We are in the midst of the 6th federal election held since 9/11. The Chretien Liberals were in power in 2001 and it was on October 7 that the Prime Minister officially announced Canada’s participation in the so-called “war on terror,” with 40 members of the Joint Task Force, the army’s secret special forces unit being deployed in December. This was in the midst of Canada’s hosting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly which launched the justification of the operation of the NATO alliance outside of the North Atlantic in the name of ensuring the “defence and security of North America and Europe.”

The Canadian people did not accept the U.S. dictate that the Canadian government accepted and in their tens of thousands opposed unleashing the war of revenge and opposed the vilification of the people of Muslim faith and its repercussion on a broad swath of the world’s people whose national origins, colour of skin, and faith became enough to target them for police surveillance, harassment, brutal racist propaganda, killings and torture.

The Cartel Parties 20 Years Later

Speaking 20 years later at commemorative ceremonies in Ottawa and in interviews that followed, former Prime Minister Chretien showed not an ounce of remorse or retrospection about the disastrous consequence of the war on Afghanistan, simply stating that it was Canada’s duty, reiterating the justification that was provided 20 years ago — that because of Article 5 of NATO’s Washington Treaty which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all, the U.S. requested and NATO countries agreed to military and other support.

An old sound clip was played of Chretien expressing sadness at the incidents of attacks on Muslims, while of course saying nothing about the role of the U.S., Canada and its allies in setting out the campaign of vilification that created the state promotion of Islamophobia, as though it came out of thin air.

Justin Trudeau spoke in a similar manner on the campaign trail. After 20 years, he said, we need to reflect. He said he is thinking about Muslim Canadians “for whom much changed as attitudes shifted,” again without taking any responsibility for this “attitude shift.”

In a statement, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the continued loss of human life adds weight to the anniversary. “9/11 was a tragedy that led to many more. And, while reflecting on the two decades of history we’ve lived since, more than anything, we need to not delay in recommitting to doing the hard work of building a more inclusive and compassionate world,” Singh said. Opposition to NATO is now absent from the NDP platform. A resolution presented to its policy convention for withdrawal from NATO was not even allowed to be debated. It reveals the taboo imposed by the cartel parties on any discussion about NATO whatsoever.

All the cartel parties, instead of encouraging discussion on Canada’s foreign policy and the need to withdraw Canada from NATO and dismantle NATO join to make China the issue. They do not support upholding the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations or oppose the use of force to deal with problems within and between nation-states. They claim that Canadian interests are defended by integrating Canada into the U.S. war machine and working with “allies” to impose the U.S. as indispensable nation and U.S. style democracy and imperialist notions of peace and freedom.

These cartel party policies are putting Canadians in great danger and committing crimes against the peoples of the world.