NEWS RELEASE: Niagara Coalition for Peace Marches Against NATO Summit as part of World-Wide Actions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2012

Niagara Coalition for Peace

Contact: Saleh Waziruddin, co-convenor

905 394 0029 (cell)

salehw@yahoo.com

Niagara Coalition for Peace Marches Against NATO Summit as part of World-Wide Actions

ST. CATHARINES, ON – Niagara residents marched in downtown St. Catharines from the library to MP Rick Dykstra's office at 4:30 pm on Saturday, May 19th as part of world-wide demonstrations against the NATO Summit in Chicago. The Chicago authorities have already opposed the plans of demonstrators there but the Niagara Coalition for Peace has organized this demonstration in St Catharines to show local opposition to NATO and the wars in Afghanistan, Libya, as well as potential wars on Syria and Iran. The march is endorsed by Ploughshares Niagara, Council of Canadians (Niagara South), and also features as a speaker Dave McKee, President of the Canadian Peace Congress, who has just returned from a regional World Peace Council meeting in Caracas, Venezuela.

“The Canadian Council of Churches, representing 140,000 Canadians such as those in the Anglican, Presbyterian, and United Churches of Canada, has asked NATO to withdraw nuclear weapons from non-nuclear countries and stop 'nuclear sharing' which gives nuclear-tasks to non-nuclear members” said Fiona McMurran of the Council of Canadians (Niagara South). Niagara Coalition for Peace co-convener Saleh Waziruddin explained that “three years ago even Stephen Harper admitted the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable, yet now he wants Canadian soldiers there even beyond the 2014 withdrawal date. It is through NATO that Canada is in Afghanistan, where we are complicit in torture, and it is through NATO that we launched war on Libya and are in danger of wars on Syria and Iran. To stop these endless wars of destruction and torture, Canada must withdraw from NATO.” Dave McKee, Canadian Peace Congress President, added that “NATO has a nuclear first-strike policy and so does Canada through being part of NATO. The US recently announced that the F-35s will carry a specially re-designed B61 nuclear bomb, and we must know if our F-35 dollars are also being used for the re-design of a nuclear bomb.”

Chants from the downtown march and rally included:

“No to NATO, No to War!

We won't let you torture any more!”

“Not one dollar for fighter jets,

spend our taxes on hospital beds!”

“If we're out of NATO, out of war

Then for education, healthcare we'll have more!”

The Niagara Coalition for Peace (NC4P) is a regional peace organization which is part of the Canadian Peace Congress and Canadian Peace Alliance, and its past anti-war resolutions were adopted by the city councils of Welland, Niagara Falls, West Lincoln, and Thorold, and in a revised form in St. Catharines and the Regional Municipality of Niagara. The Canadian Peace Congress was founded in 1949 for world peace and disarmament and is part of the World Peace Council, which is organizing a World Peace Assembly in Kathmandu, Nepal for June 20-23.

--XXX--

Thank you to voters, supporters, and comrades; Communist comes in 2nd at Eden High School

Dear voters, supporters, and comrades:

Thank you very much for your support this election, you have helped raise solutions that put peoples needs before corporate greed on the issues of health care, jobs, taxation, and in Niagara and Ontario politics in general which the big business parties and even some of the smaller parties will not put forward.

The Communist Vote was strong in the student vote, 10% or 374 St. Catharines students voted Communist in the parallel provincial elections: http://www.studentvote.ca/ontario/results/index.php?id=76

In particular Eden High School voted Communist into 2nd place! This is 139 votes for 24% http://www.studentvote.ca/ontario/results/school.php?school_id=33057101.  Special thanks to YCL comrades.

In St. Francis High School's student vote, where we got 20% in the 2007 provincial election thanks to the YCL and have been doing strong ever since, students voted Communist into 3rd place at 17% with 96 votes.

But the vote goal was never the immediate objective, the Eric Blair Club is very happy with what we've achieved in terms of contacts with voters and raising the Communist solutions to Ontario's problems, and I said as much to the press:

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=3325619

"NDP and Greens Proud of Campaigns"

(and Communists too!) by Erica Bajer of the St. Catharines Standard, some quotes:

St. Catharines Communist Party candidate Saleh Waziruddin said his campaign was successful because he managed to raise his party's profile in the community.

He said he didn't have a goal in terms of number of votes but instead a target of gaining ground in contacts and awareness.

"People are definitely looking for solutions that are beyond what the big parties are putting forward," he said.

Waziruddin said he's proud that he was able to add to the debate on important issues including health care, the economy and the HST.

"The Communist Party campaign has been farther ahead on the issues," he said. "I feel very happy."

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3329599
"Bradley found students a tougher sell than adult voters"

by Jeff Bolichowski of the St. Catharines Standard, lists the 10% Communist Party vote in the St. Catharines Student Vote elections.

NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Communist Party Leader Liz Rowley Visits St. Catharines October 1st

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 29, 2011

Saleh Waziruddin

905 394 0029

saleh@votecommunist.ca

campaign blog: http://niagaracommunists.blogspot.com

web site: http://www.votecommunist.ca

Ontario Communist Party Leader Liz Rowley Visits St. Catharines October 1st

ST. CATHARINES, ON – Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) leader Liz Rowley will be speaking in St. Catharines on Saturday, October 1^st at the St. Catharines Public Library’s Central Branch on 54 Church St. at 2pm on the Communist Party’s alternative for the provincial election.  Rowley will be available to the media for interviews in person on October 1^st and before then via telephone.  Rowley is visiting St. Catharines in support of the Communist Party’s MPP candidate Saleh Waziruddin and as part of a provincial tour of ridings with Communist candidates.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, September 27^th, Rowley lead an information picket of Communist Party candidates outside the offices of TVO in Toronto to protest the exclusion of the Communist Party from TVO’s election coverage.  The picket succeeded in getting some coverage from TVO on-site.  Rowley argued “electors have the right to see, hear, and consider all the parties on the ballot and to make up their own minds about who deserves their support.”

Liz Rowley was elected as a School Trustee of the East York School Board in the 1990s where she opposed the tax shift from businesses to home owners to finance public education. Rowley was one of the first female provincial party leaders in Ontario.  In launching the Communist Party’s current election campaign, Rowley explained “a Communist vote is a powerful vote against militarism and war, to curb corporate power, to create good jobs, to expand social services and build housing, and to introduce progressive tax reform based on the ability to pay. It’s a vote to continue the struggle to defend working people’s rights and standards after the election is over, in a People’s Coalition.”

Communist MPP candidate Saleh Waziruddin is the only candidate in the St. Catharines riding calling for elected officials to be accountable for the 35 recent deaths from hospital-acquired infections in Niagara as they were warned of this danger by nurses and unions.  The Communist Party is the only choice for St. Catharines voters who want to completely rescind the HST, as the voters did in British Columbia recently.

 —xxx—

Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

PRESS RELEASE: After 35th Death St. Catharines Communist Candidate Calls for All Niagara Candidates to Commit to Restoring Staff, Beds, and Services to Prevent More Loss

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2011
Contact: Saleh Waziruddin
905 394 0029
saleh@votecommunist.ca
Platform at http://www.votecommunist.ca
Campaign blog: http://niagaracommunists.blogspot.com

After 35th Death St. Catharines Communist Candidate Calls for All Niagara Candidates to Commit to Restoring Staff, Beds, and Services to Prevent More Loss

ST. CATHARINES, ON – After yesterday’s announcement of the 35th death of a Niagara hospital patient from “superbug” outbreak-related infections, the Communist candidate for St. Catharines, Saleh Waziruddin, is calling on all candidates in the four Niagara ridings to publicly commit to restoring hospital staffing, beds, and services to prevent further loss of life. At an all-candidates meeting on Tuesday, September, 20th, hosted by the Niagara Health Coalition and the Retired Teachers of Ontario, Saleh was the only candidate to argue that elected officials should be held accountable for these deaths as they were predicted by nurses and unions and so were preventable.

Saleh explains “although the Niagara Health System chief of staff has said the outbreak is nearing its end, and news reports say only 12 infected patients remain isolated at the St. Catharines General Hospital, the underlying cause of the outbreaks remains a danger to the lives of Niagarans. Cuts in staff, beds, and services make for dangerous conditions and don’t allow for enough time or resources to properly clean rooms before patients move in. Our elected officials have been warned about this, including on April 28th by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions as well as by individual hospital staff, yet the cuts have not been restored.”

According to a July 21 report by the Ontario Health Coalition, Ontario’s hospital bed occupancy rate of 97.8% is among the lowest in the industrialized world, and the UK Department of Health has set a target of 82%. Saleh is calling for an occupancy target of 80% and is asking all Niagara candidates to commit to occupancy of not more than 82% as “the high occupancy rates make it difficult to prevent infections and ‘terminally clean’ hospital rooms.” Giving a “terminal clean” to each affected room is the 1st Environmental Services recommendation of the June 29th report by the Infection Control Resource Team.

The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) calls for fully funding hospitals based on patient needs and not on reduced public services that are the result of corporate-tax giveaways. Ontario’s public spending and beds per patient are among the lowest of Canadian provinces. The Communist Party says this is the result of putting corporate greed, in the form of one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the industrial world, ahead of peoples needs. Saleh argues “low corporate taxes have only resulted in record profits and not new good jobs. Corporations should be made to pay their fair share instead of Niagarans paying the price for corporate greed with our lives. Instead of contracting out cleaning, where part of the hospital budget goes to private profits, hospitals must be 100% public so all dollars can go to patient care.”

-xxx-

Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

PRESS RELEASE: Communist Candidate Wins Support for Including All Candidates at Chamber of Commerce Debate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2011

Contact: Saleh Waziruddin

905 394 0029

Saleh@votecommunist.ca

Communist Candidate Wins Support for Including All Candidates at Chamber of Commerce Debate

ST. CATHARINES, ON - Communist Party candidate Saleh Waziruddin, joined by Canadians' Choice Candidate and St Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce member Jon Radick, succeeded at the Chamber's provincial candidates' debate in appealing to a significant portion of the audience to "Stand up for Democracy" and their right to be well-informed this election in a show of support for inclusion. All of the candidates, including those invited by the Chamber, had expressed support for including all candidates, including writing directly to the chamber. Several St. Catharines residents had also written to demand that the Chamber CEO Walter Sendzik let the voters decide for themselves after hearing all candidates.

Saleh addressed the audience at the opening of the meeting by pointing out that "tonight I as well as several other candidates have been excluded, but just last night the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce invited all candidates including an independent to that riding's debate. The day before TVCogeco held a debate with ALL candidates in this riding that was so successful that every campaign agreed to support the demand to include all candidates. In the previous federal election this very Chamber co-hosted a debate for the Welland riding inviting all candidates, including an independent, yet at the same time excluded candidates in the St. Catharines riding. What I would like to know is why the voters of St. Catharines are any less deserving than those of the other ridings to be well informed this election?"

Saleh was followed by Canadians’ Choice candidate and former Conservative party nominations contestant Jon Radick who announced that "I am a Chamber of Commerce member and I never thought I would side with a Communist, but Saleh is right and this is not what we should expect in a democracy." Jon then appealed to the audience to "stand up for democracy" to show their support for inclusion, and several audience members across the room stood up and demanded that all candidates be included.

When the Chamber tried to pursue its program anyway, trying to justify its exclusion on board policy without explaining why other ridings are different, Jon joined the invited candidates at the podium table and was congratulated with a handshake by NDP candidate Irene Lowell. Saleh also joined the candidates at the table.

Although Saleh and Jon did leave after several minutes with supporters, who loudly denounced the "undemocratic and autocratic" organization of the debate, they vow that they will continue to fight for democracy and the right of St. Catharines residents to run for office with equal and meaningful participation. Saleh adds "the Chamber's policies don't trump the guarantee of equal and meaningful participation by Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as interpreted by the landmark Supreme Court case Figueroa vs Canada". This case was launched by the Communist Party and named for its leader, Miguel Figueroa, which makes it possible for smaller parties to even exist legally and have a place on the ballot.

Saleh said he was "excited that we have gone further than we have before in fighting the Chamber's undemocratic practices, which include pre-screening written questions so they can ignore the concerns of union members as they did in the federal election debate. Women didn't have the right to vote once, and we will keep fighting the Chamber's attempts to roll back the clock on democracy in Canada."

Earlier that day the NDP campaign had written directly to the Chamber and copied the Communist campaign saying;

"I am writing this email to express my concern that not all candidates running in the St. Catharines riding have been included in the "all candidates" debate. Voters cannot make an informed decision if we fail to provide complete information. Failing to include all candidates in the local debate deprives voters of their right to hear all views and issues, and circumvents the process of making an informed decision. Voter apathy can be largely attributed to the failure of the Canadian electoral system to provide a true voice for all Canadians. Please support the democratic process by allowing all candidates to be heard.

Irene Lowell, NDP Candidate, St Catharines

Jackie Crow, Campaign Manager"

---xxx---

Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

PRESS RELEASE: St. Catharines Communist Candidate Wins Support of all Parties in Protesting Exclusion from Chamber of Commerce Debate as an Arbitrary and Unreasonable Violation of Charter Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 15, 2011

Saleh Waziruddin

905 394 0029

saleh@votecommunist.ca

St. Catharines Communist Candidate Wins Support of all Parties in Protesting Exclusion from Chamber of Commerce Debate as an Arbitrary and Unreasonable Violation of Charter Rights

St. Catharines, ON – Saleh Waziruddin, the Communist Party candidate for the St. Catharines riding in the provincial election, is protesting his exclusion from the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce candidate debate at 6:30 pm Thursday, September 15, at the Holiday Inn at 327 Ontario St., St. Catharines. Saleh has received support from all the candidates in the riding, including incumbent MPP Jim Bradley and PC candidate Sandie Bellows, in demanding that all candidates be included. The Chambers of Commerce in the other three Niagara ridings have included all candidates, including independents, and the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce included all candidates (including the Communist Party) in the 2008 federal election after facing protest at the 2007 provincial election, and in the recent federal election included all candidates in the Welland riding debate but not the St. Catharines riding debate.

“If the Chamber can invite all candidates in Welland, why should the St. Catharines voters be deprived of the opportunity to make up their own minds and hear from all candidates tonight?” Saleh pointed out. Saleh adds “The Figueroa vs Canada Supreme Court case is a landmark ruling that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms not only gives every citizen the right to vote, but also the right to participate equally in a meaningful way. The Chamber should respect my Charter Rights and the voters. By holding a public debate the Chamber is responsible to the entire community and not just a narrow section.”

The St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce has claimed that its exclusion policy is based on the vote rebate policy of the Elections Act. However, this policy is being challenged as a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and further the Elections Act has another discriminatory clause about rebating elections expenses only for candidates winning 10% of the vote, which excludes one third of all of the Liberal candidates (92) in the previous federal election.

“The Chamber has arbitrarily picked a standard to exclude parties it does not like” explained Saleh. In 2007 the explanation given by Chamber CEO Walter Sendzik to the St. Catharines Standard for why the Green Party was included after being excluded before was that “Well they are mainline now. They have vastly improved their platforms and policy ideas…." Saleh counters with “let’s let the voters decide for themselves on the different policy ideas.”

Sendzik had also said that the Communist Party was not being discriminated against and that “the fringe parties need to contact us as soon as they can after the writ is dropped”. However the Communist Party contacted the Chamber on August 25^th, well before the writ was dropped, belying this explanation.

A further illustration of the Chamber’s undemocratic practices is that in the previous federal election debate the program was ended before schedule on account of having no remaining questions, whereas USW 1005 members who are locked out of Stelco and reside in St. Catharines had submitted questions that were unasked. NDP Candidate Mike Williams denounced the Chamber for not having the courage to allow the candidates to answer the concerns of working-class voters.

Green Party candidate Jennifer Mooradian told the Chamber “Voters cannot make an informed decision if we fail to provide complete information. Failing to include all candidates in local debates serves to further erode our democracy and works to support our current electoral system. This system is one unable to fully represent the views of all Canadians. Voter apathy can be largely attributed to the failure of the Canadian electoral system to provide a true voice for all Canadians. It is disheartening to see this lack of representation replicated at the local level.”

In Figueroa vs Canada, filed by the Communist Party’s leader Miguel Figueroa, the Supreme Court decided that:

• “Section 3 (Charter of Rights and Freedoms) should be understood with reference to the right of each citizen to play a meaningful role in the electoral process, rather than the election of a particular form of government.

• “All political parties are capable of introducing unique interests and concerns into the political discourse and marginal or regional parties tend to raise issues not adopted by national parties. Political parties provide individual citizens with an opportunity to express an opinion on the policy and functioning of government. Each vote in support of a party increases the likelihood that its platform will be taken into account by those who implement policy and votes for parties with fewer than 50 candidates are an integral component of a vital and dynamic democracy.
• “…the right to vote in accordance with preferences requires each citizen to have information to assess party platforms and the legislation undermines the right to information protected by s. 3.”

All of the provincial candidates in St. Catharines agreed after Tuesday’s TVCogeco all-candidates debate to demand that the Chamber too include all candidates.

-XXX-

Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

PRESS RELEASE: Saleh Waziruddin is the Communist Party candidate in St. Catharines for the Ontario 2011 Election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2011

Saleh Waziruddin

905 394 0029

saleh@votecommunist.ca

Saleh Waziruddin is the Communist Party candidate in St. Catharines for the Ontario 2011 Election

ST. CATHARINES, ON - Saleh Waziruddin is running for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) in the St. Catharines riding in Niagara for the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

Saleh Waziruddin, a 33-year old call centre worker says, he is running because "we have seen too many fellow Niagarans die because health care cuts make it impossible for staff to prevent infections, to have enough beds for people to heal in dignity near their loved ones, and to keep emergency rooms open instead of moving them over half an hour away by highway in favor of a P3 (public private partnership i.e. for profit) hospital where health care dollars will go towards profits and not patients. We are being told there is not enough money for health care while billions are being given away in corporate tax cuts that have not lead to any job creation or investment but only record corporate profits."

As the Communist candidate in St. Catharines, Saleh is the only option for reversing the HST. Saleh explains "in the name of harmonizing taxes the HST actually shifts the tax burden from corporations who can pay to the working class which cannot, while at the same time cutting public services needed by working people for a minimum quality of life."

Saleh was born in Montreal to Indian and Pakistan parents and has lived in Niagara since 2006. Previously Saleh was a peace and civil rights activist in the United States.

Communist Party of Ontario party leader Liz Rowley will be joining Saleh for a public meeting on the Ontario elections on Saturday, October 1, 2 pm at the St. Catharines Public Library (Bankers Room) downtown at 54 Church St.

Saleh can be contacted at:
E-mail: saleh@votecommunist.ca
Phone: 905 394 0029
Website: http://www.votecommunist.ca
Mail: 4025 Dorchester Rd, #146
Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6N1

Voters can follow Saleh on twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/Communist4StCat
and "Like" Saleh’s Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/SalehWaziruddin

Authorized by the CFO for the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)