dominion, n. 1. Control or the exercise of control. 2. A territory or sphere of infl uence; a realm. 3. One of the self-governing nations within the British Commonwealth. The Dominion CANADA’S GRASSROOTS NEWSPAPER WWW.DOMINIONPAPER.CA • DECEMBER, 2005 • Vol. II, #14 Privatization in BC Reconstructing Disaster A New University Unions and government face Corporations and post-Katrina Ecology and social justice off once again. rebuilding contracts. frame founding meeting. » p. 2 » p. 8 » p. 13 $0 to $5 Sliding scale Independent Journalism depends on independent people. Please subscribe. dominionpaper.ca/subscribe The Dominion, December 2005 • Vol. II, #14 Canadian News 2 Beautiful—Privatized—British Columbia? Health care workers, teachers, fight government over policy by Dru Oja Jay private schools. Dr. Ernie Lightman, a pro- When British Columbia’s fessor in Social Work at the Uni- teachers defied laws passed by versity of Toronto and former Gordon Campbell’s Liberals to faculty member of the London stage an “illegal strike” in Octo- School of Economics, called the ber, it was the second major tactics used in BC “very analo- showdown with organized gous to what Margaret Thatcher labour since the Liberals took did in Britain.” power in 2001. The health care “If you’re going to do some- workers’ strike in April 2004 thing the other guy doesn’t had seen 43,000 workers in 11 want done, you beat up on his unions join picket lines. symbol,” said Lightman. In The Liberal government Thatcher’s case, “Privatiza- imposed contracts on health tion was a way of wrecking the care workers and teachers, unions.” bypassing collective bargaining Lightman, who has stud- and arbitration by legislating ied the tenure of Mike Harris’ their terms directly. “The gov- Teachers, union members and other supporters march on the Conservative government in ernment tore up the collective provincial legislature in Victoria. Janine Bandcroft/BC Indymedia Ontario, said that privatization agreement in both cases,” said in BC is driven by a long history Larry Kuehn of the BC Teach- has a deep disdain for BC’s pow- for cuts, which in turn are driv- of polarized power struggles ers’ Federation (BCTF). erful unions, or that BC politics ing privatization. In the case of between “big labour and big Before the 2001 election, have always been characterized health care workers, privatiza- business”. Campbell had told the Health by showdowns between labour tion was a key element in the Harris’ cuts, he said, were Employees Union’s (HEU) and business-backed right wing government’s agenda. 6,000 more ideological, and didn’t newspaper, the Guardian, that governments–depending on public sector jobs were replaced require a showdown with “I don’t believe in ripping up who is asked. with corporate contracts. unions. “They said ‘we’re cut- agreements....I have never said “The government doesn’t In the case of education, ting taxes and we’re going to I would tear up agreements.... like some of the big public sector however, privatization is more reduce the deficit’.” “They shut I am not tearing up any agree- unions,” said Marc Lee, Senior subtle. down womens’ shelters because ments.” Once in power, how- Economist at the BC office of The BCTF’s Larry Kuehn they didn’t want to ‘break up ever, the Liberals imposed pay the Canadian Centre for Policy says the Liberals are taking families,’” said Lightman. cuts and replaced over 6,000 Alternatives (CCPA). “To injure “inch by inch measures” to Lightman explains that the public sector workers with cor- those unions, they’re willing to privatize parts of the education relative power of unions in BC porate contract positions. engage in some fairly bad public system. is due to the history of natural While the Campbell gov- policy.” “They are making things resource extraction, which is ernment did not cut teachers’ Under the dislike, however, more difficult for the public “absolutely essential” to the positions directly, it did not is an agenda. According to some schools,” said Kuehn. “It encour- province’s economy. Workers in provide the funding to back up observers, the real motivation ages private schools.” mining and timber were more legislation of a 2.5 per cent per is tax cuts and privatization, to “If the public system is vulnerable. year salary increase and other which the unions are a signifi- starved of funding then people “If you’re in an isolated increased costs. School boards cant barrier. will tend to gravitate towards mining town in BC, your work were forced to cut teaching staff Lee explained that tax cuts private alternatives,” said Lee. is your life, there’s no distinc- by 2,600, or eight per cent, and provided the justification for “It is not privatization per se, but tion.” “You need a union more 100 schools were closed. Anger deep cuts to public services. does boost the private system.” than you do in Toronto,” where over increased class sizes, lack When the Liberals first came to Kuehn points out that the automobile industry plays of separate classes for special power in 2001, they legislated private schools–including, he a significant role. According to needs students and the attack $2.3 billion in tax cuts from an notes, religious, elite and funda- Lightman, the culture of strong, on bargaining rights fueled the overall budget of around $26 mentalist institutions–receive organized labour that developed decision of 42,000 teachers to billion. The result, says Lee, 50 per cent of the funding per in the natural resource sector go on strike. was “the biggest deficit in pro- student that public schools get. has carried over to the public The question remains, vincial history.” Public services “They just expanded provisions sector trade unions in BC. however: why would Campbell’s budgets were cut by one third, for special needs students to 100 Stephen Howard of the BC Liberals actively pick fights with while funding for education was per cent of what public schools Government Employees’ Union some of the province’s largest merely frozen. get,” said Kuehn. This has been was optimistic about the future trade unions? According to Lee, “the seen by some–especially public of the ongoing battles over public The initial answer tends to deficit that came from the tax school teachers–as a first step policy in BC. A “rigid agenda for be either that the government cuts was used as a justification” to increasing overall funding for continued on page 16 » 3 Food The Dominion, December 2005 • Vol. II, #14 Of Sturgeon and Hydro Québec Food from the rivers we are losing ~ ISSN 1710-0283 ~ by Carole Ferrari www.dominionpaper.ca [email protected] On Saturday, November the 5th, 2005, Hydro Quebec PO Box 741 Station H fl ooded another 600 square kilo- Montréal, QC H3G 2M7 metres of James Bay territory to (514) 313-3478 fi ll in a new reservoir across the Eastmain River. Hydro-electric The Dominion is a pan-Canadian development has destroyed the media network that seeks to Eastmain river and with it the provide a counterpoint to the spawning grounds of the fi sh corporate media and direct that used to swim there, includ- attention to independent critics ing the lake sturgeon. and the work of social movements. The sturgeon has been The Dominion is published called “the most valuable fi sh in monthly in print and on the web. the world.” Its eggs, or caviar, sell for an astonishing $7,000 Publisher a kilo. Around the world, caviar The Dominion is considered a culinary delicacy Newspaper Society and an aphrodisiac. But there’s a Editor lot more to sturgeons than their Dru Oja Jay economic value and powers to Managing Editor increase human sexual confi - Hillary Lindsay dence. Arts Editors Sturgeons are known to Max Liboiron be friendly and to actually like Sylvia Nickerson Jane Henderson Original Peoples Editor humans; they seem to enjoy snails, and other small fi sh as lion years old. They are called Kim Petersen human presence. They grow they migrate up to their spawn- living fossils and act as a vital Agriculture Editor slowly - lake sturgeons grow to ing beds. link to our pre-historic past. Hillary Lindsay be a metre long - taking seven The species of sturgeon that Almost all kinds of stur- Environment Editor to eight years to reach sexual inhabited the Eastmain is likely geon are endangered because Yuill Herbert maturity. And they eat slowly. as old as the river itself. The life of over-fi shing, water pollu- Health Editor They dine on the bottom of span of a sturgeon is anywhere tion and hydroelectic develop- Andrea Smith lakes, riverbeds and oceans, from 50 to 150 years long, but ment. HydroQuebec is trying Media Analysis Editor tasting their way across the sturgeons as a species are so old to develop new spawning runs Anthony Fenton muddy bottoms feasting on they knew the dinosaurs. The for the sturgeon and other fi sh Review Editor insect larvae, worms, crayfi sh, species is thought to be 80 mil- whose spawning grounds have Linda Besner been destroyed by the Eastmain Français Editor dam. But previous dam and Vivien Jaboeuf dike developments for hydro- Sturgeon Copy Editors electricity in the James Bay Kate Andronov Carefully take off the sturgeon’s skin, as its have lead to unhealthy levels of Ian Harvey oiliness will give the fi sh a strong and disagreeable mercury in the fi sh in the area. Linda Besner This sturgeon recipe is taste when cooked. Cut from the tail-piece slices Moira Peters an old one from Miss Leslie’s about half an inch thick, rub them with salt, and Ottawa Coordinator Directions for Cookery.