Municipal Socialist Alliance and Capitalism Can’t be Fixed release Policy Platform
Across Ontario, workers, small business owners, and entire communities are being squeezed by rising costs, precarious work, and the devastating consequences of climate catastrophe. Doug Ford’s unapologetic corporate agenda of austerity and privatization is only accelerating the surging crises. Rather than equipping municipalities to meet growing needs, his government has cut their funding and stripped their ability to deliver the public services on which communities rely. Public services — from mass transit to libraries— are defunded and left to decline while the private sector waits to fill the gap at a price.
These conditions are not unique to Ontario. Provinces, territories and municipalities across Canada face the same conditions because they operate within the same political-economic order: capitalism– a global system controlled by capitalists that operates in their interests. The pursuit of private profit over public good pollutes the planet and neglects basic needs, blocking human, economic and ecological potential. The province-wide Municipal Socialist Alliance (MSA), together with Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed, is challenging this arrangement. Our mission is to expose the injustices of capitalism, hold its administrators and beneficiaries accountable, and propose a genuine socialist alternative in City Hall that puts working people, communities, and the environment first.
Our policies aim to improve the lives of workers and strengthen communities immediately. We fight for more public housing, expanded public transit, and insist that no one goes hungry in one of the richest and most developed countries in the world. While pursuing gains within the liberal capitalist system does not tackle problems at their roots and can only, at best, provide relief, socialists fight for every improvement that strengthens the working class and our communities. The MSA considers the attainment of elected office at city hall not as an end in itself, but as a platform on which to agitate for material gains, to organize and support popular movements, and to raise political class consciousness by exposing the inherent limitations of capitalism.
The comprehensive 12 page platform includes 34 policy areas grouped under 5 themes: Housing for All, Expand Public Services, Solve Social Problems through Social Services, Defend Democracy, Justice and Activism in Local Committees and We Can Afford a Better Future.