Days of Action: Ontario's Extra-Parliamentary Opposition To
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Days of Action: Ontario's extra-parliamentary opposition to the Common Sense Revolution, 1995-1998 By Douglas James Nesbitt A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in History in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada May, 2018 Copyright ã Douglas James Nesbitt, 2018 Abstract From 1995 to 1998, Ontario was the site of a sustained political and industrial conflict between the provincial government of Premier Mike Harris and a loosely- coordinated protest movement of labour unions, community organizations, and activist groups. The struggle was aimed at the defeating the “Common Sense Revolution,” a sweeping neoliberal program advanced by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The program designed to renovate the state, rationalize the social safety net, repeal barriers to capital accumulation, and decisively weaken the strength of organized labour. What became a union-led extra-parliamentary opposition drew in large sections of the population often aligned with a political culture of statist collectivism encompassing both social democracy and “Red Toryism”. The movement emerged at a time when the two major parties aligned with such ideas embraced neoliberal policies. Under the leadership of Mike Harris, the Red Tories were pushed out of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the early 1990s. Meanwhile, the one-term New Democratic government of 1990-95 made a decisive turn towards neoliberal austerity amidst a catastrophic recession, declining federal transfers, and employer hostility. Through the union-led “Days of Action” of large political strikes, mass demonstrations, and numerous militant protests, the implementation of the Common Sense Revolution was slowed and weakened and the government’s popularity greatly diminished. However, the province’s union leadership was deeply divided over loyalties to the New Democratic Party following its turn to neoliberal austerity. One union leadership faction opposed the Days of Action while the other proved unwilling to escalate the scale of industrial disruption against the Common Sense Revolution. The ii crisis led to an open factional dispute within organized labour that culminated in the formal suspension of the political strikes in the summer of 1998. The outcome was an unprecedented political defeat for the labour-led forces defending an expansive redistributive welfare state, and a retreat by organized labour from extra-parliamentary political strategies in favour of electoralism. The government managed to regain support before winning re-election in 1999. The end of the Days of Action marked the political triumph of neoliberal restructuring and permanent austerity, and the crafting of a new political and economic common sense that has endured in Ontario to this day. iii Acknowledgements The long journey to completing this dissertation was in many ways a collective effort. Family has been absolutely indispensable in providing me the time, resources, advice and patience to finish this project. My mum and dad have been incredible in helping me through the ups and downs of life during my time at Queen’s. My sister’s determination in her own pursuits has been a never-ending source of inspiration. My Kingston family of Dave, Kath, Jen and Graham have been amazing in providing so much practical and moral support. Above all, my wife Heather has helped me see this project through whether I was on the ropes or pushing forward like a champion. No description of her contributions, material, moral, or intellectual, can capture what she has truly done. Last but not least, little Dorothy has helped me keep a smile and enjoy life in new, wonderful ways during this final year of work. For great advice, insights, inspiration and laughs, Andrew Stevens, David Bush, John Rose, Cameron Willis, Lesley Jamieson, Katie Hurst, Nick Day, Gabriel Haythornwaite, David and Jessica Tough, Samantha Ponting, Alison Fraser, Breanne Oryschak, Matt Norris, Dinah Jansen, Gerard Di Trolio, Patrick Corbeil, Mikhail Bjorge, and Mat Nelson are to be thanked. Special thanks to Murray Cooke for encouraging the first iteration of this project in a third-year Carleton University political science course. I would also like to thank Dr. Karen Dubinsky for taking me on. It was a delight to meet a historian who encouraged me to tell a story. Dr. Andrew Jainchill, Cathy Dickinson, and Collette Steer were also incredibly helpful along the way in helping me navigate obstacles, jump through hoops, and forge ahead under any and all conditions. iv Dedicated to my late friend Mat Nelson and everyone involved in the Fight for $15 and Fairness v Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... vii Notes on Language ............................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: The Emergence of a Protest Movement, June - November 1995 .................... 34 Chapter 3: Enter Labour, October - December 1995 ............................................................... 81 Chapter 4: Confrontation and Containment, January - April 1996 .................................. 129 Chapter 5: De-escalation and Division, April - October 1996 ............................................ 181 Chapter 6: Retreat and Resistance, October 1996 - July 1997 .......................................... 223 Chapter 7: The Last Straw, July - November 1997 ................................................................. 274 Chapter 8: The Paper Tiger, November 1997 - October 1998 ........................................... 322 Chapter 9: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 350 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 356 vi List of Abbreviations AEFO – L’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens ATU – Amalgamated Transit Union CAMI – Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc. CAS – Children’s Aid Society CAW – Canadian Auto Workers CEP – Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada CLC – Canadian Labour Congress CMA – Canadian Manufacturers Association CUPE – Canadian Union of Public Employees CUPW – Canadian Union of Postal Workers FWTAO – Federation of Women Teachers’ Association of Ontario GM – General Motors GTA – Greater Toronto Area IAM – International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers LCBO – Liquor Control Board of Ontario MPP – Member of Provincial Parliament NAC – National Action Committee on the Status of Women NDP – New Democratic Party OCAP – Ontario Coalition Against Poverty OCT – Ontario College of Teachers OECTA – Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association OFL – Ontario Federation of Labour OLRB – Ontario Labour Relations Board OPP – Ontario Provincial Police OPSEU – Ontario Public Service Employees Union OPSTF – Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation OSSTF – Ontario Second School Teachers’ Federation PC – Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario SEIU – Service Employees International Union TTC – Toronto Transit Commission UFCW – United Food and Commercial Workers UNITE – Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees USW – United Steelworkers UW – United Way vii Notes on Language “Gay community,” “gay and lesbian community” It is now increasingly rare to hear the term “gay community” or “gay and lesbian community”, but this terminology was widespread in the mid-1990s. Some readers may consider such terms unjustifiably exclusive and politically illiterate given the contemporary use of more explicitly inclusive and politically-informed terms, notably LGBTQ. However, these terms are used contextually and without supporting transphobic and other exclusionary ideologies which they may have represented at the time. viii Chapter 1: Introduction The election of the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario in 1995 was the onset of a determined and radical restructuring of the provincial state under the auspices of what the government called the “Common Sense Revolution”. In response to this neoliberal austerity program, a grassroots extra-parliamentary opposition emerged, rapidly escalating into a wholesale social confrontation of unprecedented mass protests and strikes, legal and illegal. After three years of intense political polarization, ideological debates, and class struggle, this opposition movement was defeated, decisively shifting the province’s balance of class forces in favour of capital and allowing the Ontario Tories to consolidate their extensive restructuring program. The significance of the Common Sense Revolution was its bold and successful attempt by a vanguard fraction of the province’s ruling class to reverse the expansionist dynamics of the province’s welfare state and defeat the large social base willing to defend these state structures. The ideological