Summit Between Canadian Prime Minister and U.S. President

Further Integration into U.S. Economy and War Machine Will Not Resolve Canada's Lack of a Nation-Building Project


On February 23, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden held a virtual bilateral meeting. Trudeau summed up the meeting saying, "The President and I discussed the ambitious new Partnership Roadmap, based on shared values and priorities, that will guide our countries' work together over the coming years."

The "shared values and priorities" referred to come out of a neo-liberal play book. This can be seen from the material they released after the meeting and from their acts, neither of which make the economy sustainable or contribute to nation-building. On the contrary, the measures are part of nation-wrecking at home and abroad and contribute to the U.S. imperialist striving for world hegemony, aggression and war.

"In the face of COVID-19, of climate change, of rising inequality, this is our moment to act," Trudeau said. "Job one remains keeping people safe and ending this pandemic. This afternoon, the President and I discussed collaboration to beat COVID-19, from keeping key supplies moving and supporting science and research, to joint efforts through international institutions. We're standing united in this fight," he said.

From the beginning, ruling elites have not been motivated  to marshal the considerable resources of each country to defend the people. On the contrary, the resources are used as means for the rich to become richer. This has resulted in 537,312 COVID-19 related deaths and mounting in the U.S. and 22,213 deaths reported in Canada, as well as tremendous hardship for working people of both countries.

Two days after the grandiose statements were made at the Summit, Biden demonstrated in practice the traditional U.S. method of "keeping people safe" by unleashing the U.S. war machine to bomb Syria. Trudeau did not utter a peep in opposition to the continued aggression and destruction of the countries of West Asia and North Africa, which involves Canada through the NATO war alliance. On the contrary, he expressed the same enthusiasm of "keeping people safe" through war, destruction and pillage. 

On February 26, a virtual meeting was held between Canada's Foreign Minister Marc Garneau and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken which declared a "commitment to address human rights and needed reforms in Cuba." The joint statement from the two leaders could just as well have declared: "Share our neo-liberal values or we will bomb you!" They demand subservience to the U.S. drive for world hegemony by presenting this "value" as fighting for freedom and democracy. Canada has become integrated into the U.S. war machine and the power of the Pentagon backs the administrations of both countries, while more and more laws and regulations are passed which consider any discussion questioning their motivations to be sedition, treason, against the national interest and a threat to national security.

Presenting themselves as those who will provide the fundamental constitutional problems of both U.S. and Canadian societies with solutions, Trudeau said: "The past year has revealed all sorts of inequalities in our societies, and now more than ever, it is time to act." The past year in fact saw more than 20 million people in the U.S. alone demonstrate for more than 100 days straight prior to the U.S. election, along with millions more in Canada and around the world, against state-organized racist police violence, impunity and more funding for police while social programs for the people continue to be privatized and the rich get richer and the poor poorer.

The trial of the former police officer who killed George Floyd begins March 8 in Minneapolis. The Mayor and Minnesota's Governor declared their version of "it is time to act on inequalities" by militarizing and occupying the city with thousands of heavily armed police and soldiers and telling the people to stay away. Their actions are similar to the lockdown and military occupation of Washington, DC for Biden's inauguration with its open threats to violently suppress the people if they dare show their faces. The military's show of force also sends a blunt message to the political representatives of the rich, including Biden, that they better not step out of line when serving the ruling oligarchy and war economy, "or else!"

Trudeau also used the Summit to make it clear Canada wants to be part of "Buy America" by being considered an integral part of the U.S. economy. This is the opposite direction Canadians are calling for when they demand the economy be self-reliant and contribute to creating a safe natural and social environment under the control of the workers.

"Today, the President and I discussed leveraging supply chains and support for businesses," Trudeau said. Emphasizing the "shared value" of paying the rich through marshalling public funds to support the private business cartels and monopolies of the global oligarchs, he added: "Here in Canada, innovation and clean energy will play a critical role in our plan to rebuild our economy. The President and I discussed the importance of clean growth to create new opportunities for Canadians and Americans, and also to protect the environment and fight climate change."

To date, the Trudeau government's greatest "innovation" involving "clean energy" has been to take the money-losing boondoggle Trans Mountain Pipeline project off the hands of its private U.S. owners who were desperate to dump it and pay them a fortune in public funds. The government then further mobilized the state's police powers, including the courts, to ram through the pipeline to Vancouver over the objections of many Canadians who do not want anything to do with it. Arrests, jailing and violent police attacks on opponents of the pipeline are mounting daily. Attempts to put jobs and sustainable development, workers and environmentalists into irrational separate categories to justify the criminalization of both will not create a viable direction for the economy.


September 8, 2018. Protest in Vancouver against building of  the Trans Mountain pipeline

On the issue of innovation, clean energy and rebuilding our economy, Trudeau was possibly also referring to the Alberta government's disastrous pay-the-rich scheme of investing billions of public funds into the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast that Biden cancelled because it competes with similar projects already underway and the green investments of former Vice President Al Gore. The main "sharing" going on between a gushing Trudeau, visibly relieved that his like-minded friend has become the president, and this like-minded U.S. president, appears to be the sharing of schemes to pay the rich and a deep commitment to serve the oligarchy.

To further muddy the waters and militarize the people's concern over climate change and to use the issue and public funds to enable certain global oligarchs to make billions in a so-called green economy, Trudeau said, "We must continue to take meaningful action to respect the Paris Accord and achieve our goals for a net-zero emissions future."

The only "net-zero" appears to be when Canada builds pipelines and the U.S. cancels them.

"Finally, we also discussed ways to build a stronger and more peaceful world. To protect our citizens and our communities, we must work together," Trudeau said. He did not reveal if Biden's discussions of his plan for a "more peaceful world" included bombing Syria two days later.

Neo-liberal parlance did however serve to cover up the joint intelligence services which dictate the new laws and ministerial measures to outlaw any speech that is seen by police powers, which act with impunity, to undermine the "common principles and shared values" which Canadians and Americans must support "or else." "This includes strengthening continental defence and combating violent extremism. And around the world, we must defend our shared values and interests, for example, by renewing alliances and supporting multilateral institutions," Trudeau said. "Canada and the United States are each other's closest allies, most important trading partners, and oldest friends," Trudeau gushed.

Canadians need a nation-building project of their own doing, to make Canada a zone for peace with an anti-war government and to change the aim of the economy from one integrated into the U.S. war machine based on maximum private profit for the few to one that serves the people and works with others in a spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit for all humanity, not competition and war.

This means as a first priority taking Canada out of the NATO and NORAD war alliances and all other entanglements with the U.S. war economy and military machine. It requires forging a new direction for the economy. This remains a priority.

For the joint statement of President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau at the conclusion of their meeting, with comments by K.C. Adams click here.

(Photos: TML, D. Sprenger, A. Pike)


This article was published in

Volume 51 Number 3 - March 7, 2021

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/M510032.HTM


    

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