Monday, April 14, 2025
Federal Election 2025
It Is Up to the Working Class and People to Keep Oligarchic Governments in Check
• What Stephen Harper's Endorsement of Pierre Poilievre
Reveals
• Liberal Leader's Proposal to Accelerate
Plunder of Natural and Human Resources
For Your Information
• Role of The Conservative Promise: Project 2025
It Is Up to the Working Class and People to Keep Oligarchic Governments in Check
What Stephen Harper's Endorsement of Pierre Poilievre Reveals
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined Conservative leader Pierre
Poilievre at a rally in Leduc, a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta. The
event, clearly intended to give Poilievre's electoral campaign a leg
up, came across, possibly intentionally, as something between a revival
meeting to drive
out the Liberal devil and a rock concert.
Stephen Harper is now chair of the board of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
AIMCo is a Crown corporation responsible for investing the province's financial assets, as well as $11 billion from the Alberta public sector workers' pension plans. In November 2024, Danielle Smith fired the entire AIMCo board and its CEO and appointed Stephen Harper as the new chair, without consulting the unions or their pension funds. Neither the United Conservative Party (UCP) government nor Stephen Harper recognize that the pension funds belong to the workers, not the government.
The fact is that the oligarchs and their representatives consider the pension funds and public money as slush funds to use for risky investments. They consider seizing this money to be good investment management. In Alberta, the intention is to use these funds to double oil sands production and take all the risks for the energy, oil and gas financial oligarchs. This is obviously a big concern for the workers in Alberta as well as all across Canada given that it indicates what a Poilievre government is more than likely to do.
It is noteworthy that setting up an Alberta Pension Plan to replace the Canada Pension Plan was Harper's idea in the first place, not Danielle Smith's. He first presented it in 2000. Alberta workers mounted a very strong opposition to this plan but they can expect that these are the sorts of things a Poilievre government will implement with impunity in order to seize workers' pensions and public monies to cover risky investments. It gives Canadians an indication of what a government led by Poilievre would look like.
Addressing
the Edmonton rally Harper said: "It's no secret that our country faces
today another historically challenging time in the form of the Trump
administration. There is no sugar coating that. But the bulk of the
problems that afflict our country -- falling living standards,
declining
employment and housing opportunities, rising crime, the growing
divisions between our regions and our people -- these were not
created by Donald Trump. They were created by the policies of three
Liberal terms, policies that the present prime minister supported."
Not a word about the anti-social offensive and rule by decree under Stephen Harper's regime, when speaking about growing divisions. Never mind that Harper's old friend Preston Manning is shouting about secession -- a code word for total annexation by the U.S. Never mind that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also promotes disunity as she challenges one federal power after another.
Acting like a tag team for the World Wrestling Federation Harper-Poilievre blithely repeated their mantra that the Liberals (and mainly Justin Trudeau) are responsible for everything -- except whether it rains or not, and maybe even that.
Harper claimed that he and his finance minister at the time were responsible for successfully dealing with the 2008 economic crisis. How that went for Canadians was of course not elaborated. The point was to say that it was not Mark Carney -- head of the Bank of Canada at the time.
Carney makes repeated references to the time when he was Governor of the Bank of Canada, claiming he successfully dealt with the economic crisis in 2008, to say he is qualified to deal with the current crisis caused by the Trump tariffs. Now Harper is making the same claim for Poilievre because he, Stephen Harper, presumably bailed out Canada and he is on the Poilievre team.
Neither Harper nor Carney address why 1.2 million workers were officially unemployed at the end of 2008 alone, fewer than half of whom received Employment Insurance. Neither one elaborates where the money comes from for the "stimulus packages" handed out in pay-the-rich schemes.
The Harper years were a time of great insecurity for the workers while the rich got richer. The disregard shown for the well-being of the working people could not be clearer.
As in Harper's day, once again today, extracting more oil from the tar sands is being presented by Harper and Poilievre as the panacea. Poilievre and the Conservatives claim that the Liberals have been the worst enemies of the oil patch.
At the same time Carney is very keen on stepping up the extraction of fossil fuels in his bid to create "one economy out of 13" and diversify trade to Europe. All while he would use pension monies to pay for infrastructure to hasten the building of trade, energy, transportation, communications and security corridors.
Oil prices are once again tanking in the fallout from Trump's tariffs. Recurring crises as the price of oil soars and crashes are nothing new for Alberta. The last one began in 2014 when the world price of oil peaked at $107.95 a barrel and was down to $44.08 a barrel by January 2015, a drop of 59.2 per cent in a little over seven months.
The fact is that despite the boom and bust cycles, Canadian oil production and the oil industry in Alberta and Saskatchewan more than doubled in the past 20 years, no matter which cartel party formed the federal government. The number of new pipelines built during the Harper and Trudeau years was roughly equivalent, with capacity between 900,000 and 1,000,000 barrels per day added in each period.
But even doubling oil production does not mean security for workers. In fact, the number of jobs has actually fallen. Employment in the Alberta oil and gas industry peaked at 171,364 in December 2013 at the height of oil sands construction. After reaching a low of 120,000 in 2016, and another low again in 2020 during COVID, in February 2024 there were 137,612 workers employed in that industry.
Many workers commute to their jobs in the oil sands from all over the country. They work long rotation shifts in remote camps, away from family and community. The conditions are known to be harmful to morale, health and well-being.
Whichever cartel party has been in power, it has used that power to push oil for export to the U.S. to serve the interests of the U.S. war economy, not the actual producers and the social and natural environment. Recently both Carney and Danielle Smith were using the same language about how they could help the U.S. achieve "North American dominance." Now all those concerned are talking about "finding new markets" to push the same agenda.
Stephen Harper and Pierre Poilievre often speak of "western alienation" but do not refer to the battles of the workers and farmers for their rights against the predatory practices of both prairie governments and the federal government. Farmers defended their livelihoods against the railway barons and big grain merchants. More recently under the rule of Stephen Harper, they fought the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board to serve the supranational grain monopolies like Cargill and Bunge-Viterra. Harper and his ministers proceeded with the destruction over the objections of everyone except the oligopolies themselves and those who benefit from their takeover.
Workers organized in the coal mines, the meat packing plants, in food processing and the retail giants -- both foreign and Canadian-owned -- and have fought many fierce battles for wages and working conditions acceptable to themselves. Health care workers and those who work with seniors, in public education, telecommunications and other sectors of the economy are known for waging courageous struggles in defence of the rights of all, including migrant workers, caregivers and visa workers. None of this is held in high esteem by the candidates of the Liberal and Conservative cartel parties.
As for the Indigenous nations and Métis, the cartel parties and the monopoly-controlled media are doing their utmost to disappear their very existence. They pay no mind to the decades the Indigenous nations and Métis have been defending their hereditary and inherent rights to decide what takes place on their traditional territory and their responsibilities as water defenders and stewards of the land in this country. Reparations for the historical wrongs committed against them, past and present, are long overdue, not in words but de facto.
The
concern and uncertainty of workers about the future is callously used
to serve the interests of the supranational interests that have sold
out Alberta and integrated Canada into the U.S. war machine and
economy. Each cartel party blames the other when the inevitable bust
follows boom. But it is
precisely these cartel parties that have created the situation where
the economy is not self-reliant but dependent on the self-serving
demands of the oligarchs,first and foremost the U.S. war machine.
Under Stephen Harper, rule by decree became commonplace, rousing protests across the country against laws to criminalize dissent in the name of national security and much more.
Harper's endorsement of the Poilievre campaign does not bode well for Canadians. The country will not be served well with either a Carney or a Poilievre government and it is up to the working class and people to keep them in check.
Liberal Leader's Proposal to Accelerate
Plunder of Natural and Human Resources
The Liberals have just published press releases and made statements
about Liberal leader Mark Carney's "vision for Canada" titled "It's
time to build: economic pillars for change."
Focussing on the themes of "diversification" and "expanding Canada's trading relationships" in the wake of Trump's threats, Carney's vision includes "drawing on Canada's vast resources of energy, critical minerals, and human capital" to become "the most reliable supplier of critical minerals."
Already, tax incentives for critical minerals exploration were passed in the 2022 Budget. They were supposed to end this March 31, but were extended for another two years. Furthermore, the Canadian exploration expense tax deduction has been extended to cover technical studies, reducing up-front costs for mining companies evaluating potential projects.
A critical component of Carney's plan involves a $5 billion investment in physical infrastructure such as port facilities, rail networks and pipeline corridors meant to "enable Canada's energy export diversification." The building of strategic corridors would not only transport "traditional" energy products but also facilitate the movement of critical minerals.
Even though these corridors are based on sending critical minerals to the U.S. essential to its war machine, Carney's claim is that these corridors will "reduce reliance on U.S. infrastructure."
Another very threatening part of Carney's vision is the lofty
sounding creation of "one economy instead of 13." Carney would
immediately convene a First Ministers' meeting to work with provinces
and territories on two objectives: remove inter-provincial trade
barriers so that Canada can "trade
freely" and identify inter-provincial projects of national interest so
that they can be prioritized and accelerated.
"One economy" for Carney also means the creation of a Major Federal Project Office implementing a "one project, one review" mandate. This approach aims to eliminate "duplicative environmental assessments" and accelerate project approvals with a two-year maximum timeline for decisions.
Framing energy independence as a matter of national security, Carney claims the "fund isn't just about concrete -– it's about sovereignty."
"We are masters of our own economic destiny. Canada is stronger when it is united, which is why we need to create one Canadian economy instead of 13," Carney declared. He went on to say: "We will promote labour mobility and the recognition of workers' qualifications. We will invest in our infrastructure, such as our highways, rail, and ports, to improve Canada's productivity and economic competitiveness and accelerate decision-making on major projects."
This, according to Carney, would contribute in building "the strongest economy in the G7."
Carney's
vision also includes "securing Canadian sovereignty" by strengthening
Canada's military. This would require investing in "Made in Canada"
defence equipment and dual-use defence infrastructure, Carney said. It
would require meeting Canada's two per cent NATO target by the end of
the
decade, the modernization of NORAD, and strengthening Canada's presence
in the Arctic.
Carney added to this the strengthening of Canada's borders.
It remains a mystery how Carney can claim to secure Canadian sovereignty while increasing military spending to further the U.S./NATO/NORAD stranglehold over Canada and over Canada's foreign policy which is entangled in U.S. plans to be the world's "indispensable nation" and involvement in its wars of aggression and destruction, crimes against humanity and genocide.
For Your Information
Role of The Conservative Promise: Project 2025
Denver, CO, February 8, 2025
Much is being made these days of a comprehensive U.S. political document called Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise. Produced by the Heritage Foundation prior to the 2024 U.S. election it is also known as Project 2025.
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative U.S. "think tank" established in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and Joseph Coors of the brewing family. Coors was the Foundation's major funder at its beginning, just one of many reactionary organizations his family continues to bankroll. Another major funder is Richard Mellon Scaife, heir to the $14-billion Mellon family fortune.
The Conservative Promise (TCP) is a 900-page volume of multiple authorship which proposes policies aimed at restructuring the U.S. federal government and consolidating executive power/presidential power in favour of conservative policies. The volume is based on "unitary executive theory," a school of thought in constitutional law which claims that the president should have sole authority over the executive branch, which Trump appears to endorse. Legal experts differ on how far presidential authority can legally go. In its most extreme version, unitary executive theory means that neither Congress nor the federal courts can tell the President what to do.
TCP is the ninth volume of the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership series which has for forty-four years offered conservative policy recommendations for the U.S. federal government. The first volume was published in 1981 following the election of Ronald Reagan who required all his advisors to read it. Eight other volumes followed, each preceding the election of a new president. The Heritage Foundation published the seventh volume in November 2016 just before Trump's first election.
The Foreword to TCP suggests the document is based on four vague "promises," long-hyped by conservative spokespersons: "Restore the family as the centrepiece of American life and protect our children; dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people; defend our nation's sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats; and secure our god-given individual rights to live freely, what our Constitution calls 'the Blessings of Liberty.'"
Within each of these general categories, TCP makes numerous specific policy recommendations, some of which Trump appears to have already implemented as "Executive Orders." Examples include:
- "Use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government," TCP page 47.
- "Unwind policies and procedures that are used to advance radical gender, racial, and equity initiatives under the banner of science," TCP page 60.
- "Permanent and substantive reductions in the number of nondefense federal employees," TCP page 78.
- "Quickly and aggressively address recalcitrant countries' failure to accept deportees by imposing stiff sanctions until deportees are in fact accepted for return (not just promised to be taken)," TCP page 167.
- "Congress should cap the indirect cost rate paid to universities," TCP page 355.
A key question still under discussion is whether TCP is "Trump's Playbook," his personal Mein Kampf, even if he didn't write it. Trump denies it but he is notorious for twisting the truth. His ego could also prevent him from admitting he is following other people's prescriptions. Contradicting his denials, many of the document's writers have close connections to the Trump administration, including Russell Vought (Budget Chief), John Ratcliffe (CIA Director), and Peter Navarro (Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing).
Regardless of Trump's denials, many of his already-implemented Executive Orders seem to be lifted almost verbatim from TCP. One example is Trump's order about removing DEI from federal hiring. "Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one's commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of "equity," or one's commitment to the invented concept of 'gender identity' over sex." The equivalent passage in TCP (Chapter 9) states: "Federal agencies and their components have established so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination." Many other examples could be cited such as "sex" under Title IX to mean only biological sex recognized at birth.
Trump has also taken policy decisions which TCP does not explicitly mention, some of which are clearly long-time conservative policy priorities. In any case, the importance of establishing how much Trump is relying on TCP to guide him lies in the fact that if he is following its script then his upcoming moves should be quite predictable. This in turn means that working people can be alerted to his intentions in advance instead of having to wait until he actually issues the next of his seemingly endless stream of reactionary and destructive Executive Orders.
(The full text of Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise can be found here.)
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Website: www.cpcml.ca • Email: editor@cpcml.ca