35th Anniversary of Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future

Ruling Class Ignores Conclusions of Spicer Commission at Its Own Peril

Thirty-five years ago, on November 1, 1990, the Spicer Commission, formally known as the Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future, was constituted by the federal government. In the course of its public hearings, the Spicer Commission heard the views of over 400,000 Canadians, documented in the Report to the People and Government of Canada.

The views expressed by Canadians to the Spicer Commission were very significant as participants were afforded the rare opportunity to speak their minds at a time dissatisfaction with the government, the parliament, political parties, politicians and even unions were at an all-time high. People wanted changes to how things were done and they wanted these changes to favour them, not those in positions of power and privilege. Without being prompted, they addressed the Commission and spoke their minds.

Among other things, Canadians expressed their awareness that there is something lacking in the political process. Writing about the Spicer Commission, the leader of CPC(M-L) Hardial Bains wrote:

“Canadians are demanding those changes which are consistent with the coming of age of a people and a country. They are acutely conscious that some of the most elementary norms of responsibility toward the people are lacking. This ability to abstract absence, to envision what is lacking, and to grasp what must be done in order to fulfil a need, has become the most important sign of Canada’s coming of age.”

Far from paying attention to what they were told, the ruling circles of Canada did everything possible to sweep this collective consciousness of Canadians under the rug. They embarked on a sweeping nation-wrecking program to destroy all the accomplishments of the society and people. Far from relinquishing their privileged positions, they used these positions to concentrate more and more power in their own hands. This has made the electoral process increasingly anti-democratic to the extent that to speak of its conferring on government the consent of the governed is not seen to make any sense whatsoever.

At the same time, a people do not let go of their collective accomplishments, especially not because corrupt rulers tell them to. They build on them. They learn how to defend what belongs to them by right. They persist in finding a way forward and when they see how to contribute they do so without trepidation.

The views and aspirations of the Canadian people expressed to the Spicer Commission did not lead to reform of the political process in keeping with those aspirations and the requirements of a modern society which recognizes and guarantees the sovereignty of the people. This means that the decision-making power must be in their own hands. Putting it there is what the struggles of the working people from coast to coast to coast remain all about. It is what they are still striving to achieve.

The anniversary of the Spicer Commission comes at a time when the government and all reactionary forces are calling for unity behind the program to restructure the state to pay the rich and get rid of public institutions and social programs, in the name of facing the crisis deepened as a result of Trump’s tariffs and the crisis of the neo-liberal arrangements brought in thirty years ago to overcome the crisis in which the capitalist system is mired. As never before, prerogative powers are being used to impose their dictate and keep Canadians enslaved to outmoded 19th century arrangements called liberal democracy. The aim is to make all of society pay tribute to the rich in their quest for obscene wealth. This shows that Canadians need to escalate their work in defence of rights and against the war preparations by affirming their sovereignty and renewing the democratic institutions to make sure the dangers that lie ahead are averted and nation-wrecking is ended.

The ruling class ignores the conclusions reached by the Spicer Commission at its own peril. Their wrecking path shows they are not fit to govern. Canadians are not sitting idly by while the ruling elites have chosen a path which is so damaging to the people and their social and natural environment.

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