The debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission for September 8 and September 9 presented a sanitized world from which the most important features of political life in Canada were cleansed. Conspicuously missing was recognition of the broad political disaffection and dissatisfaction of Canadians with an electoral and political process that keeps them out of power and at the mercy of the private interests that have seized control of government, the state and the media, and the pollsters and pundits that keep it propped up. The demand of Canadians for electoral and political reforms to enable them to exercise control over the decisions that affect their lives was also disappeared.

The Debate Broadcast Group, the ten media outlets that staged the debates, inform that the topics were based “in part on the 20,201 responses to a questionnaire” published on their website. Should anyone want to assess how these topics were selected, they will not be able to as the Debate Broadcast Group informs that the responses were destroyed after they were converted into “affordability, climate, COVID recovery, leadership and accountability and reconciliation.” All of it is to hide the fact that these “issues” are the ones being used to promote policies which pay the rich and in no way aim to put the well-being of Canadians at the centre of the duty governments are expected to carry out. More significantly, all of it is to promote the idea that the leaders of political parties are somehow authorized to speak in the name of Canadians when Canadians as a whole have had no role in selecting them or authorizing them to speak in their name.

The debates were staged with a budget of $5.4 million. They confirmed once again that elections are a disgraceful spectacle of hubris which will not resolve any problems facing Canadians, let alone the crisis in which the democratic institutions are mired.

It all underscores the significance of the message the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada is giving which is that democratic renewal is required, brought into being by Canadians themselves. Canadians are speaking in their own name in every aspect of their lives, putting forward the claims they are entitled to make on the society they depend on for their living and for the well-being of their families, communities, country, the natural environment, and for future generations and peace in the world. The MLPC encourages Canadians to develop their own independent politics, reject the cartel party system and show this by bringing in a minority government and, where possible, voting for candidates who stand for the political renewal of the democratic institutions.

How to advance the cause of their own empowerment is the fundamental issue in this election when every day of every week our security lies in the fight of Canadians for the rights of all.

All Out for Democratic Renewal!