Existential Dilemma of Canada's Elites: United They Fail; Divided They Fall
Today, in the current historical conditions, it is necessary for governments to establish the aim of their actions. It is normal for the peoples to expect these aims to serve their interests and these interests would definitely be served if the aims expressed are coherent, rational and accord with their needs. These needs are those of the natural and social environment as defined by the people who comprise the polity. They are not the narrow private interests which have usurped the powers of the state, not only in the United States but also Canada, Britain, Germany, France and the countries they continue to dominate.
In the face of the threats of U.S. President Donald Trump to make Canada the 51st state, the only aim which seems to emerge from everything the government of Canada, premiers, leaders of the cartel parties and leading lights have to say is to preserve Canada-U.S. trade relations as they are. They claim it is all about the economy. When it comes to politics, according to everything that is said and written, the problem is Donald Trump and his extremist cabinet ministers who don't appreciate that Canada is their greatest ally, friend and partner.
Even when speaking about
Canada's economic
assets, it is done
to show Trump what more Canada is willing to give up to convince
him
we are good trading partners. The more Canadians hear talk about
the need to formulate a united response, the more
the clashes between the interests the different authorities
serve are evident. Despite the fact that at the end of the day
it is the federal government which deals with international
trade, the premiers stand divided, not united, as is also the
case with the different levels of authorities in the United
States. While trade deals
between the United States and Canada are said to ensure there
are no
barriers to free trade, which means, amongst other things, no
tariffs, barriers to trade
between the provinces and territories remain with little common
ground for lack of a nation-building plan which meets the needs
of Canadians today.
Most importantly, the clash between the federal and provincial and Quebec authorities, and the conditions in which the working class and people of this country and the Indigenous Peoples live, where they are considered disposable, are more evident than ever.
Currently,
the ruling class is experiencing trauma in the face of Trump's threats
to impose tariffs. The more the ruling class tries to impose this
trauma on the people of this country, the more the people can see that
it is they who must step up to the plate to advance a modern
nation-building project. Such a project humanizes the natural and
social environment by putting the interests of human beings and nature
at the centre of its concerns.
A review of what Canada's ruling class has to say about
Trump's
threats and how to deal with them shows that even when it comes to the
economy, some facts and figures about what Canada and the provinces
trade and with whom are randomly thrown out in a manner that in no way
goes to the heart of
the matter of the relations involved which would illustrate Canada's
subservience to the United States. Despite the terms used about "free
trade," "fair relations," "dispute resolution mechanisms," and the
like, the fact remains that the majority of what goes out is comprised
of Canada's raw materials and resources, given away for a song, and
what comes in are consumer products, many made from the very same
resources. A recent absurd example making the rounds is that
Ontario's blueberries, sold at a high price in Canada when fresh, if
they can be found at all, are exported to the United States, frozen and
then imported and sold as frozen blueberries!
It is significant that Canada has de facto
never been permitted by the United States to engage in manufacturing
based on the needs of its people for a self-reliant economy.
Far from Canada's economy being independent, unlike the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other developed capitalist countries, Canada does not produce its main means of production. During the COVID pandemic, the government would not even focus on supporting Canadian initiatives to make our own face masks, let alone vaccines and other necessities required to fight the pandemic. Its pay-the-rich schemes handed over billions of dollars of borrowed money to U.S. Big Pharma on which Canadians have to pay mounds of interest.
The privatization of health care, education, child care and private seniors' homes; the subsidies given to mining concerns, many of them foreign, for critical minerals; and the construction of communications, transportation, energy and security corridors are all at the expense of Canadians and their natural and social environment. In fact, the same is the case in the United States.
None of this is spoken about while a lot is said about the need to respond to Trump's threats and the measures he is expected to impose by defending Canada's sovereignty, its independence, its identity, its values and the like.
What does it all mean?
It
means that in both the U.S. and Canada it is a matter of who controls
the decision-making power which is not the working class and people. In
Canada, it is not the Parliament or provincial legislatures, or the
Quebec National Assembly either, nor the Houses of Congress or state
legislatures in
the U.S. What unfolding events reveal is that the problem is not, in
fact, economic but political. In both Canada and the United States, the
reason of state as enshrined in the Constitutions of both countries,
has always been to protect the supreme power from the people. This
supreme power has now
been usurped by the most narrow supranational private interests with
everything the peoples of the world have come to expect of a democracy
unravelling faster and faster.
This can be seen not only in the role Elon Musk, the richest billionaire in the world, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the second richest billionaire in the world, and their ilk, play in destroying governance as people expect it to function in the United States. This is also the case in Canada, where the narrowest private interests advise the Prime Minister how to set policy, adopt budgets and take decisions. This can be seen in the composition of the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations established by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in January to deal with Donald Trump's threats.
The fact that contestants for the Liberal leadership have to put up $350,000 to qualify for nomination, all of which goes into Liberal coffers, with the exception of $50,000 they get to keep for their own campaigns, speaks volumes about who rules in this country.
Silly responses to Trump's threats include claims that U.S. officials must be convinced that tariffs will harm both countries or imply that the dangers the U.S. faces do not come from Canada but from Mexico. (This is to ensure there is no discussion that dangers come to both Canada and Mexico from the U.S.) There are also those who give vapid lectures à la Elizabeth May which are stunningly uninformed when it comes to how precisely Canada's system of representation works. (She mocks Trump for not knowing that Canada's democratic system does "not elect Prime Ministers" – and ain't that the sure proof of democracy if ever there was one!)
None of what is said makes the least effort to inform Canadians of what the ensemble of relations which exist between humans and humans and between humans and nature reveal at this time in history. As are all countries, the United States and Canada are caught up in a turning point which requires a modern outlook on the basis of which their people and societies and countries can find their bearings and make decisions which favour them by humanizing the natural and social environment and humanity itself.
The reason of state and the forms of rule as they exist at present are facing a profound existential crisis because they no longer hide the anti-people aims and actions of the ruling class. The majority of its champions who enjoy positions of power and privilege cannot even express a thought which makes sense under the circumstances.
Yes, we
need to defend Canada's sovereignty but what does it mean?
The one which swears allegiance to the King of England or the one which
genuflects to the person of state in the U.S. who has declared himself
King of Kings?
In the absence of a state and forms of rule which can turn
things around in the peoples' favour, how will bickering over how much
more of Canada there is to give away, and for how much and at what
speed, make a difference? Trade wars lead to wars. Given the serious
competition between the oligopolies which have usurped the state power
in the United States, and that they act with impunity, and the fact
that this spills over into Canada's economic and political affairs, how
long should Canadians believe invasions can be staved off, of Mexico
and, why not, even of Canada? It is not reasonable to not
consider the reality as it is, not as we wish it to be. The working
class and people of this country must prepare now by taking measures
which keep the U.S. striving to take over Canada holus bolus in check.
In
this regard, "Buy Canadian" makes sense when talking about dairy and
poultry but even on that front of our own system of supply management,
Canadians are not informed about what is Canadian and what is not.
Significantly, the interests of agri-business are being put in place to
decide what constitutes "free trade" on every front. Canadian
small farmers have no say. Prairie wheat farmers know exactly what
happened to the best marketing board in the world when it comes to
wheat and so too on all other fronts of vital interest to Canadians.
Take the example of the "free trade" agreements between Canada and the United States. First came the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) "negotiated" by the Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987, signed in 1988, with the alleged goal of eliminating all tariffs on trade between the two countries.
This was then superseded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed into law by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1994. Despite the nationwide opposition by Canadians during the 1993 elections, Chrétien claimed the elections provided him with a mandate, whereupon he invented the "Team Canada" junkets around the world to make Canadian monopolies "number one" in the world. Without even bothering to inform Canadians what happened to that marketing campaign, the current Liberal government is again touting a "Team Canada" approach. What is the aim? What does it even mean?
NAFTA created one of the largest trade blocs in the world by GDP. Its purpose was also said to be to eliminate all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment between the parties. Reports inform that it eliminated tariffs on all industrial and most agricultural products imported from the United States with few exceptions. Under the terms of NAFTA, tariffs and tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) remain in place on dairy and poultry tariff lines.
In September 2018, under the first Trump Administration, NAFTA was replaced with a revised CUSMA/TMEC/USMCA agreement which was ratified in March 2020. Global Affairs Canada specifically said that "CUSMA maintains NAFTA's tariff-free market access for goods traded between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."
A tariff is a tax on the import or export of goods between countries. Tariffs are a form of foreign trade regulation and a policy that taxes foreign products in order to promote or protect domestic industry. They are also specific to each trade relation between the country of export and the country of import.
Pursuant to CUSMA, Article 5.2, an importer is permitted to complete a CUSMA certification of origin in support of a claim for preferential tariff treatment. It is a complicated process to determine the country of origin of a product in terms of resource extraction and the manufacturing process (e.g. turning raw logs into furniture). (To see what the process entails, go to the Canada Border Services Agency page, "Certifying the origin of goods," click here.)
Given all that is said and done on this issue of tariffs, with all the threats and counter-threats, a legitimate question the government of Canada should be expected to answer would seem to be whether imposing tariffs is legal under the terms of CUSMA/TMEC/USMCA? If it is not, what are the legal recourses open to Canada and Mexico? Should an illegal imposition of illegal tariffs and a declaration of impunity not nullify CUSMA/TMEC/USMCA?
The Agreement included a mandatory review to take place in 2026. Specifically, the "review and term extension" clause established a 16-year life cycle that requires all three countries to sit down every six years to ensure all are still satisfied. If it runs out in 2026 without a consensus, it will trigger a "self-destruct mechanism," ensuring the Agreement would expire 10 years later.
Should the U.S. declaration of impunity not trigger the "self-destruct mechanism" effective immediately?
The way the government of Canada, politicians, premiers, pundits of all kinds and monopoly-owned media are approaching the entire issue of Trump's attempt to smash all barriers to acting with impunity comes under the rubric of how decision-making takes place in Canada (and in the United States for that matter). Who controls the decision-making process, in whose favour are decisions taken, what is the role of Canadian or U.S. citizens in this decision-making process? How does the system of representation make sure the working class and people have no role whatsoever in taking the decisions which affect their lives?
Trump's aim may be to force an early review of CUSMA/TMEC/USMCA for purposes of bullying Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the deal by giving up whatever the U.S. President says they must give up. But then this precisely underscores the fact that the main aim is to annex Canada and Mexico altogether. Trump says Canada must become the 51st state. This is misleading. What he wants is for Canada to become one more U.S. territory where, like Puerto Rico, the people are not bona fide citizens with equal rights when it comes to casting ballots or receiving benefits of any kind. "No burdens please."
The Need for a Modern Nation-State
While the repercussions of Donald Trump's threats appear to be economic, in fact the fundamental problem is political. Canadians and Quebeckers are saddled with old forms of representation which vest the sovereign decision-making authority in a person-of-state which does not answer to the people in any way, shape or form. The people require new forms of state organization beginning with modern constitutions which clearly vest the decision-making authority in the people so that they can take decisions in their own name, not ruling elites with privilege and power. No longer must the people hand over their decision-making power to others who act in the people's name but then betray the people's interests.
At this time those who call themselves peoples' sovereign representatives represent a fictitious person-of-state who rules over the people to advance the private interests of the ruling class, not the interests as defined and established by the people themselves. While the rulers speak of wanting to take a united position, their positions are divisive at a time when the political unity of the Canadian working class and people is needed.
The birth of a nation is a long process. Some aspects of it
are
consciously carried out, but it is mainly a spontaneous process
which concerns how peoples define themselves in the course of
tackling with life itself. The
birth of a nation-state, on the other hand, is a political act to
deal
with specific political conditions. At this time, the working
class and people find
themselves in
a situation in which the federal government along with the
provincial governments deny
their collective rights, along with those of Quebec to have its
own
nation-state and the hereditary rights of the Indigenous Peoples
to their own way of
life and rule, not subject to the decisions of the Canadian state.
In other words, what is required is the birth of the political power of the Canadian people and of the people of Quebec as collectives who wield their own decision-making powers and recognize the hereditary rights of the Indigenous Peoples. This will smash the chains imposed on the people of this country, including on the Quebec nation by the Canadian federal state, with the cooperation of those in positions of privilege and power throughout the federation who oppose the birth of the peoples' political power in Canada and Quebec.
The creation of a nation-state is an extremely conscious act. The founding declaration of such a nation-state must be based on and reflect the most advanced experience in nation-building. It must unite all those participating in nation-building and not divide them. A declaration about the formation of a political state must not be confounded with declarations about shared values, beliefs, social objectives and the like. The founding declaration of a nation-state is simply a solemn announcement by a collective that it is exercising its inalienable right to establish its own political power.
A
solemn declaration about the formation of the nation-state should
strictly be a legal political document, which describes the new polity
in terms of the fundamental principles which will guide all its laws,
including the fundamental law to be contained in the constitution. It
should speak
concretely and consciously about the legal process to establish a state
which will be sovereign and independent. At the same time, it should
provide a framework in which all people can decide what system they may
want to have. People may decide to have one system at one time and
another system at
another time. Far from decreeing what kind of system people must
espouse, a founding declaration, in its spirit and letter, should
provide freedom of conscience in the true sense of the word, the
freedom from which all other freedoms stem.
If the fundamental law recognizes that all members of society have claims on society by virtue of their being human, many problems -- such as the problems of poverty, homelessness, and the lack of access to a modern standard of education and health care -- will also disappear. A society consciously organized to create a human environment will protect the natural environment as a condition for achieving the former.
The significance is that the federal and provincial governments, cartel party leaders, cartel party politicians, pundits and media are using Donald Trump's threats as a means to provide themselves with legitimacy to do whatever the narrow private interests who direct them want. Workers should demand that this entire cabal desist from this path. Instead of building political unity on the basis of aims which serve the people, it causes divisions among the people. It will further incite trade wars which lead to wars, whether against Canada or other fraternal peoples, or wars which embroil everyone.
To empower themselves, the workers of Canada and Quebec should actively carry out their own program to build political unity and embark on nation-building. The need for political renewal is paramount at this time so that the people can deliberate and decide on all matters of concern.
Change the Direction of the Economy by Getting Canada Out of CUSMA, Now!
Manufacturing in Canada, Yes! Integration into the U.S. War Economy, No!
Safeguard Canada's System of Supply Management for Dairy and Poultry
and Reinstate One for Wheat, All Grains, Canola, Pork, Beef
and Everything Else Canada Produces!
Police Powers of Any Government, No!
Get Canada Out of NATO and NORAD!
It Can Be Done!
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 1 - January 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550012.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca