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What to Expect from the Speech from The Throne Speculation on What the Throne Speech Will ContainThere is much speculation as to what the Speech from The Throne will contain. The Liberals are consulting with every "stakeholder,"[1] from lobbyists, to bankers, to representatives of big business and Chambers of Commerce, to the heads of big unions which support them. The media report that, in the end, when it is delivered, the government's "new agenda" will focus on "three main areas: further measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 and avoid another nation-wide lockdown; to help Canadians stay afloat while the pandemic continues; and longer-term measures to structurally rebuild the ravaged economy."[2]
By
all accounts Trudeau and his Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland are
haunted by inequality on one hand, and the striving of the people for
empowerment on the other. Exhibiting unparalleled hubris, their
pretense is such that they claim they can overcome the trend of the
rich becoming richer and the poor poorer by nurturing an elite group of
decision-makers -- a "social plutocracy" who know how to foster a
"middle class" and what's best for everyone. Anyone who does not fall
in line they rail against as dangerous extremists from the
"left"
or the "right" to be subjected to civil death. "'We are living in an age of surging income inequality, particularly between those at the very top and everyone else,' she said in a speech in 2013, about five months before winning a seat in the House of Commons for Trudeau's party, which was then in opposition. "Freeland, while not ultra-wealthy, has been part of that same globe-trotting elite since her career as an editor at the Reuters news service and the Financial Times."[4] The slogan Trudeau is repeating from the playbook he has been given by the financial oligarchs is "Build Back Better," which is also Joe Biden's campaign slogan in the U.S. presidential election. With an emphasis on massive investments for a "green recovery," a claim is made of a rebirth of capitalism without addressing any of the real problems of the economy, the natural or social environment or causes for inequality, which is the ever-greater exploitation of the working class and oppression of Indigenous peoples, women, the most vulnerable and the peoples of the world. The irony is that it is what the Trudeau Liberals have repeated ever since they came to power in 2015, when they defeated the NDP in the very last week of the campaign with a surprise announcement of deliberate deficit-spending, often referred to today as "expansionist economics." "Expansionist economics" is said to be where the production of goods and services is expanded by the state spending massive amounts of money to boost demand and at the same time facilitate investment. The mantra is that there is no need to worry about how to pay back the loans because the economy will sort itself out on its own. It is disinformation to cover up the policy to pay the rich in every conceivable way. This is not discussed. Even Trump is credited with implementing an "expansionist economic policy" and all of them, whether from the "left" or the "right" are in denial that the results we have today are due to these pay-the-rich policies.[5] The appropriate political answer to the program to pay the rich is Nation-Wrecking No! Stop Paying the Rich; Increase Investments in Social Programs![6] Notes1. "The Neo-Liberal Definition of a 'Stakeholder,'" TML Weekly Supplement, September 5, 2020. 2. "Trudeau opens throne speech consultations with opposition leaders," Canadian Press, September 17, 2020. 3. "Lobbyists eye 'high stakes' throne speech as opportunity for client interests in Liberal reset," Samantha Wright Allen, Hill Times, August 26, 2020. 5. An article in The Economist in April by Mark Carney, former governor of first the Bank of Canada and until recently the Bank of England, set out his views on the post-COVID economy -- crucially, on the potential for the gap to narrow between market values and what people value. The crisis will accelerate the fragmentation of the global economy with travel restricted until a vaccine is found and applied, Carney said. Debt will inhibit the capacity for corporate growth and private dynamism could be restrained by too deep a relationship with the state. COVID has reinforced the lesson of the 2008 financial crisis that resilience will be valued. There will be lasting consequences for sectors that rely on aggressive household borrowing or a booming housing market. Carney concluded that we have moved from a market economy to a market society, where an asset has to be in a market to be valued (for example, Amazon the company has a value; Amazon the region does not, until it can be farmed). "The price of everything becomes the value of everything. The crisis could help reverse that relationship," Carney wrote, citing climate change as the greatest test of this new hierarchy of values. 6. See also "Appropriate Demand for Upcoming Speech from The Throne: Stop Paying the Rich; Increase Investments in Social Programs!" TML Weekly, September 12, 2020.
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"Liberal
insiders" told Reuters that the government telegraphed some of its
priorities to lobbyists. Thus, "most should already have a pretty good
idea of what the major themes are, like greening the economy,
infrastructure spending, childcare reform, health care (including
long-term care homes and pharmacare), and addressing the 'she-cession'
-- where the pandemic has particularly affected women's jobs. It should
include major reforms to the social welfare system and a more concerted
effort to tackle climate change."[