Community Power and GM Plant: an urgent need for dramatic action

OPEN LETTER TO JAGMEET SINGH AND THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE OF THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY

We admire your determination, your energy, your deep commitment and skills, Mr. Singh, in promoting such programs as pharmacare, denticare, a wealth tax, housing for all, Indigenous rights, among others. We are proud of the way you have dealt with the racism issue in this election.

We urge you to go one step further toward focusing the campaign on a vivid symbol. We think that our party’s distinct voice would be tremendously enhanced by taking on an inspiring symbol of what we concretely mean in the areas of climate justice and a green jobs transition.

To that end, we strongly suggest that you identify yourself and the party with the Oshawa GM autoworkers Green Jobs Oshawa campaign. Their proposal to re-engineer the GM plant as a public enterprise for production of electric vehicles is sure to create public attention and to announce to workers across Canada how serious we are.

This campaign includes supporting re-training the currently unemployed unionized workforce. Moreover, it connects with CUPW’s proposal to legislate into effect all aspects of the “Delivering Community Power” campaign, which includes electrifying the delivery fleet.

We believe that such a dramatic gesture of meeting with GM workers to spotlight our green jobs ideas is a way of creating a holistic vision that helps to connect all the dots for a NDP Green New Deal.

In solidarity,

The Courage Coalition