Standing up to the Bullies in Ottawa

Can there be any doubt that we are at a critical tipping point?

Divide and Rule strategies work really well. Canadians have been split along so many different axes that we’ve become not just polarized, but atomized. The obvious purpose of increasing polarization is to ensure people are divided so deeply over issues like abortion or vaccine mandates we can’t join forces to reclaim political power that was stolen from us by corporations decades ago. No matter what the most crucial issue is for you – climate change, abortion rights, workers’ rights – it cannot be solved by voting unless and until voters regain some of the democratic power they have lost, and that will require solidarity on the single issue we have to solve first: representation.

There was a brief, shining moment in the late 60’s when voters, workers and consumers were making progress and the average North American enjoyed the best standard of living in the world, but when restrictions like environmental protections ate into profits the corporations were just not having it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce developed a very successful plan to take power away from voters, which was described in the infamous Powell memo. This led to the rise of neoliberalism in the U.S., Canada and beyond, accompanied by a massive, ongoing transfer of wealth from the working class to the obscenely rich.

Today’s greedy billionaires meet at Davos and speak quite openly about their global plans for The Great Reset, digital currencies and control of the narrative, because they know there is currently nothing we can do to stop them. We cannot hope to solve this with incremental improvements. If we delay much longer it will be too late to prevent the catastrophic erosion of what rights we have left.

If Canadians want real representation, instead of just the illusion of choice, we need to demand more than just resignations of the worst politicians or we’ll just be playing Whack-a-Mole forever. We need an independent Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform that cannot be manipulated or derailed by any political party. After we finally get rid of first-past-the-post elections, we’ll be able to end other corrupt practices like the “party discipline” that keeps the donor class in control of the agenda.

No peaceful revolution has ever failed if 3.5% of the population participated. The simple math of a few million people standing up for their rights across the nation defeats the state monopoly on violence because there is a limit to how many peaceful protesters Trudeau can unjustly jail. If we want our children and their children to experience real democracy we will have to stand up to the bullies in Ottawa now and demand more than just an end to unethical vaccine mandates.

Happy Canada Day.