its focus.

“The party has to get more in touch with the
needs of real working people, and that includes
people in the I.W.A., and if the NDP isn’t going
to address our membership’s needs, then we
are going to have to look elsewhere for a party
to pursue the goals that we need to promote the
benefits for our membership,” said Matters.

National I.W.A. president Dave Haggard said
the “guts of the resolution” is that labour needs
to sit at the table when international trade
Be recments like the Free Trade Agreement
of the American and WTO negotiations are
taking place,

That, he said, is better than having working

penne standing on the streets and not

eing allowed in, and having the governments

of our country and other countries putting

hacked vie fences around those types of (trade)
les.

He said labour needs a seat at trade
tables “to know what the hell’s going on
and we can try to influence the decisions that
are being made.” &

Modern program
approved for
NDP convention

At this year’s convention, the membership
made a historic decision to pass a resolution
calling for the NDP to develop a modern economic
program for Canada.

Since that resolution was passed, it has gone
forward to the national convention of the New
Democratic Party of Canada with some
amendments, where it was passed and has
become the centerpiece in the party’s economic
platform. (See the resolution in its entirety on

page three, and Dave Haggard’s message on
page four.)

The essence of the resolution is that the NDP
will come up with some modern economic policies
to drive its social and economic agenda. A
modern, mixed economy must be built where
both the private and public sector invest and
create goods and services for people. National
objectives, the resolution says, must be planned
and met in a variety of ways with investment in
new technology, economic diversification, value-
added production, training and skills
development, economic, social and environmental
sustainability, research and development and
export development.

National union president Dave Haggard told
the delegates the union made a decision to go to
Winnipeg in November and influence the NDP’s
economic and social policies. Those policies, he
said, must “make sense and start to build our
party into an economic force in this country
that represents working people and our families,
rather than just be a protest group.”

He said he was at the social democracy
conference spearheaded by former national
NDP leader Ed Broadbent and others in
Montreal earlier this year and saw social
democrats who were also entrepreneurs come to
the mike.

“Is there something wrong with that?”
exclaimed Haggard.

At the same time, Svend Robinson, leader of
the party’s far-left faction told the convention
that the market has to be “put down like a dog.”

“I believe it’s those people (Robinson and
others) who have helped destroy the NDP as a
party that represents working people in our
communities,” Haggard told the delegates.

He said the party must be rebuilt and that it
“should no longer be acceptable for us to have a
party based on social programs and hope we
can find the economics to pay for it.”

Local 1000 president Joe da Costa said the
resolution brings the party back to the
fundamental principles from which it was

continued on page twelve

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 2001/11