There is much speculation that a federal
election will be called shortly. Meanwhile,
Prime Minister Trudeau continues to insist that
he does not want an election even as he
crisscrosses the country using his position as
Prime Minister to make pork barrel handouts to
those whose votes the Liberal party hopes to
attract, all the while complaining that the
Opposition is making Parliament dysfunctional.
An all-party motion that was passed against
calling an election during the pandemic, which
even the Liberals voted for, is ignored. Despite
evidence to the contrary, every effort is being
made to say the pandemic is over and that life
is getting back to normal. Such is the cynicism
of the ruling class to manipulate such important
matters as electing a new government in a manner
which is self-serving.[1]
This is causing a lot of anxiety and confusion
because most reports indicate the pandemic is
not over and cases of variants of the
coronavirus which caused the COVID-19 pandemic
are rising in various parts of the country,
particularly in BC, Alberta and northern
Saskatchewan. As well, the percentage of people
who have been vaccinated varies from province to
province and region to region. On July 29, the
Public Health Agency of Canada reported that
"Today's seven-day moving average of 594 new
cases reported daily (July 22-28), shows an
increase of 39 per cent over the previous week."
Medical professionals across the country are
warning of a fourth wave. During the last week
of July an outbreak was declared in BC's
Okanagan area, prompting the return to stricter
public health guidelines. CBC reported on July
28 that Saskatchewan's far north recorded 220
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 the previous week
while the national rate was just 8 per 100,000
people, and that the situation has worsened.
Added to the problems this poses for everyone,
thousands of people in the west have been
displaced or are under evacuation warnings due
to wildfires and flooding. In BC, there is no
end in sight to the extreme heat, drought and
tinder-dry conditions. Wild-fires are also
raging in Ontario creating smog which traps heat
and affects breathing that has moved into
southern Ontario and western Quebec.
Forest fire smoke over Prince George, August 1,
2021
These are the conditions in which speculation
of an imminent election call continues unabated.
An election in the conditions of the pandemic,
under public health guidelines that, in areas
with outbreaks and increased cases, restrict
public gatherings and person-to-person contact,
and are different in every region of the
country, means further inequality amongst
parties and candidates. Parties and candidates
with big war chests will buy advertising while
candidates who rely on volunteers and
door-knocking will be further marginalized.
Denying citizens' right to an informed vote is
par for the course. This added disregard for the
Canadian polity is beneath contempt.
Election preparation and disdain
for the people can be seen in the recent spate
of funding announcements that Trudeau has made,
as he criss-crossed the country from BC to
Newfoundland and Labrador. BC was the first
province to sign a 50/50 cost-sharing deal with
the federal government to access some of the
$27.2 billion announced in the federal budget
for child care.
That announcement on July 8 followed a July 5
announcement by Trudeau in Sault Ste. Marie that
the federal government would give $420 million
to Algoma Steel Inc. to purchase
state-of-the-art equipment to support its
transition to Electric-Arc Furnace production
and phase out coal-fired steelmaking.
On July 14, the Minister of Transport announced
$1.9 billion in additional funding for the
National Trade Corridors Fund which will "ensure
that Canada's transportation system is
well-positioned to attract further
private-sector investment..." The minister's
announcement stressed that 15 per cent of the
renewed funding is dedicated to the Arctic and
Northern Regions.
The same day, Trudeau was in Quebec's Gaspé
region where he announced a $25 million
contribution to a joint project with the
government of Quebec and a Danish subsidiary of
General Electric for the expansion of a wind
turbine plant to produce blades for the U.S. and
European markets. On July 15, he announced that
the Quebec and federal governments are providing
up to $685 million to Aerospace Companies
operating in Quebec including Pratt &
Whitney Canada, Bell Textron Canada, and CAE.
During his trip to the Maritimes on July 27 and
28, Trudeau's office announced child care
agreements with PEI and Newfoundland and
Labrador as well as a $5.2 billion deal with
Newfoundland and Labrador to complete
construction of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric
project, the cost of which has risen from $7.2
billion to over $13 billion.
An announcement of $400 million for the
ArcellorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton
was made on July 30 and millions of dollars in
funding for projects at airports, transit and
other projects in cities across the country were
announced on July 28 and 29.
In another cynical ploy to curry
votes, the Trudeau government announced, on July
26, new regulations "to improve protection of
temporary foreign workers," in reality a plan to
secure the supply of cheap migrant unprotected
labour for agribusiness. Such benefits as there
may be for workers are incidental to government
schemes to pay the rich -- including the $50
million given to the agribusiness monopolies
last year towards the required 14-day quarantine
for incoming migrant farm workers, and another
$35 million this year in Emergency On-Farm
Support to upgrade their living conditions.
Every one of the announcements of these schemes
to pay the rich from public funds was couched in
language of the "green economy," job creation
and Trudeau's so-called feminist agenda and
support for workers and working families. Even a
cursory look at these programs shows they are at
heart pay-the-rich schemes which reveal a
callous disregard for the well-being of
Canadians and Quebeckers.
Repeated requests from Elections Canada
officials that the election law be amended in
anticipation of an election during the pandemic
in order to provide optimal conditions for
election workers and voters, have been denied.
Calling an election in these circumstances is
reckless and irresponsible and will put the
health and lives of voters and election workers,
many of them seniors, at risk.
For the Prime Minister to call an election in
August would be the height of self-interest,
based solely on the calculation that the
conditions exist for the Liberals to achieve
their coveted majority, no matter the cost. It
would be an expression of utter contempt for the
people and show that all the talk of "we're here
for you" really amounts to nothing more than
posturing to get votes.
Canadians should prepare to intervene in any
election in a manner which favours their
interests. No matter what propaganda is used to
create illusions about who is popular and who is
not, elections or no elections, step up the
fight for the rights of all and to make sure
Canada is a zone for peace!
Note
1.
In a vote in the House of Commons on May 25
all members of all parties who voted,
including Trudeau, voted in favour of a Bloc
Québécois motion to denounce a pandemic
election and agree that the government has a
responsibility to prevent it from happening.
The lone dissenting vote was Independent MP
Derek Sloan. Still, reports from insiders at a
Liberal Party meeting for candidates, campaign
managers, and riding association presidents on
July 19, led participants and media to
speculate that the election could be called as
early as mid-August, and that they were told
by Liberal campaign manager Azam Ishmael to
"Start looking for a campaign office, go get a
campaign office" and that a lease for two
months would be a "good idea."
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 8 - August 1, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/M510081.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
