Arguably it was a broader coalition including notably intellectuals
around the League for Social Reconstruction.
M
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation
The *Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)* (French: /Fédération
du Commonwealth Coopératif/, then in 1955 rebranded in French as
/Parti social démocratique du Canada/) was a Canadian
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada> political party founded in 1932
in Calgary, Alberta <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary,_Alberta>,
by a number of socialist <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism>,
farm <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrarian>, co-operative
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative> and labour
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_movement> groups, and the League
for Social Reconstruction
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_for_Social_Reconstruction>. In
1944, it became the first socialist government in North America (based
in Saskatchewan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan>). In 1961,
it disbanded and was replaced by the New Democratic Party
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party>. The full, but
little used, name of the party was *Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)*.
-----Original Message-----
*From:* [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Ed Weick
*Sent:* Sunday, May 06, 2012 11:56 AM
*To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] NDP loses touch with its roots
This exchange has me thinking about the NDP's roots. What were
they really? Was it farm or factory? When I was a kid in
Saskatchewan in the 1930s, it was definitely farm. Just as
factory workers were trying to form unions, farmers were trying to
form co-ops to give them a better chance in dealing with powerful
corporate grain buyers. And religion played a strong role in what
was happening. Tommy Douglas was a Baptist Minister; J.S.
Woodsworth a Minister as well (Presbyterian, I think).
Ed
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Tom Walker <mailto:[email protected]>
*To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Sunday, May 06, 2012 1:02 AM
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] NDP loses touch with its roots
Perhaps. But there is also the matter of the stereotype of
"working class" that the actual working class have also
"strayed from." I too listen to and read diverse voices but
when those "voices" are mouthpieces, I feel no compulsion to
affect false reverence. Levant should stick to barking for a
carnival sideshow.
On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 6:30 PM, Arthur Cordell
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Perhaps the NDP has strayed from its working class roots.
Arthur
*From:*[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] *On Behalf
Of *Tom Walker
*Sent:* Saturday, May 05, 2012 3:56 PM
*To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
*Cc:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] NDP loses touch with its roots
Ezra Levant will never lose touch with his rooting for
Exxon-Mobil truffles.
On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Arthur Cordell
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
NDP loses touch with its roots
Read Later
<http://www.readability.com/articles/bnefc1sb?legacy_bookmarklet=1>
/by/ Ezra Levant . May 6, 2012
<http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/04/ndp-loses-touch-with-its-roots>
Canada's Oil: For Sale to the Highest Bidder
<http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/05/05/canadas-oil-for-sale-to-the-highest-bidder/>
from The Progressive Economics Forum
<http://www.google.ca/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.progressive-economics.ca%2Ffeed%2F>
by Jim Stanford
Want to know why Canada's currency is sky-high despite our
sluggish recovery, our large and persistent current
account deficit, and our lousy export performance?
Check out this fascinating story
<http://business.financialpost.com/2012/05/03/oil-explorers-face-new-challenges/>
in Friday's National Post, by Yadullah Hussain, on why
Canada's oil reserves are such a uniquely hot commodity in
the eyes of global oil corporations.
The story explains how private petroleum giants (like
Exxon-Mobil) are having a hard time replacing the reserves
they produce. Over 80 percent of known oil reserves in
the world are controlled by state-owned companies. Most
major oil producing countries (sensibly, in my view) have
decided that management and ownership of this strategic,
non-renewable resource should be conducted through
government enterprise, presumably in the interests of the
citizens who --- after all --- own the stuff in the first
place. [Of course, democracy is a pre-requisite for
ensuring that public ownership translates into public
benefit.]
That means less than 20 percent of known oil reserves are
available for exploitation by private companies.
Incredibly, well over half of those privately exploitable
reserves are in Canada. Without Canada, private firms
like Exxon can tap into only 7 percent of known world
reserves.
There is a striking chart that accompanied the print
version of the story (but which I can't find in the
on-line version) that listed the countries with the ten
largest oil reserves. Canada was the /only one/ of those
ten where the oil industry is not dominated by state-owned
firms. (Canada doesn't even have a state-owned oil company.)
The article cited Reynold Tetzlaff, energy expert with
Price Waterhouse Coopers, as follows: "If you look at the
top ... countries ... for oil reserves, Canada is the only
one that does not have a national oil company. We are the
only one open for business."
Given sky-high oil prices and oil profits, and the
relentless decline of their existing reserves, the global
petroleum industry has their sights set firmly on Canada
as a key solution to their long-run reserves replacement
problem. Indeed, even /foreign/ state-owned companies
(from Norway's Statoil to China's CNPC) are getting in on
Alberta's bitumen action in a big way. It
seems especially ironic that foreign public corporations
see value in investing in Canadian oil, yet Canadians
presently have no public capacity to do the same thing.
"These large companies need to continue to look for
replacement reserves," Mr. Tetzlaff added. In other
words, Canada will be the hottest target for private oil
investment for decades to come.
All that drooling on the part of global petroleum
companies over Canada's oil (which is uniquely accessible
to private capital) is the key structural reason why our
currency has so closely tracked the price of oil over the
past decade. Our petroleum exports are important, but
still constitute just 18% of total exports (including
natural gas). It is not that the world wants more of what
Canada produces: if that was true, Canada would not have
the enormous trade and current account deficits that we
now experience (despite the unsustainable windfall of
petroleum exports). Rather, it's that global companies
hunger for the right to own what's buried under our feet.
This is reflected in high valuations for Canadian assets
(especially anything related to petroleum), and (to a
lesser extent) in strong inflows of real foreign
investment as our oil resources are steadily sold off to
the highest bidder. This asset market effect, driving our
currency far above its fair or sustainable value, is
underming our national capacity to produce and sell real
stuff to the rest of the world.
As I have argued before, a good way to break this
damaging link between oil prices and our currency (the 25%
overvaluation of which which continues to devastate all
non-resource export industries, including manufacturing,
tourism, and tradable services) is to take down the "For
Sale" sign currently hanging on our oil reserves.
Following the lead of the vast majority of other global
oil exporters, control over the pace and nature of
development should be taken back into the hands of
Canadians. The non-renewable wealth embodied in those
reserves should be owned and controlled by Canadians,
developed in a manner consistent with the public interest
--- taking into account factors (like environmental
sustainability, and spillover Dutch-disease effects on the
rest of the national economy) that do not enter the
cost-benefit calculations of the private giants hungering
for Canadian oil.
--
Cheers,
Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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--
Cheers,
Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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