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Food prices are up at least 11%. We are all struggling.
But workers - mostly migrants - that plant, tend, harvest, package, and deliver the food aren’t the ones succeeding. Grocery store owners’ profits doubled in 2021 over 2020; and continue to rise.
News broke yesterday that another thing had doubled: corporate tax avoidance. Canada’s richest businesses cheated their way out of $30 billion in taxes in 2021.
As a comparison, the GDP of 96 out of the 195 countries in the world is less than $30 billion per year.
Instead of holding the super-rich to account, politicians are beating again on that old drum: racism. On Monday, Quebec saw the right-wing CAQ Premier Legault re-elected with a majority. Throughout the election, he campaigned against immigration to Quebec, linking migration to violence and threat to national identity.
But Premier Legault isn’t actually against immigration, he’s just against rights. Under his previous four years of rule, temporary foreign worker permits increased 133% in Quebec.
Those in power want immigrants here. They just want us to live in fear of deportation, and be exploited by bosses and landlords. They want us to pay taxes but also have to pay for education and healthcare.
The most effective response to rising prices, rising corporate profit and theft, and rising racism is organized migrants, who refuse to be exploited. Ensuring equal rights and power for all requires ensuring permanent resident status for all.
And we will win. After thousands of people took to the streets in September, we are visiting federal Cabinet Ministers offices across the country on October 16. We have plans for November and December both local and cross-country that we will share soon.
We know we will win, because we are making gains all the time:
- This week, collective action won a stay on deportation for Mamadou Konaté in Montreal.
- A few weeks ago, organized fisheries workers in New Brunswick won the right to be paid 30 hours/week even when they weren’t working.
- After Jamaican farmworkers spoke up about “systematic slavery” in the agricultural worker program, the Jamaican government has been forced to send a fact-finding mission to Canada; a clear condemnation of Canada’s inability to protect workers here.
We will win when we take action:
Together we will win,
Migrant Rights Network
