Infrastructure Spending to Maintain Class Privilege and Control and Further Integrate Canada into U.S. War EconomyTo stay in line with the U.S. Biden administration's proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, the Trudeau government has stepped up the creation of arrangements necessary to hand over billions from the public treasury to the global oligarchs including through direct investment and public-private partnerships or offering tax incentives, cheap electricity, transportation infrastructure and many other means. Most of it is carried out under the guise of "building back better" after the COVID-19 pandemic, a "green transition" to address climate change, and even a "feminist recovery." In the last week of July alone, in a cynical move to appeal for support to win a federal election, the Trudeau government has announced millions of dollars in government funds for the aerospace industry in Quebec, for Algoma Steel and ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plants in Ontario, for projects in transportation, airports and transit, for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations throughout the country and much more. In 2017 the Trudeau government established the Canada Infrastructure Bank which had been described as a federal infrastructure bank which would provide low-cost financing to municipalities but was immediately turned into a mechanism for imposing public-private partnerships on municipalities. Earlier this year the government launched a consultation regarding the establishment of an independent advisory body to inform infrastructure policy and investment. The recommendations from the consultation with "over 300 organizations and individuals" was released on July 29 in a report entitled Building Pathways to 2050: Moving Forward on the National Infrastructure Assessment. The alleged aim of the assessment is to determine the needs and "improve coordination among infrastructure owners and funders; and to determine the best ways to fund and finance infrastructure." The imperialist oligarchy and governments in their service are paying first-rate attention to developing and renewing infrastructure in such a way that it satisfies the needs of narrow private interests and furthers the needs of war governments. The problem posed for the working class is to begin by declaring that there is an alternative to the present crisis-ridden and destructive policy which pays the rich and that Canada must be a zone for peace, not war. The alternative begins by insisting that governments must provide Canada with a modern aim which serves the people and society. The economy must be organized so that each part supports each other and complements the whole under the control and direction of the actual producers. In modern socialized economies, such as those of Canada and the United States, infrastructure is an indispensable social means of production used by all sectors and enterprises in the collective economy. A significant problem that exists in developing and maintaining infrastructure, including roads, bridges, electricity, water, transit, educational, recreational, government and health care institutions and all other aspects of modern infrastructure is that while the value from infrastructure is distributed widely throughout the socialized economy, it is not fully and objectively realized (paid for). Even more, the financial oligarchy demands that governments create public infrastructure spending programs which will preserve and defend their immense social wealth and class privilege and their control of the country's economic and political affairs. A significant aspect of neo-liberalism and imperialist globalization has been the proliferation of pay-the-rich schemes giving public funds to the largest and most powerful private companies and cartels of the global oligarchy. None of it has to do with serving the needs of the people.
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