The Common Front is an alliance of people from across Ontario committed to a campaign of economic disruption to challenge the Tory government. We are anti-poverty activists, rank & file trade union activists, students, single mothers, senior citizens, health-care and education workers, anti-racism activists, the unemployed & homeless, people of colour, immigrants & refugees, and First Nations people. The Common Front was formed in response to the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's [OCAP] call for a serious campaign against the Premier Mike Harris government after last year's 'Queen's Park Riot', and in response to the failure of most opposition organizations to stop the increasing attacks on workers and social services. The Common Front was formed to build a strong, broad-based, militant resistance movement.

Block highways. Shut down factories. Stop the flow of goods and services. Like the strike, 'economic disruption' is an old idea. We propose that we stop marching and chanting, and start getting in the way of business as usual. Harris answers to Bay St., not to the people of Ontario. If we want to stop Harris, we must take the fight to the rich and wealthy who've benefited most by this government's policies.

Starting this fall people from every corner of Ontario have committed to join together and mount a campaign of economic disruption. We will organize student walk-outs, block border crossings, shut down Toronto's financial district, and take hundreds of other actions in towns and cities big and small. Our goal is to create a situation where Harris's wealthy backers will be forced to see Harris as a liability rather than an asset.
Whether it be longer hours at work, lower wages, more poverty and homelessness, changes to the Employment Standards Act, attacks on health and education, the murder of Dudley George, or the preventable Walkerton disaster, this government has shown nothing but contempt for the people of Ontario. Some think we should cross our fingers and wait for the next election- WE THINK THATS A BAD IDEA! Harris must be stopped NOW, not later, because people are suffering now.

What can you do?
1. Join the campaign, get active, start organizing.
2. Get your union local/organization/ group to sign on to the campaign.
3. Organize a public meeting in your town and have Common Front activists speak to the community.
4. Get your union local/organization/ group to start thinking about what kind of economic disruption it may be able to take in your area.
5. Call OCAP and get hooked up with other Common Front activists in your area.

The campaign begins on Tuesday, October 16th, in downtown Toronto. Toronto is the capital of Ontario, and the centre for capital in Canada. The business district, centred along Bay St., sees millions of dollars in profit for banks and big business every day. At 5am, we meet at Nathan Phillips Square [in front of City Hall] for breakfast. At 6am, we will shut down the financial district, sending a message to the corporate powers that direct government policy in Ontario: your lackey has gone too far. Pull his strings, meet us on our ground, on our terms, or pull him out of office and put someone who can talk to us in it. We will cost you millions of dollars if you do not.

We are meeting on a regular basis to plan and organize the shutdown, and subsequent actions across Ontario. For more information please contact the Ontario Common Front via OCAP at 416.925.6939,  ocap@tao.ca or www.ocap.ca.
Defeat Harris! Fight to win!