What democracy???
Many people hold the false belief that here
in Canada we are living in a democracy. That has not been true for some time
now, Yes we have elections that give the illusion of a democratic system but
the choices we are given and the system that controls those choices are in no
way, shape or form democratic.
Since the Liberal government of 74 when
Canada turned over the control of our financial system to the private banking cartels
we have been in fact living in a fascist corporatocracy. This is not my
opinion. This concept has been clearly defined by economists and political
scientists. So let’s be honest when we throw around words like democracy
because that's not what we have here in Canada.
Our government in Canada consists of a
closed group of people who drift in and out of public service and are otherwise
employed as corporate or academic elite when not in or voted out of public
service.
The three large political parties in Canada
are funded by these same banking interests, corporations and unions. These are
the same groups that employ the people who run for office. This is not some
conspiracy theory or secret. For example almost every Prime Minister, premier
and many of the key Cabinet Minsters we have had over the last 50 years all were
employed or had direct connections to the Desmarais
family and their large family firm Power Corp. Pierre Trudeau and
René Lévesque were both members of the Communist party before they started
working for Power Corp., Paul Martin got his shipping company off Power Corp., Jean
Chrétien’s daughter married right into the Desmarais family and Brian Mulroney upon leaving office moved right
into the board of directors for Power Corp.
Not only are the players selected and
groomed for public office but the way the three main political parties are
funded is murky at best and downright criminal in practice. One need look no
further than the current scandal’s in Ottawa involving Senator Mike Duffy or
the NDP giving tax funded office space to union fund raisers’ to realize the
big three’s funding practices flaunt the laws in place and yet no one is ever
charged or arrested? The parties are given a pass while individual’s get hand
slaps. There’s been more than one story about corporate board members walking
though the office distributing cheques to employees with the understanding that
they were meant for tax deductible donations for specific campaign’s or
parties. From what I’ve been led to believe this has become standard practice
now.
Part of this control of our political system
is the influence of the corporate media over our electoral system. The founding
fathers of confederation realized the influence that media had over the
electoral process. Even though at the time media only consisted of newspapers.
Still laws were put into place to strictly control media ownership. Over the
years with the event of radio and television these media ownership laws were
expanded to include these new forms of communication. The idea behind these
media ownership laws were to ensure that control of the media rested in the
hands of as many people as possible. Starting in the 80’s under Mulroney these
media ownership laws were whittled down, and changed depending on which
corporate conglomerate was making moves on what sector.
Between 1990 and 2005 there were a number of
media corporate mergers and takeovers in Canada. For example, in 1990,
17.3% of daily newspapers were independently owned; whereas in 2005, 1%
were. These changes, among others, caused the Senate Standing Committee on
Transport and Communications to launch a study of Canadian news media in March 2003. (This topic had
been examined twice in the past, by the Davey Commission (1970) and the Kent Commission (1981), both of which produced
recommendations that were never implemented in any meaningful way.
The point being
with a controlled news media the public is very seldom informed of the smaller
(Fringe) parties and independent candidates, even when they do clear the
hurdles and independently come up with the financing required to even get on
the ballot.
And of course the big lie that is whispered at
election time that if you do vote for a fringe party or independent you are
“Wasting your vote”.
It also goes without saying
that this control also dictates subject, policy and issues discussed during
elections so that subjects important to most Canadians such as banking policy, immigration
or foreign aid are never discussed or brought to light in the body politic.
And of course there is the
one thing that is talked about which is the "First past the
post" system. In each electoral district or riding,
the candidate with the most number of votes in an election wins a seat in the
House of Commons, or the legislative assembly in provincial and territorial
elections. The leader of the party which wins the highest number or seats,
rather than the party with the highest percentage of the overall vote is asked
to form the government. Although first past the post is talked about, the
winners of the elections seem to forget all about their objections to this
system when they win.
With the system and media
rigged to ensure that only the big three corporate controlled parties will ever
attain and forever hold on to power in Canadian politics it’s no wonder at all
that the public has become jaded to the system and for the most part given up
on voting and participating in the political system. Voter turnout in Canada
now averages around 60% and has been dropping steadily. The last federal by-election
I worked on it was 47% that means less than half the people who could vote did
!
If Canada is ever to regain
a democratic form of government a number of things need to happen. First Canada
needs to return the issuance of currency to the public (The Bank of Canada,
which we own) and away from the private banking cartels. Who use this wealth to
control the people and the government though debt. Second a large percentage of
Canadian citizens have to care enough to get involved in the political process.
Not only in terms of voting but also in joining and running of political
parties. We need to demand honesty and transparency in government and get it!
Not just promises. Lastly we need to install a system of accountability.
Regaining democracy in Canada
is a huge undertaking. It requires a lot of work by a lot of people. Until you
are ready to do your part don’t speak to me of democracy in Canada because
that’s not what we have.
Lawrence McCurry
June 2015
