THE HARPER WELCOMING COMMITTEE INVITES YOU TO DINNER WITH THE PRIME MINISTER!

No Money for Militarization, Demanding Justice for the People! TUESDAY OCTOBER 10, 2006 @ 5 pm GATHER: NE CORNER OF COLOMBIA AND KEEFER CHINATOWN MONUMENT FOR CHINESE RAILWAY WORKERS

[The Harper Welcoming Committee is an adhoc committee supporting justice, dignity, and self-determination for our communities from Coast Salish Territories to Afghanistan. Endorsers (as of date): Al-Awda (Palestine Right of Return) Vancouver, Anti Poverty Committee, Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Phillipines, BC Latin American Collective, Bolivia Solidarity Committee, Canada-El Salvador Action Network, Canadian Muslim Union, Canadian Network for a Democratic Nepal, CIPO-Van y La Otra Campagna de Abajo, Downtown Eastside Residents Association, Filipino Nurses Support Group, Grassroots Women, Group of Relatives and Friends of Political Prisoners in Mexico, Haiti Solidarity BC, Hospital Employees Union, La Otra Vancouver (The Other Campaign Vancouver), Iranian Federation of Refugees, Justicia for Migrant Workers BC,  La Surda Latin American Collective, Latin American Connexions, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Philippine Women Centre of B.C, Salaam Vancouver, SIKLAB (Overseas Filipino Workers), Siraat, StopWar.ca, Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance), Vancouver Status of Women]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is visiting Vancouver on Tuesday October 10 for a dinner organized by businessman Johnny Fong geared towards increasing trade, business, and investment with China. Although presented as a “direct dialogue with Vancouver’s Chinese Canadians”, a number of community-based Chinese-Canadian organizations and other grassroots groups have of course not been invited to this dinner. So we have decided to invite ourselves!

Over the past year, the Harper government has implemented cuts to women’s advocacy and equality rights work, has failed to implement a universal childcare program, has provided no funding to support the “health-care wait-time guarantee”, and has cut over $7 million in affordable housing funding across Canada. Meanwhile Harper is supporting the corporate agenda, including expansion of exploitative guest worker programs and increasing privatization and colonization of indigenous lands. An expanded $1.4 billion budget is going towards a larger police force and beefing border security across Canada, with a total of $16 billion over two years towards National Defence. Harper has been building an aggressive and destructive military occupation of Afghanistan and the “War on Terror” is a clear pretext for increased Western economic and military domination in the Middle East.

Clearly, the policies of the Harper government aim to increase the economic gains of Canada’s elite at the cost of increased impoverishment and repression of our marginalized communities, and the loss of lives and freedom of those abroad. On October 10th, don’t be silent, be in the street!! Bring your banners, placards, noisemakers and join us in sending a resounding no to Harper’s war at home and abroad. TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN! HOMES NOT BOMBS