Morneau: Just get used to it!
2016 2016-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 10 →
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10 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2016 instead, does he have in mind?
The real Liberal agenda Morneau hand picked an Advisory Council on Economic Growth, and it came up with a plan. The scheme centres on privatization, deregulation, public-private partnerships, and user fees. This was clearly reflected in the Minister’s Nov. 1 economic update to Parliament.
In the case of new infrastructure proj ects, such as repairing the damage done to the natural environment, and meeting the needs of First Nations, the panel says government should pay, but the private sector should own.
Morneau’s band of Robin Hood-inreverse experts urge Ottawa to create a new agency to seek foreign investment in Canada, and to foster a “more resil ient workforce.” The latter would include hundreds of thousands of additional im migrants—that is, already trained work ers who will labour for the minimum wage, or less. This plan is old, not bold. It’s one that ignores economic reality.
The world economy is stagnant. Many Canadian businesses are profitable, but few are investing their profits in produc tion. There is plenty of money—stashed away in negative yield government bonds and offshore banks and dummy corpora tions. Instead of demanding that govern ment tap this wealth, which was created by human labour and nature, or borrow money at rock-bottom interest rates in order to build affordable housing, green energy technology and public transit, the council says Ottawa should find some thing to privatize. The fact that privatiza tion usually costs consumers more in the end is not its concern.
Last, but not least, Morneau’s minions ask the Liberal government to reduce regulations. If this seems like the kind of environmental deregulation that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives applied to pipe lines, it’s no accident.
So, in case you were still wondering, this is the Trudeau-Morneau agenda. Get used to it? Not.
The best politicians money can buy In October, Finance Minister Bill Mor neau was very busy on another front. He hosted an exclusive $1500 a ticket Liberal Party fundraiser at the Halifax home of a mining executive-turned-land-developer. About 15 prominent business people at tended, presumably to gain the ear of the man who oversees billions of dollars in public spending.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that there were at least 20 similar events in 2016 featuring senior Liberal cabinet ministers, among them Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, Immigration Minister John McCallum, and Morneau. Federal Ethics commissioner, May Daw son, drew attention to the same issue in her June report. She urged a crackdown on ministers providing access in return for party donations, citing four examples that include Morneau and Justice Minis ter Jody Wilson-Raybould.
In Ontario, new rules ban ministers and all MPs from attending fundraisers as of Jan. 1, 2017. The law already bars donations to parties by corporations and unions—a false equation if ever there was one, since unions are workers’ self-defence organizations, and are not pri vately owned, profit-seeking, economic dictatorships controlled by a wealthy few.
Trying to curtail corporate influence in politics in a capitalist society is like try ing to stop a waterfall with a sieve. It is another reason socialists seek system change, rather than settle for the cosmet ic kind. n