EDITORIAL

Liberal budget part of the great sell-out

rime Minister Jean Chretién’s historic retreat on Canada’s social programs has clearly been

spelled in the February 22 budget. So too has the Liberal government's plans to sell off, privitize, and restructure Canada and cater to the U.S. in the new age of the North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA).

In an overt attempt to appease and please U.S.investment houses and investors the Liberals are speed- ing up the federal goverment’s divestment in its own country and is opening wide the doors for wholesale privitization of social and other public services.

Leading the list of cuts is a two year, $7 billion reduction of transfer payments to the provinces for health care, education, and welfare. This will see across-the-board reductions in the province's abilities to fund essential services. In British Co- lumbia in 1996 alone the government says that the federal cutbacks will cost health, education, and social services over $457 million. This will means that fewer health care services will be universally covered, student tuition fees will skyrock- et, and welfare payments will be curtailed.

The Feds intend to offload responsiblilty for the country’s health care system onto the provinces, which will then create a two-tiered system where the wealthy can pay to get better services and the less fortunate will have to wait for inferior services.

As more hospital and medical services are contracted out and privitized, U.S.hospital-management services will be free to bid on Canada’s medicare system. They are poised to take advantage of Canada’s divestment in universal health care and the NAFTA will ensure that there will no obstacles for the multinational corporations.

Next on the list will be Canada’s Health Care Act itself which guarantees universal, portable, comprehensive, and publicly funded health care within a publicly administered system. The Liberals are thinking about doing away with the Act itself and replacing it with “national standards” on health care.

On February 18, only 9 days before the budget, Finance Minister Paul Martin said cutting of social services hurts peo- ple’s health, their ability to train, to get works and in the long run adds to the defecit.Then he went ahead and did exactly what he said he should not do.

The goverment also announced the elimination of 45,000 federal civil service jobs. The largest cuts will be seen in Transport Canada’s Ministry where 20,000 jobs will be pared down to 4,000 as the government plans to sell off the coun- try’s national railway system.

Pitching this sell-out was Transport Minister Doug Young, who went to New York to meet with Wall Street Investors to spread news of the government's privitization efforts. The minister also told the Americans that they will soon be able to bid on $1 billion worth of Canada’s air navigation system as it goes fully private.

Under the NAFTA, U.S. corporations will be given national priority. The minister was in New York to give thirsty in- vestors the news.

Another big privitization deal will be the sell-off of the fed- eral government’s remaining 70% share in Petro Canada. Canada’s petroleum industry will most certainly be up for grabs to foreign investors as well.

In addition, the Liberals are likely going to privitize weath- er services, food inspection and regulation, fishing licensing and several other public services.

The federal-provinicial Forest Resource Development Agreements (FRDA’s) are being almost eliminated completely with $200 million in cuts as 20 regional offices will be closed. Canada’s number one employer and number one source of earnings is being ignored and denied significant funding for research and development.

For short-term reasons, the Liberals are parcelling up and selling off the country. And in the meantime they are going to bust up Canada’s social programs and offer the broken pieces to multinational corporations. This is a budget that the Mul- roney government would have been proud of.

LUINBERUORKER

Official publication of WA-CANADA

Norman GARCIA GERRY STONEY . . President Editor NEIL MENARD .. Ist Vice-President FRED MIRON . . 2nd Vice-President WARREN ULLEY . . 3rd Vice-President 5th Floor, HARVEY ARCAND . . 4th Vice-President. 1285 W. Pender Street TERRY SMITH. . Secretary-Treasurer Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4B2

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Mexican peso nosedives and American attacks on Canada continue as the NAFTA celebrates its first year

Just more than a year after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was put into place by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, all hell has broken loose. Mexico’s currency has plummeted, the U.S. is contin- uing its attack on Canada de- spite the agreement, and Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien is acting like a cham- pion of free trade.

In December of 1994 and the first part of this year the Mexican peso dropped in val- ue by 40%. The Mexican econ- omy, touted by pro-free traders as a modern miracle, plummeted as the country’s peso was finally realized for being overvalued.

Now with one of NAFTA’s partners in deep trouble, a $50 billion U.S. lifeline has been floated to Mexico by the U.S. government, the Interna- tional Monetary Fund, the Swiss-based Bank of Interna- tional Settlements, and the Canadian government.

The obvious questions have arisen. What has gone wrong? How could this possibly have happened? How can so many supposed experts been so wrong? Why was the Mexican peso so overvalued? How could so many financial wiz- ards have been so wrong about Mexico’s economy?

It appears that the peso was artificially propped up by those who wanted to see a NAFTA put into place. While the agreement was being ne- gotiated, the peso was inflat- ed as so that Mexico labour would not appear to offer as cheap of labour as it does now. Now with the devalued peso, Mexico offers even cheaper labour. At the same time Mexican workers are helpless victims which face wage rollbacks, inflation, and further economical setbacks,

In short the U.S. is holding up the peso from even further collapse and not without con- siderable strings attached. To receive the loan guarantees Mexico is paying up front with high interest payments

and direct revenue from sales of oil. Mexico is the U.S.’s second largest source of for- eign crude.

During NAFTA negotiations the U.S. wanted Mexico’s

state-owned oil industry on.

the table and couldn’t get it. Now the it has a grip on the country’s oil revenue and won't let go until Uncle Sam says so. The U.S. Congress has also attempted to influ- ence Mexico’s foreign policy as a result of the bailout. Mexico’s decade of eco- nomic reform was the wonder child of the International

The first year of NAFTA has shown that U.S. protectionism is stronger than ever and the Mexican miracle ts a hoax

Monetary Fund and U.S. banking interests. Now listen to what the IMF is saying.

“This is the first crisis of the next century,” say the IMF’s managing director Michel Camdessus. “I cannot promise that we will not see new crises of this kind even before the next century.”

In the meantime the Mexi- can government is violently putting down a peasant revolt in the state of Chiapas and other parts of the country, where the government has shut down the news media. The rebel Zapatista Army of National Liberation, which first came to the forefront in January of last year, has chal- lenged the North American Free Trade Agreement which has had devastating effects on

the corn growing peasants of Chiapas. A flood of subsidized U.S. corn has put small farm- ers out of business with noth- ing to do for survival.

The Americans are pushing hard for Canada to drop tar- iffs against poultry and dairy products and drop its supply management system for farm- ing. Although Canada abided by a ruling from the Uruguay round of talks under the Gen- eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, that it would drop bor- der restrictions in favour of tariffs, the U.S. says that Canada must immediately drop tariffs under the NAFTA. Canada says that the GATT overrules the NAFTA and will not drop them. If it does, then Canada’s small farms, espe- cially the 36,000 dairy farmers in Quebec, will be devastated.

The Americans are also pushing the Canadian Govern- ment to abolish the Canadian Wheat Board. Presidential candidate Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana says the “American farmers now feel they are competing with the government of Canada.”

At the same time no coun- try subsidizes its grain pro- ducers more that the U.S. It has forced Canada to curb its durum wheat sales to the U.S. and used it multi-billion dollar Export Enhancement Pro- gram to subsidize American wheat and push Canadian wheat sales out of Mexico and China.

Jean Chretien’s answer to all of this is to parade around Latin America, dubbed as the “godfather” of free trade. For eleven days an : Jana, Chre- tien went to Chile, enti Brazil, Trinidad, Cana Brazil with a government/ business delegation to extol the virtues of the NAFTA.

His pre-election promise to get agreements with what constitutes a subsidy or what constitutes illegal dumping under NAFTA has gone nowhere. Canada’s requests in these areas have been sys- botnets ignored by the

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