Matters of Concern to the Polity

Talk of Protecting Elections from Foreign
Interference Seeks to Lead Canadians
Down a Rabbit Hole

- Anna Di Carlo -

"For the first time ever, our security agencies will provide direct security briefings to key members of national political campaigns," Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale told reporters on January 30, when the Liberal government announced its Election Incident Public Protocol. On the same day, in an interview aired on CPAC, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould said, "The other thing that I want to highlight because I think it's important for Canadians to know, [...] each political party leader will be getting secret level security clearance and they will also be able to designate two or three of their top officials to receive the security clearance and those conversations are ongoing and underway."

The website of the Ministry of Democratic Institutions, which is contained within the Privy Council Office, makes it clear that not "each political party leader" will be getting high security clearance, as Gould suggests. It says "the Privy Council Office (PCO), will sponsor security clearances for individuals from the political parties represented in the House of Commons." It further explains that the "classified threat briefings to key leadership in political parties [will] promote situational awareness and help them to strengthen internal security practices and behaviours" and "build their awareness of foreign-influenced activities in Canada." The briefings will be provided by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The Liberals claim that putting the police and intelligence agencies in charge of the electoral process is to protect the 2019 Federal Election from foreign interference. In her interview on CPAC, Karina Gould was asked: "Are you confident that there will be efforts to undermine the process [in 2019]?" She answered, "Look, we are a NATO member, we're a member of the G7, we're a member of the Five Eyes. It would be naïve of us to assume that we are not at risk. What we are doing is taking these risks seriously [...] we're prepared for whatever threats may arise and we have a plan in place that's across the government [...] to assure Canadians that we're doing everything that we can to protect our elections."

All of this talk about the dangers posed by foreign interference takes the discussion about Canada's democracy down a rabbit hole. It frustrates accountability and undermines the rule of law by justifying exceptional measures and blocking the polity from having a say in matters of concern. Most importantly, it diverts the attention of the polity from the need for the democratic renewal of the political process so that the people can control the decisions which affect their lives. Nay more, the domination of the polity by a political police makes activities that take up the need to create new arrangements potentially unlawful, notwithstanding claims that "legitimate" opinion and "legitimate" dissent will be permitted. It creates a system in which it is the political police who decide what is and is not "legitimate," not the people.

This democracy called representative is in dire need of renewal -- an act which the people need to carry out to meet the challenges of our times where it is the producers who need to position themselves to control the products of their own labour. As for the ruling circles, they have no argument to justify what cannot be justified. They repeat the "red scare" of the Cold War which was designed to mobilize the peoples of the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia and former colonies in defence of their "civilized" democracy against alleged totalitarian regimes. The people are supposed to forget about their own demands and aspirations, their own thinking about how to guarantee peace, democracy and freedom for themselves and the peoples of the entire world.

The so-called security briefings of a select few at the head of political campaigns further show the extent to which the political parties which form the cartel party system have been integrated into the state apparatus. The select few, of course, consider it a privilege "to serve" and pledge their loyalty to such a worthy cause. Whatever one wants to call it, it certainly has nothing to do with democracy!

Canadians demand and the polity requires the elimination of the role of privilege in elections in order to provide a genuinely "equal playing field." For decades Canadians have been decrying the present political process for its failure to enable them to control the decision-making process that affects their lives. Their demand for political renewal to have a better system of representation has instead been met with a myriad of reforms that only strengthen the role of privilege within the political process. The Trudeau Liberals came to power with the promise of changing the method of voting but after token "consultations" they declared that Canadians are not interested in changing anything. They blithely abandoned all claims in this regard. Instead, the entire system is now overtly turned over to the political police at the instigation of NATO, its Atlantic Council and the Five Eyes. It shows that it was not Canadians they were listening to but the political police!

The hallmark of this Liberal government is thus going to be the crimes it has committed and continues to commit against the polity at home and the peoples abroad in the name of "protecting democracy" and "upholding the rule of law."

This article was published in

Volume 49 Number 4 - February 9, 2019

Article Link:
Matters of Concern to the Polity: Talk of Protecting Elections from Foreign Interference Seeks to Lead Canadians Down a Rabbit Hole - Anna Di Carlo

    

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