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June 27, 2020 - No. 23
Matters
of Concern to the Polity
Pay-the-Rich
Schemes to
"Revive the Economy"
• For
a New Direction for the Economy
• Public
Infrastructure
Spending Programs to Pay the Rich
and Sustain Class Privilege and Control
- K.C. Adams -
• Shady
Moves at Alberta Investment
Management Corporation
- Dougal
MacDonald -
For Your Information
• C.D.
Howe Institute
Communiqué #8
-
Excerpts -
Police Killings Require Redress
• Dangerous
Criminalization
of Social and Political Affairs
• Police
Killing
of Ejaz Choudry
- Steve
Rutchinski -
• Protests
Continue
to Demand Justice in Choudry Killing
- Frank
Chilelli -
• Ottawa
Demonstration
Against Police Brutality and Impunity
U.S. Cuba Policy
• The
United States Is Naked Without a
Fig Leaf
- Arthur
González -
30th Anniversary of the Defeat of the Meech Lake
Accord
• Political
and
Constitutional Renewal Has Never Been More
Urgent
- Christine
Dandenault -
SUPPLEMENT
• Protests
Against Racism, Police
Brutality,
Killings and Impunity Continue
Pay-the-Rich Schemes to
"Revive the Economy"
The amount of debt the federal and other
governments are incurring under the conditions of
the pandemic is
alarming as both the lenders and governments
expect Canadians to pay
back the debts incurred at great cost to
themselves. Ruling elites can
achieve this only if they succeed in disempowering
the working people
from having any say whatsoever on the decisions
which affect their
lives. Towards this end they are concentrating
more decision-making
powers in ever fewer private hands to increase
their ability to dictate
wages and working conditions, destroy unions and
collective
decision-making bodies and any remnants of public
institutions at every
level. At a time Canadians are demanding an end to
"business-as-usual"
post-pandemic, already governments are preparing
to implement more
so-called austerity measures and anti-worker
restructuring because that
is the neo-liberal mantra on the basis of which
the rich get richer and
the poor get poorer.
The brutal anti-social offensive unleashed in the
early nineties of the last century after free
trade was launched in the
mid eighties has always been justified under the
claim that there is no
alternative to paying the rich. At the beginning
of the wave of
anti-social measures taken under neo-liberalism,
the claim was made
that deficits and the resulting debts were
incurred due to bad policies
of governments that were on a spending binge to
finance the social
welfare state. The logic was that Canadians were
"living high off the
hog" and that, as a result, they now had to pay
for their middle class
lifestyle. Today, the conditions of pandemic are
cited to justify the
borrowing and not a few are fooled into believing
that the borrowing by
the state is to finance "public spending on social
programs." Some go
so far as to say "Keynesian measures" are required
to face the current
crisis which they compare to the crisis of the
1930s, or that we need a
new "New Deal" to create jobs and save the economy
and so on.
The fact is that deficits and borrowing were
incurred in the past to pay the rich and programs
to "eliminate the
deficit and pay down the debt" had the same aim.
Today both the lenders
which represent colossal narrow private interests
and the borrowers in
their service consider the current crisis a
windfall of unprecedented
proportions for which they believe the people will
happily pay.
In discussing the borrowing and new debt which is
being incurred in conditions of the pandemic, it
is useful to review
why debts are incurred in the first place and what
they finance.
The National Debt
The national debt is the total financial
liabilities of the federal government. In 1998 it
stood at over $583.2
billion. This translated into a debt of $19,250
for every man, woman
and child in Canada. If the debts of the
provincial governments are
added to that total, then every child born in 1998
came into the world
burdened with a debt of over $26,000. Since
2007-08, combined federal
and provincial debt has grown from $837 billion to
a projected $1.5
trillion in 2019-20. This is equal to 64.3 per
cent of Canada's Gross
Domestic Product and represents a debt of $39,483
for every man, woman
and child.
From 1997 to 2008, through broad cutbacks in the
financing of social programs and other measures of
the anti-social
offensive, the federal government managed to pay
down its debt by $92.7
billion. But from 2008 to 2019, it has nearly
tripled the amount of
debt that it repaid in the mid-1990s to late
2000s.
Since 1946, the government of Canada has paid
more
every year on debt servicing than the annual
deficit. It has paid $523
billion in debt service charges from 1946 to 1998
and an estimated $620
billion from 1998 to 2017.
It will be important to go to the heart of the
matter today as governments incur stupendous
amounts of debt in the
name of protecting the well-being of Canadians and
saving the economy.
- K.C. Adams -
Business pundits of the C.D. Howe Institute have
been advising the federal government on how to
defend the private
interests of the rich during the pandemic. They
formed a Crisis Working
Group on Business Continuity and Trade and have
now issued eight
communiqués. The latest is called, Accelerate
Infrastructure
Projects and Adapt Restructuring Processes.
Their concern is based on their social class
being
as members within the ruling imperialist
oligarchy. No one could doubt
their sincerity in serving their cause to preserve
and defend the
immense social wealth and class privilege of their
peers and their
control of the country's economic and political
affairs. The President
of the C.D. Howe Institute William B.P. Robson
writes, "Among the
highlights of the C.D. Howe Institute's work over
the years are
liberalization of trade and investment in North
America."
 Liberalization
signifies imperialist globalization, the
anti-social offensive against
the well-being and rights of the people, and the
greater integration of
Canada's economic, political and military affairs
into the U.S.-led
imperialist system of states. A significant aspect
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.
The C.D. Howe Institute says its "impact" is such
that its writings are "a pre-eminent source of
trusted policy
intelligence" and "required reading amongst senior
decision-makers from
coast to coast." The C.D. Howe Institute boasts
that its "policy
intelligence has laid the intellectual ground for
such achievements as
the development of continental free trade and
ending the unsustainable
deficits of the 1970s and 1980s."
The C.D. Howe Institute is a loud and prominent
voice amongst the ruling elite for the anti-social
offensive of the
last three decades in favour of the imperialist
oligarchy and against
the broad interests of working people. The C.D.
Howe Institute provides
arguments to dissuade intellectuals in particular
from participating
consciously in uniting with working people in acts
of finding a new
direction for the economy that serves the
well-being of the people and
leads to solving the contradiction between the
socialized nature of the
modern economy and its continued control by
powerful competing private
interests and the resulting recurring economic
crises. The existence of
the C.D. Howe Institute and its influence
underscore the necessity for
the working class to have its own institutions
that encourage working
people including intellectuals to participate
consciously in acts to
find a way forward for the people and society and
develop their own
thinking, theory and ideology by engaging in acts
to build the New.
Infrastructure to Pay the Rich
Communiqué #8 of the C.D. Howe Crisis
Working Group demands federal funds be forthcoming
to "provide
much-needed stimulus and help Canada's economy
recover from the
COVID-19 crisis." A persistent emphasis is on
public funding of large
infrastructure projects to pay the rich.
Infrastructure is an indispensable social means
of
production used by all sectors and enterprises in
the collective
economy. The value from infrastructure is
distributed widely throughout
the socialized economy and should likewise be
fully and objectively
realized.
Fixed infrastructure such as roads and bridges is
similar to machines and buildings; it transfers
its value over time to
users. The fixed transferred-value arising from
the use of
infrastructure can be scientifically identified
and related to those
enterprises and means of production that need, use
and consume the
value.
Circulating infrastructure such as water and
electricity transfers its value in identifiable
amounts, which are used
and fully consumed. The circulating
transferred-value can be identified
and related to those enterprises and means of
production that need, use
and consume the value. The circulating
transferred-value market value
should be close to the price of production for the
quantity consumed.
Communiqué #8 recommends amongst other
things: "Stimulus through accelerated
infrastructure spending --
specifically: the possible role of infrastructure
spending to boost
depressed aggregate demand...."
In addition, "broadband connectivity is
a critical 'backbone' for long-term national
prosperity. [...]
To guide future national infrastructure
priorities, Canada needs a
national strategic assessment to identify those
infrastructure
investments that would boost long-run economic
growth...."
"In order to employ idle industrial capacity and
trades, governments should consider accelerating
spending on those
public infrastructure projects that boost long-run
Canadian
productivity."
The C.D. Howe Institute recognizes
infrastructure's role in boosting productivity and
seeks to use that
necessity as a means to enrich private interests
writing: "Facing a
protracted recovery in private-sector
non-residential investment,
Canada should seize this near-term opportunity to
address its
maintenance backlog for aging public
infrastructure assets -- for
example, repairing the large shares of bridges,
roads and linear water
infrastructure that are in poor condition (i.e.,
at or past projected
life)."
 This is all well
and good but
the C.D. Howe Institute fails to identify who will
profit from this
"near-term opportunity." These projects will all
become
public/private/partnerships under the control of
some of the biggest
private enterprises and cartels. This includes not
only the private
expropriation of added-value directly by the big
private construction
companies but the private financing of these
infrastructure projects by
the global imperialist oligarchy through their
purchase of government
securities. The Institute's policies seek to
defend the control and
ownership of the main sectors and enterprises of
the Canadian economy
by the imperialist oligarchy.
The C.D. Howe Institute does not concretely
analyze the central role of critical
infrastructure in the modern
economy and the necessity of a new pro-social
direction. Infrastructure
serving the economy generates enormous value and
is crucial to all
sectors and enterprises. The building and
maintenance of infrastructure
must be through public enterprise under the
management and control of
working people accountable to the public. All
public and private
enterprises must realize (pay for) the value they
use from
infrastructure in a transparent way. For this to
happen, infrastructure
must be in the hands of the working people and
under their control as
public enterprise with the value they create and
subsequently realize
invested back in the infrastructure and in other
ways to develop the
local and national economy.
The imperialist oligarchy eyes infrastructure as
a
means to skin the ox many times. First the
infrastructure is necessary
for the economy and all its enterprises and
institutions. Second,
although ostensibly said to be public, the money
is borrowed from the
financial oligarchy and becomes part of the public
debt to the
imperialists. Third, the big construction cartels,
many of them
headquartered outside Canada profit directly from
the construction of
the projects. Those private enterprises are
guaranteed payment and
profit and do not have to wait to have the value
in the infrastructure
they build realized through sale or its protracted
use. Fourth, the big
private enterprises throughout the economy benefit
from the cheap price
they pay for the use of the infrastructure under
the hoax of
"industrial" pricing to attract investors.
The Infrastructure Pay-the-Rich Virtuous Circle
The federal government's infrastructure program
to
pay the rich, which the C.D. Howe Institute
demands be expanded
immediately during the current crisis, has four
main components that
can be summed up as follows.
1. The Bank of Canada begins the process with the
purchase of securities held by the global
financial oligarchy. Some of
the corporate bonds contain mortgages and other
loans owned by the
private financial institutions and biggest
corporations. Many of the
mortgages and loans contained within the bonds are
now coming under
stress from the economic crisis and may collapse.
The Bank of Canada
has said the amount it may purchase could reach
$150 billion and will
include the purchase of bonds held by provincial
and other levels of
government. In addition, the public Canada
Mortgage and Housing
Corporation (CMHC) has announced the purchase of
$50 billion worth of
mortgages held currently by the big banks. The
rationale behind all
this public money pouring into the coffers of
global oligarchs is that
the private moneylenders will now invest in the
troubled economy but in
fact those same global financial institutions are
buying guaranteed
government securities.
2. The financial oligarchy takes the public money
from the Bank of Canada and CMHC from the purchase
of its securities
and buys the now even more plentiful government
bonds, as the federal
and other government deficits have soared. These
purchases become a
safe haven for the social wealth of the oligarchs
during the crisis
where other investment opportunities have dried up
or have become too
risky. The guaranteed government bonds even pay
interest.
3. The government takes the private money it
borrows from the financial oligarchy through the
sale of its securities
and puts a portion of the money towards financing
infrastructure
projects. This becomes the seed money to begin
construction.
4. The government enlists the private global
construction cartels to build the infrastructure
projects. Those
companies do not have to raise the financing
themselves or worry about
selling the finished project. The government gives
them the
construction money as the projects proceed, which
includes a healthy
profit. This activity is all guaranteed by the
government, including
exorbitant prices the private construction cartels
charge to complete
the projects.
5. Once built, the main users of the public means
of production (the roads, bridges, electricity
etc), which are the big
private enterprises in the economy, do not have to
pay the full market
price for the value of the portion of the
infrastructure they consume,
as they are given preferential concocted
"industrial" rates.
 This virtuous
circle explains how the federal government's
infrastructure plan called
"Investing in Canada" pays the rich and
contributes to the ever greater
concentration of wealth and power in fewer hands.
The federal
government in 2019 committed $187 billion in
infrastructure funding
over 12 years. The C.D. Howe Institute insists the
recent crisis should
prompt the government to spend even more and more
quickly not only on
new projects but on maintaining and upgrading
existing infrastructure.
Canadians are directed and browbeaten not to
object to this direction for the economy, as it
"provides jobs and the
infrastructure" so sorely needed. But a new
direction is exactly what
is needed to bring the economy under the control
of the people who do
the work and prevent recurring crises and solve
other social and
natural problems. A new direction for the economy
would prohibit
government borrowing from private institutions. A
new direction would
construct, maintain and manage public
infrastructure using permanent
public construction enterprises. It would ensure
that the value from
the infrastructure is fully realized by the public
and private
enterprises that use and consume the value and
that this value would be
poured back into the economy and not be taken out
by the rich to some
tax haven or other place.
The C.D. Howe Institute Attempts to Justify
Public Money
Flowing to Private Interests
The communiqué says, "Public spending
is economically justified where the net benefits
to society exceed the
costs of the outlays. The private sector is well
equipped to deliver
projects that will yield profits across the life
of the asset. In
contrast, governments justifiably deliver or
contribute to capital
investments when a project provides benefits for
society that exceed
the net present value that would accrue to a
private owner."
This gobbledygook is totally self-serving. The
"net benefits to society" are in fact pay-the-rich
infrastructure
schemes that benefit the financial oligarchy and
guarantee their
continued privilege and existence. A modern
economy needs extensive
infrastructure to exist. The C.D. Howe Institute
wants public funds to
be used when "the net benefits to society exceed
the costs of the
outlay" while the private sector delivers
"projects that yield profits
across the life of the asset." The C.D. Howe
Institute posits "net
benefits to society" in contrast to private
profits. If the private
profits were public profits would that not be a
net benefit to society?
The public could justly argue that the
expropriation of private profits benefitting a few
oligarchs is a
detriment to society and a drag on the economy
especially within the
current necessity to build a self-reliant
all-sided local economy that
is free of recurring economic crises, which could
be characterized as a
modern nation-building project. Those private
profits are needed as
"net benefits to society" for a vigorous all-sided
economy that has the
necessary means for increased investments in
social programs, extended
reproduction of the economy as a whole and to
humanize the social and
natural environment.
The C.D. Howe Institute attempts to justify the
continuation of private profit in a situation
where big projects and
development cannot occur without public funds and
pay-the-rich schemes.
This outmoded direction for the economy ensures
that no project of any
size can proceed without a pay-the-rich component
from the pooled funds
of the state, which mostly come from taxes on
working people and small
and medium-sized enterprises. The C.D. Howe
Institute does not want to
move on to the New where public enterprise is the
deciding and driving
force in all the major sectors of the economy and
the working people
themselves are in control.
- Dougal MacDonald -
Alberta Investment Management Corporation
(AIMCo)
has hired Mark Wiseman, a former BlackRock
executive, as its new
chairperson, effective July 1. AIMCo is the
Alberta government-owned
investment fund that manages over $110 billion in
assets on behalf of
30 Alberta-based pension, endowment, government
and other clients.
BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager,
with $7.4 trillion in
assets under management as of the end of 2019.
 At BlackRock,
Wiseman served as global head of active equities
making him a potential
successor to CEO Larry Fink, BlackRock's founder.
However, BlackRock
fired Wiseman in December 2019 for violating a
company rule against
in-house relationships. It is not surprising that
AIMCo's new chair
comes from the omnipresent BlackRock which has
"assets under management
greater than the GDP of any country... and is a
major shareholder in
most of the top 300 corporations in North America
and Europe and a
co-owner in 17,309 companies and banks worldwide."[1] BlackRock is
the
world's largest investor in fossil fuels and
paying the energy industry
with public money is the United Conservative
Party's (UCP) main
economic strategy.
"BlackRock's power and authority come not just
from its sheer size, but from the fact that it
constitutes, as one
analyst puts it, a virtual 'fourth branch of
government.' From the
beginning, a key part of BlackRock's strategy has
been to recruit top
state officials from around the world on an 'in
and out' basis. One
year they might be working for government, the
next year for BlackRock."[2] Wiseman is a
clear example. He previously served as CEO of the
Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board from July 2012 to May 2016. He
was also a member of
the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, chaired
by Dominic Barton
which was created in 2016 ostensibly to counsel
Canadian Finance
Minister Bill Morneau. Barton is also closely
linked to BlackRock, as
well as to global management consulting firm
McKinsey, hired June 13 to
review Alberta's post-secondary education system.
On April 30, 2020, AIMCo's CEO shamelessly
confirmed AIMCo had lost $2.1 billion due to an
ill-advised bet on
market volatility. A key factor in that huge loss
was AIMCo's
significant investments in the volatile and risky
energy sector.
Progress Alberta found that AIMCo had invested
$1.1 billion from public
service workers' pensions in oil and gas firms
since 2016. Most of
those companies had lost significant value long
before the COVID-19
crisis and the fall of the oil price to record
lows.
AIMCo manages a portfolio of roughly $110
billion,
representing hundreds of thousands of Albertans'
pensions and
investments for Alberta Heritage Trust Fund,
Alberta Health Services
(AHS), and the Local Authorities Pension Plan
(LAPP). On January 2,
2020, the UCP government passed omnibus Bill 22,
transferring control
of the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund (ATRF),
along with funds for
the Workers' Compensation Board and AHS, to AIMCo.
Workers heavily
criticized the transfer, especially those whose
pensions were directly
affected.
Alberta teachers were not consulted about Bill 22
even though about $18 billion would be moved from
the ATRF to AIMCo by
the end of 2021. Alberta Teachers' Association
president Jason
Schilling said the losses underline why teachers
were concerned about
the transfer. "[With the ATRF], we have a say when
it comes to these
sorts of things," Schilling said. "When our asset
management is moved
to AIMCo, we would no longer have that say."
Schilling could have gone
further and asked why should teachers' retirement
security depend on
the vagaries of the stock market which is
manipulated by the financial
oligarchy in their own interests? Teachers and
other workers should be
guaranteed their pensions under any and all
circumstances so they can
retire securely at a Canadian standard of living.
The pension money move to AIMCo is another
example
of how the UCP is trying to capture control of as
many large pools of
capital as possible and use them to pay the rich,
particularly in the
energy monopolies. This is the core of their plan
to "revive" the
Alberta economy. A stark example is the March 31
announcement that the
Alberta government was handing over U.S.$1.1
billion in public dollars
to TC Energy's Keystone XL pipeline as well as
providing a $6 billion
loan guarantee. This makes Albertans responsible
for about 85 per cent
of the cost of the pipeline which many have judged
as both risky and
unnecessary and which may never be built.
The UCP government unconvincingly claims that
AIMCo is "arms-length" from the government and
that the government has
no influence on its policies. This flies in the
face of such facts as
that recent laws introduced by the UCP give the
provincial finance
minister the power to reassign portions of AIMCo's
portfolio to a
manager of the government's choice. At present,
BlackRock alumnus Mark
Wiseman is that choice.
Notes
1. "BlackRock
--
The Super Cartel" by Peter Ewart, TML Weekly,
June
13, 2020.
2. Ibid.
For
Your Information
- Excerpts -
"Working group members pressed that government
should focus spending on 'framework'
infrastructure or assets with
clear positive externalities -- for example,
inter-regional power
transmission or demonstration-scale projects for
new technologies like
small modular nuclear reactors, hydrogen
production or carbon capture,
utilization and storage. The pandemic has also
underscored the value of
digital infrastructure in enabling economic
activity -- from
work-from-home to agricultural production to
education -- particularly
in rural and remote communities. The working group
emphasized the
deployment of broadband connectivity as a critical
'backbone' for
long-term national prosperity. While connecting
outlying regions may
not be presently profitable for private
investment, government should
consider support to accelerate capital outlays on
digital
infrastructure for remote communities where
long-term social benefits
exceed public costs."
"Working group members supported accelerated
delivery of infrastructure projects to support
recovery, provided
spending is targeted effectively to boost
productivity or align with
social and environmental policy objectives....
Working group members
see the post-crisis recovery as a key window for
governments to
accelerate delivery of infrastructure projects
that will enhance the
productivity and resilience of Canada's economy.
... As well, the size
of public spending to move the needle on aggregate
demand would be
significant. For example, $20 billion in spending
is equivalent to 1
per cent of Canada's GDP and any outlays in a
small open economy
involve 'leakage' (i.e., purchases of imports)."
[...]
"Government capital spending can substitute to
some degree for a downturn in private-sector
non-residential
construction. Construction activity has
significantly contracted during
the crisis, as shown by the 16 per cent decline in
construction
employment between February and May 2020. While
many job losses may be
driven by activity restrictions, dampened
investment intentions also
play a role. Non-residential building permit
applications have declined
dramatically: the seasonally adjusted value of
permits plunged by 44
per cent from December 2019 to April 2020 (see
Figure 1). This
pull-back anticipates continued weakness in
non-residential
construction activity.
"Looking ahead, aggregate private capital
investment in key export-focused sectors (e.g.,
petroleum and
manufacturing) could remain depressed given an
uncertain outlook for
demand. Commentators have also observed that
pandemic-driven delays and
associated cost overruns may force construction
firms into insolvency
and risk the failure of in-progress projects."
[...]
"Canadian construction firms face a significant
risk of falling behind and displacement if they
cannot seize this
moment to learn by doing and adapt to intensified
competition.
Large-scale and sustained capital investment
programs could provide
opportunity for Canadian engineering and
construction firms to reinvent
themselves." [...]
"Historically, spending on public infrastructure
has delivered significant benefits for Canadian
productivity. A study
by Gu and MacDonald (2009), published by
Statistics Canada, estimated
that investment in public infrastructure had
contributed to
approximately 10 percent of growth in labour
productivity between 1962
and 2006 (see Figure 2). The period from the 1960s
to early 1970s saw
significant government outlays on tangible,
non-residential capital
(see Figure 3) -- particularly engineering
construction (e.g., the
completion of the Trans-Canada Highway). The
delivery of this public
infrastructure complemented intensive
private-sector capital investment
and contributed significantly to the rapid growth
in labour
productivity during this period.
"Working group members stressed that access to
high-quality and reliable infrastructure is a
major factor in the
location decisions for many activities. For
example, in developing new
processing or manufacturing facilities, companies
are highly attuned to
access to transportation, power, digital
connectivity and water. Such
infrastructure determines a region's
competitiveness by influencing the
costs and speed of accessing upstream inputs and
getting product to
downstream markets.
"Working group members stressed that aligning
infrastructure spending with economic benefit
occurs at the project
level and requires rigorous evaluation of the
returns on particular
projects. Public spending is economically
justified where the net
benefits to society exceed the costs of the
outlays. The private sector
is well equipped to deliver projects that will
yield profits across the
life of the asset. In contrast, governments
justifiably deliver or
contribute to capital investments when a project
provides benefits for
society that exceed the net present value that
would accrue to a
private owner.
"A potential opportunity for rapid roll-out of
spending may be a backlog of maintenance and
repair on aging
infrastructure. Retrofits to extend useful service
life of existing
assets should be more rapid to plan and execute
than new projects. The
2019 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, based on
responses for the
2016 year through the Canadian Core Public
Infrastructure Survey, found
a significant share of public infrastructure
assets at significant or
advanced states of deterioration and approaching
or beyond expected
service life. In particular, the survey found that
16 per cent of
roads, 12 per cent of bridges and tunnels, 11 per
cent of wastewater
and stormwater pipes, and 16 per cent of roads and
tracks for public
transit were in poor or very poor condition.
"Ramping up infrastructure spending could be
viable through repair and maintenance initiatives,
for which
governments should have prioritized inventories
and execution plans.
Working group members highlighted that governments
may tend to focus on
'ribbon cutting' for new projects and neglect the
ongoing funding
required to maintain assets. If so, the
depreciation of these assets
will diminish the productivity contribution from
the earlier investment.
"The pandemic has also underscored the value of
digital infrastructure in enabling economic
activity -- from
work-from-home to agricultural production to
education -- particularly
in rural and remote communities. The working group
emphasized the
deployment of broadband connectivity as a critical
'backbone' for
long-term national prosperity. While connecting
outlying regions may
not be presently profitable for private
investment, government should
consider support to accelerate capital outlays on
digital
infrastructure for remote communities where
long-term social benefits
exceed public costs.
"Working group members also agreed that the
recovery presents an opportunity for 'no regrets'
acceleration of
investments in projects that will be required to
meet anticipated
social service demands, such as affordable housing
and long-term care
facilities. However, choices around projects must
be made carefully and
avoid displacing the role of market forces." [...]
"Working group members agree that government does
have a potential role to play in the sort of
'framework' infrastructure
that enables decarbonization. Infrastructure that
links markets is
distinct from assets used for commercial
production. For example,
infrastructure for long-distance interconnection
can help integrate
electricity markets between regions, increase the
viability of expanded
renewable generation and reduce costs for power
consumers. By providing
a critical link between producers and consumers,
such transmission
infrastructure may provide wider economic benefits
than would accrue to
a rate-regulated private owner. Government could
provide the funding
needed to meet private hurdle rates for projects
with public benefits.
Indeed, subsidizing the incremental social
benefits of private projects
is the exact role that the Canada Infrastructure
Bank (CIB) should
play. Additionally, government can play an
important role in supporting
demonstration-scale facilities to pilot
transformative new technologies
and provide learning-by-doing for future
industry-wide deployment. The
development of steam-assisted gravity drainage
(SAGD) by the publicly
funded Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research
Authority (AOSTRA)
provides an example...." [...]
"In the present context of facilitating Canada's
energy transition, working group members noted
small modular nuclear
reactors, hydrogen production, and carbon capture,
utilization and
storage (CCUS) as examples of pre-commercial
technologies where
government could valuably support
demonstrate-scale projects. As well,
working group members agree that adaptation to
climate change is an
appropriate focus for public expenditures.
Infrastructure that reduces
risks from extreme weather events presents a
classic 'public good' role
for government. Climate change is expected to
increase the physical
risks from variable weather patterns. For example,
infrastructure to
mitigate floods and droughts will be important as
communities
potentially face increasing variability in weather
patterns.
"Canada's lack of any regular and comprehensive
assessment of strategic infrastructure needs is a
gap in its ability to
effectively target spending. Such an assessment
would aim to identify
broad classes of public investments to (1) enable
incremental economic
benefits (e.g., through productivity gains) that
exceed the costs of
delivery and upkeep; and (2) support those public
services that align
with societal preferences and government
objectives. The United Kingdom
has established a National Infrastructure
Commission with a mandate to
publish a National Infrastructure Assessment once
during every
Parliament. The Commission's inaugural assessment,
published in July
2018, outlines a 30-year vision for the country's
infrastructure needs,
and is complemented by additional studies on
specific classes of
infrastructure and regional needs. Working group
members agree that any
national strategy must be reconciled with the
local and regional needs
that drive infrastructure priorities. As well,
governments face major
questions about how working-life adaptations
during the pandemic may
accelerate certain trends -- such as remote work
for certain
occupations that could dampen use of regional
transportation
infrastructure and place an additional premium on
high-speed digital
connectivity...."
"Working group members agreed that infrastructure
building in Canada faces a disconnect between
governments' fiscal
capacity and responsibility for infrastructure
delivery. Working group
members believe that, given immediate budgetary
stresses facing
provincial and municipal governments, the federal
government likely
will need to increase transfers for infrastructure
if local and
regional projects are to be delivered.
Nonetheless, certain working
group members see an immediate opportunity for
using federal funds to
'break logjams' between different municipal and
provincial governments
that have slowed the delivery of certain
projects."
For the complete Communiqué #8, click
here.
Note
Although dealing extensively with
infrastructure,
no mention is made anywhere in the entire
Communique #8 of the
necessity for the federal government to engage in
nation-to-nation
relations with Indigenous peoples to gain their
permission for
infrastructure or other projects that traverse or
are located in their
territories. This absence in the communique
betrays a colonial
mentality that is unacceptable in Canada.
Police Killings Require
Redress
Sign painted on the street outside Toronto Police
Headquarters as part
of actions demanding an end to police violence and
impunity.
The increased numbers of police killings
continue
to be a matter of great concern to the polity.
Calls for justice and
for an end to policy impunity and the racist
approach to policing are
ringing out while governments continue to skate
around the issue so as
to preserve their rule.
 The imperialist
criminalization of life has deeply affected the
country's economic,
political and social affairs and society's
institutions and social
fabric. The criminalization of life has extended
beyond politics into
social conditions and lifestyle. Criminalization
leads to police power
being employed to deal with problems such as
poverty; homelessness;
mental and other health issues and the right of
all to health care;
what people put into their bodies; the claims of
workers in the sale of
their capacity to work and terms of employment;
problems and
disagreements in education with methods and
curricula and how to affirm
the right to education; the opposition of people
to big projects with
which they may disagree on environmental or other
grounds; domestic
family and other disputes involving personal
affairs and relations
among the people; issues and struggles surrounding
the direction of the
economy, politics and society etc.
The list of problems, contradictions and
disagreements in economic and political affairs,
social relations and
society generally is endless. Their
criminalization is disastrous
leading to ever-increasing police power and
brutality and the
political, social and economic problems never
being resolved resulting
in ever-worsening crises, anarchy, violence and
war.
As the people struggle to empower themselves they
know the antidote is to increase investments in
social programs, public
services and enterprise to deal concretely with
the problems of modern
society and relations among the people; to stop
paying the rich; to
strive for equilibrium in the social relation at
the workplace between
the working class and employers; to make Canada a
zone for peace; and,
most importantly to empower the people politically
to allow the
democratic personality to emerge and open a path
to peace, freedom and
democracy and a new pro-social direction for the
economic and political
affairs of society.
In this issue, TML Weekly
reports on another police killing in Canada and
calls for justice in
Canada as well as the United States.
Vancouver protest against police violence and
impunity, June 19, 2020.
- Steve Rutchinski -
June 22, 2020 rally demanding justice for Ejaz.
Ejaz Ahmed Choudry was shot and killed on
Saturday, June 20 by Peel Regional Police in
Malton, a neighbourhood in
Mississauga, Ontario. On the evening of June 22,
about 2,000 people
rallied at Goreway and Morning Star in Malton, to
condemn the callous
killing of Mr. Choudry by Peel Regional Police
over the weekend. They
came out as one, irrespective of nationality,
race, language or
religion, against the use of deadly force by
police, to demand
accountability and justice. Their signs read:
"Father Killed by
Police," "Father Killed on Fathers' Day," "Justice
for Ejaz -- Murdered
by Police," and "Defund the Police." Over and over
they shouted "No
Justice! No Peace!, No Racist Police!"
 Choudry was 62
years of age and suffered from schizophrenia and
other illnesses. He
was in a crisis and required assistance. His
family called a health
services phone line to have paramedics come help
him to take his
medicine as they had done previously. Paramedics
arrived at the scene
but called police claiming they saw Mr. Choudry in
possession of a
pocket knife. After a period of shouting
instructions at Mr. Choudry in
English, which he did not understand, the police
elected to kick down
the door, discharge a stun grenade and shoot Mr.
Choudry in one sudden
burst of violence.
A Peel Police spokesperson said they "believed"
he
had weapons and that he was "a danger to himself."
He was a frail man,
at home, alone and posed no danger to anyone
except perhaps himself.
For the police to argue that they had a rationale
to open fire and kill
him shows the depth of the problem Black people
and national minorities
face in Toronto. Reports indicate that police
rejected every attempt by
the family to intervene to de-escalate the
situation.
Hassan Choudry, the victim's nephew, spoke at the
rally on June 22. He reiterated what he had told
reporters -- that his
uncle was harmless, that he could barely take
three or four steps. "You
are telling me that a 62-year-old man who can
barely breathe to begin
with is going to run and attack you!?" He said
anyone who has seen the
video footage or listened to witness testimony
knows that police did
not do everything in their power to de-escalate
the situation.
"Our political leaders, our chief of police
cannot
appease us. We are demanding that action be taken
now," Hassan said,
"We demand a public inquiry into what happened."
He added, "We have no
faith in an investigation conducted by the SIU
[Special Investigations
Unit] which has historically failed victims of
police violence in this
province. We also demand the officer involved in
shooting our uncle
should immediately be removed from the police...
Those who could make
the decision to shoot and kill him are not fit to
serve [as police].
They should never again carry a badge or walk our
streets."
 All those who
spoke at the rally raised the same demands: that
the officers
responsible be held to account and that police
violence, racism and use
of deadly force must end! Speakers also called for
a change of
direction to end years of cuts in education,
health care and other
social programs, not more policing and prisons.
The community of Malton consists predominantly of
working class national minorities who continuously
experience police
brutality. In April, Peel Regional Police shot and
killed D'Andre
Campbell, age 26, who also suffered from
schizophrenia. He had called
for assistance to be taken to hospital. Instead of
assisting someone in
distress, police killed him.
Deadly force by police against victims suffering
mental health conditions, particularly against
Black and Indigenous
people is all too common in Canada. Indigenous
people make up just 4.8
per cent of the national population but account
for 15 per cent of all
fatalities at the hands of police. Black people
make up 3.4 per cent of
the population, but account for 9 per cent of the
fatalities due to
police violence.
A public funeral was held for Ejaz Ahmed Choudry
on June 24.
A GoFundMe site has been set up to contribute
financial assistance to the Choudry family here.
Since the police killing of Ejaz Choudry daily
protests are taking
place at
Goreway and Morning Star in Malton.
- Frank Chilelli -
Since the death of Mr. Ejaz Choudry at the hands
of Peel Regional Police on June 20, the community
of Malton in
Mississauga, Ontario and citizens from across the
Greater Toronto Area
have been gathering to protest at the intersection
of Morning Star
Drive and Goreway Road on a daily basis. On
Wednesday, June 24, the day
of the funeral for Mr. Choudry, a contingent
shouting "What do we want?
Justice! For who? Ejaz!" made their way from the
funeral procession
towards the intersection at around 7:30 pm, where
they were met by
other protesters. At around 8:15 pm many of the
protesters,
predominantly youth, decided to march north on
Goreway and block the CN
railway tracks.
 
Family speaks at Ezaj Choudry's funeral June 24,
2020 (left) and photo
of some of the
many people attending (right).
As the protesters blocked the railway tracks,
shouts of "Justice for Ejaz -- Now!," "Defund the
Police, Increase
Funding for Youth and Social Programs!" were
repeatedly heard. Many of
the youth who took part in the demonstration were
Muslim and, at one
point, knelt on the train tracks, facing eastward,
to pray in silence.
As a result of the blockade of the tracks, two CN
Rail freight trains
were stopped from entering the crossing. The train
engineers approached
the protesters to get information about the
duration of the protest. In
the process of discussion, the engineers expressed
their support for
the protesters. The rail blockade lasted about
two-and-a-half hours.
During the last half hour, a family member of the
late Mr. Choudry told
the protesters that the police had notified the
family about the
possibility of arrests being made, given that the
protesters were on
private property.
Youth block railway tracks following Choudry's
funeral, June 24, 2020.
Subsequently, the youth, who took the lead in the
protest, began to discuss what direction or plan
should be taken. It
was decided amongst the protesters that, before
complying with the
police threats, that they would make counter
demands, and if those
demands were not met within 24 hours, then the CN
railway track would
once again be blocked the next day. Their demands
were
threefold:
1) that the name of the police officer who killed
Mr. Ejaz Choudry be released to the public;
2) that an independent body investigate the
killing of Mr. Choudry and not the Special
Investigations Unit;[1]
and
3) that the family be given a different apartment
from where Mr. Choudry was killed.
During the demonstration, many youth who reside
in
the Malton area spoke about the continuous police
harassment and racial
profiling that takes place in the community. Not a
few expressed their
personal experiences of police violence and
brutality against them. The
youth and protesters in general expressed anger at
a system that is
racist and made the link of racism being
interconnected with a
socio-economic system that they said does not work
for them.
The intersection of Goreway and Morning Star in
Malton continues to be blocked by the community on
a 24-hour basis.
Note
1.
The Special Investigations Unit "is the civilian
oversight agency
responsible for investigating circumstances
involving police that have
resulted in a death, serious injury, or
allegations of sexual assault
of a civilian in Ontario, Canada." (Wikipedia)
On June 20, a demonstration organized by Justice
for Abdirahman Coalition gathered more than 1,000
people at Elgin
Street police station in Ottawa. They then marched
to Ottawa City Hall
to denounce racism and police violence against
Black and Indigenous
people.
The organizers noted: "This march is organized to
support the global and local protests against
police violence on Black
lives. We also act in solidarity with our
Indigenous sisters and
brothers who have been struggling against the same
racist police
violence in Ottawa and across Canada."
Hamid Ibrahim, a member of the coalition, spoke
outside City Hall. He stated in part:
"In recent weeks, the senseless killing of George
Floyd has galvanized the world. The horrific video
of George's last
moments at the hands of those tasked with his
protection has truly laid
bare a capacity for racist brutality that many in
the United States and
Canada have failed to acknowledge. Just as with
Abdirahman Abdi's death
and the recent assault of Obi Ifedi here in
Ottawa, violence against
Black people has been wilfully ignored by our
institutions. The death
of Greg Ritchie in Ottawa in 2019 and recent
police killings of
Indigenous people across Canada show us that this
violence is deployed
in equal force against our Indigenous brothers and
sisters. Yet in our
city and beyond, institutional and structural
change has been slow,
despite mounting video evidence of wildly
disproportionate acts of
violence, amounting to naked complacency in the
face of summary
executions.
"Extra-judicial killings of unarmed Black and
Indigenous people at the hands of police has
proven itself a pandemic.
This pandemic requires the same attention,
diligence, and far-reaching
approaches established by public health officials
in their fight
against COVID-19. Demands for justice have reached
a boiling point;
they can no longer be ignored."
Ibrahim went on to articulate various demands
to the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario and
Government of Canada.
They include a demand to defund Ottawa Police
Service by putting a
"significant portion" of its budget toward
services that provide
alternatives to armed police response to ensure
community safety and
well-being. The province was called on to
reinstate Bill 175, the Safer Ontario Act, 2018,
to put in place measures for police
accountability. The federal
government was called on to investigate
"entrenched racism within the
RCMP."[1]
The Justice for Abdirahman Coalition was formed
in
2016. Abdirahman Abdi was a 37-year-old
Somali-Canadian with mental
health issues. He lived in Ottawa's Hintonburg
community at 55 Hilda
Street. Abdirahman died on July 24, 2016 during a
violent altercation
with Ottawa Police Service officers, recorded on
one of the apartment's
security cameras. Mr. Abdi had no criminal
history, and there are no
indications he posed a threat to the lives or
safety of the officers at
whose hands he died.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), an agency
of the Ministry of the Attorney General, took on
the investigation
within hours of the incident. However, the SIU has
yet to release a
judgment on the case. Ottawa police Const. Daniel
Montsion is currently
on trial for manslaughter, aggravated assault and
assault with a weapon
in relation to Abdi's death.
Note
1. To
read the entire speech, click
here.
U.S. Cuba Policy
- Arthur González
-
Members of the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade prepare
to go to South Africa
to assist in the
fight against COVID-19, April 25, 2020.
The Yankees, angered by their 60 years of
failure
in the attempt to destroy the Cuban Revolution,
have made the big
mistake of publicly declaring that all their
actions are meant to
strangle [Cuba's] economy and kill its people
through hunger and
disease.
The truth always comes out, this time exposed
without masks or a fig leaf to cover its hidden
parts, in the new bill
called "Cut Profits to the Cuban Regime Act"
introduced on June 17,
2020 by Senator Rick Scott, along with Senators
Marco Rubio and Ted
Cruz. The aim is to sanction countries that hire
Cuban doctors through
international collaborative medical missions,
including the Henry Reeve
brigades, specialized in dealing with diseases in
cases of natural
disasters and serious epidemics.
The blackmailing campaigns and pressures used by
the United States for some years have been covered
up under the
supposed "concern" that Cuba sends them as
"slaves," because it does
not give them the full money it receives from the
contracting countries.
 It is known that
this supposed "concern" of the empire is false,
since the United States
has never cared at all about the Cuban people, and
this is demonstrated
by its economic, commercial and financial war. The
only aim they pursue
is to further strangle the Cuban economy, with the
old dream of
destroying the socialism they hate so much.
A simple reading of Operation Mongoose, approved
in January 1962 by President John F. Kennedy,
proves it legally, by
stating without the slightest feeling of humanity
that:
"The objective of the United States is to help
Cubans overthrow the communist regime in Cuba ...
The operation is
aimed at provoking a rebellion by the Cuban people
... The political
action will be supported by an economic war, which
induces the
communist regime to fail in its efforts to meet
the needs of the
country, psychological operations will increase
the resentment of the
population against the regime, and those of a
military nature will give
the popular movement a weapon of action for
sabotage and armed
resistance in support of political objectives."
The new scheme of these senators is to cut off
all
inflows of money to Cuba, with the outdated wish
that the socialist
economy will explode due to a lack of liquidity.
Nothing could be more
removed from the human feelings they say they have
for Cubans, despite
their pretend "concern" about the "human
trafficking" of doctors and
nurses.
The very name of the bill reveals that they only
seek to cut off the revenues Cuba obtains from the
contracts for its
medical missions, which, according to their
calculations, amounts to
nearly $7 billion annually, wanting to curb those
earnings.
With Bolsonaro's arrival to the presidency in
Brazil, they managed to cut off the Cuban presence
there, something
that the lackeys of Ecuador and Bolivia imitated
and that the puppet
Juan Guaidó wants to do [in Venezuela]. But in
view of the
need for health personnel to face the COVID-19
pandemic, more than 40
nations have requested Cuba’s help, because
neither the
United States nor other countries of the "free
world" have
professionals willing to provide that help.
Faced with the challenge of governments that
require the humane work of Cuban doctors and
nurses, and are not paying
attention to Washington’s threats, these
anti-Cuban
politicians pounced with their bill, in another
attempt to further
strangle the island's economy.
Such action calls to mind what was revealed by
the
CIA in a report dated December 12, 1963, where it
pointed out:
"To a large extent, the problems facing the
Castro
regime are the result of the United States' policy
of economic and
political isolation, as well as other measures of
hostility and
sabotage. [...] The main objective of the Covert
Programs is to
complete Cuba's economic, political and
psychological isolation from
Latin America and the free world... these measures
have been largely
responsible for Castro's current economic
difficulties, but new and
effective measures of economic warfare could be
adopted."
It seems that 60 years without results are not
enough for the enemies of the Revolution to
understand that Cubans are
a tough nut to crack.
Would they be unaware that not even the
concentration camps created by the Spanish general
Valeriano Weyler to
starve the revolutionaries during the war for
Cuba’s
independence in 1895 could defeat those who were
fighting for
independence from Spain?
Neither the CIA's Covert Actions plans, state
terrorism, political subversion, nor the creation
and financing of the
counter-revolution, have been able to destroy
socialism in Cuba.
Scott and his friends don't know history and
should read some reports, to learn from the
misfortunes of Yankee
politics.
On February 6, 1964, George W. Ball,
Undersecretary of State, had a conversation in
Washington with the
British ambassador, Ormsby Gore, to express the
"annoyance" of the
United States with the growth of trade relations
with Cuba, where he
stated clearly:
 "The policy of
President Lyndon Johnson is to impose economic
sanctions on Cuba as a
weapon against the Revolution; create economic
difficulties and bring
about the elimination of the communist regime."
A day earlier, Ball had presented to the
president
a study carried out by the State Department and
the CIA, on the
economic ties of western countries with Cuba, to
respond to a request
made in Report No. 274 of National Security
Action, December 1963.
That study contained 19 recommendations and the
first one was that President Johnson let all
government agencies know
that the restriction and reduction of the economic
ties of the "free
world" with Cuba was a national policy objective.
They were all focused on the economic war, but
Article 15 stands out, which suggested "the
discreet use of the press,
through the publication of articles which make
known the government's
rigorous controls on trading companies that deal
with Cuba." Perhaps
that was the start of the black list.
That is why the smear jobs published against the
Cuban medical missions by the press today are not
coincidental, echoing
the campaign designed by the CIA, in conjunction
with the State
Department, that keeps re-emerging as a priority
policy of the Yankee
government against Cuba.
Currently about 28,000 Cuban doctors and nurses
save lives in 59 countries of the world, facing
COVID-19 in 37 of them,
with total humanism, without caring about money or
working conditions,
because as José Martí said:
“The real man does not look for where
one can live better, but for where duty
lies."
30th Anniversary of the
Defeat of the Meech Lake Accord
- Christine Dandenault -
 June 23, 2020
marked the 30th anniversary of the defeat of the
Meech Lake Accord.
Thirty years after its defeat, the issue of
vesting sovereignty in the
people through political and constitutional
renewal remains the main
issue to be resolved. The struggles of workers,
youth, women, and the
First Nations for their rights and the rights of
all, including the
fight against COVID-19, are coming up against the
denial of their
political power, which poses the block to their
implementation of a
nation-building project that defends the rights of
all, provides a new
direction for the economy and makes Canada a zone
for peace.
Today, political power is concentrated in the
hands of supranational private interests which
collude and compete for
narrow private gain and domination. Notably, to
the detriment of the
well-being of all and the right of the people to
determine their own
affairs, they manoeuvre through states at their
disposal, including
Canada. Today, the Canadian constitutional system
is the instrument of
the factions of the imperialist ruling elite, who
have no real ties
with Canadians other than the economic and
political power they have
usurped and continue to wield against them. They
operate through
various governments, so-called democratic
institutions, the cartel
political parties of the Canadian parliament, the
provincial
legislatures and the Quebec National Assembly.
Canada urgently needs a
modern constitution that vests sovereignty in the
people and guarantees
the rights of all, including the Aboriginal and
treaty rights of the
First Nations and the right of the Quebec nation
to self-determination.
The Failure of the Meech Lake Accord
On June 23, 1990, the Meech Lake Accord was
defeated. It was a set of amendments to the
Constitution of Canada
negotiated behind closed doors in 1987 by Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney
and the provincial premiers. The failure of the
Meech Lake Accord
marked a deepening of the constitutional crisis
which has now become an
existential crisis due to Canada's all-sided
integration into the U.S.
war economy and state arrangements.
The Meech Lake Accord was signed as a result of
the crisis which accompanied the 1980 Quebec
Referendum on the place of
Quebec within Canada and the refusal of Quebec to
sign onto the Pierre
Trudeau government's patriated Constitution of
1982. Trudeau had
promised that he would draft a new constitutional
agreement after the
Quebec referendum was defeated. His promise was
realized in the form of
the addition of the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms
and an amending formula to the British North
America Act of
1867 (BNA Act 1867). Called the Canada
Act, it was passed by the British Parliament
on March 29,
1982 and, on this basis, it was claimed that the
Constitution was
"patriated." While the claim is made that this
ended Canada's formal
dependence on Britain, the fact is that the Queen
of England remains
Canada's Head of State.
Canada's Constitution Act
(1982) was the "Canadian equivalent" of Britain's
Canada Act
and its text was included in the Canada Act
along
with an amending formula and the Charter of
Rights and
Freedoms. However, it did not recognize
Quebec's right to
self-determination and Quebec refused to sign it.
This created a
constitutional crisis which the Mulroney
government attempted to
resolve by commencing constitutional negotiations
in 1985. These
negotiations culminated with the Meech Lake Accord
two years later on
June 23, 1987.
Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa said the
Constitution needed five modifications for Quebec
to sign. On this
basis, the following changes were laid out in the
Accord:
- constitutional recognition of Quebec as a
distinct society;
- a constitutional veto for Quebec over
constitutional change;
- a role for Quebec in the appointment of judges
to the Supreme Court
of Canada;
- a constitutional guarantee of increased powers
in the field of
immigration; and
- a limitation of the federal spending power.
These amendments and the agreement did not
address
the causes of the constitutional crisis. These
include: the need to
guarantee nation-to-nation relations with the
Indigenous peoples so as
to end colonial injustice and provide redress for
all the wrongs
committed against them; the need to end all
notions of rights based on
privilege and so-called reasonable limits; the
need to vest sovereignty
in the people and not a fictional person of state,
let alone one who is
a foreign monarch; and the need to enshrine equal
rights for all
citizens and residents. Finally, it requires
recognizing the right of
the people of Quebec to self-determination,
including secession if they
so decide -- something the Meech Lake Accord
refused to do.
Two years after the failure of the Meech
Lake Accord another
constitutional deal was reached behind
closed doors in the form of the
Charlottetown Accord on which a referendum
was called. The first of
three books written by Hardial Bains
during the campaign (above)
provided the only real information on the
contents and significance of
the Accord which was rejected by the
Canadian people in the
referendum.
|
Instead, the Meech Lake Accord seeking to
maintain
the status quo, declared Quebec a "distinct
society" within Canada; it
gave Quebec a constitutional veto; increased
provincial powers with
respect to immigration; extended and regulated the
right to reasonable
financial compensation for any province that opted
out of any future
federal programs in areas of exclusive provincial
jurisdiction; and
provided for provincial input in appointing
senators and Supreme Court
judges.
Because the Meech Lake Accord would have changed
the Constitution's amending formula and modified
the Supreme Court, all
provincial and federal legislatures had to consent
to it within three
years. The 10 provincial premiers soon agreed but,
as the three-year
deadline for consent of all legislatures drew
near, the consensus began
to unravel. To try to save Meech, a First
Ministers' Conference was
held 20 days before the signing deadline,
resulting in an agreement for
further rounds of constitutional negotiations.
During that conference,
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells attacked the
secrecy of the whole
process of decision-making. On June 23, 1990, the
deadline date, Elijah
Harper, a First Nations Member of the Manitoba
Legislature, signaled
his refusal to give approval by holding up an
eagle feather. This
blocked the motion required for the Manitoba
Legislature to vote on the
Accord. Wells then cancelled a proposed vote in
the Newfoundland
Legislature and the Meech Lake Accord was
officially dead. That is what
was called the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.
Demonstration against Meech Lake Accord outside
the Manitoba
Legislature, June 21, 1990.
The Problems Inherent in the Accord
A main feature of the Meech Lake Accord was its
failure to clarify what was meant by "distinct
society" when referring
to Quebec. It stated that Quebec was a "distinct
society" and declared
that the role of the Legislature and Government of
Quebec was to
"preserve and promote the distinct identity of
Quebec." The term
"distinct society" remained undefined in the
documents and the
"distinct" features of Quebec were not enumerated,
nor were any
guidelines given by which these features could be
preserved and
promoted. "Distinct society" was subject to many
interpretations, but
the predominant one that emerged was the old
fiction that Quebec was
distinct simply because the people spoke French.
By making language the
only issue, the Meech Lake Accord formulation of a
"distinct society"
denied that the Quebec people comprise a nation
that has historically
evolved with a common economy and territory,
language, culture and
psychology that have the imprint of this
development. Further, it
denied the Quebec people the right of
self-determination. Telling the
Quebec Legislature what it was to do also did not
go over well.
Another significant feature of the Meech Lake
Accord was its overall promotion of national
disunity and inequality.
Defining a nation by language alone leads to the
theory that Canada is
populated by a large number of different
"language-nations," all of
which should or could supposedly have independent
status, but only two
of them -- the "English" and "French" -- are given
pride of place.
The Meech Lake Accord also created disunity by
devolving federal powers to the provinces,
suggesting the existence of
10 small nations (the provinces) and one big one,
the federal
government. The two territories (Nunavut did not
yet exist) were not
invited to Meech Lake (they participated by video
conference) because
Mulroney considered they had insufficient power to
affect any
decisions. This was seen to imply that the regions
of Canada each had
different status. The Accord also gave each
province a veto to block
legislation and it was clear that each province
would use its veto to
promote the narrow interests of its own regional
economic and political
power-brokers rather than to advance an overall
national interest or
aim.
 A third main
feature of the Meech Lake Accord was its failure
to affirm or even
address the hereditary rights of the Indigenous
peoples, which amounted
to a suppression of those rights. The rights of
the Indigenous peoples
are not a peripheral issue but should be enshrined
in the Constitution
of Canada. They have a rightful claim to the
territories of their
ancestors and to the determination of what must be
done with them. As
sovereign peoples they have the right to determine
not only their own
affairs but to participate in determining the
affairs of Canada as a
whole. In the proposed modifications to the
Constitution, the Meech
Lake Accord did not deal with any of this.
Indigenous leaders also
raised two other issues. One was their exclusion
from the entire Meech
Lake proceedings. The other was the potential
transfer of federal
services to the provinces implied by the clause
calling for
compensation to provinces for opting out of
federal programs. This
could have led to the dismantling of programs very
important to the
well-being of the Indigenous peoples.
A fourth main feature of the Meech Lake Accord
was
the anti-democratic nature of the proceedings. All
consultations were
held behind the backs of the people. In fact,
people referred to the
process as 11 white men in suits dealing with the
future of the country
behind closed doors. Once the Meech Lake agreement
was reached in
secret, the 11 First Ministers then tried to
impose it on the people
without any discussion or deliberation. There was
no broad consultation
of the people at any time, the agenda was not set
according to what the
people wanted, and the items discussed and
included in the Accord were
only those that the First Ministers wanted.
Meech Processes and the Spicer Commission
The people's extreme displeasure with the Meech
Lake proceedings was captured by the 1990
Citizens' Forum on Canada's
Future, commonly referred to as the Spicer
Commission. Mulroney, who
was forced to convene it just after the Meech Lake
Accord was defeated,
claimed that his government wanted to hear the
opinions of Canadians.
The Spicer Commission published its findings in
1991 with many
Canadians expressing their acute awareness that
something was lacking
in the Canadian political process, that
politicians were not to be
trusted, and that mechanisms were required to
empower the people. Many
called for the formation of a constituent assembly
which would enable
the people to deliberate and decide on their own
constitution. All of
the proposals and recommendations of the Spicer
Commission were
subsequently ignored by the Government of Canada.
Problem Posed and to Be Solved
 People today want
to be the arbiters and decision-makers. This is
the battle that is
being waged everywhere on the question of who
decides. Canadians,
Quebeckers and Indigenous peoples rejected the
Meech Lake Accord
because today history demands that power be
transferred to the people
who act on their own initiative and in their own
interest.
The Meech Lake Accord confirmed that in the form
of political power inherited by Canada, absolute
power today resides in
the financial oligarchs and their political
representatives. This
absolute power is not the defender of the rights
of the people and is
not at the service of the people's well-being and
the resolution of the
problems they face. The reality is that public
authority has long since
been destroyed and narrow private interests have
directly usurped
public institutions, which are now their preserve.
Today, no government has the consent of the
governed and the need for democratic renewal is
more urgent than ever.
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
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