New Democratic Party Research Articles

Another perspective on the Canadian Fraser decision

COMMENT□ COLLECTIVEBARGAINING INCANADA Another perspective on the Canadian Fraser decision I based recent labour to Canadian The framework concerned the institutional challenges movement Canadian unionism has majoritytrade been by of labourmovement has been concerned by recentchallenges to the majoritybased institutional framework of Canadian trade unionism ROY ADAMS, Ariel F.Sallows Chair of Human Rights (Emeritus), University off Saskatchewan &Professor of Industrial Relations (Emeritus), McMaster University. In lawyer on her the recent recent Veena article Canadian Verma in presented this Supreme journal, a Court perspective Canadian Fraser lawyer Veena Vermapresented a perspective on therecent CanadianSupreme CourtFraser decisionwithwhichI emphatically disagree.By applauding an appealscourt decisionthat attacks worker human rights andcondemning onebythe Supreme Court that rightly overturns that decision, itundermines worker rights notonlyin Canada butaroundtheworld. Formostofthe20thcentury agricultural workersinOntario , contrary tointernational standards thatCanada has agreedto respect, receivedno governmental assistance toorganise orengagein collective bargaining. Indeed,Ontario policyperpetrated theidea thatcollective bargaining was inappropriate foragriculture. In the 1990sthat changed whena left-leaning NewDemocratic Party government introduced legislation intended toprotectfarmworker bargaining rights. A subsequent Conservative government overturned thatlegislation andwithdrew government support. TheUnited Food and Commercial Workers Union(UFCW)theprimary unioninvolved inOntario agriculture - tookthecasetocourt andintheDunmore decisionof2001scoredan apparent victory. TheSupreme Court ofCanadatoldOntario that itmust protect agricultural workers' right toorganisefree from interference andtoengageinthelawfulactivities ofanyorganisations that they formed - a statement that implicitly included engaging in collectivebargaining. The Ontariogovernment introduced minimalist legislation (theAgricultural Employees Protection Act[AEPA]) protecting the right offarm workers toorganise and,through their associations, to makerepresentations to employerswhilerequiring thatemployers reador listen tothoserepresentations. Itdidnotrequire employerstobargain ingoodfaith nordiditcontain stipulationsprotecting the right to strikeor other impasseresolution device. In2007, however, intheBCHealth Services case, theSupremeCourtofCanada made itclearthat Canadianworkers have a constitutional right to bargaincollectively and to be bargained within goodfaith. Inherarticle, Verma accurately reports that theCourt "found that freedom ofassociationrequires both employers and employees tomeet and to engagein ' meaningful dialogue ' inpursuit ofa common goal ofpeacefuland productive accommodation. They must avoidunnecessary delaysand makereasonable efforts to arrive atan acceptable contract. " In therecent Fraser II decision, themajority of theSupremeCourtaffirmed theHealthServices decisionandtheprinciples enunciated inittobe "goodlaw."Canadianworkers areentitled torely on thoseprinciples and Canadiangovernments havea constitutional duty tosecurethem. TheUFCW wasquitedismayed bytheAEPAand appealedit.Prior totheBC HealthServices decisiona lowercourt upheldthestatute but,subsequenttothereleaseofHealth Services, theOntario Court ofAppeal,inFraser I,found ittobe unconstitutional andordered Ontario toinstitute legislationcontaining thekeyfeatures oftheWagner-Act ModelonwhichmostCanadianlabourlegislation is based. InFraser I,Ontario Chief Justice Winkler declared thatinordertoqualify forgovernment collective bargaining supportagricultural workerunions would,likemostother Canadianunions, haveto demonstrate majority supportin an appropriate unit decidedbya government agency. TheCourt's intention was tosimply bring Ontario agriculture uptothesamestandards (andtoimposethesame limitations) as exist acrossCanada.Butthosestandardsdelimit a very defective version offreedom ofassociation. Voluntarily organised non-majority unionshave historically received nogovernment collective bargaining support in Canada.ButJustice Winkler's decision wentonestepfurther. Itspecified that the workeroptionoforganising in non-majority or uncertified unionsnotonlywouldreceive nogovernment support, inpursuit ofindustrial relations stability ithadtobe 'eradicated' altogether. Thatstipulation was,as I demonstrated ina previousissueofIUR (17.4),directly contrary tointernationalhumanrights law. The principal source ofrelevant international law is theInternational LabourOrganisation (ILO) and ithas longinsisted thatmajoritarianism as a minimum condition for unionrecognition doesnotpromote collective bargaining. Ithinders it. Recentreviews ofexperience by,forexample, AlanBogg in theDemocratic AspectsofTrade UnionRecognition, provide empirical support for thatposition.By insisting thatworkersmeeta majoritarian test for unionrecognition, theOntario Court ofAppealordered theOntario government notto respectbutrather to offend international law and,indoingso,tofrustrate rather thanpromotecollective bargaining. Whereemployers oppose unionisation vigorouslyitisexceedingly difficult for unionstomake anyprogress under majoritarian rules. IntheUnited States unions haveallbutabandoned available certification procedures becauseofaggressive employeropposition . InCanada, unions playing bymajoritarianrulesin theprivatesector,have been in declinefordecades. The overallcollective bargainingcoverageratein theprivate sectornow standsatabout16 percent and is falling. In agriINTERNATIONAL union rights Page 22Volume 18Issue 3201 1 COMMENT□ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING INCANADA culture thebargaining coverage rate, where majoritarianism is ineffect, is roughly fivepercent and isalsofalling. Despitetheseterrible numbers theUFCWwas content withChief Justice Winkler's decisionand was angry andchagrined bytheSupreme Court's overturning ofthatdecision.Why?Firstof all, becauseiftheWagnerActModelweretoapplyto agriculture theUFCWhadtheprospect oforganising several 'factory farms'. However, becauseof thedifficulties oforganising under that Model,the unionwouldhavegainedatbesta fewthousand new dues-paying members. Itwould have marginally improved itsstatus as an on-going institution .However, thegreat majority offarmworkers wouldhavebeenleft outinthecold,their conditionsofworksubject - fortheforeseeable future - tothevagaries ofthemarket and thearbitrary whims oftheir bosses. Another significant reasonwhytheUFCWwas content with theWinkler decision was becauseof itsapparent unfamiliarity withindustrial relations lawandpractice outside ofCanada.Verma tells us that "without majoritarian exclusivity" there canbe nomeaningful collective bargaining. Thisposition is also supported byJamesClancy, president of the National Union of...

Changing Union-Party Relations in Canada

The traditional understanding of union-party relations in Canada suggests that the social-democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) is the party of organized labour. Reality, however, dictates that this is no longer the case. This paper examines the rise of the Working Families Coalition (WFC) and its effects on union-party. While popular rhetoric suggests that the Coalition is simply a front for the Liberal Party, a more in-depth analysis suggests otherwise. The paper suggests that the emergence of the WFC has significantly changed the union-party relationship in Ontario and consequently has altered the political strategy of the labour movement.

Contemporary Party-Union Relations in Canada

The longstanding political alliance between the Canadian labor movement and the New Democratic Party (NDP) has experienced new stresses in recent years. Whereas the NDP was widely considered the political arm of the labor movement during the Keynesian post-war period, under neoliberalism, the relationship between most unions and the NDP has become more tactical and less cohesive. This article surveys contemporary party-union relationships in Canada, at both the federal and provincial levels, with a view to demonstrating that weakening party-union relations are rooted in larger macro-economic and political transformations and are shaped by factors related to region and language.

Reconceiving Rights and Constitutionalism

Human rights invoked in the international context are often treated as having self-evident content. The focus is on implementation and enforcement. The urge to enforcement is especially strong when...

A Mixed Record: Gender and Saskatchewan Social Democracy

By examining the case of Saskatchewan, this article contributes to the debate over whether social democratic governments increase women’s representation in legislatures and enact policies that are favourable to women. Despite initial openness to women’s concerns in early agrarian protest organizations, Saskatchewan social democracy has never moved past liberal feminist ideology. All three Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and New Democratic Party (NDP) governments in Saskatchewan, however, had better records on women’s issues than the Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments that preceded them, who eschewed any form of feminist thinking and did little to address women’s issues. Women’s participation within the provincial economy, the militancy of women within social democratic organizations and non-partisan women’s organizations, the perseverance of patriarchal political culture, and the persistence of male-dominated political institutions are critical factors in explaining the evolution of the relationship between gender and social democracy in Saskatchewan.

Into the Hurricane: Attacking Socialism and the CCF

Into the Hurricane: Attacking Socialism and the CCF, John Bokyo, Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, 2006, pp. 199.In these days when national voter support for the New Democratic Party (NDP) seems to be under pressure, it is salutary to recall the lasting legacy forged under greater pressures of its precursor, the Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF). John Boyko's fine but flawed book exploring the fierce struggles of that earlier period begins by invoking the choice of CCF icon Tommy Douglas as the “greatest Canadian” in a 2004 CBC television survey. How is it possible that, like medicare which he pioneered, what had been so savagely attacked in ideological terms as a threat to what Canada stood for was now embraced nationwide as mainstream as motherhood?

Disorganized Labour: Canadian Unions and the Constitution Act

This article focuses on the Canadian labour movement's experience with constitutional reform in the early 1980s. Specifically, it argues that political divisions within the labour movement and the New Democratic Party (NDP) convinced the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to exclude itself from the process of patriating the Constitution. Several scholars have previously argued that the CLC was either unaware of or genuinely disinterested in constitutional issues. However, primary sources strongly indicate that these explanations are simply insufficient. Although it is accurate to suggest that the CLC was not an active participant in the process of constitutional reform, inactivity should not be confused with disinterest. The Congress made a strategic political decision to exclude itself from the patriation debate in order to avoid an internal battle between its allies in the NDP and its affiliate, the Québec Federation of Labour. Résumé

Slip, Sliding Away or Le Plus Ça Change…: Canadian and American Partisanship in Comparative Perspective

Introduction The 1993 Canadian national election has been characterized as a critical one in which widespread partisan dealignment grounded in the electorate's weak and unstable psychological identification with the three old-line parties, the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives (PC), and New Democratic Party (NDP), led to the emergence of two relatively new parties, Reform and the Bloc Quebecois (BQ) (Clarke, Kornberg, and Wearing, 2000). More specifically, the election resulted in the virtual disappearance of the governing Tories who lost 167 of their 169 parliamentary seats, and the marginalization of the left-of-center New Democrats who lost 34 of their 43 seats. The big winners of 1993 were the Liberals who won the election, the Quebec-only nationalist BQ and the Western-based Reform Party. The Liberals captured 177 seats, the Reform won 52, and the Bloc elected 54 MPs. Thus the Bloc, a party whose raison d'etre was to work for the political independence of Quebec, ironically became Her Majesty's Opposition. Although the Conservatives and New Democrats made modest comebacks in the 1997 and 2000 elections, the Reform Party, which in 2000 morphed into the Canadian Alliance, and the Bloc continued their strong showings. Indeed, Reform/Alliance increased its vote share from 19 percent in 1997 to 26 percent in 2000, solidifying the party's position as the Loyal Opposition. After the 2000 election, the party sent 66 MPs to Parliament while the BQ's seat total fell to 38 MPs. Although the Liberal Party won again in 1997 and 2000, its success rested largely (as it had in 1993) on its dominance of Canada's largest province, Ontario, where it captured 98 of 99 seats in 1993, 101 of 103 seats in 1997 and 100 of 103 seats in 2000. Thus, in less than a decade, Canada's long standing two-party-plus (1) evolved into a genuine multiparty system with both the Alliance and the Bloc as legitimate, major players in electoral politics. Recently, the party system was altered again, this time with the merger of the Alliance and Progressive Conservative Parties into the Conservative Party of Canada. The 2004 Canadian federal election thus will be a contest among the long established Liberals and New Democrats, the separatist BQ, and the new Conservative Party. In our view, a similar systemic change could not have occurred in the United States in part because of structural/institutional factors and, in part, because of differences in the character of partisan identification in that country. As evidence of the latter, we will analyze four dimensions of partisan identification in the two countries: stability, loyalty, intensity, and ideology. Our focus will be the five Canadian parliamentary elections and five American presidential elections held prior to 2004. (2) We will show there are several striking differences in the character of partisanship in the two countries. These, we judge, are likely to persist although they may narrow somewhat in the future if the multiparty system in place since the 1993 election persists. Overview We begin by analyzing the proportions of Canadians and Americans who, over a sixteen-year period, accept a party label. We then compare the distribution of party identifications before and after four of the five Canadian national elections and before and after the 1984 American Presidential election, the only one for which such data are available. We next focus on the relationship between partisan identifications reported by Americans and Canadians before a national election and their reported vote in surveys taken shortly after those elections. (3) The volatility of partisanship in each country is considered, along with the issue of partisan migration. That is, where do people go when they discard their identifications? Is it to another party or simply to non-identification? Our next concern is with the congruence between reported partisan identifications and the direction of the vote. …

W(h)ither Women's Equality? Neoliberalism, Institutional Change and Public Policy in British Columbia

In this article I provide an account of the elimination of Women's Equality as a freestanding ministry in the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia and its reconfiguration as Women's Services and Social Programs, one of several organizational elements in the newly-created Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services. I also present an analysis of a number of policy developments with particular significance for women that have accompanied this institutional transformation. In my discussion I argue that while many of these policy directions date from the arrival in office of the current provincial Liberal government, others did not emerge de novo after the 2001 election. Rather, they originated while the left-of-centre New Democratic Party (NDP) formed the government provincially during the 1990s. I assess the relative contributions of ideology and institutional structure to the policy changes that are detailed in the article, and conclude that the relationships between ideology, institutions and policy can best be understood as complex and recursive.

Cycling into Saigon: The Conservative Transition in Ontario By David R. Cameron and Graham White. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2000. 224p. $75.00.

One defining feature of a constitutional democracy is that the defeat of the governing party in a general election leads to a peaceful, orderly, and more or less routine change of government. Given the inherently combative nature of electoral politics and the potential for disruptive action by the losing side, this is no small achievement, and when it happens it is justly celebrated. Transitions in constitutional regimes, moreover, provide a unique if momentary window through which to view the mainsprings of political power. This volume is a study of the 1995 transition from New Democratic Party (NDP) to Progressive Conservative (PC) rule in the province of Ontario. It makes an important contribution to the sparse literature on transitions in Canada and in parliamentary regimes generally. For students of comparative government, it usefully complements recent work on presidential transitions in the United States, particularly Charles O. Jones, Passages to the Presidency: From Campaigning to Governing (1998).

Changing Governments and Changing Environmental Policies in Ontario: A discourse analysis

In 1995 the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) defeated the New Democratic Party (NDP) to form the government in the province of Ontario, Canada. These parties represent different positions regarding the management, regulation and control of environmental affairs. The effects of provincial legislation on the environment are typically felt at the local level and hence we argue that this study has relevance for those interested in local environments. One policy paper regarding the environment for each party is analysed using a formal discourse analysis technique called textual analysis computing tools (TACT). The rationale for using TACT is included, as is a brief commentary on previous studies that have used discourse analysis to examine environmental issues. The results of the analysis indicate the different ways that the NDP and the PC express their philosophical positions as applied to environmental policy making in Ontario. The shift in 1995 from the social democratic and interventionist stance of the NDP with respect to environmental policy making toward the more corporate, free-market privatisation regime of the PC is demonstrated. Close attention is paid in the discourse analysis to the use of words like 'cost', 'economy' and 'environment' in the two documents analysed. The use of language in a government position paper creates meaning and significance to citizens in the context of their local environment. En 1995 el Partido Conservador Progresista (PC) vencio al Nuevo Partido Democratico (NDP) para formar el gobierno en la provincia de Ontario, Canada. Estos partidos representan diferentes posiciones con respecto al manejo, regulación y control de los asuntos ambientales. Los efectos de la legislación provincial en el ambiente son sentidos típicamente a nivel local y por lo tanto nosotros argumentamos que este estudio tiene relevancia para los interesados en ambientes locales. Un documento de cada partido de politicas concernientes al medio ambiente es analizado usando una técnica de análisis de discurso formal llamada TACT. La razón para usar TACT es incluida yá que es un leve comentario sobre estudios previos que han usado análisis de discurso para examinar temas ambientales. Los resultados del análisis indican las diferentes formas que el NDP y el PC expresan su posiciones filósoficas como aplicación a la creación de politicas ambientales en Ontario. El cambio en 1995 de la actitud intervencionista y social-democrata del NDP con respecto a la creación de politicas ambientales hacia una postura mas corporativa de regimen de privatización de mercado libre del PC es demostrado. En los dos documentos analizados se presta una detenida atención en el análisis de discurso al uso de palabras como 'costo', 'economía', y 'ambiente'. El uso del lenguaje en un documento de la posición del gobierno crea sentido y significado a los ciudadanos en el contexto de su ambiente local.

Feminists in Power: Women Cabinet Ministers in the New Democratic Party (NDP) Government of Ontario, 1990–1995

Faced with power all women, whether feminists or not, are confronted with three possible strategies: to become part of the existing structure of political power and find a position of equality within it; to challenge the existing power structure through parties whose goal it is to preempt such power in order to transform it; or to remain on the fringes of the established structures in order to engage in the pressure tactics of subversion.Sylvie Paquerot, 1983 The difference between quantitative representation and qualitative (or “substantive”) representation has become of interest to scholars exploring the impact of the number of women elected to political institutions. Where once the focus was on the number alone, the most recent work emphasizes the significance of “interest representation.” Ultimately, the question is: Does it make a difference to have substantive representation of women, especially in positions of power? Does it make a difference in terms of policy outcomes? Does it make a difference in terms of institutional change? This research examines a case study of women cabinet ministers in the New Democratic Party government of Ontario, Canada, from 1990 to 1995. Based on lengthy interviews and an analysis of policy outcomes, this paper concludes that it did indeed make a difference, on both fronts, but that those transformations were not as dramatic as the feminist progressive components might project nor as extensive as the women's movement had hoped.

Partisan Dealignment, Electoral Choice and Party-System Change in Canada

This paper investigates the conditions under which significant changes can occur in the structure and composition of a party system in a contemporary mature democracy. The empirical focus is Canada. Although one of the oldline Canadian parties, the Liberals, won a parliamentary majority in the most recent (1993) national election, two others, the governing Progressive Conservatives (PC) and the social democratic opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), suffered disastrous defeats. Two new parties with regionally concentrated bases of support, Reform and the Bloc Québécois, enjoyed marked success. Analyses of national survey data reveal that although economic issues generated by a serious, protracted recession were the principal proximate forces eroding PC and NDP support, dissatisfaction with all oldline parties was widespread. This disaffection, the virtual devastation of two of these parties, and the continuing strength of the two new parties in their regional bases, suggest that 1993 was a type of `critical election' that significantly altered Canada's national party system.

The Ontario Election and After

The Ontario election of June 8, 1995 was disaster for the NDP (New Democratic Party) [Canada's social democratic party, founded in 1932 as an alliance of agrarian cooperative groups and labor. Adopting its current name in 1961, it is now primarily based on organized labor and urban left-liberals - the Editors.] and the Liberals, and has quickly shown itself to be a disaster for the people of Ontario. Even the Reform party (the right-wing party whose base is in Alberta and whose leader, a shrill-voiced demagogue, is Preston Manning) is worried that the Tory gains were partly at its expense. Only the Tories, federal as well as provincial, seem to be clear winners.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Labor policy and social democracy: the case of Saskatchewan, 1971-1982.

This article analyzes labor policy, especially that of occupational health and safety, initiated by the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1971 to 1982. The NDP was perceived by Canadian provincial labor federations and the Canadian Labour Congress as the government most approximating a European labor party. The provincial labor legislation was seen as exemplary, and the occupational health and safety legislation as a "beacon" for the rest of Canada. This article suggests that the advances in occupational health and safety statute and regulations were a direct response to the government's policy to develop uranium mining. In order to pursue a vigorous renewable and nonrenewable resource policy, the government maintained that uranium could be mined "safely." This resulted in "progressive" health and safety legislation and the reinforcement of the colonial status of people of Indian ancestry. This policy of growth and development also resulted in joint venture relationships with multinational corporations and increasing investments in the north for nonrenewable resource development. Prior to the landslide defeat of the NDP in 1982 by the Conservative Party, the richest 5 percent of Saskatchewan people earned as much, in total, as the poorest 50 percent. Meanwhile, ordinary workers experienced declining real wages and increased employment insecurity.

Democratizing The State: Challenges From Public Sector Unions

There was a time when left activists regarded the Nationalization of the banks, oil companies and other commanding heights of the Canadian economy as a minimum program for the development of a socialist party. This was back in the late 1960s and 1970s when those on the left of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Canadian labour movement strategized to have these movements adopt resolutions directed towards public ownership of the economy. Nationalization, at least for the old left during the immediate post-war period, was considered an honourable way to achieve public ownership of the means of production. It was thought that nationalization of certain industries and financial institutions together with the expansion of the welfare state were important steps along the way to challenging the power of capital and the hegemonic block.

Justice and human rights: Inspiring Canadian foreign policy

The New Democratic Party (NDP) has called for fundamental changes in national foreign policy priorities to reflect an unwavering commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes; a recognition in a world of global economic injustice of the imperative of redistribution of wealth and power; respect for the rights of women, indigenous peoples, and all minorities; and dedication to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The article presents a number of prescriptions. For example, since the United Nations is playing a more important role than ever, and given its financial difficulties, it should be given the ability to borrow funds internationally. In the post‐Cold War period, the article points out that Canada should take the lead in pushing for tighter controls on international arms sales, the creation of an international arms registry and, domestically, that it should create a Defence Conversion office. The NDP advocates a Canadian defence policy based on peacekeeping, the maintenance of sovereignty...

On Determining Canada’s Location Within the International Political Economy

"On Determining Canada’s Location Within the International Political Economy." Studies in Political Economy, 25(1), pp. 107–140

The Nature of Populism: A Clarification

In Populism: A Qualified Defence (SPE 5), John Richards offers us both theoretical schema for dealing with populism and a case for the populist political (p. 5) - style that he commends to the Canadian Left. His central purpose is to save the New Democratic Party (NDP) with what he calls left populism. While I have dealt with many of Richards' theoretical missteps and factual misrepresentations elsewhere, it is worth re-treading some of the ground for number of reasons.

Left-Right Dimensions of Canadian Federal Party Identification: A Discriminant Analysis

Les différences entre l'élite et la masse dans 1'identification aux partis fédéraux canadiens: une analyse discriminatoireDans la littérature sur les partis politiques canadiens, on ne s'entend pas sur la possibilité de différencier I'idéologie des partis sur un continuum droite-gauche. Cette étude cherche à résoudre partiellement cette question en examinant deux aspects du problème: l'orientation idéologique du parti et le soutien que le parti attire. Deux séries de données sont examinées, toutes deux provenant de Winnipeg et de Vancouver. La première série est basée sur un échantillon de l'électorat, la seconde étant tirée d'un échantillon de dirigeants des partis. L'analyse discriminatoire est utilisée afin de faire ressortir les plus grandes différences entre les partis libéral, conservateur, créditiste et néo-démocrate; et ce à partir de quatre ensembles de variables: le milieu familial, le statut actuel, et deux sèries de variables basèes sur le comportement. Les rèsultats dèmontrent de manière convaincante que pour ce qui est des deux premières variables (statut familial et actuel), les plus grands écarts sont révélés par une division entre parti majeur et mineur. Pour ce qui est des variables concernant le comportement, la dichotomie entre partis de gauche et partis de droite est très peu éclairante. Malgré cela cependant, les résultats démontrent que les différences entre les partis sont multidimensionnelles et que toute analyse qui réduit ces différences à une seule dimension pourrait induire en erreur. De plus, des comparaisons de type « masse-elite » basées sur des variables de comportement font ressortir la présence de faibles liens de causalité dans ce domaine.