The Socialist Caucus publishes Turn Left for each federal and Ontario provincial convention. It is written and edited and by SC supporters but also includes articles by and interviews with progressive activists from outside the NDP as well.
The most recent version for the NDP federal convention in Vancouver in 2011 was presented in a magazine format and was a huge success.
The most recent version for the NDP federal convention in Vancouver in 2011 was presented in a magazine format and was a huge success.
Turn Left - Summer 2011
• Saving public pensions in Canada
• Interview with NDP MP Dan Harris
• Stopping the war in the Middle East
• Defeating the Harper Agenda
• SC Resolutions to NDP Convention
• A Review of the Spirit Level
• Interview with CAW economist Jim Stanford
• Saving public pensions in Canada
• Interview with NDP MP Dan Harris
• Stopping the war in the Middle East
• Defeating the Harper Agenda
• SC Resolutions to NDP Convention
• A Review of the Spirit Level
• Interview with CAW economist Jim Stanford
Turn Left - Winter 2011
• NDP Breakthrough in Nova Scotia
• Challenging the failues of capitalism
• Canada and the Honduras Coup D'Etat
• In defense of social ownership
• Public ownership of the auto industry
• Education is a right
• Capitalism and global hunger
• French language rights in Quebec
• NDP Breakthrough in Nova Scotia
• Challenging the failues of capitalism
• Canada and the Honduras Coup D'Etat
• In defense of social ownership
• Public ownership of the auto industry
• Education is a right
• Capitalism and global hunger
• French language rights in Quebec
Turn Left - Winter 2009
• Michael Prue for Ontario NDP Leader
• Saving jobs in the auto sector
• The Wall Street Collapse
• Ending Discrimination in Public Schools
• Venezuela - Behind the Revolution
• No economic stimulus for education or culture
• Michael Prue for Ontario NDP Leader
• Saving jobs in the auto sector
• The Wall Street Collapse
• Ending Discrimination in Public Schools
• Venezuela - Behind the Revolution
• No economic stimulus for education or culture
Turn Left - Fall 2006
• Rejecting the war in Afghanistan
• Drug companies profiteering from AIDS crisis
• Defending CUPE's boycott of Israel
• Military spending as "aid"
• NDP Inner Party Democracy
• Harper destroys chance for universal child care
• Canada's role in Haitian overthrow
• Rejecting the war in Afghanistan
• Drug companies profiteering from AIDS crisis
• Defending CUPE's boycott of Israel
• Military spending as "aid"
• NDP Inner Party Democracy
• Harper destroys chance for universal child care
• Canada's role in Haitian overthrow
Do corporate tax cuts produce jobs?
A succession of Liberal and Conservative governments claimed that cuts to corporate taxes are the surest way to increase capital spending and job creation.
So, what happened?
While corporate cash flow rose, capital investment as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed a long term decline, according to a study released by the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives.
Governments slashed the combined corporate federal-provincial tax rate from 50 per cent in the 1980s to 29.5 per cent in 2010. Before tax reforms in 1987, fixed capital spending stood at 12.7 per cent of GDP. Since then, investment actually fell to 11.7 per cent of GDP.
Thus, not only is there no proof that lower corporate taxes stimulate more investments, leading to more good jobs, it appears that the opposite is the case.
So, where did the 'excess' money go? Apparently, it went into the pockets of rich shareholders and CEOs.
What's next? During the federal election campaign the Conservative Party promised to further reduce the federal tax rate to 15 per cent in 2012. The Liberal Party, which dropped the business levy from 28 to 21 per cent between 2000 and 2004, now propose to restore the rate back to 18 per cent.
The New Democratic Party said it would keep the combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate below the U.S. federal rate, which is 35 per cent for companies with profits above $18.4 million.
A succession of Liberal and Conservative governments claimed that cuts to corporate taxes are the surest way to increase capital spending and job creation.
So, what happened?
While corporate cash flow rose, capital investment as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed a long term decline, according to a study released by the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives.
Governments slashed the combined corporate federal-provincial tax rate from 50 per cent in the 1980s to 29.5 per cent in 2010. Before tax reforms in 1987, fixed capital spending stood at 12.7 per cent of GDP. Since then, investment actually fell to 11.7 per cent of GDP.
Thus, not only is there no proof that lower corporate taxes stimulate more investments, leading to more good jobs, it appears that the opposite is the case.
So, where did the 'excess' money go? Apparently, it went into the pockets of rich shareholders and CEOs.
What's next? During the federal election campaign the Conservative Party promised to further reduce the federal tax rate to 15 per cent in 2012. The Liberal Party, which dropped the business levy from 28 to 21 per cent between 2000 and 2004, now propose to restore the rate back to 18 per cent.
The New Democratic Party said it would keep the combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate below the U.S. federal rate, which is 35 per cent for companies with profits above $18.4 million.
The latest brutal assault on the social wage is Ottawa's reversal on the Canada Pension Plan.
Instead of enhancing the CPP, which federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised to do when he met with his provincial counterparts in Prince Edward Island last summer, the Tories are pushing a private sector scheme.
Leaning heavily on the capitalist economic crisis as a convenient crutch, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "Now is not the time for CPP premium increases." Does Harper appreciate the cruel irony of asking impecunious pensioners to invest in the stock market which had three meltdowns in 15 years (1997, 2002 and 2008)?
The CPP, which provides a guaranteed benefit to all seniors, should be increased immediately. Why? Because...
1. It is impossible to live on a basic pension of $11,200 a year.
2. Sixty per cent of workers have no workplace pension.
3. One-third of Canadians between the ages of 24 and 64 have no personal retirement savings.
4. Only one in four taxpayers put any money into a Registered Retirement Savings Plan in 2008. After 25 years of stagnant or declining wages, it is hardly surprising how difficult it is for people to save on their own.
5. 1.6 million Canadian seniors today live in poverty, with incomes below $16,000 a year.
Presently, the Canadian Labour Congress is campaigning for a doubling of Canada and Quebec Pension Plan benefits, to be phased in by small premium increases over seven years. The resulting $22,400 annual pension income would be an improvement, but still woefully inadequate, especially seven years from now, and beyond.
The CPP, which hasn't been expanded since its inception 45 years ago, should be tripled, and the main burden of the contribution increase should be borne by big business and the rich. Yes, the class that has gained the most from two decades of corporate tax cuts, and that appropriated more than 30 per cent of the extra income generated during the so-called boom years (according to Linda McQuaig and Neil Brook's recent book "The Trouble with Billionaires"), should pay for this and other pressing social needs.
Naturally, any increase in CPP benefits is opposed by the banks, financial institutions and insurance companies which have profited enormously by selling RRSPs.
Enter the Conservative federal government, and their political cousins in the province of Alberta. They propose a new Pooled Registered Pension Plan - a voluntary scheme to be administered by the financial industry. Small and large firms could use this to offer private pensions to their employees, who would pay into it, but get a pension based only on market performance. It would spread a growing disease, the focus of a bitter labour struggle at Vale Inco, and now at Stelco, in which management seeks to replace “defined benefits” with “defined contributions”. The latter embodies the possibility of little or no pension for the entrapped workers.
Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan, who was among two dozen protesters who occupied Finance Minister Flaherty's office in Whitby, Ontario on December 19, called the Tory scheme “a gimmick to get the issue of pensions off the front pages.” Ryan was all too kind.
Actually, it is a wretched scam designed to rip off the working class and further subsidize financial Capital. It is a case of kicking workers while we're down.
The appropriate answer to the conniving Tories, and to the more subtle but equally venal Liberals, is for workers to stand up and fight back. General strikes from Portugal to Greece, powerful and unifying actions scarcely reported in the North American media, show the way to defend pensions and other threatened social gains.
Instead of enhancing the CPP, which federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised to do when he met with his provincial counterparts in Prince Edward Island last summer, the Tories are pushing a private sector scheme.
Leaning heavily on the capitalist economic crisis as a convenient crutch, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "Now is not the time for CPP premium increases." Does Harper appreciate the cruel irony of asking impecunious pensioners to invest in the stock market which had three meltdowns in 15 years (1997, 2002 and 2008)?
The CPP, which provides a guaranteed benefit to all seniors, should be increased immediately. Why? Because...
1. It is impossible to live on a basic pension of $11,200 a year.
2. Sixty per cent of workers have no workplace pension.
3. One-third of Canadians between the ages of 24 and 64 have no personal retirement savings.
4. Only one in four taxpayers put any money into a Registered Retirement Savings Plan in 2008. After 25 years of stagnant or declining wages, it is hardly surprising how difficult it is for people to save on their own.
5. 1.6 million Canadian seniors today live in poverty, with incomes below $16,000 a year.
Presently, the Canadian Labour Congress is campaigning for a doubling of Canada and Quebec Pension Plan benefits, to be phased in by small premium increases over seven years. The resulting $22,400 annual pension income would be an improvement, but still woefully inadequate, especially seven years from now, and beyond.
The CPP, which hasn't been expanded since its inception 45 years ago, should be tripled, and the main burden of the contribution increase should be borne by big business and the rich. Yes, the class that has gained the most from two decades of corporate tax cuts, and that appropriated more than 30 per cent of the extra income generated during the so-called boom years (according to Linda McQuaig and Neil Brook's recent book "The Trouble with Billionaires"), should pay for this and other pressing social needs.
Naturally, any increase in CPP benefits is opposed by the banks, financial institutions and insurance companies which have profited enormously by selling RRSPs.
Enter the Conservative federal government, and their political cousins in the province of Alberta. They propose a new Pooled Registered Pension Plan - a voluntary scheme to be administered by the financial industry. Small and large firms could use this to offer private pensions to their employees, who would pay into it, but get a pension based only on market performance. It would spread a growing disease, the focus of a bitter labour struggle at Vale Inco, and now at Stelco, in which management seeks to replace “defined benefits” with “defined contributions”. The latter embodies the possibility of little or no pension for the entrapped workers.
Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan, who was among two dozen protesters who occupied Finance Minister Flaherty's office in Whitby, Ontario on December 19, called the Tory scheme “a gimmick to get the issue of pensions off the front pages.” Ryan was all too kind.
Actually, it is a wretched scam designed to rip off the working class and further subsidize financial Capital. It is a case of kicking workers while we're down.
The appropriate answer to the conniving Tories, and to the more subtle but equally venal Liberals, is for workers to stand up and fight back. General strikes from Portugal to Greece, powerful and unifying actions scarcely reported in the North American media, show the way to defend pensions and other threatened social gains.
The Harper majority is an artificial product of an undemocratic electoral system. We can replace Labour’s retreat of the past 30 years with mass resistance to the corporate agenda. We can prove that the most right-wing government in Canadian history is a paper tiger, that it can be blown away by a strong wave of class struggle.
Stock Market Pension Plan is a Tory Scam
"There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward democratic socialism." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
NDP Socialist Caucus. Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved. info@ndpsocialists.ca
NDP Socialist Caucus. Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved. info@ndpsocialists.ca
Special Announcement about 2012 Edition of Turn
Left
La texte francaise suit l’anglais.
Dear Friends, Comrades, and Fellow Members of the
New Democratic Party,
The Socialist Caucus of the NDP has a proud history of
publishing its magazine "Turn Left" prior to federal and
provincial NDP conventions. We have analyzed labour
struggles across Canada and published timely and
provocative articles on economic, social and political
issues with the aim of advancing a socialist alternative
within Canada's labour party. More than ever, there is
a need to continue and strengthen this tradition.
With revolution shaking the Arab world, workers in China
fighting for democracy, European workers mobilizing
massively against public service, pension and wage cuts,
and North American youth and progressives confronting
the financial control of the 1% over the 99%, we should
add our voices to what is becoming a growing global anti-
capitalist movement. Though some NDP officials want to
turn away form it, now is the time to advance the struggle
for socialism and greater democracy within the NDP.
The NDP Federal Leadership Convention will take place in
Toronto, March 23-24, followed by the Ontario NDP
Convention in Hamilton, April 15-17. Our plan is to
publish the biggest and best edition of "Turn Left" ever.
The Socialist Caucus Steering Committee is working
now on "Turn Left", but we need your help.
We need articles about current events across English
Canada and Quebec. We seek reportage on the recent BC
and Nova Scotia Provincial NDP Conventions, articles on
labour struggles against privatization and social cuts, on
the tar sands and the Keystone Pipeline struggles, on the
future of the Occupy movement, along with analysis of
the ongoing world financial, food and climate crises. We
also ask activists to write articles that not only criticize
the failures of global capitalism, but put forth bold,
specific solutions in creating a democratic and socialist
alternative.
Please send us socialist articles that you find in your
readings. Write your own articles, or send us ideas for
articles that we can work on together. Our goal is to make
the magazine as regionally diverse, inclusive and
representative as possible.
Last, but not least, we do need money. We need
donations to help us raise over $2000 for the editing,
layout and printing of the next "Turn Left". Be a part of
this great tradition of keeping socialism dynamic and
vibrant within the NDP and its affiliated youth and labour
organizations.
Please send articles to info@ndpsocialists.ca. And please
send financial contributions to the Socialist Caucus
through our website or by regular postal mail to NDP
Socialist Caucus, 526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ontario M6G
3R4.
Many thanks for your prompt attention to this appeal.
In Solidarity,
John Orrett,
NDP Socialist Caucus Policy Director
------------------------------------------------------
Merci John Parry pour la traduction
Chers amis, camarades, et membres du Nouveau Parti
démocratique,
Le Caucus Socialiste du NPD a une fière histoire d'édition
de son magazine "Turn Left" (Virage à Gauche) avant les
congrès du NPD, fédérale et provinciale. Nous avons
analysé les luttes des travailleurs partout au Canada et
publié des articles en temps opportun et provocant sur
les questions économiques, sociales et politiques: dans le
but d’ avancer une alternative socialiste au sein du parti
du travail du Canada. Plus que jamais, il est nécessaire
de poursuivre et renforcer cette tradition.
Avec les révolutions qui secouent le monde arabe ; les
travailleurs en Chine battant pour la démocratie; les
travailleurs européens mobilisant massivement contre la
retrecissement des fonctions publique, regimes de
retraite et des réductions de salaire; et la revolte nord-
américaine des jeunes et des progressistes face au
contrôle financier du 1% plus de 99% ; il faut ajouter notre
voix à ce qui est en train de devenir un mouvement anti-
capitaliste mondial. Bien que certains responsables du
NPD veulent détourner la vague, il est maintenant temps
de faire avancer la lutte pour le socialisme et la
démocratie au sein de plus que le NPD.
Le Congrès du NPD fédéral leadership aura lieu à Toronto,
23-24 Mars, suivie par la Convention du NPD en Ontario, à
Hamilton, avril 15-17. Notre plan est de publier un édition
des plus grands et meilleurs "Turn Left" que jamais.
Le Comité directeur du Caucus Socialiste travaille
maintenant sur "Turn Left", mais nous avons besoin
de votre aide.
Nous avons besoin d'articles sur les événements actuels
au Canada anglais et au Québec. Nous cherchons un
reportage sur les récentes conventions provinciales du
NPD au Colombie-Britannique et Nouvelle-Écosse, des
articles sur les luttes syndicales contre la privatisation et
les coupures sociales, sur les sables bitumineux et le
pipeline Keystone ; sur l'avenir du mouvement ‘Occupy’,
avec l'analyse du crise financier continuant, les crises
alimentaire et climatique. Nous demandons aussi des
militants d'écrire des articles qui non seulement critiquent
les échecs du capitalisme mondial, mais pronent des
solutions spécifiques audacieux pour créer une
alternative démocratique et socialiste.
S'il vous plaît envoyez-nous des articles socialiste que
vous trouverez dans vos lectures. Écrivez vos propres
articles, ou envoyez-nous des idées d'articles que nous
pouvons travailler ensemble. Notre objectif est de rendre
le magazine régionalement diversifiée, inclusive et
représentative autant que possible.
Finalement, mais non le moindre, nous avons besoin
d'argent. Nous avons besoin de dons pour nous aider à
amasser plus de $ 2000 pour l'édition, la mise en page et
l'impression de la prochaine "Virage à gauche". Soyez une
partie de cette grande tradition de garder le socialisme
dynamique et vivante au sein du NPD et ses jeunes
affiliés et les organisations syndicales.
S'il vous plaît envoyer des articles à info@ndpsocialists.ca
ou à l'adresse courriel ci-dessus. Et s'il vous plaît envoyer
des contributions financières pour le Caucus Socialiste au
site Web de SC ou par courrier postal au NPD Caucus
Socialiste, 526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ontario M6G 3R4.
Merci beaucoup pour votre prompte attention à cet
appel.
En solidarité,
John Orrett,
Membre du comité directeur, NPD Caucus Socialiste
fédéral
