Council of Canadians' Maude Barlow rips feds at Hamilton conference

Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians, is furious with the federal government and how its handled two key Hamilton issues: the U.S. Steel shutdown and the new trade deal with Europe. Now, shes counting on Hamiltons "fighting spirit" to change the government during next year's election.

The Council, a nonprofit and self-described non-partisan group "We reserve the right to be angry at any political party, of any stripe, when its policies are this bad,"Barlow said is holding a weekend conference called Forging Solidarity. Government officials, including international trade spokeswoman Shannon Gutoskie,call the group "anti-trade."

CBC Hamilton spoke with Barlow on Friday as the conference began. The conversation has been condensed, but you can listen to the full interview here.

Why did you want to hold the event here in Hamilton?

Maude Barlow (MB): "We really feel that Hamilton is an example of a community that's been built by workers and by communities coming together with the unions to forge a really wonderful community.

I wasnt surprised at all. I was really sad, and really angry.- Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians on the U.S. Steel bankruptcy

It's very much a union city. And this conference is very much about forging solidarity between working people and civil society groups: environmental, youth, First Nations and so on.

But also we were watching the situation with U.S. Steel we feel that it's a metaphor for whats happening across the country and of the Harper economic and political policies that say its just fine for corporations to come in and do what they want and its just fine. I think Stephen Harper serves corporations, particularly foreign corporations, and not Canadian workers and communities."

What are the biggest challenges facing this city?

MB: "Hamilton, like many Canadian cities, has been gutted by, I would argue, the combination of free trade and privatization and deregulation the policies that I call of the one per cent, for the one per cent, by the one per cent and people are struggling here. Youth are struggling here.

I think because it was so dependent on the steel mill, the plant and all the spinoff work from it, its just been devastated.

So its really important for us to come here and say 'working people matter.'

We need to have people stand up and say 'working people who fight for good wages and decent pensions and working conditions are not just fighting for themselves. Theyre fighting for everybody.'And so we need to forge solidarity and not let those splits come between people with unionized jobs and nonunionized jobs, which is what the Harper government is banking on."

Do you think the story of Hamilton is well known outside of Ontario?

"Thats a good question. I think probably in Ontario it is, and certainly with working people. Hamilton is kind of like the bad example. It is a beautiful city, it really is an absolutely beautiful city, but its struggling.

I think people know there are parts of the country that have been particularly hard hit by the change in the economy and the flight of jobs. Maybe part of why were here is to help tell Hamilton's story as itself, and also a metaphor for other communities."

What do you make of the U.S. Steel bankruptcy filing?

"I wasnt surprised at all. I was really sad, and really angry. Because they not only didnt fulfill their promises under the net benefit agreement, they not only didnt protect the workers, but I really feel that they just dumped their losses on their Canadian operations to protect the American parent. They just left people high and dry.

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I think its important for people to know that the net benefit agreement did not include protection of workers. They didnt have to put any profit into pensions or worker benefits or protecting their jobs, so they were always going to be the first to go.

Its such a story of what not to do. And how not to allow a wonderful Canadian institution to be destroyed piece by piece and have the workers treated the way they were.

Where do you see the story going next with U.S. Steel?

We need to have an emergency task force come together with federal, provincial and municipal governments, plus the workers, to come up with an economic plan and to come up with an alternative.

• PHOTOS:Historic images of U.S. Steel's Hamilton operations

There are examples in the U.S. where workers have taken over abandoned steel plants and said we can do it, we know how to run this thing. Whether or not thats viable, I think it should be on the table.

Here we run into this Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Europe, which is one of the other things were fighting. Because for the first time in this CETA agreement youre not allowed to bring in local economic programs or protect local jobs.

Whats needed in Hamilton is a plan that would protect local jobs. But youre going to have a real hard time doing that under CETA.

The Council has spoken out about the ramifications of CETA in the past.If this city cant find a way to opt out of it, whats at stake?

"Its any procurement. If youre a local school, or local hospitals saying 'we want to promote local food and out local farmers,' no, there are big food service companies in Europe that would challenge that as a barrier to trade."

(After the publication of this story, Gutoskie contacted CBC Hamilton to clarify the CETA procurement chapter excludes procurement "in respect of agricultural goods made in furtherance of agricultural support programs or human feeding programs," which means institutions like hospitals, schools and senior's homes could purchase food from local producers without violating the agreement.)

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"I argue its not a left, right issue. I argue its an issue of democracy. That we, individually, have the right in our municipality's, provincial and federal policies to make the laws that we think are right for us.

Locally, it will be much harder for Hamilton to recover from (the U.S. Steel bankruptcy) if theyre not able to promote a plan of local economic development.

I just dont understand why there hasnt been more of a concern about it.