Official concern for corporations, not Cuba. Canada is Cuba's largest trading partner, with 30 businesses having island investments of 500 million dollars and two dozen others engaged in trade. And Canadians comprise the bulk of Cuba's tourists to Cuba. It isn't that the heads of these governments are in sympathy with the Cuban revolution, of course. To abate an international diplomatic showdown before the U.S. elections, Clinton cannily suspended the right to file lawsuits under Helms-Burton until February 1997.
Workers have a broader agenda.
Canadian working people feel that H-B is a punishment for our 50 years of unbroken relations with the Cuban workers state. We know that the U.S. is responding to the challenge posed by Cuba's system of free, quality education and healthcare. These sentiments are reflected in a 1996 Canadian Labour Congress resolution that condemns the U.S. embargo and military threat against Cuba, praises Cuba's commitment to international labour solidarity, defends Cuba's right to self-determination, and encourages Labour Congress members to strengthen ties with their Cuban compatriots. The right to collective ownership. Cuban workers and farmers exercised a completely legitimate right when they nationalized big private holdings to ensure that their entire people would benefit from the island's wealth.