On June 11, the Communist Party of Canada held the final rally of its national Roll Back Prices campaign with nearly 50 supporters outside the Loblaws head office in Toronto. The crowd gathered to demand a rollback and price freeze on food, fuel, and rent.
Andrew and Tess kicked off the rally on behalf of the Toronto YCL about the impacts of rising cost of living on students and young people.
“Put your hands up if you or someone you know is working two or more jobs? This is the reality for working people today, working two or sometimes even three or four jobs just to make ends meet. This is true particularly for young people.”
We told the story of working people to the nodding heads of the crowd.
“How can we be expected to start our lives on mountains of debt and a $16/hour wage?
The average cost of a one bedroom apartment in Toronto is over $2,500, but most students and young workers are making less than $20 an hour. Meanwhile, Loblaws made nearly $2 billion last year.
The wealth gap in Canada is enormous and continues to widen every year with housing being a key issue. Home ownership rates have been going down as property continues to be bought and sold by the richest Canadians, and the rest of us are tied to careless landlords spending over 30% of our income on rents.”
Andrew and Tess were followed by Alykhan Pabani from the Toronto Encampment Support Network, who spoke about the failures of the Toronto supportive housing program and its inability to actually house people as the number of homeless people in the city continues to climb.
The crowd also heard from Igor Kasprzycki about the rising cost of food and crops for farmers, and Party leader Elizabeth Rowley concluded the rally. She connected our struggles with those of the people of Palestine and Cuba, and other international movements for peace and peoples’ right to life.
The rally had many honks of support on Front Street and a good turnout from the Party, the YCL, and the community. Chants were loud enough that the Loblaws headquarters had to bring out their rent-a-cop security — a good sign they’ve made someone nervous.
Working people must continue to make noise. Inflation is a capitalist-made crisis for higher profits and lower wages. This campaign will continue until grocery CEOs are no longer making millions off penny wages.
“Our role as anti-imperialist youth is to work to build class-conscious solidarity in our student unions, our labour unions, our campus clubs and classrooms, our teachers and professors, our coworkers, and to any and all mass movements. We demand a rollback in prices on basic essentials that working people need, and a raise in corporate taxes to stop the rich from getting richer off working people’s backs,” the YCL concluded.