He rummaged through garbage to find food during the Great Depression. He worked for pennies at just seven years old. He fought for Great Britain in the Second World War, and he immigrated to Canada with little more than the clothes on his back.
He witnessed the rise of democracy, freedom, social justice and the welfare state. But now, in his opinion, he’s witnessing its decline.
“I should be able to look back and see great social progress since I was born,” he said. “But I don’t.”
Smith was the featured speaker at the Ottawa-based Broadbent Institutes’s Stand Up for Progress National Tour. After speaking in six other Canadian cities, Halifax was his last stop.
Before a crowd of students, veterans and members of the community at Dalhousie University’s Scotiabank Auditorium on Wednesday, Smith delivered his message about the dangers of income inequality and government austerity.
With his book, Harry’s Last Stand: How the World My Generation Built is Falling Down, and What We Can Do to Save It, Smith is hoping to inspire the next generation of activists.
“We have to start looking at who benefits from austerity and the death of social services,” he said. “It is just the very rich, multinational corporations who need the right-wing governments. That is why the current Harper government presents such a great risk to our civilized society.”
Smith spoke about a number of the government’s “attacks on democratic institutions,” like the closing of veterans affairs offices, proposed cuts to the health care system, shrinking pension funds, and Bill C-51.
“This will turn Canada into the dog-eat-dog world of my boyhood,” he said.
After Smith’s speech, a panel of three speakers had five minutes each to talk about a specific political issue.
Halifax’s poet laureate El Jones recited a poem about inequality in the prison system, and the disproportionately high number of black and Aboriginal prisoners.
Catherine Abreu, energy co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax, spoke about climate change and renewable energy.
“There has been a lack of federal leadership on energy for the last decade,” she said. “We need a vision for how this country is going to work together to transition away from fossil fuel dependence, keep communities resilient, and put money back into the pockets of people in rural Nova Scotia.”
James Hutt, provincial coordinator with the Nova Scotia Citizens’ Health Care Network, talked about how social status impacts health and the government’s plan to slash funding.
“The federal Conservatives are cutting $36 billion from health care over the next decade,” he said. “For Nova Scotia, what that looks like is $902 million. To put that into a tangible number, that’s ten per cent of all nurses in Nova Scotia gone. That will have a huge impact on how we treat people who are sick.”
Smith said there’s a lot at stake this October when Canadians go to the polls for the federal general election.
“Every citizen in this country, regardless of their background or position in society, has the fundamental right to an education, decent housing, fair working conditions and a decent pension,” he said. “When a government doesn’t defend, through it’s laws and programs, those simple tenets of civilization, it is time to send that government packing.”
He said voters, especially young people, have Canada’s future in their hands.
“Come the October general election, I won’t tell you how to vote, because that is your choice. But if you want a Canada where prosperity is in the reach of every citizen, not just the one per cent, you must vote for progressive change.”
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca/
Author: EVAN WEBSTER
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