My interview with Tom McConnell of CKTB 610AM as the Communist Party candidate for St. Catharines in the Ontario provincial election
Surprise Attack! Revolution carried through by small conscious minorities
Kabul in the Republican Revolution of 1973
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Few attend lackluster St. Catharines riding debate (Ontario Provincial Election St. Catharines Riding)
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-region/2018/05/30/few-attend-lackluster-st-catharines-riding-debate.html
Few attend lackluster St. Catharines riding debate
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There were few fireworks during a sparsely attended all candidates debate for the provincial riding of St. Catharines Tuesday evening, with candidates hewing closely to scripted talking points and party platform planks.
About 50 people showed up to the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce hosted debate< at the St. Catharines Collegiate to listen to Liberal Jim Bradley, NDP candidate Jennie Stevens, PC hopeful Sandie Bellows, Green Party candidate Colin Ryrie, Communist candidate Saleh Waziruddin and Jim Fannon from the None of the Above Party.
Libertarian candidate Daniel Tisi and Cultural Action Party of Ontario candidate Duke Willis did not attend the debate.
Libertarian candidate Daniel Tisi and Cultural Action Party of Ontario candidate Duke Willis did not attend the debate.
The candidates were asked about the opioid crisis, affordable housing and health care among other issues.
Speaking mostly in generalities and not facing any cross-examination of their answers during the hour-long debate, the candidates rarely mentioned the focus of the provincial campaign - the party leaders. Bradley did not mention Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, while Bellows and Stevens only referred to PC leader Doug Ford and NDP leader Andrea Horwath twice each and only in passing.
The candidates also largely avoided attacking the platform of their opponent's parties. Bradley, without mentioning the NDP or Tories, warned of the possible deleterious effects deep tax cuts would have on health care while Fannon urged voters to cast a ballot for anyone other than the three major parties.
Waziruddin got the most enthusiastic response from the small audience when he said the Tories' health care plan is like Donald Trump tax returns: "It might never be released."
The only direct interaction between candidates came after a question on health care when Bellows said the Tories had learned from past health care cuts made the last time they were in power and noted the "NDP made cuts too."
"Remember Tommy Douglas? He's the reason you get free hip replacements. We didn't cut," said Stevens, referring to late Saskatchewan premier and federal NDP leader who is considered the father of Canadian universal health care.
Voters to go to the polls on June 7.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Communist party represented in St. Catharines riding (Niagara This Week)
NEWS
Saleh Waziruddin one of 12 Communist candidates in provincial election
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Saleh Waziruddin will once again be carrying the Communist party banner in St. Catharines.
The St. Catharines resident has previously ran twice in the riding provincially and federally, and continues to be passionate about the party’s platform and advocate or change.
“I am running because we need MPPs who represent the majority of us conscripted into poverty and unemployment, starting with defending and extending the new minimum wage and labour standards” said Waziruddin.
“The Liberal government has already taken away holiday pay from part-time workers, saying it's not fair to full timers, but that's not true — it doesn't affect full-timers,” he added. “If you work you should be paid for the holiday, that's the point of having stat holidays.”
He is also advocating for the elimination of “deeming” deductions of minimum wage from injured workers' compensation because they are assumed or “deemed” to working a minimum-wage job.
Waziruddin has also set his sights on reform to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board. He says the board should be replaced, part of a special resolution the Communist party called for in June 2017.
“They're supposed to be protecting the environment,” he said, adding they appear more focused on economic development. “They're giving away land which will choke off the few remaining wetlands we have left in the world. By treaty obligations there is supposed to more consultation with First Nations, which has not been done.”
Waziruddin encourages residents to familiarize themselves with the party’s plan at http://communistpartyontario.ca. From electoral reform job creation, to expanding health care to include full coverage of services such as dental care, vision care, pharmacare, mental health care and long-term care, to developing a new funding program for a proposed, single, secular public school system, he said there are many planks that appeal to electors in Ontario. There is also a pledge to build 200,000 affordable housing units over four years, the introduction of free public child care available 24 hours a day, transit expansion and enhanced municipal funding.
The party, he said, will finance its platform through doubling the corporate tax rate, which Waziruddin said would still be low for industrialized countries, and restoring the corporate capital tax which was dropped to zero in 2010.
“Instead of giving away the wealth we create to corporations which were sitting on the money instead of investing it, we should take it back for our basic needs,” he said.
Waziruddin says he hopes residents will see the benefits of a Communist choice at Queen’s Park.
“Look at our platform. It’s policies which take care of all peoples’ needs,” he said, adding voters who want to “make their vote count” should look to the Communists.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
My 2 minute spot on YourTV Niagara after the St. Catharines Ontario Election debate
YourTV Niagara (formerly Cogeco) excluded me again from the main debate after including me in an earlier election. They gave me a 2 minute spot which aired immediately after the debate where I was able to raise many of the issues I am campaigning on.
The 2 minute clip is also on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYtSyjHImEE&t=45s
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