Oct 16th: Campaign of Economic Disruption Coming Soon!

JOIN THE FIGHT TO DEFEAT THE HARRIS GOVERNMENT IN 2001

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Since coming to power in 1995, the Harris Tories have devastated whole communities. They have slashed social assistance, gutted employment standards, wiped out tenants rights, attacked First Nations communities, eroded health care and education systems and undermined environmental protections. In the wake of the Walkerton tragedy, they prepare to privatize the water supply and, as the economy moves into a downturn, talk openly of even deeper social cuts in the months ahead. Harris has just shuffled his cabinet so that the most right wing and vicious members of his team can lead a new onslaught against us.

As, very properly, we mobilize against the politics of Globalization, we should realize that this international attack has no greater champion than `our' Ontario Government. Stopping the Tories would be a huge contribution to the global struggle. If this is to happen, however, the time has come to realize that Harris can't be stopped with a protest movement that seeks to merely pressure his Government. We have to find the means to `Fight to Win!'. This was the slogan that we took up on June 15 of last year when we marched on Queen's Park. It is a sentiment that was reflected in the victory of the striking members of CUPE 3903 against York University. It was seen among high school students in Sudbury, who walked out to challenge a visit to their community by Mike Harris. It is present in the homeless people of Tent City in Toronto who continue to stand their ground against all attempts to evict them. It is fuelling a rising sense of militancy and resistance in First Nations communities. It is clearly behind the initiative of rank and file workers in the CAW and CUPE to form Flying Squads that bolster picket lines and defend communities under attack. Put simply, the long retreat before Harris is over and people across the Province are looking for a way to defeat him.

All previous challenges to Harris, including the potentially devastating Days of Action fell short because they made the mistake of thinking the Tories would retreat before a massive display of disapproval. This, however, is to misunderstand the nature of this Government. It will not be swayed by such tactics and it must actually be defeated and driven from office. Only a level and method of mobilization that creates a deep political crisis can stop the Tories and rid us of their hateful regime.

OCAP organizers and members are presently touring the Province to build an alliance of First Nations people, workers and communities under attack that will launch an Ontario wide struggle to force the Tories out. This will not be done on the basis of protest, but by means of economic disruption. Blockades, takeovers, strikes and other methods will come into play as determined by the local communities and organizations involved. The struggle will express a wide range of pressing grievances all focused on the single objective of defeating Harris. It is both our right and our responsibility to remove from office any government following such an inhuman course at the one that now sits in Queen's Park.

The power to defeat the Tories is there in the communities and workplaces of Ontario. Let's organize it into a movement, use it as a weapon and change the face of this Province.

In solidarity,
THE ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY