Buzz Hargrove
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Basil "Buzz" Eldon Hargrove (born March 8, 1944, Bath, New Brunswick, Canada) is the current National President of the Canadian Auto Workers trade union. He succeeded Bob White as president of the CAW in 1992. He also serves as a Vice-President on the executive committee of the Canadian Labour Congress.
In 1998, he co-authored the book Labour of Love: The Fight to Create a More Humane Canada with Wayne Skene. Also in 1998, Brock University honoured him with a Doctorate of Laws degree. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Windsor in 2003, and from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2004.
Hargrove is seen as a supporter of social unionism, and has steered the CAW to become a more activist union, sometimes to the consternation of other unions.
1999 Ontario Election
Hargrove was the leading advocate of tactical voting (sometimes also called "strategic voting") in the 1999 Ontario provincial election. Hargrove proposed this approach in an attempt to defeat the Progressive Conservative Party government of Mike Harris. Under Hargrove's leadership, the CAW moved away from its long-time unconditional support of the Ontario New Democratic Party, urging its members (and all voters) to vote for whichever candidate, NDP or Liberal, had the best chance of defeating the Progressive Conservative candidate.Tactical voting not only failed to prevent the re-election of the Tories to another majority government, it was blamed by New Democrats for the party's poor electoral performance, returning only 9 Members of Provincial Parliament, down from 17 in the 1995 election.
An attempt, following the 1999 Ontario election, to expel Hargrove from the Ontario NDP was defeated, but Hargrove's relationship with provincial leader Howard Hampton has remained acrimonious.
Federal Politics Pre-2006
Hargrove was also a long-time critic of federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough, calling for her resignation on several occasions. He criticized McDonough for her effort at modernizing federal NDP's policy, which involved moving towards the political centre and adopting "Third Way" policies. Hargrove stated repeatedly that NDP should move to the left instead.In 2002, he planned to run for the NDP leadership, but found a "notable lack of enthusiasm" for his potential candidacy. He instead endorsed CAW lawyer Joe Comartin who placed fourth.
Hargrove was initially much more publicly supportive of McDonough's successor, Jack Layton, and the CAW unequivocally supported the federal NDP in the 2004 federal election. The NDP made significant gains in popular vote, although they only gained 5 seats for a total of 19, well short of its aspirations of 40 or more.
Hargrove reportedly played a role in bringing Prime Minister Paul Martin and Jack Layton together to negotiate a budget agreement to keep the federal Liberal government in power in exchange for including NDP proposals in the 2005 federal budget.
However, Hargrove sharply criticized Layton when he joined with Conservative leader Stephen Harper and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe to bring down the Liberal government with a vote of non-confidence in November 2005. He also echoed his earlier criticism of McDonough by suggesting that Layton, too, was not sufficiently moving the party to the left.
2006 Federal Election
Tactical Voting
For the 2006 Canadian federal election, Hargrove resumed his previous endorsement of tactical voting and urged CAW members (and all voters) to vote for whichever candidate, NDP or Liberal had the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate.[link] During the final days of the 2006 campaign, Hargrove urged all progressive voters in Canada to vote Liberal, which he claimed was the only party that could prevent the Conservative Party of Canada from winning the election. He publicly stated that "ideology does not matter" when the reporter asked about his position.Despite the qualification of his stated support for NDP incumbents and candidates in 40 "winnable" ridings, Hargrove's speech was widely reported by the media as an endorsement of the Liberals. When questioned by a reporter on this, Hargrove also stated that he "did not like the campaign that Jack Layton was running," criticizing Layton for "spending too much time attacking the Liberals."[link] No doubt his photo-op appearance with Paul Martin in matching CAW jackets contributed to this impression. He has been reported as saying that voters should support incumbent NDP MPs and NDP candidates in ridings "where they can defeat the Conservatives."
Break with NDP and Labour
Hargrove's strategy caused some controversy among long-time NDP activists and union members who saw him as renenging on core labour and left-wing values. Many of Hargrove's detractors argued that they were significantly affected by the Liberals measures to cut the deficit in the mid-1990s, which strained the health care system. Hargrove's controversial endorsements included Toyota manager Greig Mordue and Belinda Stronach of Magna International; Toyota maintained a non-unionized North American workforce and Mordue had successfully resisted CAW efforts to organize the Cambridge plant, while Magna was traditionally anti-union under former CEOs Frank Stronach and Donald Walker[link]. In response, they carried anti-Hargrove placards at rallies and distributed buttons with the slogan: "Buzz Off. I'm voting NDP."[link]Traditional NDP supporters were also opposed to aligning their movement with the Liberals, who were embroiled in the Sponsorship and income trust scandals.
Despite being one of Hargrove's 40 endorsed NDP candidates, Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the candidate for Oshawa, blamed his loss on tactical voting since it confused potential NDP supporters into voting Liberal, even when the Liberal candidate was not a viable contender. A poll in Oshawa found that the number of voters who initially planned to vote for Ryan, but then decided to support the third-place Liberal candidate late in the campaign to prevent a Conservative victory, significantly exceeded the narrow margin of Ryan's loss as well as getting Tory Colin Carrie elected.
Some pointed out that Hargrove's strategic voting would also potentially decimate the NDP under Canada's system of public financing for federal elections, which pays a subsidy to each federal party based on their popular vote.[link]
Gaffes
On January 18 2006, Hargrove made a widely criticized speech at a Liberal rally in Ontario where he urged voters in Quebec to vote for the Bloc Québécois in preference to the Conservatives, calling Conservative leader Stephen Harper's view of Canada "a separatist view" and recommending "anything to stop the Tories" including, strangely enough, voting for a declared separatist party. The statements forced Liberal leader Paul Martin defend Harper later in the day by saying "I have profound differences with Mr. Harper, but I have never questioned his patriotism". Afterwards, many commentators viewed Hargrove as having been an active hindrance to the gaffe-filled Liberal campaign.Hargrove also attacked the principles of Albertans in the speech saying about Harper "His sense, is about Alberta, where the wealth in Alberta, everyone recognizes, is much greater than it is anywhere in Canada. The principles that (Harper's) brought up with, and believes in coming out of there, don't sit well with the rest of Canada." (Harper was actually born and raised in Ontario, moving to Alberta only in his twenties) [link], [link], [link]
Results
Near the end of the 2006 campaign, sensing the momentum that would result in a Conservative victory, NDP leader Jack Layton defied Paul Martin and Hargrove's pleas to unite all progressive voters under the Liberal banner. Layton intensified his attacks on the Liberal scandals, while also pledging to use the NDP's clout in a minority government to "keep the Conservatives in check".The NDP increased their caucus to 29 seats, a significant gain over the 2004 election. Hargrove afterwards argued that strategic voting had held the Conservatives to a minority government and suggested that all three opposition parties could form a coalition to get several key pieces of legislation passed.
Suspension from the NDP
Following the election, on February 11, 2006, the provincial executive body of the Ontario NDP voted to suspend Hargrove's NDP membership and effectively expel him from the party for supporting the Liberals. This move also automatically suspended his membership in the federal party. Hargrove stated he was "shocked and surprised" by this decision, but he will not apologize for his actions during the 2006 election nor will he commit not to endorse candidates for other parties in the future. [link] On February 23, 2006, Hargrove also confirmed that he would not appeal the Ontario NDP executive body's decision.[link]
Although Jack Layton and Sid Ryan did not support Hargrove's tactical voting, they opposed Hargrove's expulsion from the NDP.
2006 CAW leadership race
On December 9, 2005, Hargrove confirmed that he would seek a sixth and final three-year term as CAW President at the union's convention in Vancouver, British Columbia in August, 2006.[link] This would be the final term that Hargrove would be eligible to serve under the CAW constitution, which provides for mandatory retirement at age 65. Hargrove will be 62 years old by the time of the upcoming CAW convention.
On February 8, 2006, Maclean's reported rumours that, for the first time, Hargrove may face an opposing candidate for the CAW presidency. [link] CAW Local 1256 chair and Oakville and District Labour Council President Willie Lambert was subsequently confirmed as an opposition candidate.[link] In 1999, Lambert won the support of over 40% of voting delegates at that year's Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) convention, in an unsuccessful challenge to Wayne Samuelson for the OFL presidency.[link]
On February 13, 2006, the CAW's former chief economist Sam Gindin raised a series of questions about the political, electoral and bargaining orientation of the CAW in an open letter addressed to Hargrove. That letter, Hargrove's response and Gindin's response to Hargrove were posted on the Canadian political website rabble.[link] Gindin later wrote another piece criticizing recent bargaining concessions by the CAW at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ontario, which was published in the Socialist Project bulletin on March 22.[link]
External links
- [Official site of the Canadian Auto Workers]
- Duncan Maven, "["Is Buzz tarnished goods?"], Financial Post, January 28,06.
- Carol Goar, ["NDP better without Hargrove,"] Toronto Star. February 20, 2006.
- Steve Arnold, ["Hargrove Challenger: Oakville bus driver Willie Lambert is running for president of the Canadian Auto Workers,"] Hamilton Spectator, April 19, 2006.
- Sam Gindin, ["When Giving Up More is Never Enough,"] Toronto Star March 24, 2006.
- Wayne Dealy, ["Phantom Fears Drive CAW Rift With New Democrats"] Toronto Star, May 11, 2006.
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