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CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 Contributors

Maude Barlow is Honorary Gavin Fridell is Associate Shoshana Magnet is Chairperson of the Council of Professor and Canada Associate Professor of Canadians and a director on Research Chair in feminist and gender studies the board of the Washington- International Development and criminology at the Vol. 26, No. 3 based Food and Water Watch. Studies at Saint Mary’s University of Ottawa. ISSN 1198-497X University. Canada Post Publication 40009942 Ashley Courchene is an Molly McCracken is Director Anishinaabe legal scholar Alex Hemingway is the CCPA- of the CCPA-Manitoba. Monitor The is published six times at Carleton University and BC’s Public Finance Policy a year by the Canadian Centre for Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood the national chairperson for Analyst. Policy Alternatives. is a senior researcher at the the Circle of First Nations, Declan Ingham is completing CCPA’s national office. The opinions expressed in the Métis and Inuit Students at Monitor are those of the authors a master’s degree in public the Canadian Federation of Catherine-Laura Tremblay- and do not necessarily reflect policy at the University of Students. Dion is a doctoral candidate the views of the CCPA. Toronto. His research focuses in the University of Ottawa’s Please send feedback to Marc Edge is Associate on building a workers-first Faculty of Education. [email protected]. Professor in the Department economy and a welfare state Editor: Stuart Trew of Media and Communication that leaves no one behind. Senior Designer: Tim Scarth at the University of Malta. Layout: Susan Purtell Editorial Board: Alyssa O’Dell, Shannon Daub, Katie Raso, Erika Shaker, Rick Telfer Contributing Writers: HELP US SHED LIGHT ON THE Cynthia Khoo, Anthony N. Morgan, Frank Bayerl, Elfreda Tetteh, Elaine Hughes ISSUES THAT MATTER TO YOU. CCPA National Office: 141 Laurier Avenue W, Suite 1000 Ottawa, ON K1P 5J3 Tel: 613-563-1341 (we’ve got some bright ideas) Fax: 613-233-1458 [email protected] www.policyalternatives.ca CCPA BC Office: 520-700 West Pender Street Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8 MAKE A DONATION Tax receipts are issued for contributions of $15 or more. Tel: 604-801-5121 Fax: 604-801-5122 [email protected] I would like to make a monthly contribution of: I would like to make a one-time donation of: CCPA Manitoba Office: 301-583 Ellice Avenue $25 $15 $10 Other ____ OR $300 $100 $75 Other ____ Winnipeg, MB R3B 1Z7 Tel: 204-927-3200 [email protected] PAYMENT TYPE: CCPA Nova Scotia Office: I would like to receive my P.O. Box 8355 I’ve enclosed a cheque (made payable to CCPA, or void cheque for monthly donation) Halifax, NS B3K 5M1 subscription to The Monitor: Tel: 902-240-0926 I’d like to make my contribution by: VISA MASTERCARD [email protected] By e-mail CCPA Ontario Office: Mailed to my address 720 Bathurst Street, Room 307 CREDIT CARD NUMBER: Toronto, ON M5S 2R4 No Monitor, thanks Tel: 416-598-5985 EXPIRY DATE: SIGNATURE: [email protected] Amy Thompson is a Canadian visual artist based in Ottawa. CCPA Saskatchewan Office: 2nd Floor, 2138 McIntyre Street Her work explores themes Regina, SK S4P 2R7 of memory and the natural CONTACT INFORMATION Tel: 306-924-3372 world through the mediums Fax: 306-586-5177 of drawing, painting and Return this form to: [email protected] Name Book reviews in the collage. She has created public art pieces in Ottawa 500-251 BANK ST. Monitor are co-ordinated Address OTTAWA, ON K2P 1X3 by Octopus Books, a and Vancouver. Her work community-owned anti- has been featured on book, magazine and album covers, City Province Postal Code oppressive bookstore in Or donate online at: and she has exhibited across Ottawa. WWW.POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Telephone (Required) Email

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ASAD ISMI / 44

DEVELOPMENT DECLAN INGHAMDECLAN / 46

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CAN SPUR ECONOMIC SPUR CAN MODI’S SECOND TERM SECOND MODI’S A NEW CORPORATE MAPPING WHO’S WHO IN BIG OIL? OIL? BIG IN WHO WHO’S FEAR AND LOATHING IN IN LOATHING AND FEAR

HOW PUBLIC PROCUREMENT Good News Page 43 | Index 7 | / 12–41 ARTICLES BY EQUALIZATION FAIR TAXATION FAIR AND CLARE MIAN. CLARE AND CANNABIS EQUITY CANNABIS VOTER DECEPTION VOTER RIGHT TO HOUSING TO RIGHT

PHARMACARE NOW ASHLEY COURCHENE, ASHLEY COURCHENE, ACCESS TO ABORTION TO ACCESS MILLENNIAL ACTIVISM ACTIVISM MILLENNIAL Election 2019 ARUSHANA SUNDERAESON, SUNDERAESON, ARUSHANA A GREEN NEW DEAL FOR ALL

DEMOCRATIC WORKPLACES END AUSTERITY BUDGETING AUSTERITY END BOYCOTT, DIVEST, SANCTION DIVEST, BOYCOTT, SARAH KENNELL, SHEILA BLOCK BATTLE OFBATTLE POLITICAL BRANDS RICARDO ACUÑA, CYNTHIA KHOO, RICARDO TRANJAN, SYED HUSSAN, HUSSAN, SYED TRANJAN, RICARDO ALEX HEMINGWAY, MELANIE BENARD, MELANIE BENARD, ALEX HEMINGWAY, New From the CCPA 4 CHUKA EJECKAM, DAVID MACDONALD, MACDONALD, DAVID EJECKAM, CHUKA | FREE AND INFORMED PRIOR CONSENT PRIOR INFORMED AND FREE RICHARD NIMIJEAN, MOLLY MCCRACKEN, MCCRACKEN, NIMIJEAN,RICHARD MOLLY THINKING BIGGER, DEMANDING BETTER UP FRONT UP Letters 3 NICK FALVO / 5 | TRADE AGENDA ALTERNATIVES TO EVELYN PINKERTONEVELYN / 8 AND SCOTT SINCLAIRAND / 6 FISHING LICENSING FISHING ALBERTA MUST FIND WE NEED AN INDEPENDENT AN NEED WE CUTTING SOCIAL SPENDING SOCIAL CUTTING ETHAN EARLE, MANUEL PÉREZ-ROCHA PÉREZ-ROCHA MANUEL EARLE, ETHAN ENVISIONING A PROGRESSIVE A ENVISIONING COMMISSION ON WEST COAST COAST WEST ON COMMISSION Editorial 2

CONTENTS From the Editor

STUART TREW From placeholder to activist government

ANADIAN ELECTIONS CAN be staid af- de-colonize the Canadian economy. society to a better-paid and more fairs. For all the talk of big change, They determined that an actually sustainable one—these activists and campaigns tend to gravitate to- effective carbon tax of $200/tonne organizers are making impressive Cward which party can be trusted (compared to the current $30/tonne) inroads into Canadian mainstream to “manage the economy.” Trusted by would, on its own, raise $80 billion a debate, with polling data showing high whom? The coveted “middle class” year for investment in public transit, levels of support for a Green New Deal voter, of course. Those at the higher-in- building retrofits and just-transition here, too. come end of that group are more likely programs for fossil fuel workers. Leading off our election special, to vote yet have the least to gain or lose, Modestly raising taxes for the high- however, CCPA-BC researcher Alex relatively speaking, from a shift in gov- est-income earners and corporations, Hemingway wonders why other big, ernment in any direction. The political and closing tax loopholes that benefit democratic and socialist ideas that are imagination is stifled by this electoral the rich, would add at least another popular abroad have less resonance in reality; the options for meeting today’s $20 billion a year to this pot. Canada (page 13). U.S. Democrats and overwhelming challenges drastically Obviously, the leap hasn’t happened the U.K. Labour Party are proposing reduced by the fiscal conservatism of yet. The Trudeau government’s con- inclusive worker ownership funds, a well-off minority. tested carbon tax was set too low to worker representation on corporate Could 2019 be different? The pollster have any effect on emissions, and 90% boards, and the “right to own” or buy Nik Nanos claimed in June that climate of new revenue was spent on individu- companies that are set to be shut change would be “one of the defining al tax credits, wiping out the potential down, for example. They are calling for battle grounds” this election. “More of the tax to fund a green transition. more action to encourage and support important than jobs, more important In any case, a federal recommitment co-operative enterprises, and seriously than health care, more important than to new oil sands pipelines seriously considering financial transactions immigration.” In July, Abacus Data put challenged our hope of lowering taxes that would raise enough money climate change in third spot behind Canadian greenhouse gas emissions. to make all schooling free. health care and cost of living, an im- Expensive tax loopholes remain open While the current federal govern- portant issue (with the environment) and a “middle class tax cut” primarily ment dithers with refined neoliberal for the two-thirds of voters from the benefited higher-income earners. methods of governing for big business, millennial and gen-X generations. If Where we needed massive increases strange bedfellows are calling into ques- the polls are right, and those public at- in spending on large-scale public pro- tion that defunct project. In a centenary titudes hold, parties may be judged not jects, the government created “clear, declaration this year, the International on their ability to manage the economy, long-term investment paths,” in the Labour Organization asks governments but on their plans to transform it. Canada Infrastructure Bank, for to accept a “human-centred approach to As readers will know, the Monitor private hedge funds and pensions to the future of work,” including support (and the CCPA) takes social transfor- profit from new or refurbished toll for gender equality, universal access mation very seriously. It’s our jam, as (I roads, buildings, and public services. to social protections, living wages and think) the kids still say. Like in 2015, this Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s ad- the right to organize. In August, the special election issue doesn’t pretend visory council on economic growth, Financial Times, a pro-market business to be comprehensive, and we have no speaking on behalf of these decidedly paper, urged the U.S. (but really all interest in telling you how to vote. In- non-middle-class investors, called for countries) to “drop concerns around stead, some big ideas for transforming “a pipeline of scalable projects with state planning” and realize “the need Canada are presented alongside expert reasonable certainty” and “some to transition to a worker-led economy.” assessments of the current govern- source of revenue potential” (i.e., user In her article on the 2015 election’s ment’s record and critical takedowns fees). The government delivered. overblown fear of deficits (pg. 37), Sheila of the right-wing propaganda—about CCPA-Manitoba Director Molly Block concludes, “a debate about who immigration, equalization and deficits McCracken catches up with Leap can spend less in government is the last in particular—distracting voters from co-founder Avi Lewis (page 23), who thing we need.” With the threat of cli- more important things, climate change has been touring Canada with other mate change so immediate, and money high among them. social justice leaders to promote the as cheap as it is now, Canada should be Five years ago, CCPA economists idea of a Green New Deal for All. Em- spending freely and generously—not worked with the drafters of the Leap boldened by strong U.S. momentum to manage the economy for the comfort Manifesto to find the money it would for a Leap-like transition—from a of those at the top, but to transform take to rapidly de-carbonize and resource-dependent, highly unequal society for the good of all. M 2 and Richard Wilkinson liberalism. I would promote in their 2009 book The the idea of ecosocialism, Awareness T Spirit Level, work that was but I don’t know how to extended in their 2019 make it happen. He’s “making the case for war.” The Inner Level (both from Don Kerr, Haven’t we been here before— Penguin). These books Collingwood, Ontario in the monumental deception that show the correlation prepared for aggression between many societal ills against Iraq? and inequality—and it is with inequality per se rather Another side “It’s a terrorist state.” Leers than low income. This trend of Quebec’s debt Few hands are clean. is occurring throughout the The millions of dead from liberal economies, giving Figures don't lie, but they Latin America, Cambodia, Vietnam, rise to a general feeling on can be made to support op- Iraq the part of many people posite positions. Guillaume speak to my inner ear. Populism of getting a bad deal. Hébert (“Quebec’s debt and The screams of the tortured return and inequality They are willing to follow borrowing rates are related, through the silence, the missing populist demagogues out but not in the way you and the disappeared—appear. The last issue provided of desperation. think,” July/Aug 2019) does excellent articles on The worst cases are in not mention that reducing A call for war populism. Paul Saurette did economies that can be Quebec's debt reduces the betrays their memory, a fine job of defining this classified as neoliberal, that cost of servicing it. Using his unpicks the links of life, difficult term (“Populism is, having an inherent belief numbers, a debt reduction foregoes a future—already as good storytelling,” July/ that the market knows of $21.1 billion would reduce hanging by a thread. August 2019). I wish to best and economic growth the cost of servicing it (at Is there a coalition comment on the source of solves everything. To arrest 2.1%) by $443.1 million per that knows our condition populism in Canada and in these negative trends, it is annum. On the other hand, and cares, speaks truth other capitalist societies. necessary to adopt a policy 2.1% is a pretty good rate to call us back Many persons say that of lowering inequality by at which to borrow money. populism is characterized having a more progressive I wish I could negotiate a toward life? by a sense of economic taxation system that redis- mortgage that low. Should Frank Thompson, pessimism, anger at elites, tributes income and wealth Quebec be amortizing its Parry Sound, Ontario and deep mistrust of to counter the natural indebtedness or not? mainstream media and tendency of capitalist econ- E. Russell Smith, science. Some rightly omies to transfer wealth Ottawa, Ontario suggest that part of the to the 1% from the rest of answer lies with high the population. This would levels of inequality, tepid be better for everyone, but economic growth, etc. It is don’t count on those who Correction important to note that the benefit to fix this broken trend to higher inequality economic system. In the table of contents started in the 1980s and Another aspect of of the July/August issue, continues to this day. It inequality is the distortion the Monitor accidentally was promoted by Friedrich of the market driven by the referred to Gordon A. Hayek and Milton Friedman growing income share of the Bailey, author of “Civil and picked up by Ronald upper economic class and disobedience in the time of Reagan and Margaret the aspirations to imitate Trans Mountain” (page 49), Thatcher. In Canada the them. Is it possible that as “Robert A. Bailey.” We share of national total the housing crisis in large apologize for the mistake, income received by the urban centres is related which we’ve changed in top 1% of population has to these inequality trends the PDF version of the risen from 7% in 1985 to as well as rising personal magazine at www.policyal- 11.3% in 2016. Inequality debt? Economic liberalism ternatives.ca/monitor. is particularly bad in the has had its day and is United States followed by leading to a general feeling the United Kingdom. of powerlessness among Send all letters to monitor@ The fundamental the lower middle classes. policyalternatives.ca. We research on inequality was We seem to be beyond will contact you if we plan presented by Kate Pickett the restoration of welfare on running your letter. 3 climate change policies, Employment new CCPA-Manitoba such as the carbon tax, to insurance’s hidden report, Making Space for focusing on energy policies deductible Change, which traces the that restrict the production history and implementation of fossil fuels. A report from the CCPA- (in 2014) of the social Ontario finds that just one program, and changes that in four minimum-wage have taken place since A B.C. budget workers are eligible for then. we can get behind employment insurance Activists made a New from benefits even though they strategic decision to focus the CCPA In June, the CCPA-BC made make significant contri- their organizing on housing a submission to the 2020 butions to the program. assistance, recognizing provincial budget consul- CCPA-Ontario researcher that housing affordability tation highlighting how Ricardo Tranjan analyzed was an issue that more Canada’s climate B.C. could make the most the three most common people could relate to. policy drought of substantial surpluses in EI coverage indicators The result, as Brandon the next two fiscal years. and determined that only and Hajer document, was Hotter temperatures and Top recommendations 68% of minimum-wage widespread public support extreme weather are include funding the next workers—as compared across party lines for the bringing the reality of phase of the province’s to 80% of all unemployed creation of the Rent Assist climate change directly poverty reduction strategy, workers—are considered benefit program. into more and more lives. A expanding climate action eligible for benefits. This is However, Rent Assist has new report from the CCPA initiatives in recognition despite the fact that lower faced several cuts since and the Adapting Canadian of the urgency of climate income earners tend to pay then. Manitobans receiving Work and Workplaces change, and making new more into the EI program. benefits are now paying to Respond to Climate investments in affordable “EI began as a program a higher deductible even Change research program housing. CCPA-BC also targeting lower-wage though rental allowances (ACW), titled Heating Up, urged the government to workers. It became a have stayed the same or Backing Down, finds that accelerate investments program offering near decreased. A 2017 KPMG Canadian governments are in transit, create a fairer universal coverage, and study, which called for more still not taking the problem provincial tax system, and yet today it fails to support cuts, could result in the seriously. strengthen public K-12 and most precariously em- program being rolled back “Overall, we find that post-secondary education. ployed, low-wage workers,” even further by the current climate policy in Canada Specifically in the area Tranjan writes in his new government. is less ambitious and of poverty reduction, the report, Toward an Inclusive Still, as Brandon and less comprehensive than submission called for an Economy. He recommends Hajer explain, Rent even two years ago,” immediate and significant a basic level of income Assist remains one of the writes author Hadrian increase to social and security for all workers most successful shelter Mertins-Kirkwood, a disability assistance in recognition of their programs in Canada. senior researcher at the rates; new investments payment into the program. “The achievement and CCPA. “More ambitious in additional low-income Tranjan also suggests that maintenance of Rent policies backed by bold housing stock, including the EI program should Assist represents a major climate leadership will be co-op housing, and recognize the reality of victory for anti-poverty necessary for Canada to stronger renter protections; lower-wage work so that organizers in Manitoba,” achieve its goals and make further improvements minimum-wage workers the write. “Their success a positive contribution to to the delivery of social are no longer penalized for offers lessons for housing humanity's existential fight assistance; funding for part-time work and shorter and social assistance against climate change. We proactive enforcement of tenures. advocates across Canada.” cannot afford to back down employment and labour as the world heats up.” law; expanded access to Backlash against affordable dental and eye Making change otherwise promising care, as well as pharmacare by making some noise carbon-emission policies for low-income people; and risks putting Canada improved access to justice A concerted effort from For more reports, back on the path of rising for lower-income and anti-poverty organizers was commentary and emissions. Mertins- marginalized communities. behind the implementation infographics from the Kirkwood recommends of Manitoba’s Rent Assist CCPA’s national and a shift from a collective benefit, writeJosh Brandon provincial offices, visit fixation on controversial and Jesse Hajer in their www.policyalternatives.ca. 4 of tuition fees, starting with a 20% re- duction in fees for all post-secondary students for the upcoming year, includ- ing for international students. One in five Alberta households include someone unable to take prescribed medications in the past 12 months because of cost. The AAB Up Front therefore proposes a provincially funded, universal pharmacare program. After all, if you’re sick, you’re sick. Finally, social assistance caseloads have risen substantially since the start of the economic downturn. This is espe- cially the case for single adults without dependents. The Alternative Alberta Budget would therefore increase fund- ing for retraining Albertans experiencing prolonged periods of unemployment. This would halt the flow of people onto social assistance and improve the like- lihood they will find new jobs. Alberta still has, by far, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any province, projected to be 6.5% in 2018-19. The next lowest is British Columbia’s, which stands at 15.2%, while Ontario’s 2018- 19 debt-to-GDP ratio is above 40%. In other words, there is no fiscal crisis in this province. Alberta does not have GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA to cut social spending to preserve its long-term financial health. Albertans are also taxed less than res- NICK FALVO | ALBERTA idents of any other province. According to Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, if the province adopted a tax structure Province must find similar to the next lowest-taxed prov- ince in the country (British Columbia), alternatives to cutting Alberta would generate an additional $8.7 billion in annual revenue. social spending Meanwhile, Alberta remains the only Canadian province without a provincial sales tax. The Alberta Alternative he Alberta government led by This year’s AAB discusses several Budget working group estimates that Premier Jason Kenney will almost social challenges in Alberta. For the implementation of a 5% provincial Tcertainly announce major cuts example, more than 80% of Alberta’s sales tax in Alberta would generate to social spending in the near future. It kindergarten through Grade 3 classes approximately $5 billion in new revenue doesn’t have to. In fact, it could increase currently exceed the provincial gov- annually. What’s more, even after the im- social spending while being fiscally ernment’s own class size targets. The plementation of this tax, Alberta would responsible. AAB therefore recommends substantial remain Canada’s lowest-taxed province. The Alberta Alternative Budget (AAB) increases in spending on K–12 educa- There is a need for increased, not is an annual exercise whose working tion alongside reduced public funding decreased, social spending in this prov- group consists of researchers, econo- for private schools (which are currently ince. There is also the fiscal capacity to mists and members of civil society. Our subsidized at higher rates than in any do it. Now is the time to move forward, mandate—like that of the Alternative other province). not backward. M Federal Budget co-ordinated each year Tuition fees as a share of university NICK FALVO IS A CALGARY-BASED ECONOMIST by the CCPA—is to create a progressive operating revenue roughly tripled in AND CONSULTANT, AND THE EDITOR OF THIS YEAR’S ALBERTA ALTERNATIVE BUDGET. A VERSION OF vision for Alberta that boosts economic Alberta over the last 30 years. The AAB THIS ARTICLE RAN IN THE EDMONTON JOURNAL growth and reduces income inequality. therefore proposes a five-year phase-out ON JULY 4. 5 chains over the past several decades clearly exceeds the planet’s ecological limits. Rapid climate change is simply the most alarming symptom of mul- tifaceted environmental destruction and unsustainable resource exploita- tion—of fossil fuels, forests, farmlands and fresh water—that are at the heart of this system. At the same time, the economic gains from growth in trade have been overwhelmingly captured by a tiny elite. To now, free trade agreements have been employed by governments and corporate lobbyists, in the interests of this elite, to lock in those harmful (but profitable) ways of producing and ex- changing goods and services. For those pursuing social change, it is imperative that we rethink free trade ideology and the prevailing template for the agree- ments that govern globalization. Progressives can and do seek to preserve the benefits of trade, but at the same time to embed trade agreements in a new legal ecosystem of rights and obligations that looks first to the rights and health of citizens, workers, commu- nities and the planet. In other words, progressives insist on trade rules that give priority to human rights and the rights of nature over corporate rights. A reformed international trading system must be inclusive, and tolerant of different ideas about how our econ- ILLUSTRATION BY KARA SIEVEWRIGHT OF THE GRAPHIC HISTORY COLLECTIVE omies and societies are organized. Through special and differential treat- ment, trade rules must accommodate ETHAN EARLE, MANUEL PÉREZ-ROCHA the development aspirations of the AND SCOTT SINCLAIR | INTERNATIONAL Global South. A progressive trade model would also redress the long-ignored rights of excluded and disadvantaged Envisioning a progressive groups everywhere to productively participate in the global economy. The trade agenda harmful secrecy surrounding trade and investment treaty negotiations must be replaced by an open and transparent he extraordinary surge in popular Our new report, Beyond NAFTA 2.0: A treaty-making process that no longer support for expanding public Progressive Trade Agenda for People and gives the upper hand to corporate Thealth care, a “Green New Deal” Planet, addresses a key question: what lobbyists and other insiders. (see page 23 of this issue) and other kind of trade, and what kind of trade Another overarching theme in our progressive policies demonstrates a agreements, might complement growing report is the demand for a new trade powerful public appetite for meaningful demand for better social programs, more treaty framework that supports core social change. Decades of neoliberal ecologically sustainable production, and progressive policy priorities such as austerity and “the market made me do more egalitarian ways of living? What universal health care; strong public it” politics, which boosted inequality kind of trade regime, in other words, services; robust environmental pro- in most countries, have also created should progressives support? tection and resolute action on climate pent-up demand to change the rules The extraordinary expansion of in- change; full employment in meaningful of globalization and international trade. ternational trade and globalized supply work that provides a good standard of 6 living; strengthened labour standards This positive, progressive trade and trade union rights; the primacy of agenda proposes the following actions universal human rights, especially the (among others): rights of women, Indigenous Peoples, Eliminate ISDS and investment and all those seeking equity; and the • protections that undercut the right of greater democratization of economic duly elected governments to regulate decision-making. in the interests of their citizens and Realizing this policy vision will the environment, and establish binding clearly mean defying and ultimately investor obligations. dismantling key corporate-biased as- Index pects of existing trade treaties, such • Enshrine binding, enforceable obliga- Wasted Spaces as investor–state dispute settlement. tions to reduce and mitigate the effects It will also require organizing politically of climate change in all international Compiled by Elfreda Tetteh to thwart corporate-driven efforts to ex- commercial agreements and safeguard pand the current, deeply flawed model greenhouse gas reduction and climate 600 million into new areas including digital trade, protection initiatives from challenge by Number of cars’ worth of greenhouse gas e-commerce, data privacy, regulatory foreign investors or governments. emissions created annually by clearing co-operation and expanded intellectual Replace excessive intellectual prop- forested land, mostly to pasture cows. property rights. • erty rights with balanced protections For too long, trade treaties have been that encourage innovation while sup- 83% instruments of policy suffocation, key porting user rights, data privacy, and Portion of global farmland allocated to meat tools for enforcing a neoliberal policy access to affordable medicines. and dairy. monoculture. This must end. The existential threat of climate change Replace non-binding, unenforceable • 60% and the corrosive effects of inequality labor provisions with strong, fully en- Amount of agricultural greenhouse gas have exposed current trade treaties as forceable labor rights and standards emissions produced through meat and dairy counterproductive and dangerously that enable citizens and trade unions production. out of sync with today’s challenges to take complaints to independent and priorities. It is critical to reverse international secretariats, which should 18% the prolonged “mission creep” through also have the authority to proactively Portion of calories provided by meat and which trade agreements have strayed investigate labor rights abuses. dairy. far from basic trade matters, such as Fully recognize and respect gender tariff reduction, to instead become • and Indigenous rights, including 44% instruments of corporate control and prioritizing women’s employment and Amount of all methane emissions in agricul- privilege in all areas of governance. economic well-being, and recognizing ture, forestry and human land use produced Despite Trump’s populist and anti-es- Indigenous title to land and resources by cows. tablishment rhetoric, his unilateralism and the right to free, prior, and informed is clearly aimed not at undoing but at consent. 500 million deepening the pro-corporate biases of Number of people who currently live in areas the current trade regime. The evolution Ensure international trade agree- • where once-productive land has dried out of NAFTA into the USMCA is proof of ments respect food sovereignty and and turned to desert. that. the livelihoods of small holdings and The approach advocated in our report family farmers by giving priority to local $1.8 billion could not be more different. Through producers and providing a fair return for Average annual insurance costs associated close analysis of the USMCA (CUSMA small-scale agricultural producers. with extreme weather in Canada between in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico), trade Encourage policy flexibility for those 2009 and 2017, up from an average of $405 experts and activists explore how that • industrial and community economic million in 1983. agreement and the current neoliberal development strategies striving to en- trade regime set back progressive sure that trade and foreign investment 1.2 trillion aspirations across the policy spectrum. contribute to good jobs, local economic Number of new trees the world could This analysis is guided by four basic benefits, healthy communities, and a plant—a startlingly achievable goal—to principles: recognizing the primacy of clean environment. remove two-thirds of all carbon dioxide from human rights over corporate rights; the atmosphere. respecting the policy space of dem- • Pursue international co-operation ocratic governments to ensure trade that respects regulatory autonomy Sources “Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from tropical deforestation im- contributes to national and local and aims to harmonize to the highest proved by carbon-density maps,” Nature Climate Change; “Reducing food’s envi- ronmental impacts through producers and consumers,” Science; “Climate Change economic development; safeguarding standards, instead of the current and Land,” the 2019 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; “New report says Canada should start adaptation measures to offset climate-change ef- public interest regulation; and adopting corporate-dominated regulatory co-op- fects,” Globe and Mail; “Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle cli- a climate-friendly approach to trade. eration agendas that erode autonomy mate crisis,” The Guardian (U.K.). 7 and harmonize to the lowest common denominator. • Remove the pressure under current services and investment rules to pri- vatize public services and instead fully protect the right to preserve, expand, restore and create public services without trade treaty interference. • End the current secrecy in trade negotiations and privileged access for vested interests, and establish procedures that provide full disclosure, transparency and meaningful public participation. A final theme of our report is that while WILLIAM ROSMUS (FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS) the existing trade and investment re- gime needs to be transformed, policy alternatives can and must be pursued immediately. Given the destructiveness EVELYN PINKERTON | BRITISH COLUMBIA of runaway climate change and rising inequality, we cannot afford to wait until We need an independent the current international trade system is reformed before acting. Recognizing commission on West Coast the obstacles that current trade and in- vestment rules pose to a just economic fishing licensing and ecological transformation should never imply giving in to their chilling effect. ritish Columbia’s coastal com- outside of Canada. Some are process- Our working paper is meant to be a munities, long dependent on ing companies that freeze or can the roadmap, not a blueprint. We hope it fishing for their livelihoods, are in fish. All are able to lease out the ITQs at will be a living document, subject to B serious trouble. Populations are down, rates (as high as 80% of the value of a discussion, criticism and revision, and along with youth retention, incomes, catch in some fisheries) that force fish- a tool for stimulating deeper debate and investment, infrastructure, health ermen to take virtually all the risk and discussion about trade alternatives in outcomes and levels of well-being. little of the benefit. Some Canadian cor- civil society, trade unions and social It’s now almost impossible for young porations, because they own licences movements. M people to enter the fishery because of and fish-processing plants, are able to SCOTT SINCLAIR DIRECTS THE CCPA’S TRADE AND INVESTMENT RESEARCH PROJECT. MANUEL the high cost of purchasing or leasing land and flash freeze the fish in Canada, PEREZ-ROCHA IS AN ASSOCIATE FELLOW AT THE the individual transferable quotas (ITQs, but then export the fish overseas to be WASHINGTON, D.C.–BASED INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES. ETHAN EARLE IS A FORMER PROGRAM permits to catch a certain quantity of processed, further removing jobs from MANAGER AT THE ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG– fish, attached to most licences). Coastal our coastal communities. So we are NEW YORK OFFICE AND IS NOW A POLITICAL CONSULTANT IN PARIS. THEIR REPORT, BEYOND communities that used to have dozens losing jobs, opportunity and benefits NAFTA 2.0: A PROGRESSIVE TRADE AGENDA FOR of fishermen now may have a handful in fishing, fish processing and related PEOPLE AND PLANET, CAN BE FOUND ON THE CCPA WEBSITE. at best. The boat-building, repair and support industries. gear supply businesses that service the These problems don’t occur as much sector are disappearing. How did this on the East Coast. The official policy happen to our once prosperous coast? since the 1970s for both coasts has A big driver in this change is how been to consider the social, economic many fishing licences and ITQs are and cultural consequences of fisheries freely—and anonymously—tradable. management, but this policy has not Policy on the West Coast has allowed been implemented on the West Coast. ownership of licences and ITQs by all Furthermore, the licensing systems on sorts of people and companies who the two coasts developed very different- never set foot on a boat. Their only ly. On the West Coast there are virtually qualification: they have a lot of money. no rules around licence ownership. On Some are investor-speculators. Some the East Coast, measures such as the are laundering money. Some are shell owner-operator policy (which requires companies owned by people living most licence holders to be fishermen 8 CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Monitored A DIG INTO THE MONITOR ARCHIVES | VOL. 6, NOs 4 AND 5, SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 1999

Preparing for battle overtaxed.” According to Dobbin, that was true only relatively speaking—and it was low-income Canadians With the November 1999 “Battle of Seattle” alter- who were facing higher taxes relative to their incomes, globalization protests around the corner, the Monitor not the well-off. But old propaganda dies hard. This spent a lot of time in its September and October issues summer, the right-wing, business-funded Fraser on the push by rich countries, including Canada, to Institute lumped all taxes (including import duties, negotiate new corporate priorities (a “Millennium profit taxes and payroll taxes) into the average family Round”) into the binding WTO agreements—investment income tax to make the false claim we all spend more protection, government procurement, competition on taxes than living costs—a myth the media largely policy—over the strong objections of developing reported as fact. Well, most media. The Beaverton, a countries. Deriding how the WTO and other free parody news site, covered the Fraser Institute report trade deals create “substantial new obstacles to this way: “‘In 2018, the average Canadian family earned environmental protection, food safety regulations, an income of $88,865 and paid total taxes equaling cultural support programs, and resource conservation $4,988,921,656,429.12, approximately 5600000000% of initiatives,” Steven Shrybman, then executive director their income,’ the study says. ‘Individuals in Canada are of the West Coast Environmental Law Association, not only paying more taxes than individuals in any other proposed the adoption of “equally enforceable country, they are each paying more taxes than the entire international agreements to achieve broad societal population of any other country.’” goals, rather than entrenching the narrow interests of large corporations and foreign investors.” Twenty years Privacy legislation showing its age later, Canada has fully committed to “Millennium Round” disciplines on state-owned enterprises, public spending, Freelance writer Paul Bobier wrote about plans to financial services, domestic regulation, and many other introduce a Personal Information Protection and areas, in a network of ever-more-intrusive free trade Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in our October deals such as CETA and the CPTPP. 1999 issue. The legislation was introduced that spring by John Manley, then industry minister, “to give consumers The law is the law more control over how their personal information is used by the banks, cable and broadcasting companies, A short article in the September issue reported on telecommunications firms, and other businesses that “exceptional” research by University of Saskatchewan come under federal jurisdiction,” reported Bobier. The labour law students, which showed that the provincial Canadian Chamber of Commerce opposed the new Roy Romanow government “violated both provincial privacy act, along with the Conservative Party (the laws and international human rights codes when U.S. would be upset with Canada) and Bloc Québécois it legislated striking nurses back to work [in April (it infringed on provincial jurisdiction), but it would 1999].” Based on their findings, the students issued a eventually pass in 2000. Today, however, PIPEDA is once Declaration of Freedom, “to show their solidarity with again out of date in an era of mass intrusions by social the nurses, drafted language for a new law to repeal [the media and new tech companies. Following last year’s back-to-work legislation], and announced plans to file introduction in Europe of the General Data Protection an official complaint against the government with the Regulation (GDPR), which sets a new benchmark for ILO and the United Nations.” personal privacy, the federal government has promised to legislation a 10-point “digital charter,” which, if Tax facts and fictions enacted, “would constitute the most significant privacy The October 1999 issue included 24-page report by law changes in decades,” according to Michael Geist of CCPA research associate Murray Dobbin, “10 Tax the University of Ottawa. Myths,” which aimed to clear the smoke created by yet another corporate-led PR campaign against Canada’s tax system. The number one myth? “Canadians are

9 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 WORTH REPEATING who own and operate their own boats) Over 120 protected coastal communities and independent fishermen. The federal fishermen, coastal “A total failure of accountability” fisheries minister at the time, Dominic community LeBlanc, proposed in February 2018 From the outset, we asked for an that these ideas be not just policy but mayors, First independent and transparent public legal requirements on the East Coast. inquiry into my wrongful extradition. We Nation leaders, So discussion of amendments to the boycotted the external review because Fisheries Act (Bill C-68) began. academics and we believed that it would amount to a In response, civil society mobilized on whitewash exercise. It is profoundly environmental the West Coast. Shortly after LeBlanc’s upsetting to see our concerns and fears proposal to amend the Fisheries Act, organizations materializing. Ecotrust Canada and partners convened agreed on the I endured over five years of draconian a broadly representative gathering of bail conditions and more than three B.C. fishermen and communities. Over need for fisheries years of imprisonment away from 120 fishermen, coastal community may- policy reform on my family and home. My reputation ors, First Nation leaders, academics and was tarnished; my financial savings environmental organizations agreed on the West Coast. were wiped out; my physical and the need for fisheries policy reform on mental health deteriorated, and most the West Coast. The Canadian Inde- importantly l missed the birth of my pendent Fish Harvesters Federation son and more than three years of my added their voices to this plea. The must be more inclusive of the fishing children’s lives. Fishermen’s Union, representing many community, for example. Among other fishermen and shoreworkers on the Pa- changes, an owner-operator policy is My suffering and that of my family was cific coast, surveyed many fishermen’s essential. prolonged due to the conduct of senior (not just its members’) opinions on a li- When Bill C-68 received royal assent officials at the Department of Justice. censing policy review. There was strong on June 21, the owner-operator policy Yet the report found that no one was support for putting licence ownership was recognized as something the responsible for this miscarriage of in the hands of active fishermen. And minister could legally require, alongside justice. Neither does the report call for lots of ideas about how to do it gradually, other social, economic and cultural a serious reform of the very problematic causing the least disruption. considerations. When Prime Minister extradition law to ensure that Canadians In the process of considering Bill C-68, Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet in are protected. the House of Commons Standing Com- July, he charged new Fisheries Minister I trusted the government’s promise that mittee on Fisheries and Oceans received Jonathan Wilkinson with continuing what happened to me should never numerous additional West Coast com- to advance LeBlanc’s changes to the happen to anyone else. However, the plaints about the injustice of licensing Fisheries Act. The new minister must report promises a continuation of the old there. The committee was particularly ensure that the necessary corrections way where every Canadian is at risk. It moved by the BC Young Fishermen’s Net- are made to the B.C. licensing system so was alarming to see that the report was work, whose members explained how that our fisheries once more are for the seeking to strengthen the existing law difficult it is for a young person to get into benefit of working fishermen, the small by recommending educating the public the fishery. The committee began its own businesses that support and depend on about extradition steps and procedures. separate review of West Coast licensing our fishing industry, and fisheries-de- in January 2019, inviting people with a pendent coastal communities. Toward The report represents a total failure of great array of perspectives—including that end, the government must strike the accountability and transparency. We Pacific region officials from the Depart- independent commission advocated by demand a public and transparent judicial ment of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the committee, with participation from inquiry because justice dies in the fisheries experts from Canada and other fishermen and fishing communities, to darkness. jurisdictions, fishermen and processors, figure out how to implement the commit- — Statement by Hassan Diab at a press among other witnesses—to help them tee’s crucial recommendations. conference on July 26 following the understand the regional challenges. But the minister will need a lot of release of Murray Segal’s external review The committee’s final recommen- encouragement from citizens to do this, of Diab’s wrongful judicial extradition to dations, unanimously supported by all as there are significant vested interests France to face charges, thrown out for parties and released on May 7, over- in the status quo. Furthermore, all candi- lack of evidence, that he was involved whelmingly support a licensing policy dates in the upcoming election should in a 1980 bombing outside a Paris that reverses the numerous problems be forewarned that this issue matters a synagogue. Segal concluded "(counsel) identified above. We must make sure great deal to British Columbians. M acted in a manner that was ethical and this transformation happens, and that EVELYN PINKERTON IS A PROFESSOR IN THE SCHOOL consistent—both with the law and… it brings about a more equitable distri- OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY. practices and policies." bution of benefits. DFO advisory boards 10 and Black Panther Party for Self-Defence, I drew much in- Colour-coded spiration from Canada’s own histories of struggle for Black Justice freedom—organizations like the Brotherhood of Sleeping ANTHONY N. MORGAN Car Porters, the Black Action Defence Committee, and the African Canadian Legal Clinic, for example, and individuals such as Charles Roach, Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré and M. NourbeSe Philip. I chose to become a lawyer so I could carry on the tradition set by these leaders of the Canadian Black liberation movement. That is what makes me a Black lawyer. Using a critical race or race-conscious frame of analysis What’s a Black to ground and guide my work, I have served Canada and its Black communities as a policy and research lawyer, a lawyer to do? civil litigator, and now as a public servant. Public thinking, writing and speaking with this lens has been an integral aspect of my commitment to racial justice lawyering. At IKE MANY BLACK children who grew up in Canada in every step of my professional career, a focus on addressing the mid-80s and early 90s, I was raised with the idea anti-Black racism in Canada has been central. that making your parents proudest meant becoming I plan on sticking to that tradition in this column. a doctor or a lawyer. It didn’t matter if your family “Colour-coded Justice” will explore racial justice issues in descended from 18th century Black Loyalists or 19th Canadian law, policy and society—issues like racial pro- Lcentury African American Refugees, or if your parents had filing, gun violence, Black community development, Black recently immigrated from the Caribbean or Africa to serve politics and leadership, Black and Indigenous relations, as working class labourers or foreign-trained professionals, reparations in Canada, and other questions and challenges or to find greater safety and security. For “bright” Black facing Black life in this country. children, the best way to make your family and community In early 2018, for example, the current federal govern- proud was to gain entry into the legal profession. ment announced with great fanfare that it would officially Whether or not we welcomed, actualized, resented or resisted this family pressure, it was generally understood to come from a good place. Black families typically want their Black babies to grow up to escape poverty and, if possible, I chose to become a lawyer even achieve the highest ranks of Canadian social accept- so I could carry on the ance and respectability. This is not unique to Black families in Canada. But it is especially common due to Canadian tradition set by these leaders anti-Blackness, which perpetually impales the prospects, of the Canadian Black well-being and sense of belonging of Black Canadians as equals in this country. liberation movement. It’s on this backdrop of my parents’ and community’s Jamaican immigrant dreams that I became a lawyer. But it doesn’t explain how I became a Black lawyer, or why. recognize the United Nations–declared International I was born in Toronto and raised in racialized and work- Decade for People of African Descent. In support of that ing-class neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. declaration, the 2019 budget committed $25 million over As proudly Afro-Jamaican as my family and community five years “for projects and capital assistance to celebrate, encouraged me to be, we equally claimed “Canadian” as an share knowledge and build capacity in our vibrant Black inextricable part of social identity. As a result, I developed Canadian communities.” a deep sense of power and pride in the interconnected But what does this commitment (and its future) mean complexities of my African heritage, Jamaican parentage, during in an election year? Is this really enough money to and Canadian social inheritance. truly support Black communities’ needs? Which Black com- So when I decided in high school that I wanted to become munities are best served by such endeavours, and has the a lawyer, it was far more than an expression of acquiescence government identified the right priorities to fund? These are to my family’s and my community’s projections of Canadian the kinds of questions this column will explore and provoke. immigrant dreams. I deeply wanted to play an active part I hope you enjoy it, learn something useful, and perhaps in helping Canada fully realize its democratic ideals of gain new perspectives, insights and even inspiration on multiculturalism, fairness and equality. Years before Black how to equitably think through law and policy as they Lives Matter became the clarion call of a global generation impact Black communities in Canada. But if it does nothing of justice-seeking Black advocates and communities, I chose else, my humblest hope is that this column will simply the law as the avenue by which I would pursue social change make my parents proud. :-) M for the betterment of Black life in Canada. ANTHONY N. MORGAN IS A TORONTO-BASED HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, POLICY Though mostly motivated by books I read about American CONSULTANT AND COMMUNITY EDUCATOR. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER AT @ANTHONYNMORGAN. icons of the Black Power Movement, such as Huey Newton 11

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TO THE TO FEDERAL

MONITOR

DEBATES ELECTION DISTRACTIONS DISTRACTIONS A FRAMING THE GUIDE 2019 AND BIGGER BETTER THINKING DEMANDING

12 ALEX HEMINGWAY OWN IT THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST DEBATE CANADA SHOULD BE HAVING THIS ELECTION

e live in an era of extreme they centre matters of who owns and a comeback. Concrete policy proposals inequality of wealth and controls core economic institutions to address them are now emerging in power across much of the and wealth. And they could be de- the U.K. and U.S. in particular. developed world, and Can- scribed as “democratic” because they Wada is no exception. Public confidence take a bottom-up approach that would Inclusive ownership funds in political institutions and “political reshape and significantly equalize Perhaps one of the boldest ideas cur- classes” in the West is in long-running economic ownership and control. rently on offer, the inclusive ownership decline. The failure of established in- These policies are also, in many cases, fund is an ambitious plan to transfer stitutions to grapple adequately with extremely popular among voters part of the equity ownership of large the crises we face is giving way to an across the political spectrum. corporations to a trust held by the environment of growing instability In short, the policy debate is rapidly company’s workers. Proposed by the and unease, providing fertile ground being populated with innovative and New Economics Foundation, a British for the rise of the far right and deliv- far-reaching economic proposals of a think-tank, this policy was adopted by ering the likes of Donald Trump and kind that we should be considering the U.K. Labour Party last year, and Boris Johnson into the highest offices. much more seriously in Canada. To Bernie Sanders recently announced Yet there is also reason for optimism. that end, let’s take a look at a selection plans to adopt a similar policy. The left, too, is in many places also of big policy ideas now on the table In the Labour version, corporations reinvigorated—and quite suddenly south of the border and across the with over 250 employees would be bursting with big, bold new policy Atlantic, which represent potential mandated to transfer 1% of equity agendas. This includes, perhaps most starting points for important debates per year to worker-owned trusts. (To visibly, a push for a Green New Deal, here at home. avoid raising too many alarm bells by crucial in the face of the ticking clock big capital owners, the transfer would of the climate crisis. But another set of PUTTING POWER AND be capped at 10% of equity.) The divi- developing policy proposals relating OWNERSHIP IN WORKERS’ dends earned from this equity would to the ownership and control of our HANDS be paid out annually to the company’s economy also deserve our attention. We generally take for granted, at least workers. To ensure equity between In the U.K. and U.S., transformative in principle, that everyone has the firms and sectors, the dividends would policy ideas for economic justice are right to a say—and certainly a vote— be capped at £500 (just over $800), emerging and starting to move quietly in what our governments do. But the with any additional funds allocated into the political mainstream. These expectation of democracy stops quite to broader social investments at a include policies to promote worker abruptly at the door of the workplace. national level. The worker ownership ownership and control of companies, When it comes to some of the most stake would also come with a seat at breaking up large monopolistic corpo- powerful institutions in our society the table in the corporation’s board of rations, and an annual wealth tax on and our daily lives—corporations and directors proportionate to the owner- the super-rich. These ideas are being workplaces—there is little practice or ship share. advanced not only by activists and pretense of democratic control. Strikingly, there appears to be a think-tanks, but now also major polit- But why shouldn’t working people strong public appetite for this type of ical parties and candidates, including have more of a say over the institu- policy. In a recent poll of Americans, the U.K.’s Labour Party and U.S. Dem- tions that govern their working lives? 55% supported (and 21% opposed) a ocratic presidential candidates Bernie And indeed, why shouldn’t people have version of this policy that would go Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. more ownership over the firms we even further, transferring up to half These policies are not exclusive to work for? These are major economic of corporations’ equity to their work- any single ideology, but they could and political questions with a long ers. Even 50% of Republicans polled reasonably be called “socialist,” since history, and they are starting to make supported the plan, demonstrating 13 EQUALIZING away from a single-minded focus on on boards, as has the U.K. Labour THE TAX maximizing value for shareholders. Party. Like the inclusive ownership TREATMENT Evidence suggest that having workers fund policy, worker representation on at the board table could result in less boards polls very strongly in the U.S., OF CAPITAL inequality, lower CEO pay, and fewer with 52% of likely voters in support AND LABOUR layoffs during economic downturns, compared to only 23% opposed. INCOME COULD while tending to put a lid on stock RAISE BILLIONS prices. Because stock ownership is “Right to own” and OF DOLLARS so concentrated among the rich, this worker-owned enterprises IN ADDITIONAL would also amount to a non-tax-based Beyond the partial ownership of GOVERNMENT form of redistribution (a potential large firms created by an inclusive REVENUE. complement to other taxation and ownership fund, another proposal spending-based progressive policies). to democratize the economy is to Germany and many other European promote full worker ownership of countries have long required worker more firms. One elegant but poten- representation on corporate boards. tially far-reaching policy measure Warren’s proposal would also would give workers in a company the that this is an issue that doesn’t break put new restrictions on corporate legal right of first refusalto buy their down along simple left-right lines. influence in politics and elections by business if it’s being sold or shut down. requiring a vote of 75% of the board to Such a “right to own” has recently Worker representation authorize any political spending (i.e., been advocated by the Labour Party on corporate boards worker representatives would have to in the U.K., and detailed proposals Another set of new proposals would back it). Warren’s policy would curb the along these lines have been developed require corporations to give their ability of directors to engage in short- by both the New Economics Founda- workers elected representation on term share selloffs of their company’s tion and Institute for Public Policy their boards of directors, even absent a stock, and federal corporate charters Research (IPPR) in the U.K., as well transfer of equity. For example, Demo- would be amended to require directors as the Democracy Collaborative cratic presidential candidate Elizabeth of large corporations “to consider the in the U.S. Each of these proposals Warren’s version of this policy would interests of all corporate stakeholders.” includes mechanisms to assist work- require 40% of corporate board seats These provisions would be backed up ers in financing the upfront costs of to be reserved for representatives of by the threat of the federal government purchase. A “right to own” law has the company’s workers. revoking a company’s corporate char- long existed in Italy, where the Emilia Such a shift in corporate governance ter in the case of repeated violations. Romagna region has one of the highest could substantially change the balance Bernie Sanders has also come out levels of co-operative ownership of the of priorities in favour of workers and in support of worker representation economy in the world (equal to about one-third of GDP). While there is no “right to own” in Canada, its potential can be seen in 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total examples such as the Harmac Mill on BC 18 23 24 37 29 31 17 27 24 230 Vancouver Island. Slated to be shut- tered a decade ago, but successfully AB 9 15 7 8 7 14 10 11 14 95 bought out by its employees, the mill is SK 2 2 10 11 7 2 15 7 6 62 thriving today (shuttered West Fraser MB 13 17 9 10 8 10 11 7 5 90 Timber and Canfor workers take note). ON 27 22 43 63 53 25 25 23 21 302 Like the other policies mentioned so far, U.S.-based polling suggests that QC 135 116 131 143 125 107 91 87 96 1,031 a “right to own” is very popular, with NB 3 10 10 7 3 9 7 13 22 84 69% support versus only 10% opposed NS 21 22 33 13 11 19 13 15 15 162 in that country. PEI 6 7 1 3 7 2 1 2 5 34 Thousands of worker-owned en- terprises and co-operatives already NL 2 1 2 0 4 1 4 3 0 17 exist in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The NU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 economic evidence, much of it sum- NT 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 6 marized in Tom Malleson’s 2014 book, YK 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 5 After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the 21st Century (Oxford University Federal 5 6 6 7 6 6 2 7 0 45 Press), suggests that productivity in Total 241 242 276 304 261 230 196 203 211 2,164 worker-owned co-operatives is as good as or better than in conventional ▲ NEW INCORPORATIONS 14 OF NON-FINANCIAL COOPERATIVES, 2009–2017 SOURCE: INDUSTRY CANADA ▼ U.S. ESTIMATES OF THE EFFECT OF A FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS TAX ON FEDERAL REVENUES, $BILLIONS SOURCE: U.S. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE firms. Thus, there doesn’t appear to be any sharp efficiency trade-off with 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2019–23 2019–28 worker ownership. In fact, this model -43.9 22.0 70.2 93.2 100.7 103.7 106.2 106.3 107.9 110.4 242.2 776.7 can provide many benefits, including better working conditions, more employment stability, and a genuine sense of control for employees over which is broadly consistent with the Finance and investment are so their working lives. estimates for other variations of a central to shaping our societies and Important barriers do exist to the financial transactions tax in the U.S. economies that there is a strong case sector’s expansion, though, and the The Sanders campaign has pledged there should be substantially more reports referenced above propose a to use the revenue in part to fund a democratic control over investment range of further policies to help this mass cancellation of all student loan decisions, rather than leaving them sector to thrive. These include im- debt in the United States. More gen- almost entirely to powerful and unac- proving access to financing, reforming erally, a financial transactions tax has countable financial corporations. The legal frameworks to protect and grow the potential to redistribute from the IPPR and Labour Party in the U.K. have co-ops’ capital assets, and enhancing financial industry and the wealthy, each outlined detailed proposals for training and support, since business unleashing an enormous amount public investment banks. These should schools typically aren’t set up to teach of revenue that could be invested not be confused with the privatiza- the development of co-operatives. in important social, economic and tion-promoting Canada Infrastructure environmental priorities. Bank, a matter that CCPA research and TAKING ON BIG BANKS AND analysis has discussed (see "Creating a POWERFUL TECH MONOPOLIES Publicly owned banks Canadian infrastructure bank in the Two of the most powerful sectors in Another set of policies relate to cre- public interest," March/April 2017). today’s economy are big finance and ating publicly owned alternatives to big tech. Both make large profits, wield large private financial corporations. Breaking up powerful political influence, and consistently In terms of consumer banking, this tech monopolies recruit some of the brightest minds includes growing proposals to use Digital technology is another in- to help them make even more money. the existing national network of post creasingly powerful economic sector Taming these sectors and reshaping offices to create new retail bank op- including large corporations like them for the public good is another tions, which would help serve smaller Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple area in which bold, innovative policy communities and underserved neigh- and Microsoft. These firms dominate ideas are pushing their way into the bourhoods often neglected by private much of our day-to-day digital lives political mainstream. banks. Public postal banks would also and have control over—and profit provide an alternative to the mount- Financial transactions tax ing fees and service charges imposed One far-reaching policy to help rein by corporate banks, and an alternative in the financial sector is a financial to predatory payday lenders. transactions tax. This is a small tax Public postal banks already exist on short-term financial flows such as across several European countries, BERNIE stock trades, with the purpose of both and once existed decades ago in the SANDERS discouraging unproductive specula- U.S. and Canada. Recent public postal RECENTLY tive activity and raising revenue for banking proposals have been devel- INTRODUCED important social or other investments. oped by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and LEGISLATION When applied internationally, this is Bernie Sanders in the U.S., the Labour often known as the Tobin Tax (after Party in the U.K., and the CCPA and THAT WOULD economist James Tobin) or the Robin postal workers in Canada (see "Why IMPLEMENT A Hood Tax. Because ownership of we need postal banking" in the Nov/ 0.5% TAX ON financial wealth is so highly concen- Dec 2018 Monitor). STOCK TRADES, trated, a financial transactions tax Distinct from consumer banking, 0.1% ON BONDS would have highly progressive effects public investment banks are another AND 0.005% ON on inequality. policy option to help spur and shape DERIVATIVES. In its most recent incarnation, economic development toward a HIS CAMPAIGN Bernie Sanders recently introduced range of important societal goals. legislation that would implement These goals could include accelerating HAS PLEDGED a 0.5% tax on stock trades, 0.1% on climate action, revitalizing economi- TO USE THE bonds and 0.005% on derivatives in cally depressed and deprived regions, REVENUE TO the United States. The law’s backers and serving co-operative and work- CANCEL ALL estimate the tax could generate $2.4 er-owned enterprises, among many STUDENT LOAN trillion in revenue over 10 years, others. DEBT. 15 massively from—our personal data. users” and would not be allowed “to them with co-operative enterprises Concern has been mounting about transfer or share data with third accountable to their workers and how big and powerful these firms parties.” Tech billionaire and Facebook users. CCPA analysis has discussed have become, and yet they remain investor Peter Thiel has admitted he is how this could work in the case of a largely unaccountable to their users “scared” by Warren’s proposals. co-operative ride-hailing alternative and society more broadly. The U.S.-based Roosevelt Institute to Uber (see my article, “What’s missing In the U.S., where most big tech com- recently published a detailed report from the Uber debate?” on the Policy panies are based, Elizabeth Warren has on overhauling antitrust standards. Note website). released a set of aggressive antitrust It suggests a dramatic expansion of and merger policies that would see the mandate of these laws beyond GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT them broken up. For example, Ama- the narrow bounds they’ve worked TAXING THE RICH AND zon’s takeover of Whole Foods in 2017 within for the past few decades, in- CORPORATIONS would be reversed, Facebook would cluding by adding the sweeping goal Taxes on high incomes have made be required to spin-off competitors of “dispersing and de-concentrating a modest comeback in Canada and it has bought up like Instagram and private power.” some provinces in recent years. But WhatsApp, and Google would have to Bernie Sanders recently joined top tax rates remain low by historical do much the same. Warren in pledging to break up the standards, and taxes on the rich have Warren’s proposals would have tech giants, and the U.K. Labour Party focused too narrowly on income, the U.S. government designate large says it would create a new regulator largely overlooking ballooning wealth digital platforms as “platform util- empowered to do the same. Beyond inequality. Discussions of corporate ities,” which would be “required to breaking up these corporations, taxes, in turn, have focused too nar- meet the standard of fair, reasonable there is also an emerging “platform rowly on moving the headline rate and non-discriminatory dealing with co-operative” movement for replacing up or down. Bold new proposals are broadening the menu of policy op- tions for how to tax the wealthy and corporations.

Wealth taxes on the super-rich MIDDLE INCOME EARNERS In his monumental work, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French UNDER PRESSURE economist Thomas Piketty raised alarm bells about the growing wealth n average across OECD countries, the share of people in and power of the super-rich globally. middle-income households, defined as households earning He argues that profits from capital between 75% and 200% of the median national income, has ownership are outstripping economic Ogrown smaller with each successive generation. In Canada, 67% of growth itself. In other words, those the baby boomers were part of the middle class when they were in who make money from their existing their twenties compared to only 59% of millennials. In 2016, 58% wealth—rather than those who make of the population lived in middle-income households, below the money from their labour—are amass- OECD average. Middle incomes have indeed barely grown, in both ing a growing share of global wealth. relative and absolute terms, in most OECD countries. Overall, over As a key remedy to this self-perpet- the past 30 years, median incomes increased a third less than the uating wealth concentration, Piketty average income of the richest 10%. At the same time, the cost of proposed a comprehensive annual essentials has increased faster than inflation; house prices, for global wealth tax. example, have been growing three times faster than household Following his lead, Elizabeth War- median income over the last decades. ren recently announced a wealth tax —Katherine Scott, senior economist, CCPA policy for the world’s biggest econo- my, the United States. Warren’s plan 70% Middle income Canada would apply a 2% annual wealth tax (75200% of median) OECD on household wealth levels over $50 60% million, and a 3% tax on wealth over 50% $1 billion. The proposal would raise a 40% breathtaking $2.75 trillion in revenue over 10 years, based on analysis by 30% Poor Upper income Lower income UC Berkeley economists Emmanuel 20% (5075% of median) (050% (more than 200% of median) Saez and Gabriel Zucman. An annual of median) 10% wealth tax of this kind would begin to 0% put a serious dent in wealth inequality, SOURCE: UNDER PRESSURE: THE SQUEEZED MIDDLE CLASS, FIGURE 2.1, OECD and it would make possible massive 16 ▼ AVERAGE FAMILY NET WORTH CHANGES, 2012–2016, MILLIONS $2016 increases in social and environmental investments. While I have suggested that Canada $800 is behind the curve on many of these $806,674,597 Wealthy 87 emerging economic policy debates, $700 a wealth tax is one area that has re- cently received some attention here at $600 home. The C.D. Howe Institute sought to head off the idea in June, arguing $500 that it would be “unnecessary” in Canada. This came shortly after the $400 federal NDP added a wealth tax of 1% on fortunes over $20 million to its suite $300 of policies. Another approach to taxing large $200 pools of private wealth is via targeted $13,500 $41,100 $84,700 $280,800 inheritance and gifts taxes. For exam- $100 Second Middle Fourth Highest ple, the CCPA has previously called for net worth net worth net worth net worth quintile quintile quintile quintile a Canadian inheritance tax of 45% on $0 estates over $5 million. Bernie Sanders SOURCE: BORN TO WIN: WEALTH CONCENTRATION IN CANADA SINCE 1999, CCPA, JULY 2018. recently proposed an inheritance tax of 45% on estates over $3.5 million, with the tax rate rising as high as 77% on estates over $1 billion. Taking a slightly income could raise billions of dollars profits these companies report for tax different tack, the IPPR think-tank in in additional revenue. purposes, which are subject to a whole the U.K. has proposed an aggressive swath of deductions and loopholes, it tax on wealth transfers, but with Taxing corporations like we mean it would be levied based on the profits thresholds focused on the size of the In an era of enormously wealthy, they report in financial statements to windfalls a recipient receives. The U.K. tax-shifting global corporations, there their own investors. Saez and Zucman Labour Party is considering adopting are some new policy ideas to ensure estimate this policy would raise over $1 a policy along these lines. these giants pay their fair share of trillion in public revenues over 10 years. Each of these proposals has the tax. One proposal to stop perpetual potential to seriously tackle the huge corporate profit-shifting is to levy CANADA NEEDS TO THINK BIG. disparities in wealth across the west- corporate tax based on the share of LET THE DEBATE BEGIN. ern world, while creating a large pool sales to customers in a given country This round-up of burgeoning economic of revenue available to be invested in (as a portion of global profits). policy ideas is far from comprehensive, public goods. Footloose corporations like Amazon and these particular proposals are not and Netflix can threaten to move the final word. But they do represent a Ending special tax breaks their headquarters all they want, but window on an impressive proliferation on capital income they can’t easily shift the location of of bold, left-wing economic thinking Though not quite on the scale of a their customers, making this type of that should inform our discourse and direct wealth tax, another important corporate tax much more difficult to debate in Canada. This debate should policy idea aimed at tackling wealth avoid. Known as “destination-based” include other emerging big ideas like a inequality is to begin taxing capital corporate taxation, the idea has been Green New Deal, four-day work week, income on equal footing with labour outlined by economists in a report for universal basic income, universal basic income. Currently, in Canada and the U.K.’s Institute for Fiscal Studies, services, land value capture and maxi- many countries, income gained from with a similar sales-based tax struc- mum wages, among many others. owning capital is taxed much more ture outlined by the IPPR think-tank. In a time of growing global instabil- favourably than income earned from Another intriguing approach comes ity, we should be prepared to develop working. For example, in Canada only (once again) from Elizabeth Warren, new ideas and solutions. We can learn 50% of income realized from capital in a policy backed by Berkeley econ- from the past but need not limit our- gains is considered taxable. omists Saez and Zucman. Warren’s selves to existing options. When it The CCPA has long advocated proposal would leave the existing comes to policies for economic justice, ending this special tax treatment, corporate tax infrastructure in place, in addition to redistributing income and similar proposals have been put but layer on an additional “real cor- and reducing poverty, we should be forward by the IPPR in the U.K. This porate tax” of 7% on companies with looking at ways to fundamentally ought to be a subject of increasing dis- over $100 million in profit. reshape who holds economic power in cussion in Canada, where equalizing What makes it a “real” corporate this country, putting working people the treatment of capital and labour tax? Instead of basing the tax on the in the driver’s seat. M 17 MELANIE BENARD and inequitable. There are over 100,000 private drug plans in Canada that provide different levels of coverage. Since these plans are usually tied to people’s jobs, people risk losing their coverage if they lose or change jobs, or THE HOME if they retire. Many plans have expensive deductibles (out-of-pocket payments before coverage kicks in) and STRETCH FOR copayments, and some also have monthly or yearly maximum claim amounts. Out-of-pocket expenses can UNIVERSAL therefore be significant even for people who have drug plans. PUBLIC Improving access to medication would obviously lead to a healthier population. When people skip their medication because they can’t afford it, they end up getting sicker and PHARMACARE often die prematurely. There are over 300,000 extra doctor’s visits every year and nearly 100,000 visits to emergency CANADA has been debating the adoption because people can’t afford to take their medication as of a national pharmacare program for over prescribed. This results in approximately $7–$9 billion in half a century. Our current patchwork extra costs to the health care system annually. Universal system of drug coverage leaves countless pharmacare would therefore improve people’s health and people falling through the cracks. Approximately 20% of take some pressure off the health care system. Canadians have inadequate drug coverage. Currently, one Numerous studies have also shown that universal in four households can’t afford their medications. One pharmacare would be good for the economy. We could million Canadians are having to choose between putting save up to $11 billion per year by negotiating better food on the table and getting the medications they need. prices for medications. Canada currently pays the third Canada is the only country in the world with a universal highest prices for prescription medication among OECD health care system that doesn’t cover prescription countries. We spend more on medication than we do medication. on doctors. That’s because all the different drug plans In 2018, the federal government appointed an advisory currently negotiate prices separately with pharmaceutical council led by Dr. Erik Hoskins, a former Ontario health companies. By bulk buying medications for the country as minister, to consider the implementation of national a whole, we would have much stronger bargaining power. pharmacare. After studying options and consulting Businesses, workers and families would also benefit widely, in June 2019 the council called for the adoption from pharmacare. Employers would no longer have to pay of a public, universal pharmacare program that would for private drug plans for their employees. The average provide equitable access to medications for people business owner would save over $750 annually per across the country. The federal government took steps employee and the average worker would save over $100 in in this direction by allocating $35 million in the 2019 plan premiums. Companies would benefit from having a budget to establish a new Canadian Drug Agency that healthier and more productive workforce. Families would would negotiate drug prices and develop a national save on average $350 per year. formulary—a list of medications that would be covered by These savings can only be achieved with a universal, public insurance. But the fate of national pharmacare may public program. We shouldn’t just “fill in the gaps” by ultimately hinge on the outcome of the upcoming federal providing coverage for those who don’t currently have election. any, since that would simply add yet another layer to our Although the majority of Canadians already have inequitable system. It wouldn’t allow us to benefit from the some form of drug coverage—most often through their reduced costs achieved through bulk purchasing and it employers—the current patchwork system is inefficient wouldn’t limit the rising out-of-pocket expenses of those who currently have coverage. It would leave the majority of Canadians vulnerable to losing their coverage if their $700 employment situation changes. 10 Only a universal, public pharmacare program would $600 9 5 6 8 ensure that everyone in Canada can access the $500 7 medications they need. Instead of adopting half-measures and band-aid solutions, it’s time to reform our broken $400 4 2 3 system. Pharmacare is a key missing piece of Canada’s $300 public health care system. This much-needed new 1 $200 program would save money and save lives. It should be a priority for the next government. We have all the evidence $100 we need. M <$25K $25K–$38K $38K–$50K $50K–$64K $64K–$80K $80K–$97K $97K–$118K $118K–$148K $148K–$199K >$199K $0 MELANIE BENARD IS THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND ADVOCACY WITH THE CANADIAN HEALTH COALITION. ▲ AVERAGE PHARMACARE SAVINGS BY HOUSEHOLD 18 INCOME DECILE, PRE-TAX, 2020 SOURCE: A PRESCRIPTION FOR SAVINGS, CCPA, DECEMBER 2018. RICARDO ACUÑA provinces combined. Those provinces that fall below the national average receive equalization payments to bring them up to the average. Those whose capacity is above the average receives nothing. Because of their natural EQUALIZATION AS resource wealth, neither Alberta nor Saskatchewan currently receives equalization payments. This has always POLITICAL made the program an easy target for channelling anti- Ottawa anger on the prairies. THEATER In 2007, Saskatchewan’s NDP government of the day launched a lawsuit over the equalization formula. It did so with unanimous support from the Saskatchewan IN the budget implementation bill of legislature. A few months later, after Brad Wall became 2018, the federal government renewed the premier, Saskatchewan dropped the suit. When asked why existing equalization formula through to in the legislature, Wall responded that Stephen Harper, the year 2024. Not surprisingly, this elicited then prime minister, had asked him to. Harper was clear an immediate outcry from conservatives in Alberta and that even though “fixing” equalization had been part of Saskatchewan, who claim that equalization is an unfair his platform in 2006, actually making the changes that program designed to take hard-earned dollars from their provinces and give them to an undeserving Quebec. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney went so far as to give equalization a place of prominence in his party’s 2019 provincial election platform, alleging that the federal government gave Quebec “a veto over New Brunswick’s effort to revive the Energy East [pipeline] project while providing Quebec a $1.3 billion increase in equalization.” What Kenney failed to mention was that the increase in Quebec’s share of equalization funding was actually a direct result of the changes to the formula that he signed off on as a cabinet minister from Alberta in the Harper government. Undaunted by the facts, Kenney’s platform went on to promise that a United Conservative Party government would “hold a referendum on removing equalization from the Constitution Act on October 18, 2021 if substantial progress is not made on construction of a coastal pipeline, and if Trudeau’s Bill C-69 is not repealed.” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe also insists that equalization is fundamentally unfair to his province. Moe’s government has proposed a new formula whereby half of all equalization dollars would simply be handed out on a per capita basis to every province in the country regardless of their fiscal capacity or need. When asked recently if Saskatchewan would follow Kenney’s lead with a referendum of its own, Moe responded that he “would not rule it out,” adding, “if there is an opportunity for that to actually force the federal government into an equalization conversation, I think we would be in favour of that.” The reality, however, is that these assertions by premiers Kenney and Moe have nothing to do with equalization itself and everything to do with political posturing designed to achieve partisan political outcomes. Equalization is a federal government program designed to fulfil the requirement, entrenched in the Constitution, that Ottawa make “payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services and reasonably comparable levels of taxation.” The formula is based on each province’s “fiscal capacity”—how much revenue it would raise if it taxed at the average level of all ▲ SCREEN CAPTURE OF PREMIER KENNEY'S TWITTER FEED. 19 Saskatchewan was looking for at the time would have CLARE MIAN been political suicide. Current federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, like Moe and Kenney, knows this is still the case. Although ranting about equalization plays extremely well in Alberta PUBLIC AND and Saskatchewan, any actual change to the formula would necessarily hurt Quebec, Atlantic Canada and POLITICAL VIEWS Manitoba—all areas where the Conservatives need to make gains if they are to have any chance of forming the OF ISRAEL- next government. That means Scheer will not talk about equalization during the federal election, and both Kenney PALESTINE AND and Moe will certainly follow his lead. If Scheer and his Conservative Party are asked to form a government in October, all talk of referendums and the THE BDS unfairness of equalization from Alberta and Saskatchewan will quickly disappear. We can be certain of that, especially MOVEMENT given that Scheer has already promised to repeal bills C-48 (the West Coast tanker ban) and C-69 (creating a new impact assessment process for major resource projects) THE Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) should he win, which is what all the equalization bluster movement was founded in Palestine 11 from Kenney and Moe is actually about. years ago as a non-violent means to achieve If, however, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is equal rights for Palestinians within Israel, re-elected, Kenney will likely proceed with his referendum the liberation of the occupied territories, and the right in 2021 as an expensive piece of political theater, since the of Palestinians to return home. BDS calls on people likelihood of getting seven out of 10 provinces to sign off and governments to boycott the economic and cultural on taking equalization out of the Constitution is exactly products of Israel-based companies. zero. And with the current formula now in place until In February 2016, opposition MPs Tony Clement and 2024, no sitting prime minister is likely to even want to talk Michelle Rempel introduced a motion calling on the about it, much less make moves to change it. House of Commons to “reject the [BDS] movement, which Of course Kenney and Moe know all of this. But they promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the also know that nothing props up conservative political State of Israel, and call upon the government to condemn fortunes on the prairies like playing the victim and picking any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups fights in Ottawa and Quebec, and that is ultimately what or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here this is all about. M at home and abroad.” After some debate in the House, on RICARDO ACUÑA IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PARKLAND INSTITUTE OUT OF February 22 the vote passed 229-51, with almost all NDP THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA’S FACULTY OF ARTS. MPs voting against and eight Conservatives, 43 Liberals, two NDP, three Bloc Québécois and the sole Green MP either abstaining or not present for the vote. All parties support the right of the State of Israel to exist and to defend itself. On all other aspects of a just and peaceful future for Jews and Muslims in Israel-Palestine, and on the degree to which any responsibility can be attributed to Israel for the plight of Palestinians, they disagree. In 2010, then foreign minister Peter Kent famously stated that any attack on Israel was an attack on Canada. The Harper government (2006–2015) tolerated Israel’s THE continued expansion into settlements in the West Bank LIKELIHOOD and East Jerusalem as necessary for Israel’s security, OF GETTING endorsed the separation wall with the West Bank, and SEVEN OUT OF never mentioned the blockade of Gaza initiated by the 10 PROVINCES Israeli state in 2007. Conservative Party leader Andrew TO SIGN OFF Scheer has stated that he would move the Canadian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the U.S. did in May ON TAKING 2018, if he is elected prime minister in October. EQUALIZATION Since its election in 2015, the Trudeau government has OUT OF THE not made any substantial changes to Canada’s policies CONSTITUTION on Israel-Palestine. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who IS EXACTLY chairs the House of Commons Standing Committee on ZERO. Justice and Human Rights, stated in August 2018 that 20 ▼ JEWISH CANADIANS' DIVERSE VIEWS ON ISREAL-PALESTINE SOURCE: "TWO JEWS, THREE OPINIONS," FEBRUARY 2019 Canada’s record of voting for pro-Israel motions at the “Accusations of anti-Semitism are often used United Nations is as strong, if not stronger, than it has ever to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies” been. Since 1967, federal governments of all stripes have Agree Neither Disagree lived with the fact that their declarations and their actions are in contradiction of official Canadian policy, which 70% calls for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied 60% territories and affirms Palestinians’ right of return. 50% In congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin 40% Netanyahu on his latest electoral win in April—a victory 30% that failed to produce a coalition government, leading to 20% another election in September—Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated that Canada and Israel are “close friends 10% and steadfast allies.” The extent of economic, cultural 0% JEWISH RELIGIOUSLY SECULAR OTHER CONSERVATIVE LIBERAL NDP GREEN and military co-operation between the two countries CANADIANS JEWISH JEWS RELIGOUS excludes the possibility of upholding Canada’s principled, rights-based official policy, as does the current U.S. administration’s uncritical support of Netanyahu. introduced a bill in July 2019 that, without mentioning BDS, The Trudeau government criticized the appointment, affirms, “Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in 2016, of Canadian jurist Michael Lynk to the position in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad.” of UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human The debate is raging in Congress, within political parties rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. and civil society groups, and in the press. Lynk’s reports since then, which lucidly record the extent Where does Canadian public opinion stand on these of human rights abuses in Israel and the occupied issues? Independent Jewish Voices and the United Jewish territories, are systematically criticized in a U.S.- and People’s Order, in co-operation with EKOS Research, Israel-backed attempt to sabotage any attempt to limit the conducted a poll between June and September 2018 that Israeli stranglehold on Palestinians. The one concession for the first time separated out Jewish Canadian opinion the Trudeau government has made to the plight of from general public opinion. Among Jewish Canadians, 37% Palestinians has been to increase funding to the refugee felt negative toward the Israeli government, 48% believed camps run by the United Nations in Syria, Jordan and accusations of anti-Semitism were a tool to silence Lebanon—a response to drastic U.S. cuts in funding. legitimate criticism, and 30% saw boycotts as a reasonable At the 2018 NDP convention, the party passed a means of forcing Israel to change its policies. Among the resolution that, while steering clear of any association non-Jewish public, the percentages were higher: 46% felt with the BDS movement, called for an end to Israeli negatively toward the Israeli government, 77% did not occupation of the West Bank and to the blockade in Gaza, equate legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, and a ban on imports from occupied territories, and an end 62% saw boycotts as a reasonable tool to force change. to condemnation of movements that seek to end human Israel and Palestine will likely not be major issues in the rights abuses in a non-violent way. The NDP platform upcoming election. But 2017 and 2018 polls have shown commits to “work towards a just and lasting two-state significant divisions in Canadian public opinion on Israeli solution between Israel and Palestine that respects policy on Palestine. Perhaps these divisions will enable human rights and international law.” future governments to shift away from unconditional At the Green Party’s August 2016 convention, then shadow support of Israeli policies to a more critical appraisal of justice minister Dimitri Lascaris sponsored a successful Israel’s record on human rights. resolution in support of BDS policies until such time as Israel ended its occupation and entered into good faith ON MONDAY, JULY 29, Federal Court Justice Anne negotiations with Palestinians to create a viable “contiguous” Mactavish made an important ruling defending the rights Palestinian state. In opposition to Lascaris’s claims that this of Canadian citizens to be given accurate information was not an endorsement of the BDS movement, Elizabeth on the country of origin of the products they buy. The May argued the motion was implicitly anti-Israel and judge disallowed the Canadian government position that, anti-Semitic and threatened to resign. Led by future MP Paul inasmuch as the “West Bank” is not a country, wines being Manly, with Lascaris’s co-operation, a “compromise motion,” produced by settlers there had to be labelled “Product which backs the goals of BDS, was adopted in December of Israel.” Dimitri Lascaris successfully defended the 2016 and remains the party’s official position. position of plaintiff David Kattenberg that this was a Canadians are also watching the debate in the U.S. House disingenuous attempt to implicitly annex the West Bank. of Representatives where, in March 2019, a bipartisan bill Mactavish called the Canadian government position “false, was introduced that opposed “efforts to delegitimize Israel.” misleading and deceptive.” This is a clear step forward in The bill opposed the BDS movement, for example, and all forcing the Canadian government to uphold its own policy organizations and companies that support it. In a dramatic that the West Bank is an occupied territory. M response, Representative Omar Ilhan (a Democrat from CLARE MIAN IS A RETIRED TEACHER AND ADMINISTRATOR. SHE IS NOW A Minnesota) together with six Democratic co-sponsors STUDENT AND WRITER IN TORONTO. 21 22 MOLLY MCCRACKEN A GREEN NEW DEAL FOR CANADA? AVI LEWIS’S FIVE REASONS WHY A GLOBAL, YOUTH-LED CALL FOR RADICAL SYSTEMIC CHANGE SHOULD STIR OUR REVOLUTIONARY SOULS

he time for piecemeal reform from Maude Barlow, El Jones, Naomi the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, to fossil capitalism has passed. Klein, Pam Palmater, David Suzuki, Climate Strike Canada, the Council Cities are suffocating under Harsha Walia and other dedicated of Canadians, Courage, Delivering deadly, record-setting heat activists. The Winnipeg tour stop Community Power, and the Migrant Twaves. Rising, warming oceans are was organized chiefly by Our Time, Workers Alliance for Change. The upending traditional weather patterns, a youth-led project of 350.org that Unitarian Universalist Church of Win- feeding cataclysmic storms and unpre- is mobilizing an alliance of young nipeg, where the Manitoba event was dictable droughts. We are stretching people and millennial voters to push held, along with the CCPA–Manitoba, the resilience of Earth’s ecosystems, politicians to support a Green New Manitoba Building Trades, Manitoba testing their breaking point. A handful Deal in the 2019 election. Our Time is Energy Justice, and Manitoba Sustain- of people are getting very rich in the one of 150 organizations in the Pact for able Building Council also sponsored process, driving inequality to levels not a Green New Deal, which held 150 town the Winnipeg event. seen since the days of the robber bar- halls across Canada, starting in May, Before things got started, I spoke to ons. This situation cannot be sustained. to develop the principles and action Avi Lewis, filmmaker and co-founder The imperative for system-wide items of a national plan. of The Leap, about his goals and ambi- change has impelled thousands of Ca- The seven-city tour came together tions for the co-ordinated effort. Lewis nadians to take action. This summer, quickly, with national sponsorship explained that the Green New Deal is as a lead up to the fall federal election, from a wide range of progressive a roadmap to addressing the intercon- climate and social justice activists or- groups including Briarpatch Magazine, nected crises of racism, inequality and ganized a sold-out seven-city tour in climate change on a rapid timeline, support of “A Green New Deal for All.” essentially by transforming our The tour, which was led by The Leap, society and economy. Our response tapped into international enthusiasm to the climate crisis must be on the for the idea of rapidly building a new scale of the response to the Depression economy based on green jobs, living or Second World War, he told me. But wages, and more and better social that will take a social movement big programs. In Canada, the movement enough and powerful enough to make has prioritized decolonization—the “EVERYWHERE it real in Canada. return of land and autonomy stolen THIS IDEA from Indigenous communities. A re- LANDS IT HAS he Green New Deal concept emerged cent Abacus Data poll found that 61% THE POTENTIAL Tin the United States within the of Canadians like the idea of a Green TO IGNITE WHEN youth-led Sunrise movement and is New Deal, creating the potential for a THERE IS AN championed in Congress by the popu- much more exciting, radical debate in lar democratic socialist representative Canada about how we get there. INTERFACE Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who “lit The “Green New Deal for All” tour BETWEEN THE things on fire,” in Lewis’s words. this spring and summer hit Toronto, ELECTORAL “The Green New Deal exploded our Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, Edmonton, CLASS AND political imagination on both sides of Vancouver and Winnipeg, where au- SOCIAL the border and around the world,” he diences had the opportunity to hear MOVEMENTS.” said. “The Labour Party in the U.K. is 23 ILLUSTRATION BY AMY THOMPSON “IGNORING electric, with cheering and audience “incredibly intense and emotional,” THE CLIMATE responses the whole evening long. he said, it is because people are fed CRISIS WILL Nora Casson, co-director of the Prairie up with the limitations our politicians Climate Centre and one of the night’s have put on our options—most of BANKRUPT US, excellent speakers, explained that them “market-based”—for moving BUT THE GREEN climate change means more flooding forward with a Green New Deal. NEW DEAL in the springs, droughts in the summer “The narrow focus on the carbon tax WILL ATTACK and forest fires in Manitoba. Jenna has meant we’ve had an insufficient INEQUALITY Liiciious from Aboriginal Youth Op- debate on climate action in Canada, AND CREATE portunities challenged the crowd to which could have disastrous con- A FAIRER really learn about the treaties, honour sequences for inaction,” said Lewis. ECONOMY them, and for everyone to get in touch “Even if the [Pan-Canadian Framework with their own indigeneity. Kelly Bado, on Clean Growth and Climate Change] THAN WE HAVE a francophone Canadian artist born in were to be fully fulfilled, it would only NOW,” Côte d’Ivoire, sang her new bilingual get us two-thirds of the way to the song, “Hey Terre,” in which she asks Paris [Agreement] targets, which are us to “keep on giving it up, so we can only half way where we need to go to keep on living it up.” At eight months cut emissions in half, which doesn’t pregnant, this was Bado’s last perfor- even begin to deal with our climate mance before she becomes a new mom debt as a rich country with historical and she sent out wishes for a better emissions.” Lewis emphasized that the world for all children. Anishinaabe technology and financial resources are hoop dancer Shanley Spence (pictured there to help Global South countries page 26) finished off the night with an “leap over fossil fuels.” having a strong conversation about a outdoor performance alongside the Green New Deal. Yanis Varoufakis, the Assiniboine River. he Green New Deal is the left’s former finance minister under Syriza Lewis told me the tour is providing progressive antidote to this stale in Greece, has started a new political an important outlet for people feeling debate.T Lewis’s keynote at the Winni- party called DIEM25 in the European “surging climate grief” as we watch peg stop outlined five reasons why the parliament, which has a Green New smoke season in the west and flood campaign is workable and winnable Deal for Europe. Everywhere this idea season in the east. This feeling that in Canada. lands it has the potential to ignite the climate catastrophe “is real and Firstly, a publicly funded just when there is an interface between the present and happening” has created transition away from fossil fuels will electoral class and social movements.” “a potent combination, both terrifying be a massive job creator, swelling the The energy at the Green New Deal and with a huge amount of organiz- ranks of unions and increasing work- for All tour stop in Winnipeg was ing potential.” If the tour has been ers’ rights for all, especially the most vulnerable. The idea is to double the unionization rate and extend collec- tive bargaining rights to millions of workers. A Canadian Green New Deal can adopt the U.S. idea of a federal jobs guarantee with a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, and decent holidays and benefits, to “set a floor to change the dynamic between all workers and employers,” according to Lewis. Secondly, the money that govern- ments will spend under a Green New Deal will be spent anyway to address runaway climate change. It’s unavoid- able. “Yes, this will be expensive. Like a war. Or a tax cut for the rich. Or bailing out banks and automakers,” explains a promotional video for the Green New Deal for All tour. But so CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Avi Lewis at the Winnpeg tour stop PHOTO BY HILLARY BEATTIE 24 GREEN AND ECONOMY AND GOVERNMENT peoples, Black communities, • Fossil fuel subsidies from • Setting a legally binding communities of colour, the federal or provincial RED LINES IN climate target for Canada LGBTQ2S people, migrants, government should be A GREEN NEW in line with the science of refugees and undocumented immediately eliminated and keeping global warming to 1.5 people, rural communities, redirected to support the DEAL degrees Celsius. the poor, low-income workers, transition to a clean economy. • Creating millions of good, women, the elderly, people high-wage jobs through a with disabilities, and youth. PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY green jobs plan, ensuring • Ensuring free, accessible AND NATURE fossil fuel industry workers post-secondary education • Enacting laws that grant The Pact for a Green New and directly affected for all. personhood protections to Deal, which co-ordinated our forests and bodies of community members are • Full access to quality public 150 town halls across water, and the creation of an guaranteed good, dignified services including health Canada this spring and environmental bill of rights. work with the training and care, education, income summer, summarizes what support needed to succeed. security, housing, child care, • Stopping the dumping of it heard in a blog post at • Increasing unionization pharmacare, dental care, waste (civic or industrial) into act.greennewdealcanada.ca. and implementing workers’ pensions and more—for all. bodies of water. “Participants shared an rights, including at least a $15 • Status for all: permanent • Ensuring greater protection incredible 8,900 red lines and minimum wage, pay equity, resident status and family for critical biodiversity and green lines,” says the group, paid emergency leave, job unity for all migrants and natural areas. explaining how the categories security, protections for refugees here, and landed • Collectively ensuring the basically break down into migrant workers, and the right status on arrival for those right of all people to clean air, things that should and should to organize and unionize. that arrive in the future. No clean water, healthy food, and not be in a Green New Deal. • Personal and public detentions, no deportations. a safe environment built on “There were almost three subsidies for greener • Ensuring that Canada pays connection and community. times as many green lines technology, including its fair share of the climate • Ensuring the protection of at as red lines, suggesting affordable energy-efficient debt to countries in the least 30% of land and waters that participants are eager housing and transportation. Global South that have been in Canada by 2030. to focus on a hopeful and impacted by practices and positive vision of the future.” GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE decisions in Canada, and PLASTICS The following examples • Making massive public ensuring that corporations • Developing alternatives to are drawn from the pact’s investments in the based in Canada are not plastic bags, straws and other website. infrastructure to build a damaging the climate and single-use plastic items to 100% renewable energy environment elsewhere, address the problem of plastic economy—including power contributing to conditions waste, while maintaining the GREEN LINES generation, energy efficiency, that force people to migrate necessary access that these public transportation, (including wars, unjust mining, items often provide. INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY public housing, food justice, pollution, etc.). • Full recognition of ecological and localized • Ending boil water advisories Indigenous title and rights. agriculture, and clean in Indigenous communities. • Fully implementing the manufacturing. RED LINES • Legislating the curtailment United Nations Declaration • Ensuring sustainable, of excessive packaging. FOSSIL FUELS on the Rights of Indigenous financially and physically • A plan to fully phase out the Peoples, and the right to free, accessible public DEMOCRACY fossil fuel industry and move prior and informed consent. transportation for everyone. • Honouring the promise of to 100% renewable energy by • Fully implementing the making Canada a Proportional • Prioritizing and incentivizing 2040 (at the latest) must be 94 “calls to action” of the Representation Democracy. local renewable energy developed and implemented Truth and Reconciliation creation, especially with (including a plan to fully Commission. public service buildings. support workers throughout • Fully implementing the this process). “calls for justice” in the final SOCIAL JUSTICE • Freezing the construction report of the National Inquiry • Promoting justice and and/or approval of all new into Missing and Murdered equity by centring the fossil fuel extraction and Indigenous Women and Girls. communities marginalized transportation projects—we by our current economy. This cannot solve the problem if means addressing past and we make it worse at the same current harms to Indigenous time.

25 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 will climate change–related lawsuits, “sixth mass extinction,” and that a address stagnant wages. “It connects disaster response and the other effects million species of plants and animals reducing pollution to the top priorities of climate chaos. are at risk of going extinct as a result of the most vulnerable workers and Recent reports show Canada is of human-caused environmental the most excluded communities,” warming at twice the rate of the rest disruption. Lewis explained that the said Lewis. As a fifth point, he added, of the world, and these impacts will United Nations itself advocates for “We’re all spending Saturday night be felt differently depending on where Indigenous-led development, pointing together in a church, so let me just say Canadians live and their socioeconom- out that a quarter of land on Earth is it straight: the Green New Deal will be ic status. “Ignoring the climate crisis traditionally owned, managed, used good for our souls. will bankrupt us, but the Green New or occupied by Indigenous peoples “It’s not just a planet’s life support Deal will attack inequality and create who have been stewarding that land system that is unraveling,” he contin- a fairer economy than we have now,” sustainably, in many instances for ued, “it’s our whole social fabric, with said Lewis. millennia. the rise of fake news and fascism and Thirdly, the Green New Deal prom- Fourthly, the proponents of a Green conspiracy [and] mass loneliness and ises to save and defend life on earth New Deal believe that this plan is the isolation of late capitalism, we are lost and protect Indigenous land rights. way to meet the needs of everyday in algorithms of envy and anger.” The Scientists warn we are already in the people, improve quality of life and Green New Deal restores a sense of collective purpose, said Lewis. Can the energy of the “Green New Deal for All” tour ripple out into the public conscience enough to impact this fall’s federal debate? The Green Party and the NDP are already includ- ing Green New Deal–like language in their platforms. It’s a start, according to some of the organizers of the Win- nipeg tour stop, who plan to heighten efforts in the lead up to the federal election on October 21. Like the Sunrise movement in the U.S., they are calling on candidates to pledge to support a Green New Deal, and for voters to pledge their votes to Green New Deal political champions. The Pact for the Green New Deal is synthesizing the input from the 150 town halls into a civil society vision for a Green New Deal for Canada. Our Time is calling for a federal leaders’ debate on the climate crisis and the Green New Deal. These mostly young people are part of a global movement that is organizing Friday student strikes for the climate, including a massive global student strike on Fri- day, September 20. A week of action and an all-out global climate strike are also planned for September 27. These times call for urgent and rad- ical responses, not half-measures. At the end of our interview, right before he hit the stage, Lewis wondered if we can “locate our revolutionary souls in this moment.” Youth leaders and climate activists have found theirs. They are calling on all of us to do so now. M Shanley Spence PHOTO BY HILLARY BEATTIE 26 Canada’s fourth estate also regularly fails to uphold its Below informational responsibility and integrity. Think of how the mainstream media derailed the national discussion on the Fold the final report of the inquiry into missing and murdered CYNTHIA KHOO Indigenous women and girls. Or the Toronto Sun publishing an untrue and incendiary story stoking anti-immigrant hatred. Or Postmedia lobbying to work with Premier Kenney’s explicitly anti-environmentalist “war room.” Or Quebecor’s constant airing and publishing of Islamophobic content. Or long-standing double-standards in how the Trust abhors media routinely treats violence from white men (domestic terrorism, sexual assault) versus their victims and racial- a vacuum ized offenders. Placing increasingly stringent regulations on social media platforms will not suffice to solve the long-term flaw in our democracy that the rise of disinformation exposes. SING THE INTERNET to become informed about politics What is being regulated as a technology issue is at its core today may less resemble cruising an information political: the willingness of political leaders and legacy highway than it does careening down Mario Kart’s media outlets to consistently mislead, lie to and obscure Rainbow Road. Staying on course in the popular Nin- the truth from constituents. Until that stops, bad actors tendo racing game’s frictionless technicolour track will continue finding ways to exploit the lost and roving Utakes sustained vigilance, lest carelessness or a fake Item trust of disaffected voters, no matter how many platforms Box (pictured) pitch your kart into the dark. set up ad registries or how many times Mark Zuckerberg As the finish line of voting day looms, how do we ensure is summoned before a parliamentary committee. we get an accurate picture of the 2019 federal elections when Moreover, political discourse has increasingly migrated our online feeds throw us so many fake items from open forums to closed groups and private and distracting turns? This is a question that chats over apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat and academics, policy experts and governments have Telegram. Disinformation campaigns spread via struggled to address in recent years. WhatsApp played a prominent role in recent Much of the worry—expressed in an April report elections in India, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and of the Communications Security Establishment Spain. WeChat was involved in a municipal (CSE) on foreign interference in elections; the vote-buying controversy in Vancouver. However, work of the new SITE Task Force involving CSE, there is a twofold flaw in attempting to regulate the RCMP, CSIS and Global Affairs Canada; and in away disinformation in these channels. government exhortations to social media companies—has First, end-to-end encryption and ephemeral messaging focused on the possibility of co-ordinated disinformation (messages that are automatically deleted after a certain campaigns disseminated through social media platforms. On time or after being read) may make effective legal responses Twitter, for example, troll and bot accounts have exacerbated impossible in practice if they depend on being able to see anti-immigration sentiment, promoted conspiracy theories the contents of messages. Second, chasing disinformation and artificially amplified hashtags such as #TrudeauMustGo. into increasingly private spheres of citizens’ digital com- A false story this February about federal NDP leader Jagmeet munications risks ever more invasive measures. We should Singh was shared thousands of times on Facebook. not have to trade away our digital privacy rights so that While it is important to think about how online plat- politicians, third-party election advertisers and govern- forms enable the spread of disinformation, governments ments can continue to lie to or mislead the electorate, then and politicians too often seem to forget their own role in rely on after-the-fact attempts to clean up the information creating and perpetuating demand for “alternative facts.” environment they themselves polluted. After all, their own public statements are often quite In January, the federal government established a “critical divorced from reality. election incident public protocol” to monitor and identify Homegrown examples of political disinformation include threats to electoral integrity. Tellingly, as reported by CBC Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s disingenuous handling of News, “officials say there is no plan to police the usual the SNC-Lavalin affair; Conservative leader Andrew Scheer political spin on the campaign trail.” tolerating public promotion of the discredited “Pizzagate” The “usual political spin” is how we got here in the first conspiracy at a town hall (until receiving backlash); Alberta place. If the government—and those who wish to form Premier Jason Kenney downplaying the climate change government—are serious about preventing the growth crisis; and Ontario Premier Doug Ford banning provincial of disinformation in Canadian political discourse, then it ministries from mentioning climate change on social is up to them to stop providing such fertile soil. M media. And who doesn’t recall the Conservative party’s CYNTHIA KHOO IS A DIGITAL RIGHTS LAWYER AT TEKHNOS LAW AND A MASTER’S voter suppression robocalls in the 2011 federal election? OF LAW CANDIDATE (CONCENTRATION IN LAW AND TECHNOLOGY) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA. Automated disinformation before it was cool. 27 SYED HUSSAN All are either devoid of fact or seriously misstate what is going on. Canada’s permanent resident intake as a percentage of the population has been stable for the last decade. Today, ARE YOU most migrants are on temporary permits, the largest grouping being “international students,” who spent an INADVERTENTLY estimated $12.8 billion in Canada in 2015, and $15.5 billion in 2016. AMPLIFYING ANTI- Most international students work but have limited labour rights. In this way, they are similar to temporary IMMIGRANT foreign workers who come to Canada on employer- dependent permits that limit their ability to leave bad jobs or speak out when facing exploitative bosses. Likewise, RACISM? though much is made of Canada being a welcoming country for refugees, nearly half of the world’s refugees are ANTI-IMMIGRANT racism underpins hosted in just 10 countries and Canada is not one of them. much of the conversation about Misrepresented or incorrect numbers in the media immigration policy in this country. We about Canadian immigration heighten the violent must be able to identify the obvious and anxieties of a “demographic threat” that in part impelled subtle ways in which it is being mobilized to divide and the actions of the Quebec City and New Zealand mosque distract us. Three interconnected ideas circulating in the shooters, as well as the El Paso murderer. These myths media have underlying racist motivations that even us also make it easy for politicians to frame themselves as progressives find difficult to decipher. anti-racist even as they ignore urgently needed changes to immigration and labour policies. 1. MIGRANT WORKERS AND WAGES We are told that an increase in low-wage temporary 3. THE “BAD IMMIGRANT” MYTH foreign workers drives down wages for all workers. This is One of the dominant ideas circulating as rational debate completely unrepresentative of real world wage forces. is the distinction between “good” immigrants and “rule Over the past 40 years, median hourly earnings in breakers.” The recent political and media focus on “illegal Canada have remained more or less constant while border crossers” offers a good example. productivity has increased. That is, the wages of working Crossing the border on foot to apply for refugee status is people, as a percentage of profit and economic growth, legal, even under Canada’s very exclusionary laws. There is have stagnated. At the same time, the super rich have no “queue” to jump, but pitting migrants against others has seen their wealth increase massively. Canada’s richest proven to be a successful tactic of distraction and division. have stashed away over $353 billion in offshore tax havens, Canada actually has an obligation to asylum seekers and according to a recent Canada Revenue Agency because of this country’s complicity—through law, policy analysis, corporations don’t pay up to 27% of their taxes. and profit—in the economic crises, wars, and climate Wages are not lowered by any individual or group of change-related disruptions that are forcing people, workers, but by the employer class that profits from painfully and reluctantly, away from their homes. their labour. The Ontario government heeded powerful While migrants are being incorrectly framed as rule economic interests, like Loblaws and TD Bank, when breakers, people who break the rules at large-scale public it chose to stop the planned increase of the minimum cost face few consequences. Loblaws, one of the country’s wage from $14 to a $15 an hour. Incorrectly focusing on most profitable corporations, was caught illegally fixing the wages of migrant workers—instead of ensuring the price of bread over 14 years and continues to receive permanent status and full rights—distracts from the real government handouts. It was also just let off the hook for authors of exploitation and increases racism. the Rana Plaza fire in Bangladesh, in which 1,130 people were killed and 2,520 injured while producing clothes for 2. THE MYTH OF INCREASED IMMIGRATION Loblaws and other companies. All political parties in Canada talk about increasing immigration levels, some to celebrate it and others to UNDERSTANDING RACISM criticize it. Newspapers are full of stories with headlines like: AND UNITING AGAINST IT • “Canada to admit nearly 1 million immigrants over next 3 A recent poll showed that 72% of people in Canada are years” (CBC); anxious about jobs, climate and quality of life. This very real anxiety is being exploited in the election, with an easy • “Canada resettled more refugees than any other country villain—the immigrant—pushed into the spotlight. in 2018, UN says” (The Canadian Press); and We must reject the politics of scarcity and austerity • “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has greatly expanded the and focus instead on the redistribution of wealth that is country’s guest worker programs, largely under the public’s necessary, urgent and possible. Rather than fighting each radar” (Postmedia columnist Douglas Todd). other for scraps, we must assert a unified set of demands 28 2000 / LIBERAL MAJORITY for decent work, universal services, and full rights for everyone regardless of immigration status. TOTAL POPULATION ⊲ We deserve a world without displacement and REGISTERED TO VOTE ⊲ discrimination. This is a vision of migrant justice that lifts ⊳ CON us all up. M ⊳ LIB SYED HUSSAN IS THE CO-ORDINATOR OF THE MIGRANT WORKERS ALLIANCE FOR ⊳ NDP CHANGE AND A MEMBER OF THE MIGRANT RIGHTS NETWORK. READERS CAN ⊳ GREEN TAKE A PLEDGE TO #UNITEAGAINSTRACISM AT WWW.MIGRANTRIGHTS.CA, AND GET TOOLS TO IDENTIFY AND PUSH BACK AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT RACISM ⊳ BQ DURING THE ELECTIONS. ⊳ OTHER 2004 / LIBERAL MINORITY

ARUSHANA SUNDERAESON WILL MILLENNIAL VOTERS STEP UP AGAIN? 2006 / CONSERVATIVE MINORITY

IN th0e 2015 federal election, voter turnout among people aged 18–24 was estimated to be 57.1%—18 percentage points above the 2011 level of 38.8%. A 2016 Abacus Data/ Canadian Alliance of Student Associations study found that 45% of this age group voted Liberal, 25% NDP, 20% Conservative and 4% Green. Millennials and gen-Xers (born between 1964 and the early 2000s) make up two- 2008 / CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY thirds of the electorate heading toward the October 2019 vote. According to David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, we shouldn’t expect younger voters to come out in the same high numbers as they did four years ago. “My instincts suggest they’re not that excited, and that they’ve been let down in some way; that there’s not an overriding issue that’s motivating them,” he told CBC Radio recently. Statistically, it wouldn’t be surprising: the 25–29 vote 2011 / CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY peaked in 1980 and the 18–24 vote in 1974; by 2004–2011 they were flatlining around 50% and 40% respectively. But the part about young people not being that excited? Let’s put aside the fact that pollsters have been getting a lot wrong lately (think of this year’s Australian election, Brexit, and the 2016 Trump win). A ground-level scan proves young people are still getting involved in politics—and in large numbers. Whether or not they are disillusioned by federal politics, they have been leading anti-austerity actions in Ontario, and continue to run for 2015 / LIBERAL MAJORITY political office at all levels across the country. Ashley Noble, a 20-year-old Durham District School Board trustee—the youngest female trustee ever elected in Canada—told me recently that she ran to give voice to a younger generation. “The decisions being made today directly affect us today, and our tomorrows,” she said. “The decision to defund education [in Ontario] means that more young people will not be getting a quality education, which likely means a drop in post-secondary applications, which mean so much for the job field in 15 years.” ▲ IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH TO WIN: FIRST-PAST-THE-POST IN ACTION SINCE 2000 29 SOURCE: ELECTIONS CANADA Besides this “obvious” issue directly affecting young Polls in Canada may be predicting youth apathy ahead people, Noble emphasized the importance of fighting of the election. The leadership that young people are climate change—something even pollsters agree will showing in local and global movements for progressive dominate the 2019 vote—as a cause drawing young change suggest the pollsters will be wrong—again. M people into politics. ARUSHANA SUNDERAESON IS DEVELOPMENT AND DATABASE OFFICER AT THE “Denying climate change while our globe is literally CCPA'S NATIONAL OFFICE. falling apart is dangerous. The majority of people making these decisions won’t be alive to really see the effects of climate change. Everything happening now in our climate RICARDO TRANJAN is from actions taking place in the 1970s to ‘90s. Only now are we seeing what we did. We need a change! We need a revolution! Youth need to get involved because their lives are on the line!” HOW TO A much higher percentage of voters over 55 vote and tend to vote for conservative politicians, at least federally. DISARM ANTI- In 2019, right-wing parties are proposing to reverse some modest climate policies—to promote more carbon-based IMMIGRATION mining and energy production—and openly flirting with anti-immigrant sentiment among some voters. “Without young people entering formal spheres of RHETORIC power—who is left?”, asked Jasmine Rezaee, manager of advocacy at YWCA Toronto, when I interviewed her for this article. “We need the energy, exuberance and progressive FOR centuries, the political right has values embodied by the new generation to move the dial opportunistically blamed immigrants for on the myriad issues facing our country.” everything from economic slowdowns to In the United States, younger politicians and activists lousy weather. The ferocity of these baseless have been inspired by the principled politics of Ilhan attacks in the 20th century produced tragic results. Yet we Abdullahi Omar (aged 37) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are letting it happen again—in the United States, Brazil, (the latter only 29 when she took New York’s 14th Australia, different parts of Europe, and here in Canada. congressional district in 2018), elders like Bernie Sanders, We must confront this vile political discourse wherever and other progressives who are not afraid to call out the we come across it on social media, in classrooms, at corporate elite and “billionaire class” in their demands for public events, and in daily conversations with family and a fairer, more sustainable economy. In Ontario, home of friends. But how can we do it? the electorally important 905 area codes around Toronto, One way—my favourite way—is to reject the “othering” young people from all backgrounds are coming together of people outright and instead focus on our shared to fight cuts to their social services, education and tuition humanity. We are humans before being of any nationality. supports, environmental regulations, libraries and other The contours of our place of birth and our physical public goods. appearances vary, but underneath these superficial differences we are the same. Forget that, and we endorse the worst crimes humans are capable of perpetrating. History tells us as much. Open your family chest (physical or virtual) and you shall 2011 ESTIMATE 2015 ESTIMATE DIFFERENCE find stories of people relocating, enduring hardship and FIRST TIME 40.5 58.3 17.7 distress, while helping and being helped by others who didn’t share the same background. That’s what we do. Share NOT FIRST TIME 37.8 55.1 17.3 these stories of likeliness, kindness and human fortitude: 18–24 YEARS 38.8 57.1 18.3 they are an antidote to hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric. But sometimes it’s necessary to have hard data, too. 25–34 YEARS 45.1 57.4 12.3 That’s particularly the case when the focus of debate is 35–44 YEARS 54.5 61.9 7.4 the economy. Fortunately, we have lots of it—and all the data disproves the anti-immigrant rhetoric from today’s 45–54 YEARS 64.5 66.6 2.1 right-wing populists. 55–64 YEARS 71.5 73.7 2.3 EMPLOYMENT RATES 65–74 YEARS 75.1 78.8 3.7 Employment rates measure the share of the population 75 YEARS+ 60.3 67.4 7.1 who are employed. According to 2018 Statistics Canada data, Canadian-born and immigrant workers (aged 15 and CANADA 58.5 66.1 7.6 over) have very similar employment rates: 62% and 60%, respectively. This means the split of people working and not ▲ VOTER TURNOUT BY AGE GROUP, 30 2011 AND 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS SOURCE: ELECTIONS CANADA working (e.g., full-time students, stay-at-home parents) is Some employers of temporary foreign workers are law nearly the same for immigrants and people born in Canada. abiding, others are not. And some laws are exclusionary. For example, farmworkers are largely excluded from EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT minimum wages, overtime pay or health and safety Census data from 2016 shows that immigrants and protections. people born in Canada (aged 25–64) have similar levels These stories must be told, too. Data on this front is of educational attainment: 21% of immigrants and 25% of scarce. people born in Canada ended their schooling with a high school diploma; 51% of immigrants and 56% of people SPEAK OUT born in Canada have a trade, college, or bachelor’s diploma While the otherness of immigrants is artificially or degree. The only large difference is at the post-graduate manufactured, our shared humanity is a lived experienced level: 15% of immigrants and 7% of people born in Canada corroborated by hard data. We have the upper hand on have a master's degree or doctorate. this fight so long as we speak out. M These are the averages for all immigrants, but it is RICARDO TRANJAN IS A RESEARCHER IN THE CCPA'S ONTARIO OFFICE. important to note that the educational attainment of sponsored immigrants and refugees—often deemed to be less apt to work—is also comparable with that of people born in Canada: 28% of refugees and of 27% CHUKA EJECKAM sponsored immigrants ended their schooling with a high school diploma; 42% of refugees and 45% of sponsored immigrants have a trade, college, or bachelor’s diploma RACIAL INEQUITY or degree; and 6% of refugees and 9% of sponsored immigrants have a post-graduate degree. IN THE CANADIAN In sum, those who were born here and those who came to Canada more recently are similarly equipped to find work in the Canadian job market. CANNABIS

GOVERNMENT TRANSFERS INDUSTRY Government transfers refer to income support programs funded through tax revenues to ensure our collective welfare. They include work-related benefits, child benefits, THE Canadian cannabis industry is pensions, disability benefits, social assistance and other booming. From giant industrial operations income transfers. such as Canopy Growth to smaller “luxury” According to census data, in 2015, people born in cannabis retailers, to an array of cannabis Canada (aged 15 and older) received, on average, $7,858 in “lifestyle” brands and “cannabis brand consultancy” firms, government transfers while immigrants received an average the industry is a lucrative frontier for those seeking wealth transfer of $7,765. The average for government-assisted in a rapidly growing market. refugees—who are at times accused of collecting large Canadians spent $1.6 billion on legal weed in 2018— amounts of government support—was a bit lower at $7,412. double the total spent on medical cannabis the year Immigrants work as much as people born in Canada and before—despite the fact that non-medical cannabis was receive the same in terms of government transfers. legally available only after October 17. Statistics Canada’s National Cannabis Survey from the first quarter of 2019 KNOWLEDGE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES reported that 646,000 people tried cannabis for the Census data show that fewer than 5% of all immigrants first time in the months after it was legalized, with use aged 25–64 speak neither English nor French. Yet in 2016, increasing among men and people aged 45 to 64. 51% of these immigrants were active in the labour market: As non-medical cannabis shifts from a criminal offence 45% had a job, and 6% were out there looking for one. to a legal commercial product, revenue from legal weed should be used to fund meaningful reparations for TEMPORARY FOREIGNER WORKERS communities targeted for decades by racist drug laws and Today, it’s become too common to hear politicians and enforcement. However, even a surface-level analysis of pundits claiming that Canada’s temporary foreign workers the rapidly growing Canadian cannabis industry reveals a are “stealing” good jobs from Canadians. The reality is troubling trend: the profits and wealth being generated are quite different. overwhelmingly landing in the pockets of white Canadians. We should be welcoming immigrants as fully According to a Montreal Gazette investigation in enfranchised citizens who can study, work, and build a 2018, only 3% of management positions at the top stable life with their families. Instead, Canada’s policy five producers and distributors of cannabis in Canada ensures many migrants are brought into a form of (combined market value: roughly $16 billion) were people indentured work, with a temporary work permit tied to a of colour. This mimics disparities in the United States, single employer on whom their well-being depends entirely. where in 2017, 81% cannabis companies were owned by 31 white people, and overwhelmingly white men. Women WHILE BLACK have been making advances in the industry, especially AND INDIGENOUS with cannabidiol (CBD) products, but this has been PEOPLE IN CANADA primarily true of white women. “Equity permit” programs are being pursued in some MAY INCUR SOCIAL jurisdictions. In California, for example, some cities grant OR PROFESSIONAL first access to the legal cannabis market to individuals who CONSEQUENCES, are low-income, have past cannabis arrests or convictions WHITE POLITICIANS or live in “disproportionately impacted areas.” But, thus far, FLOCK TO THE that strategy has failed to address the domination of the BOARDS OF CAN- legal market by people who are generally most privileged NABIS COMPANIES and least affected by cannabis’s previous illegality. WITHOUT FEAR Drug prohibition laws target Black and Indigenous people in Canada, and these groups make up an outsize FOR THEIR share of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians bearing REPUTATION. cannabis-related criminal records. They also account for a disproportionate number of street stops and arrests, including when those interactions don’t ultimately lead to criminal charges, prosecution or conviction. Research by criminologist and University of Toronto professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah shows that cannabis penalties applied to Black (and Indigenous) communities has in fact been a “gateway drug,” but not in the sense in Canada today. This contrasts with the lenient that using cannabis leads to use of other drugs. Rather, treatment of wealthy, white Canadians at the hands of cannabis prohibition has disproportionately been a law enforcement. The same racial inequities rampant in gateway to criminal status for Black and Indigenous U.S. drug-law enforcement are alive and well here. So, too, people, even though cannabis use (and use of other drugs) is the reproduction of racial inequities so evident in the is effectively equal among different racial groups. Some American legal cannabis industries. research has found that whites are more likely to use Writing in the Monitor in advance of legalization and sell drugs but less likely to be arrested, charged or (“Prometheus re-bound,” March/April 2018), John Akpata incarcerated for those offences. noted the dimensions of racial inequity and capitalist In her book Policing Black Lives: State Violence in monopolization already visible in the non-medical Canada from Slavery to the Present, activist, author and cannabis market. Akpata argued it would cost potential educator Robyn Maynard demonstrates the deep-rooted “licensed producers” between $5 million and $10 million systemic racism that animates the hyper-policing of to meet the standards set by the Trudeau government’s Black Canadians. Maynard draws a line through Canadian regulations, prohibiting anyone other than large corporate history, connecting the violent control and regulation of entities—or those who could access high-dollar corporate Black people through enslavement and colonization to the financial backing—from seeking legal licensing. Given disproportionate police attention, violence and criminal Canada’s entrenched racial inequities in wealth and income, this high cost of entry has only given an enormous advantage to white Canadians. ILLUSTRATION BY KARA SIEVEWRIGHT Studies have shown that racialized Ontarians experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment and are paid less when they are employed. Toronto vividly illustrates these inequities, with racialized residents concentrated in low-income neighbourhoods while affluent neighbourhoods are disproportionately white. Conversely, white Canadians make up an overwhelming 73% of residents in affluent neighbourhoods—much higher than their share of the city’s population. These inequities are reproduced in police attention and criminal penalties. Analysis of cannabis possession arrests for people without prior criminal records in Toronto between 2003 and 2013 found that Black people were arrested at a rate nearly triple their share of the city’s population. Human rights lawyer Anthony Morgan has noted how this targeting, and popular associations between Black people and drugs, increases the risk of stigmatization that Black people face in even speaking to the issue, let alone whether they actively participate in the legal cannabis market. 32 While Black and Indigenous people in Canada may incur DAVID MACDONALD social or professional consequences, white politicians (including a former police chief of Canada’s largest city) flock to the boards of cannabis companies without fear for their reputation. There is perhaps no higher profile CANADA HAS A example of this racial and class-based inequity than Justin Trudeau himself. A white man born into a wealthy and well- RENTAL HOUSING connected family, the prime minister has both admitted to illegally smoking cannabis while a sitting member of CRISIS. LET’S Parliament and spoken about how his father’s connections helped his brother Michel avoid charges for drug offences. BUILD OUR WAY These inequities fly in the face of the fact that it was communities of colour that introduced cannabis to popular culture in the United States and Canada. At OUT OF IT. least since the Jazz Age, a collection of prominent Black and Brown artists have incorporated the drug into their WHEN we talk about housing affordability artistic and cultural expressions. Law enforcement would (as the media and politicians will, quite later exploit this fact to weaponize drug laws against a bit, during this election) the focus is communities of colour—again, even though drug use usually on home ownership and high across racial groups is essentially equal. housing costs. Less discussed is the affordability crisis With cannabis now legal in Canada, society primarily faced by the third of Canadian households (4.7 million celebrates white Canadians and wealthy “entrepreneurs” families) who rent their homes. A paper I released in July, for their involvement with the drug, while communities Unaccommodating: Rental Housing Wages in Canada, of colour remain disproportionately policed, arrested, looks at the extent of the problem by determining the prosecuted, incarcerated and burdened with criminal hourly wage that a full-time worker must make to be able records. to rent an average two-bedroom apartment using no more Affected Canadians may finally apply for pardons by than 30% of their income. I call this the rental wage, and undergoing a complicated process involving having my findings clearly struck a nerve. their fingerprints taken, attaining a copy of their criminal As reported widely in the media in July, my report record and contacting police. However, critics of the finds that the average rental wage across all of Canada legalization regime and process, including Cannabis is $22.40/hr. Again, this is the income you would need to Amnesty, an advocacy group led by lawyer, author and bring home to be able to afford an average-priced two- educator Annamaria Enenajor, have argued that proactive bedroom apartment. For an average-priced one-bedroom expungement of cannabis-related criminal records is apartment, the national average rental wage is $20.20/hr. necessary, as pardons don’t erase records. Publicly Of course, if a worker doesn’t have a full-time job the rental funded reparations programs for loans, education and wage will be higher no matter where they live. Importantly, employment are also needed, as they could begin to repair because all provincial minimum wages are far lower than the restricted opportunities that result from a criminal these average rental wages, it is not possible for many record. Equity permits, along the lines of those introduced in California, would still restrict applicants to working in the cannabis industry. The government must also address the racial inequities in wealth and profit being accumulated in the legal Single <25 child parent non-medical cannabis market. Legal cannabis has living w/ 4% single rapidly become just another enterprise of international parent capitalism, with wealthy investors and profiteers exploiting 7% <25 living Other at home what should be an equity-seeking policy, to amass profit 8% 25% and further entrench racial and class disparities. We can choose not to let the racial inequities so Single adult, prevalent in our society be reproduced, once more, in the living alone legal cannabis market. We can choose to rigorously pursue 15% equity and reparations for decades of disproportionate Adult in criminalization and economic impairment. We can choose couple (no kids) Adult 21% not to ignore the continued disproportionate accumulation in couple of wealth in privileged quarters. But we must choose. M (with kids) 20% CHUKA EJECKAM IS A GRADUATE STUDENT IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. HIS WORK FOCUSES ON DRUG POLICY AND ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INEQUALITY. A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE FIRST RAN IN THE GLOBE AND MAIL ON AUGUST 2.

▲ BREAKDOWN OF THE ONE-QUARTER OF CANADIANS WHO EARN WITHIN $3 OF THE PROVINCIAL 33 MINIMUM WAGE SOURCE: UNACCOMMODATING, CCPA, JULY 2019. NEW ⊲ Federal non-profit and co-op Total Provincial (IAH, SIF & unilateral) A ordable Housing Innovation Fund AFFORDABLE Rental Construction Financing Initiative National Housing Co-Investment Fund HOUSING 30,000 SOURCE: UNACCOMMODATING, 25,000 CCPA, JULY 2019.

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018p

full-time workers to afford to live anywhere without various family types in Canada, since it offers a modest spending more than 30% of their income on rent. amount of room for multiple living arrangements. Many In some cities the rental wage is much higher than households rely on only one income but contain more the Canadian average. For example, a full-time worker than one person—single-parent families, for example, or in Vancouver would need to make $35.43/hr to afford an an adult caring for a senior. A sole income earner working average-priced two-bedroom apartment. A minimum-wage full time should be able to afford a modest two-bedroom worker in Vancouver would have to work 84 hours a week apartment for their family in a country as rich as Canada. to afford the average-priced one-bedroom apartment, or But in most Canadian cities, including Canada’s largest 112 hours a week for a two-bedroom apartment. The next metropolitan areas of Toronto and Vancouver, there are highest average rental wages are found in Toronto ($33.70/ no neighbourhoods where it is possible to afford a one- or hr), Victoria ($28.47/hr), Calgary ($26.97/hr) and Ottawa two-bedroom unit on a single minimum wage. ($26.08/hr). A detailed, searchable map of rental wages In fact, it is possible for a minimum-wage worker (e.g., across Canada is available on the CCPA website here: a single parent) to comfortably afford the average two- www.policyalternatives.ca/rentalwages. bedroom rental rate in only 3% of the 795 neighbourhoods For my report, I determined the rental wage in 795 where rental and income data are available. In only 9% of Canadian neighbourhoods based on two-bedroom rental neighbourhoods can a minimum-wage worker afford the costs, as two-bedroom apartments are the most common average-priced one-bedroom apartment without spending type, making up 50% of all units. One-bedroom rentals more than 30% of their income on rent. Remarkably, of make up 36% of apartments, with the bachelor and the 36 metro areas in Canada, 23 have no neighbourhoods three-bedroom (or more) categories each making up less where the average-priced one-bedroom is affordable to a than 10% of units. With two-bedroom units being more minimum-wage worker, and 31 have no neighbourhoods common, it is easier to determine the rental wage in more where a two-bedroom apartment is affordable. neighbourhoods outside of Canada’s biggest cities. The rental wage neighbourhood maps in my report and Everyone deserves a decent place to live. The two- the accompanying online database show a common reality bedroom apartment therefore serves as a proxy for known to all renters, which is that it is more expensive to live downtown—close to most jobs—than in outlying areas that necessitate longer commutes and often the purchase of a car. The notable exception is Montreal where more affordable neighbourhoods continue to exist on the island itself and public transit is abundant. The IN MOST highest two-bedroom rental wages are found in Toronto’s CANADIAN CITIES, downtown Bay Street corridor ($73.17/hr), Vancouver’s THERE ARE NO North False Creek neighbourhood ($60.93/hr) and the NEIGHBOURHOODS Toronto waterfront and island area ($53.01/hr). If we exclude condominium rentals, the two-bedroom WHERE IT IS rental wage was a fairly constant $17/hr prior to 2001 POSSIBLE TO when it started to go up, hitting close to $20/hour by 2018. AFFORD A ONE- OR Though the increase is a result of many factors, some of TWO-BEDROOM which differ from province to province, one of the most UNIT ON A SINGLE important contributors was the collapse of new purpose- MINIMUM WAGE. built rental construction (apartment buildings). 34 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, over 100,000 new out in terms of values, as embodied by their leaders, not rental apartments were being built a year. That number detailed policy platforms that represent different views of dropped to 10,000 in the 1990s due in part to federal cuts how governments should manage the economy. Charisma to affordable housing funding. Between 1983 and 1993, and personality seek to build bonds of trust between 49% of all new rental builds were affordable housing politicians and citizens as the key way to build support. units paid for with public money. In the 1970s and 1980s, Chrétien was a master in this respect. substantial federal tax incentives also encouraged many As the 2019 election nears, it is important to recall these market rental units to be built. parallels to today’s government, and how Trudeau’s first In the past three years, Canada Mortgage and Housing three years in office might influence how Canadians vote. Corporation has introduced four long-term programs While Canadians celebrated Chrétien’s “Vive le Canada” devoted to new affordable units: the National Housing approach, hopeful that more optimistic times were ahead, Co-investment Fund, the Rental Construction Financing his government’s policy agenda resulted in an entrenched Initiative, the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, and the neoliberalism in Canada along with a deepening of Federal Lands Initiative. These programs jointly promise to Mulroney government–initiated continental integration. In deliver more than 110,500 new units by 2027-28. Combined a similar way, the Trudeau government, far from distancing with other provincial and federal programs, 15,100 and itself from the Harper legacy, has in many ways reinforced it. 16,600 new affordable units received commitments in Interventionist rhetoric has confused pundits into 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively—three-quarters of the reading federal deficits as an indicator of activist 20,000 affordable units built each year between 1970 and government, all the proof you need we are living under a the early 1990s. progressive, redistributive state. However, the Trudeau Direct rental supports like the new Canada Housing government readily signed, virtually untouched, the Benefit—a cash supplement to low-income renters— Harper-negotiated, patently neoliberal CETA trade deal could take the edge off housing cost increases for some with the European Union and Trans-Pacific Partnership renters while we wait for federally funded construction with Asia-Pacific nations, along with a NAFTA 2.0 based programs to kick into gear. But the benefit’s tight budget largely on U.S. President Donald Trump’s corporatist terms. cap will necessitate the application of strict eligibility Likewise, where the Harper government made federal requirements that will push most low-income renters from funding for municipal infrastructure contingent on cities the queue. considering the public-private partnership model, the In the long term, rental subsidies are no substitute for Trudeau government established a Canada Infrastructure the construction of new affordable housing, which would Bank with a mandate to only fund public services and increase vacancy rates, cool rental prices and allow more construction projects in partnership with big private people to live closer to where they work. This election, let's investors (and where private shareholders could be make sure politicians are putting housing—all housing — guaranteed high returns). high on their agendas. M In foreign affairs, Trudeau declared “Canada is DAVID MACDONALD IS A SENIOR ECONOMIST WITH THE CCPA. back,” leading many to hope for a return to the liberal internationalism of Lester Pearson (prime minister from 1963–1968). Instead, the election of Trump and the ascendancy of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland RICHARD NIMIJEAN has led to a return to hard power. Multilateral diplomacy is missing in action. Peacekeeping is much talked about, but not practised as much. The Trudeau government has IT’S 2015 ALL continued a hard line toward Russia and has been very involved in the efforts for regime change in Venezuela. OVER AGAIN. Meanwhile, the government’s much touted feminist foreign policy, while admirable, has suffered from a lack of resources and a lack of focus. Indeed, development OR IS THAT 2004? experts point out that in terms of foreign aid, the Trudeau government has been perhaps more miserly than the Harper government. ANALYZING the 2015 federal election Importantly, my 2015 Monitor article failed to note results for The Monitor (Jan/Feb 2016), I one important legacy of the Chrétien government that cautioned Canadians about reading too we should remember in the current context: the federal much into Justin Trudeau’s “sunny ways” sponsorship scandal, in which, as the Gomery report narrative, noting how we could end up with a Jean carefully outlined, the interests of the Liberal party were Chrétien-like government post 1993. The reasons behind blurred with interests of state. Chrétien’s successor, Paul that prediction were straightforward, and I think recent Martin, tried to change the channel. history bears me out. With SNC-Lavalin, so is Trudeau. Just as Martin In the era of brand politics, ideological homogeneity distanced himself from the Chrétien government (of which between the major parties means that differences are laid he and his austerity were so central a part), stoking fears 35 THE TRUDEAU SARAH KENNELL GOVERNMENT, FAR FROM DISTANCING A GLOBAL LEADER ITSELF FROM THE HARPER ON ABORTION LEGACY, HAS IN MANY WAYS RIGHTS TOLERATES CONTINUED AND BARRIERS AT HOME REINFORCED IT. NEARLY 25 years ago, Canada participated in the 4th World Conference on Women, which resulted in global adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The conference set a new course for feminist activism of a Harper-led Americanization of Canada, Trudeau is by recognizing women’s rights as human rights. Bodily again now raising the spectre of Harper to warn voters autonomy—the ability to decide freely over our bodies— away from Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives. Will it work? was declared critical to realizing those rights. Remember that Martin, once the most popular politician Since then, and particularly in the past couple of years, in Canada, stumbled to a minority government in 2004 Canada has been a leader on the world stage in defending before crashing out of federal politics in the 2006 election. sexual and reproductive rights, including the right to safe Today, the situation is much the same. In power, the abortion care. The federal government has held the line Trudeau government speaks a progressive game that is in tense intergovernmental negotiations and committed sometimes backed up in policy (think child care, a gender- to becoming the largest donor to comprehensively balanced cabinet, or new housing dollars), but often address sexual and reproductive rights in its development masks half-measures attached to a profit motive. As the assistance. discrepancy is exposed, alternatives become much more This has all been in the face of extreme backlash against palatable for swing voters. These flexible or non-partisan sexual and reproductive rights, including in the U.S. voters can have a huge impact on election results and will where a 2017 Trump administration order reinstated and be the focus of intense wooing in the next two months. expanded the “Global Gag Rule—a prohibition on foreign The Conservatives and the new People’s Party of Canada NGOs who receive U.S. assistance related to global health will argue they are the real conservatives. The NDP will from using non-U.S. funding to provide abortion services, ask voters to choose the real progressives. Meanwhile, information, counseling or referrals, and from engaging the Green Party’s surging support in pre-election polls in advocacy for access to safe abortion services. At the demonstrates that Canadians, like citizens in many U.S. state level, governments are also enacting extreme European countries, are turning against “politics as usual.” legislation to roll back abortion care. Like 2004, the anticipated election outcome has moved Despite the strong positions taken by Canada on the far away from certain Liberal victory. Like 2015, values global stage in the face of U.S. backlash, access to abortion and branding are taking centre stage. All party leaders are in Canada remains a significant challenge for many. Most trying desperately to connect with voters. Canadians will abortion providers are located within 150 km of the U.S. soon have their chance to weigh in. M border and only one in six hospitals provide the service. RICHARD NIMIJEAN TEACHES IN THE SCHOOL OF INDIGENOUS AND CANADIAN That leaves many people travelling large distances to STUDIES AT CARLETON UNIVERSITY. HIS NEW BOOK WITH DAVID CARMENT access abortion, sometimes across provincial lines, at (EDITORS), CANADA, NATION BRANDING AND DOMESTIC POLITICS, IS OUT NOW FROM ROUTLEDGE. their own expense. Because no hospital or clinic in Canada provides abortion after 23 weeks, those in need must find it in the U.S. where abortion care is increasingly threatened. Access is further hindered by medically unnecessary rules and regulations at provincial and territorial levels or within regional health systems and hospital settings. Regulation 84-20 in New Brunswick, for example, denies coverage of the cost of surgical abortion services outside of hospitals, leaving those seeking abortion services at the only freestanding clinic to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket. In Alberta, the provincial Telehealth phone line is currently referring individuals who are seeking support 36 to crisis pregnancy centres, anti-choice agencies that country are looking to the federal government to play a claim to offer unbiased medical counselling. Throughout leadership role in levelling the playing field. Especially in Canada, there are also countless reports of harassment, Canada, a country that prides itself on its national health threats, violence and intimidation from anti-choice care, access to abortion shouldn’t depend on your postal protesters outside of sexual health clinics and hospitals. code or how much you have in your bank account. Interference and intimidation from anti-choice Our vision is for everyone to receive the care they need, organizations and activists often misleads, obfuscates, where they live. The federal government can do so by: and delays individuals from seeking abortion care. These • withholding cash transfers to provinces and territories groups are incredibly well-resourced and well-mobilized, that fail to meet obligations under the Canada Health Act; with allies in political spheres that are committed to not dispelling the misinformation that anti-choice groups, only blocking increased access to abortion care in Canada, • including crisis pregnancy centres, disseminate—by but also restricting access through legislation, paid mandating that Health Canada publish accurate, evi- advertisements and media, and grassroots mobilization. dence-based information about abortion care and where The Canadian “premiere” of the anti-choice “made-for-TV” to access it; propaganda film,Unplanned , was screened on Parliament Hill and some provincial political parties and candidates • providing free access to comprehensive contraceptive are campaigning on commitments to restrict abortion, care in advance of the rollout of a national pharmacare sex-ed, and gay-straight alliances in schools. strategy; and The politicization of abortion is unlike any other health • investing in the training of professional sexual health care service in Canada. Decision-makers at all levels of educators to better deliver comprehensive sexuality edu- government use abortion as a wedge issue to gain political cation in schools. points rather than recognize abortion as another health As Canadians head to the polls in October, and Canada service they are responsible to provide and support. This prepares to present what steps it has taken toward politicization stands in the way of access by perpetuating realizing commitments agreed to during the 1995 Beijing myths and stigma and leaving the service frustratingly conference, this is what needs to be on the table. outside of primary health care, inaccessible to far too M SARAH KENNELL IS DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AT ACTION CANADA many people in Canada. FOR SEXUAL HEALTH AND RIGHTS. As countries, including Canada, reflect on their implementation of the 25-year-old Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the federal government and provinces need to address the lingering barriers to what SHEILA BLOCK is considered a medically necessary procedure under the Canada Health Act. The solutions aren’t out of reach. It is a matter of political will. DON'T FRET Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights (formerly Planned Parenthood Canada) and our allies across the OVER DEFICITS AND DEBT

IN the 2015 federal election, Canada’s DECISION- political parties saw advocating for deficit spending as a risky political move. The MAKERS AT Conservative Party ran on balanced budgets ALL LEVELS OF and reducing the role of the state. The NDP promised GOVERNMENT four years of balanced budgets. Of the major parties, only USE ABORTION AS the Liberal Party advocated for deficit spending. Even A WEDGE ISSUE TO then, the deficits they proposed were small—less than GAIN POLITICAL $10 billion a year for the first three years, and a balanced POINTS RATHER budget by the fourth. THAN RECOGNIZE It was hardly a departure from political orthodoxy. And while fiscal timidity on the campaign trail may have ABORTION AS been effective, in government it has hampered federal ANOTHER HEALTH investment in physical and social infrastructure. Federal SERVICE THEY program spending as a share of GDP remains at historic ARE RESPONSIBLE lows. TO PROVIDE AND In 2019, the combined impact of a climate crisis, a crisis SUPPORT. in affordable housing in major centres, and an increase 37 in precarious work means that governments need to failure of these austerity policies, these human costs make historic investments now: in green infrastructure, received far too little attention. in expanding the social safety net, and in increasing the Much of the public support for austerity policies supply of affordable housing. A debate about who can depends on framing public debt as equivalent to spend less in government is the last thing we need. household debt. Yet this is a gross mischaracterization. Government debt rose sharply globally after the 2008 Families manage debt over a lifecycle. It is prudent early financial crash as employment fell and stimulus spending in that cycle for families or individuals to take on debt, became all the rage, even for conservative governments. perhaps to pay for education or purchase a home. Later But that same deficit spending, which staved off a more on, ideally, individuals or families will move from borrowing serious economic collapse, soon became, to many of to saving for retirement. those same governments, an opportunity to leverage Governments do not face the same lifecycle constraints. public support for a sharp policy turn toward austerity. They have a responsibility to continue borrowing and As a result, many governments magnified the human investing for future generations. Each generation of costs of the Great Recession and extended, by several taxpayers takes on some of the costs for providing years, the suffering it had caused. Research shows that services to previous generations as well as their own and austerity programs in both Greece and the U.K., which future generations. When it comes to debt, we are all cut benefits for pensioners and incomes and services for always paying it off—and paying it forward. marginalized populations, resulted in premature deaths. Furthermore, higher levels of borrowing that might In the debate and subsequent acknowledgement of the be risky for individuals or families are prudent for governments, since risk is spread across the whole population. Financial markets find governments to be extremely reliable borrowers for this reason and due to their ability to tax. That is why governments can borrow at much lower interest rates than households. CANADA'S REVENUE The experience of the last eight years shows there is a continued appetite in bond markets for government PROBLEM debt. Interest rates remain at historic lows. And despite the predictions from the mainstream economic policy he direction and scale of recent federal program spending community, the Greek crisis did not spread like wildfire to hasn’t turned the tide on decades of neoliberal economic other national economies. policy and the damaging rise of inequality that has The experience since 2010 has also shown that Tfollowed in its wake. In 2017-18, federal program spending was government retrenchment has not led to increased 14.5% of GDP—an increase of 1.6 percentage points from economic activity but higher unemployment and slower 2015, but still shy of postwar levels—and slated to fall to 13.8% economic growth. U.S. economist Paul Krugman’s by 2023-24. On the other side of the ledger, federal revenues research has shown that austerity programs and slower are also near all-time lows relative to GDP. Revenues as a growth go together, and the worse the austerity, the worse share of GDP, at 14.5%, are two percentage points lower than the economic performance will be. the 50-year average of 16.4%, representing an annual loss of International Monetary Fund research published in more than $40 billion. Canada, in other words, doesn’t have a 2016 rejected the notion that austerity could be good for spending problem, it has a revenue problem. growth by boosting the confidence of the private sector to —Katherine Scott, senior economist, CCPA invest. It concluded instead that such austerity programs increased inequality, which “in turn hurts the level and sustainability of growth.” Federal government revenues and program expenses These debates, and the intellectual energy that they as % of GDP, 19662024 take from progressives, move us further away from more fundamental questions we should be addressing. In an 20% era of climate crisis, for example, why are we debating Revenues economic growth divorced from whether the form and 18% Program expenses type of growth brings us closer to, or further away from, climate sustainability? 16% There are currently no credible reasons to doubt the solvency of the federal government, or any of the 14% provinces for that matter. Federally in particular we have the fiscal room to be spending much more ambitiously on 12% housing, education, long-term care, pharmacare and other social programs, and to protect the natural environment. 10% 1966 1976 1986 1996 2006 2016 2023 In fact, it would be bad for the economy not to. M SHEILA BLOCK IS A SENIOR ECONOMIST IN THE CCPA'S ONTARIO OFFICE.

38 ASHLEY COURCHENE MOVING BEYOND “TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE”

hould we, as citizens of In- “We have more graduates coming that present Indigenous candidates digenous nations, be voting out of high school and postsecondary receive more votes, especially in ridings in settler elections? It is the than ever,” he tells me. “These young with a high proportion of Indigenous question many Indigenous people are homeowners and profes- voters, according to this research. Speople contend with whenever a fed- sionals. They are buying property, In short, representation matters. eral election draws near. The debate paying taxes… and they deserve rep- However, as writer and artist Aylan can be tense given Canada’s colonial resentation in the settler-colonial state Couchie from Nipissing First Nation history, and because many Indigenous government.” For Thomas-Muller, who points out, representation only mat- people do not identify as “Canadian.” believes Indigenous youth should be ters if the candidates are accountable On one hand, canadian politics is a voting, the transfer of economic power to their community. “I have a really foreign, colonial system built to exclude results in the need to participate in hard time when people who are in Indigenous peoples. Historically this is settler elections. politics turn around and say things the case, as Indigenous peoples were not Indigenous peoples are indeed par- that are opposite of what the general able to vote until the 1960s unless they ticipating. In the 2015 federal election Indigenous community is saying,” gave up their status as Indians. There- we voted in record numbers. According she says. Our conversation turns to fore, we as Indigenous peoples should to Statistics Canada, the on-reserve Winnipeg-Centre MP Robert-Falcon be rebuilding our political and legal sys- turnout increased 14 percentage points Ouellette and Manitoba MLA and NDP tems fractured by settler-colonialism. between 2011 and 2015. The overall voter leader Wab Kinew as examples. On the other hand, voting in settler turnout for self-identified Indigenous Ouellette was criticized by In- elections is a form of interference. In- people was over 490,000. A recent study digenous communities in 2017 for digenous sovereignty is not violated published in the Canadian Journal of sympathizing with the family of Gerald by participation. Rather, voting is a Political Science suggests that the rise Stanley, a Saskatchewan farmer found strategy used to create favourable out- of the Indigenous vote is also attribut- not guilty in the murder of Red Pheas- comes that may further the interests able to an increase in the number of ant First Nation citizen Colten Boushie. of Indigenous peoples. Indigenous candidates. Political parties Meanwhile, Kinew’s statement con- Except the choice to vote or not cerning his sons being labelled victims is rarely ever clear cut. Framing the of genocide instead of focusing on the discussion as an either-or issue glosses recent conclusions of the National over considerations regarding the po- Inquiry into Missing and Murdered litical acts of Indigenous resurgence. Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-Spirit For Indigenous peoples, voting is just People draws ire from Couchie. “It’s the one of many tools to be used, not the most you can turn your back on your end objective of a political act, as it is THE CHOICE TO community,” she asserts. otherwise conceptualized within a VOTE OR NOT IS Still, these issues do not deter In- liberal democratic state. RARELY EVER digenous people from voting. In fact, CLEAR CUT. participating in settler elections is a SO WHY VOTE AT ALL? FRAMING THE form of “harm-reduction,” according Approximately 56% of Indigenous DISCUSSION to the artist. All political parties cause people live in urban areas, according to AS AN EITHER- harm to Indigenous people, but for the 2016 census, an increase from just OR ISSUE Couchie the rise of white supremacy over 50% in 2006. As more Indigenous on the political right is reason enough people become urbanized they are GLOSSES OVER to try and mitigate the threat through directly affected by the decisions of CONSIDERATIONS voter participation. Others who may Parliament. Clayton Thomas-Muller, REGARDING THE never have voted before, but who are senior campaign specialist at 350.org, POLITICAL ACTS alarmed at the global issues directly notes the shift in power for urbanized OF INDIGENOUS affecting them, are likewise reconsid- Indigenous folk. RESURGENCE. ering their positions. 39 RJ Mitchell, a Carleton University Rather than voting, Evoy dedicates via the United Nations Declaration student from Akwesasne First Nation his time to other political actions like on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who has never voted, says he realizes land defence. “Being able to focus on (UNDRIP), in substance it is very the urgent need of global leaders to those aspects feels like a fuller way limited, since Indigenous peoples can address the climate crisis. “Stay in of reaching our goal of [resurgence] only govern in local, internal matters. your own canoe, that’s what I used to than sinking a bunch of time in an Further, the “blue water thesis,” believe,” Mitchell tells me, referenc- electoral process that, ultimately, is which asserts that decolonization is ing the two-row wampum—a 17th not accountable to our traditions or only applicable in colonies separated century treaty between the Hauden- peoples,” he says. from their colonizers by a distinct osaunee and Dutch wherein neither Dara Wawatè-Chabot, a 22-year old geographical boundary such as an side would ever interfere in the affairs Anishinaabe-kwe living in Gatineau, ocean, has not fully been challenged of the other. Yet through his studies Quebec, proposes that the limitations within the UN. This makes decolonial in geomatics, Mitchell says he now of the democratic system outweigh the efforts harder for Indigenous peoples understands how dangerously close progressive changes that do happen. affected by settler-colonialism, since the climate crisis is to our doorstep, “The essence of the canadian political the state already surrounds them. and how badly we need to see rapid economy is based on the resource Canada is a settler-colonial state but systemic change. extraction and the disempowerment recognizes Aboriginal and treaty rights “Realistically, what it comes down of Indigenous peoples,” states Wa- in Section 35 of the Charter of Rights to is changing the leadership and watè-Chabot. “There is only so much and Freedoms. Those rights have been changing the system. Those are the change we can do within the system ambiguous since the Constitution’s en- two biggest things that can be done.” itself.” trenchment in 1982. Parliamentarians In order for both to take place, Mitchell It should come as no surprise, then, have claimed Section 35 as a “treasure says the electoral system needs to that there are a multitude of reasons chest” full of rights, but Indigenous move beyond the two-party regime why Indigenous people choose to vote people see only an “empty box.” In that has been characteristic of cana- or not. Regardless of their position, 2016, MP Romeo Saganash (Abiti- dian politics. there are common themes occurring bi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou) Although third-parties like the in this debate. introduced Bill C-262 that would have NDP, Greens, Bloc Québécois and the aligned Canadian laws including Sec- short-lived Reform Party have been SELF-DETERMINATION AND tion 35 rights with the principles of influential in canadian politics, only THE FEAR OF ASSIMILATION UNDRIP. However, resistance in the Liberal or Conservative parties have The right to self-determination was House of Commons, and filibustering ever held power on the federal level. popularized after the First World War, tactics in the Senate from Conserva- For Mitchell, alternative choices in the in negotiations toward the Treaty of tive government–appointed members, electoral system might increase voter Versailles, based on then-U.S. president eventually squashed the bill in 2019. turnout overall. If not, “our only option Woodrow Wilson’s declaration that it This is a main reason why Ryan might have to be revolution, since it was an “imperative principle of action” McMahon, Anishinaabe comedian and has been the only thing that has that “peoples may now be dominated writer, says he no longer votes. While created change.” and governed only by their own con- going to the polls may be a good strat- Yet there are still people who choose sent.” But this left open the question egy for Indigenous people attempting not to vote at all. of who would be afforded the right to to be rid of a party that actively harms Brad Evoy, a community organizer self-govern, and to what extent? them, the main objective for McMahon from Qalipu First Nation, says that While the right to self-determina- is to realize full Indigenous liberation. voting only reinforces the settler-state. tion is recognized internationally “We have to be really critical of what exists in front of us and be very pur- poseful in building alternatives,” he says, in reference to the foreign styles 65% of governance imposed on Indigenous 60% peoples through the Indian Act. Fortunately, alternative forms of 55% Canada governance are taking place. “There are plenty of young people who are 50% engaged in traditional forms of gov- 45% ernance, whether it means helping out at ceremonies, or helping out on the 40% On Reserve traplines,” says McMahon. Sweeping 35% change won’t come all at once, he adds, but will take place through “everyday 30% 2004 2006 2008 2011 2015 acts of resurgence.” The phrase was first coined by Cherokee scholar Jeff ▲ TREND IN VOTER TURNOUT ON RESERVES, 40 2004–2015, EXCLUDES VOTES CAST BY SPECIAL BALLOT SOURCE: ELECTIONS CANADA Corntassel, who focuses on the often For me, no amount of voting in set- unseen, unacknowledged actions of tler elections will teach me to reclaim Indigenous peoples to promote health what settler-colonialism has stolen. and well-being on individual and com- munal levels. WE ARE OUR OWN Everyday acts of resurgence are very On first glance, the voting debate political in a society that attaches a reflects the issue that Audre Lorde price to every little thing. Living off brought to feminist theory almost the land and learning from it certainly 35 years ago. In asking whether the challenges the very notions of capital- Master’s tools could dismantle the ism. In Indigenous governance systems Master’s house, Lorde was challeng- the natural world is not to be exploited ing the white, heterosexual biases of for profit but is meant to coexist with feminist academics. In other words, humans. Ian Campeau, human being the tools that reinforced and relied on from Nipissing First Nation, explains a racist patriarchy could not be used this relationship through the princi- to dismantle a racist patriarchal sys- ples of the honourable harvest. tem. Lorde’s assertion has been used “Don’t take the first plant you see, it in many contexts where oppressive might be the only one; don’t take the dynamics are at play. last plant you see, might be the last Yet the issue goes deeper. Political one; only take half of what is available, action that seeks out Indigenous and take only what you need,” says MP Romeo Saganash, seen here in self-determination does not end at Campeau. The honourable harvest the House of Commons on Sept. 25, the voting booth. Acts to reinstate ensures the sustainability of a plant, 2018, introduced a bill in 2016 that Indigenous ways of knowing, being and and that we stay in good relation to it. would have aligned Canadian laws governing are continuous processes. Yet even when practising everyday with the UN Declaration on the Rights The debate that frames the question of acts of resurgence, the fear of assimi- of Indigenous Peoples. The bill was whether citizens of Indigenous nations lation permeates through the minds of defeated in the Senate. should vote as two mutually exclusive Indigenous people. McMahon admits PHOTO BY SEAN KILPATRICK/CP categories erases the political actions to often balancing what we have to that Indigenous peoples are undergo- gain with what we have to lose by ing to reassert their nationhood. giving in and saying, half-jokingly, That is not to say we don’t see value “You’re right, Great White Daddy, we as political beings,” Campeau claims as in influencing settler elections. In fact, are Indigenous Canadians.” He won- he tells me the story of Bigonegiizhig, the vast majority of Indigenous folk ders, “Would we go further, faster, if or Hole-In-The-Day. see it that way; voting is an important we assimilated in that way?” Almost In the 19th century, Bigonegiizhig, aspect in not only reasserting our na- every person I spoke to for this article feeling the pressure from an influx of tional aspirations but also stemming relates to the same fear of assimilation settlers, threatened to attack a nearby the tide of forces that would harm in one way or another. fort. The U.S. government responded those objectives. Of course, views on assimilation by sending a large cavalry unit to the That is also not to say we value vary as much as the views on voting area where Bigonegiizhig was located. settler elections either. Generally, in settler elections. Wawatè-Chabot After hearing the news, Bigonegiizhig we don’t. Campeau equates voting to says she is not afraid of assimilation, mobilized other Anishinaabe in the watching hockey. “I love canadian poli- because in choosing to become politi- surrounding area to also gather at the tics,” he exclaims. “If people want to go cally active one can reclaim their voice. fort where he instructed everyone to and vote, I’m all for that, but I know it’s In a settler-state, Wawatè-Chabot says, hide in the bush. When the cavalry not going to change anything.” “you got to do what you got to do to arrived, all the Anishinaabeg rose up The conversation as to whether In- survive in this world when it goes in unison as ordered by Bigonegiizhig. digenous people should vote needs to against every aspect of your being.” The act alone was enough to force the be reframed, otherwise those invested Others, like Campeau, suggest we Americans into negotiations. in dismantling colonial structures are already assimilated. “We don’t The lessons I take from Campeau’s will only assist in reinforcing them. speak our languages fluently,” he story of Bigonegiizhig is of the Despite our differences in opinions, notes. Still, he claims there are ways non-violent political power we hold as we agree on one thing: We, as Indig- out. Language reclamation is one way Anishinaabeg. In order to harness that enous peoples, are our own peoples, since it re-establishes a certain way power, we need to separate ourselves and whether or not we decide to vote of thinking. According to Campeau, from the canadian state and return in settler elections, we will remain our Anishinaabemowin is action-based to our legal principles, Campeau says. own peoples. M and is grounded in the knowledge of “Learn everything you can. Learn your the land. “It is what gives us our power heritage. Learn your language.” 41 FOLLOWING UP ON THE TELEPHONE TOWN HALL CCPA RESEARCHER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CLIMATE CRISIS

HE CCPA’S ANNUAL Telephone Town ZEVs without the incentive. Waiting disrupting agriculture and resource Hall gives the centre’s research for consumers alone to transform the industries like forestry. The costs asso- team a unique opportunity to personal transportation system will ciated with the rising health impacts of Thear from CCPA supporters across take too long given the urgency of the more polluted air are also dramatic. A the country. The 2019 town hall, which climate crisis. 2011 study from the federal government took place in April, was a great suc- When we consider broader issues concluded that the total economic costs cess, but there were a lot of important of greener transportation, such as the to Canada of climate change would questions that our panel didn’t get the need for more and better public transit range from $21–$43 billion by 2050. chance to answer. Since many of those and more walkable cities, it becomes Based on the latest climate science (and questions were focused on climate even clearer that consumers cannot be the lack of policy action since 2011), I change and climate policy, the Monitor the key driver of change. Once again, expect the costs will be even higher asked climate policy researcher Hadri- the public sector needs to take the without preventative measures. an Mertins-Kirkwood to answer some lead on projects that may have high of them here. upfront costs but significant long-term Why don’t the wealthy pool their environmental and social benefits. resources and bring in new industries Is it possible for consumers to drive to deal with climate change? the transition to green energy for Have you done any research on Doug Gibson, transportation? Can rebates play a greenhouse gas emissions from the Kelowna, British Columbia role? production of Canada’s petroleum Barbara Balshaw, resources? By and large, wealthy individuals and Winnipeg, Manitoba David Laughton, Edmonton, Alberta corporations today are the beneficiar- ies of an economic system predicated Consumers play an important role Yes! Check out the 2017 report Extract- on the individualistic exploitation of in the energy market and have some ed Carbon by my CCPA-BC colleague fossil fuels. They are heavily invested, power to drive changes. If households Marc Lee. He finds that Canada exports financially and ideologically, in the sta- switch to zero-emission vehicles as many greenhouse gas emissions (in tus quo, which means they have more to (ZEVs), replace natural gas heating the form of exported oil, gas and coal) gain by ignoring the unfolding climate with electricity, and improve their as we produce domestically. Because breakdown (or even trying to profit off energy efficiency, to name just a few of the way greenhouse gas emissions it) than they do by contributing to a examples, that will reduce overall are tracked internationally, Canada solution that involves decarbonization demand for fossil fuels and increase is not held responsible for all of the and broader systemic change. demand for cleaner electricity. emissions that should be associated The solution is greater collectivism. The problem is that consumers can with our fossil fuel industry. If the private sector is unwilling or only choose from the limited options unable to pool its resources to scale up presented to them. Electric vehicles What are the economic implications alternative industries like renewable are still generally more expensive of climate change? energy, then the public sector needs than their gas-powered equivalents Dalton McCarthy, Toronto, Ontario to take the lead. Closing tax loopholes, and Canada lacks adequate vehicle cracking down on tax havens and in- charging infrastructure, so for many In Canada, while the loss of homes troducing policies like a wealth tax can consumers it simply makes sense to opt and businesses to floods and wildfires free up private capital to be mobilized for the traditional vehicle. Government represent the most obvious cost of in the public interest. M rebates for new ZEV purchases can help, climate change, the indirect costs are THE CCPA LOOKS FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR’S but they’re an expensive policy that also significant. For example, warmer TELEPHONE TOWN HALL. BUT WE ARE HAPPY TO RECEIVE COMMENTS ON OUR WORK, AND ANSWER disproportionately benefits high-in- and less predictable weather, such as YOUR QUESTIONS, AT ANY TIME. PLEASE WRITE US AT come families that can usually afford more frequent droughts, is already [email protected]. 42 new report from the nation to ban plastic bags, he University of Utah A Pembina Institute, an while the small pacific Tannounced that its LUKE Edmonton-based think- nation of Vanuatu will ban Arm (pictured), named tank focused on energy disposable diapers. / Dutch after the robotic hand Luke and climate policy, gives airline KLM has asked Skywalker received in The Yukon high marks for the passengers to fly less, use Empire Strikes Back, can territorial government’s trains for shorter distances, mimic the way a human progress in transitioning and consider video calls hand feels objects by from diesel to cleaner fuels. rather than face-to-face sending appropriate signals The good A government spokesper- meetings. / Guardian (U.K.) to the brain. Testing the son said most of the credit / NPR / Reuters prosthetic hand, Keven news page should go to Indigenous Walgamott was able to communities, “who worked pluck grapes without Compiled by to develop their own clean ccording to Prime crushing them, pick up Elaine Hughes energy projects.” / During AMinister Abiy Ahmed, an egg without cracking the first half of this year, Ethiopians planted 353 it, and feel the sensation ussell Mirasty, a former Texas generated a greater million trees on July 30. The of holding his wife’s hand. RRCMP division com- share of its energy from “Green Legacy” tree-plant- / After moving back to mander, has been named wind (22%) than coal (21%) ing campaign is designed Charlottetown last summer, Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant- and now ranks 1st in U.S. to fight land degradation, Canadian prosthetic Governor, becoming the installed wind capacity. In soil erosion, drought and technician Alyson Clow, first Indigenous person the same period, coal-fired flooding as a result of who has built hundreds of to occupy the position in electricity generation largescale agriculture and legs for amputees, finally the province. Federation dropped by nearly 20% climate change. / Austria got a chance to make her of Sovereign Indigenous across Europe, according to has become the first mum a “perfect” leg. / CNN Nations Chief Bobby a report from the nonprofit European country to ban / CBC News Cameron called it “a proud Sandbag, which said all uses of the chemical day for First Nations people Ireland’s coal generation glyphosate, a key ingredient in Saskatchewan,” while dropped by 79%, the U.K.’s in Monsanto’s Roundup and AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde by 65% and Spain’s by 44%. other pesticides blamed for said the appointment / Yukon News / Good News declining pollinator health. presented an opportunity Network / Earth.com / CNN / Reuters / to repair relations “harmed through systems, through ignorance and through nterContinental Hotels hate.” / In early August, for IGroup, one of the world’s the first time in its 73-year largest hotel chains history, Saskatchewan’s (including the Holiday Inn air ambulance service and Crowne Plaza brands), responded to an emergen- said it will replace some cy call with an all-woman 200 million plastic bottles flight crew. / There are now (for shampoo, soap, etc.) 100 new sign language with bulk-sized containers terms for scientific words in its 843,000 rooms. Last thanks to Liam Mcmulkin, year, the company agreed a life sciences student at to remove single-use the University of Dundee plastic straws from all its (Scotland) who is Deaf. "I hotels. / Sainsbury’s, the feel really happy because I third-largest supermarket know from my own expe- chain in the U.K., will begin rience how difficult it is to phasing out the more than learn during my lectures," 10,000 tonnes of plastic he told BBC Scotland. "Now bags, trays and cutlery it the new signs have spread, discards annually from its I feel it will be much better stores, replacing it with for future students.” / CBC reusables and paper bags News / Thomson Reuters (for the bakery). / And Foundation News / BBC Panama has become the News first Central American PHOTO FROM DARPA 43 International

ASAD ISMI Fear and loathing under Modi’s second term Experts debate whether India is being Pakistanized, while protest against the BJP’s corporate and religious pandering spreads

HE PAKISTANI FEMINIST poet Fahmi- and a looming environmental disaster, Liberalisation, Hindu Nationalism and da Riaz, who moved to India from which will see 21 Indian cities run out the State (Oxford University Press). Pakistan in the 1980s to escape of water in 2020, affecting 600 million “During the campaign, the economy Tthat country’s Islamic funda- people. Modi’s two main fiscal initia- was barely mentioned, nor was the mentalist military dictatorship, only tives in his first term—demonetization agricultural crisis. Modi’s campaign to encounter growing Hindu funda- and the introduction of a goods and focused mainly on the threat of mentalism in her new home, captured services tax (GST)—were also badly terrorism and national security and the experience in a poem (translated received. Taking 86% of banknotes out promoted the fear that if you do not and abridged) that has become more of circulation caused massive losses elect us, terrorism will increase.” prescient over time: to poor people, damaged economic Modi’s election campaign was growth and failed to remove illicit helped greatly by the February 14 You turned out to be just like us, money from the economy as planned. suicide attack in Kashmir. The Paki- Equally stupid, wallowing in the past… The complexity of the GST led many stan-based Islamist militant group Your demon of religion dances like a small businesses to lay off staff. Jaish-e-Mohammed Isa claimed clown, But such problems were likely far responsibility for the incident, which Whatever you do will be upside down from the minds of hundreds of millions killed 40 soldiers and shocked India. You too will sit deep in thought of Modi’s supporters, who are attract- The BJP had lost elections in three key Who is Hindu, who is not… ed “not through concrete economic states in November 2018 and was leak- Pakistan was carved out of India in policies but through the politics of ing support to the Congress Party. The 1947 as a state for Muslims while India emotion—negative emotion such as killing of Indian soldiers and India’s remained secular. But since 2014, under fear, anger, hatred for the neighbour, retaliatory airstrikes into Pakistan the rule of Prime Minister Narendra for minorities and women,” according reversed this political situation and Modi and his Hindu supremacist to Nikita Sud, associate professor of ensured the BJP a majority. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the development studies at Oxford Uni- As I’ve written in theMonitor before country has become increasingly versity and author of the 2012 book (“Modi and the criminalization of Indi- dominated by religious fundamen- an politics,” September/October 2014), talism that is tolerated and openly Modi’s hostility toward India’s Muslim encouraged by the government. Mob population is well-known. In a sworn lynching of Muslims and other minori- statement to India’s Supreme Court ties (80% of Indians are Hindu and 14% in 2011, a former senior police chief are Muslim) is common. alleged Modi had “allowed” a bloody An election in the spring, which religious riot in Gujarat in 2002 when many expected to chip away at Modi’s he was chief minister of the state, to let support, in the end produced an even Hindus “vent their anger,” an accusa- stronger second majority for the BJP, “India is still a tion Modi denies. At least 1,000 people giving the extreme nationalist party were killed in the mob violence, most 302 out of 542 seats in parliament com- democracy, but of them Muslims. pared to 282 seats in the 2014 election. a democracy can Sud tells me that Modi and the BJP’s The main opposition Congress Party subversion of the media would have got only 53 seats. also see violations, played a role in their second election Modi won at the polls in May de- massive violations, victory. “[P]articular corporate houses spite a weakening economy marked close to the Modi government control by plummeting investment, record which is what we large parts of the media, which en- unemployment, a crisis in agriculture are witnessing.” sures that economic matters that the 44 government has failed at, such as demonetization, are not written that Modi’s second term “will take India to a dark brought up,” she says. place,” and that his party “has unleashed forces that “There is a similarity in the politics of India and Pakistan are irreversibly transforming the country,” with Indian now,” she continues, echoing the poet Riaz. “[T]his othering democracy “now the chief enabler of Hindu extremism.” of minorities, blasphemy accusations, sedition charges, In the Guardian (U.K.), Komireddi claimed shortly before and patriotism constantly being stressed. These are the the May elections that the normally incorruptible India similarities, but the big difference is that the Indian army election commission “functioned during this vote as an does not have the kind of power that the Pakistan army arm of Modi’s BJP, too timid even to issue perfunctory does to totally dominate the country.” Sud says it’s ironic censures of the prime minister’s egregious use of religious how Modi is using hatred of Pakistan to make India more sloganeering.” According to the writer, India’s military has like Pakistan. been politicized, “and the judiciary plunged into the most Mujibur Rehman, author of the 2018 book Saffron Power: existential threat to its independence since 1975, when Reflections on Indian Politics (Routledge) and an assistant Indira Gandhi suspended the constitution and ruled as a professor of politics at Jamia Millia Islamia University in dictator for 21 months.” India’s capital city of New Delhi, explains that “the majority Indian and foreign corporations have praised the BJP’s of Indian media appears to be compromised and work as economic and state reforms, which are redistributing the Modi government’s wing of information and broadcast- wealth upwards. At a cost of 500 billion rupees (about ing.” If Indian voters gave Modi one more chance, he adds, $9.5 billion), the Indian election this year was the most it was “because they did not find his opponents credible.” expensive in the country’s—and world—history, topping Modi’s main opponent was and is Rahul Gandhi, scion the 2016 U.S. election by half a billion dollars. Much of this of the Gandhi family that has dominated Indian politics was financed by electoral bonds bought by corporations, and the Congress Party since India’s independence in 1947. with 84% of the money going to the BJP. “The entire election Gandhi’s electoral strategy was to attack Modi for being process has been corporatized and the corporate sector is corrupt, but this had little effect coming from a party with very much funding political parties,” says Sud, a sign of its own history of graft in power. The election result has fascism “which is very worrying.” reduced Congress to its weakest point ever; the party is Indian activist Xavier Dias, who has worked in support close to being wiped out in northern India. of the rights of Adivasi [Indigenous] communities in “There are some similarities in the ways things are un- Jharkhand state for 45 years, tells me that the “fascist new folding in India and Pakistan,” says Rehman. “But I would liberalization” of India is being resisted on a significant not say India is becoming like Pakistan. Similarities are in scale. the domain of minority rights, religious freedom; we do see “Despite a very heavy powerful state, in every corner of lots of violations in India in recent years, which resembles India the resistance movements are growing. The working Pakistan’s state of affairs. class through their unions are on strike all over the country, “But India still has its constitution and there are dis- resisting privatization and regressive changes in labour senting voices and political forces. Also, India is nowhere laws. Farmers are resisting also and demanding more help close to a situation where we could see [as in Pakistan] from the government. Women in villages are up in arms the overthrow of its democratically elected regime. I do and Adivasis now too are better organized,” he says. not see any possibility of a military or dictator takeover “But the damage to the country is so deep and wide- of the Pakistan kind in India. India is still a democracy, but spread that even if the BJP is defeated, India will take at a democracy can also see violations, massive violations, least 20 years to recover from the damage. The soul of India which is what we are witnessing.” is drenched in blood.” M The dramatic rise in mob lynching of Muslims, Dalits (also known as “untouchables,” the lowest caste in the Hindu caste system) and other non-Hindus are an example of the violations Rehman is talking about. Alarmed and in response to the violence, 49 Indian celebrities sent an open letter to Prime Minister Modi on July 23 condemning “a definite decline in the percentage of convictions” against hate crimes since his government first took office. The letter points out that 254 religious identity–based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009 and October 29, 2018 “where at least 91 persons were killed and 579 were injured.” Muslims were the victims in 62% of cases and Christians in 2%, according to the Citizen’s Religious Hate-Crime Watch. “About 90 per cent of these attacks were reported after May 2014 when your government assumed power nationally,” the celebrities write. Kapil Komireddi, author of the 2019 book Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India (Hurst), has 45 Feature

DECLAN INGHAM How public procurement can spur economic development Another tool in the inclusive growth toolkit

POLICY AGENDA OF inclusive growth and in the American case especially, Preston’s history with local has emerged from the failure of pernicious racial inequality. wealth-building starts in 2011, when a contemporary policy-makers to From 1950 to 2015, Cleveland shrunk decades-long plan for a £700m ($1.15 Areconcile economic growth and by 58%. Today the city boasts some of billion) redevelopment project of the social inclusion. Yet, the implications the worst poverty in the country, with city centre fell through. The collapse for municipal and urban policy-mak- rates 20% higher than the national of the megaproject left the city council ers remain unclear. City leaders must average of 14%. Similarly, Preston is without direction, and the austerity of meet the rising expectations of urban- in the bottom 20th percentile as the the 2010–15 U.K. coalition government ized Canadians while facing a dearth 45th most deprived local authority in left them with little fiscal maneuver- of policy instruments at their disposal. the 2010 U.K. Indices of Deprivation. ability (local authorities lost 27% of Traditional “tax and spend” redistri- Some Preston neighbourhoods record their spending power on average). bution in an era of increased capital a life expectancy of 66 while in others This vacuum allowed Matthew Brown, mobility is difficult; the municipal it is 82. One in three children in the a long-time outsider on city council, reliance on blunt revenue tools such city are poor. space to advocate for unorthodox as property taxes, user fees and pro- The story of the “Cleveland Model” policy deviations vincial transfers only make it more so. begins in 2005 when the Cleveland Yet to be a policy-maker at any level Foundation’s new CEO began to con- Anchor institutions and not confront the glaring problems ceive of a “geography of collaboration” Social procurement begins with the of inequality, growing precarity, and between the “almost one-square mile concept of anchor institutions. These financial and social distress is to of world class educational, cultural, are organizations of considerable scale be politically negligent. In order to and health institutions” in University (in terms of employment, spending or tackle the big policy issues of the day, Circle and the poorer surrounding asset base) defined by their significant the urban policy-maker needs to take neighbourhoods. During the same attachment to the communities they an innovative approach that does not time, a planned $3 billion in capital are rooted in. Anchor institutions are require significant new resources or projects acted as a catalyst to convene exempt from the basic assumptions new legislative powers. the leading institutions of University of capital mobility and profit max- Community wealth-building policies Circle and address Cleveland’s repu- imization. Instead they are fixed to through public procurement may offer tational decline. specific locations and places as well one simple solution. The English city of as operating in a model not fixated Preston and the U.S. city of Cleveland on profit maximization. have made strides to transform this In our Cleveland case, the Cleveland simple process of logistics into a social- Foundation played the central role of ly conscious local industrial policy that co-ordinating the Greater University activates and redirects economic flows Circle Initiative (GUCI), which was toward underinvested communities, The success of anchored by the Cleveland Clinic, the multiplying in the process the impact University Hospital, the Case Western of already existing expenditures. social procurement Reserve University, the City of Cleve- is a reminder to land, the Democracy Collaborative, and Drivers and catalysts other regional stakeholders. In Preston, Both Cleveland, planted firmly in the policy-makers that city council with the Centre for Local U.S. Midwest, and Preston, nestled there is immense Economic Strategies convened the away in the United Kingdom’s North anchor institutions. By August 2013, West, are rust belt cities. Their acute wealth in public work had begun to re-create the Cleve- socioeconomic challenges are felt institutions that land Model, anchored by Preston City within the confines of deindustrializa- Council, the regional county council, tion, government austerity, declining can be re-invested the Lancashire police force, Preston’s revenue, limited private investment, for the social good. 46 largest social housing association, two colleges, and later company building a new market hall, and the printing the Lancashire Pension Fund. contracts of the police force and food contracts of the city council going to local firms. These small interven- New ideas in Cleveland tions increased local expenditure from 5% to 18.2% over In Cleveland, work on a host of social procurement projects five years, putting £70 million ($115 million) back into the was formalized by an Economic Inclusion Management Preston economy and £200 million ($327 million) back into Committee to achieve four goals: Buy Local, Hire Local, the region—a 40% increase. Live Local, and Connect. Local expenditure was promoted Preston is continuing other initiatives to spur this eco- through joint procurement by anchor institutions, and by nomic innovation. A Social Value Procurement Framework working with partners to re-source formally outsourced is being developed to assess procurement as an economic goods and services. activity contributing to social objectives. Local firms are One flagship program involved setting up a worker encouraged to adopt the idea of “business citizenship,” which co-operative network, the Evergreen Cooperatives, to asks them to consider their contribution to the local economy capture a portion of the expected $3 billion in procurement as well as their social and environmental impacts. Lanca- spending. Cleveland firms were encouraged to adopt volun- shire’s pension funds are also being used to finance local tary community benefit agreements with social objectives development projects. Anchor institutions are discussing such as hiring local residents, and training programs were an Anchor Jobs Strategy to cultivate a worker co-operative instituted to grow the skills base of local residents both for network. These efforts have contributed to Preston being labour market entry and upskilling. named the best city to live and work in North West England. Initially, municipal policy-makers acted as early adopters, aiding the project by lending it legitimacy and credibility Lessons and parting thoughts as a partner. But the City of Cleveland soon joined as an For aspiring urban leaders and policy-makers, there are anchor, leveraging both its public funds (often to provide simple lessons for duplicating this strategy of local devel- pilot funding) and its planning functions for zoning. The opment through collaboration and social procurement. lesson from this experience is the need for buy-in at a A leading institution must co-ordinate a partnership senior level from a variety of core anchor institutions between anchor institutions to address the social and convened by a trusted and well-resourced organization. spatial disadvantages faced in the communities they are This commitment should spread out to the technical staff connected to. Once commitment has been established, who begin to see social value not as a charitable effort but a research institution should map the newly opened part of the core business function. supply chain data of the anchor institutions to identify procurement expenditure. This review should consider From ink to action in Preston the leakage of inefficient, corporate, low-social-impact or Preston councillor Matthew Brown set out explicitly to non-local expenditure and assess whether local firms could recreate a local version of the Cleveland Model. Preston capture this influenceable spending. city council became accredited as a Living Wage Employer, This data should be leveraged to encourage the anchor identified key anchor institutions and worked to embed, institutions to shift their expenditures toward local or social within local executives, ideas of localism, community and enterprises so that public wealth flows back through the social procurement. In short order, a common statement community. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance highlights was drafted that committed these institutions to harness- how local businesses recirculate a greater share of every ing their procurement to greater social value and, crucially, dollar in the local economy. This shift should be attached to share their data. to improving key social indicators and be continually mon- Using this data, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies itored both to assess progress but also to continue building analyzed each institution’s top 300 suppliers to understand on behavioural change by the institutions, local firms, and the socio-geographic structure of their spending. If expend- the staff involved in procurement and human resources. iture “leaked” out of the community it was scrutinized to The problem of embedding increasingly stateless capital determine if local firms could meet that need. Results to a place with incumbent responsibilities and obligations showed that the anchors procured £750 million worth of is a massive policy undertaking. However, the success of so- goods and services a year ($1.23 billion), but only 5% of that cial procurement is a reminder to policy-makers that there spending took place in Preston and only 39% in the broader remains immense wealth in existing public institutions Lancashire area. In response, The Preston Procurement that can be re-invested for the social good. It may require Practitioners Group was established to allow experts in re-examining existing economic arrangements, but if the each institution to co-ordinate social procurement and inclusive growth policy agenda is going to truly reconcile share good practices. economic policy with social gain, economic orthodoxy will A local business database helped prepare pre-procure- need to be revisited. M ment engagement, and procurement requests were soon THE AUTHOR GIVES THANKS TO THE WORK DONE BY DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE’S broken down into smaller, more manageable contracts. WALTER WRIGHT, KATHRYN W. HEXTER AND NICK DOWNER FOR THEIR REPORT, CLEVELAND’S GREATER UNIVERSITY CIRCLE INITIATIVE, THE CENTRE FOR LOCAL These shifts had local carpenters manufacturing school ECONOMIC STRATEGIES’ MATTHEW JOHN AND NEIL MCINROY FOR THEIR REPORT, furniture, new construction sites requiring greater num- COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING THROUGH ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS, AND THE NEXT SYSTEM PROJECT’S PIECE ON THE PRESTON MODEL BY CLIFFORD SINGER. bers of local workers and apprentices, a local construction 47 CCPA DONOR PROFILE Meet John Miller Every now and then, the Monitor gets to know know one of the CCPA’s incredible supporters. In this issue, we speak to award-winning novelist and non-profit consultant John Miller, whose third book, Wild and Beautiful is the Night, was published by Cormorant Books last October.

Hi John, read any given. It fundamentally rejects the good books lately? individualism, the insularity, the I recently read the remarkable novel nationalism or populism that fuels The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie conservative policy. Her lesson is Dimaline. As a novelist myself, I one that is at the heart of the CCPA’s read for pleasure, like everyone work to create a fairer and more else, but also with an eye for how community-minded Canada. and why other novelists tell a story. This supposedly young adult novel Why did you decide to become is great storytelling, but it’s also a supporter of the CCPA? important in that it cautions us not I decided to support the CCPA to be self-congratulatory about this because we need people with historical moment of reconciliation expertise—economists, political with Indigenous peoples in Canada. and social scientists—to produce Its dystopian tale reminds us of digestible evidence-based reports other moments in history—the to counter the claptrap produced by Holocaust comes to mind—in well-funded conservative institutes which apparent social progress was and foundations. The right is so easily undone and atrocities always claiming that the policies of followed. These atrocities become conservative governments lead to possible when prejudices lie dormant sounder fiscal management—part and are encouraged to resurface, of a propaganda war that they but also when we as a society fail are unfortunately still winning, to teach a sense of empathy and but which is in fact an utter lie. Name one policy we should responsibility, to ally ourselves with The research they hold up is adopt today that would make people who don’t look like us. self-interested and often seriously people’s lives better. flawed. I’m always impressed by the One policy in particular that I’m Tell us about someone calm and factual way that CCPA waiting for is an expansion of our who has been a big researchers are able to refute these socialized medical system to include influence on you. arguments. currently unfunded or underfunded When my brothers and I were very I decided to become a monthly items that are costly or out of reach young, my grandmother taught us donor because this way of giving for lower and middle income people: that we were not here on this Earth is painless and easy to budget medications, mental health supports, to merely take, or even to only look for. Moreover, I know from my dental care, home care, and the after those closest to us, those in experience in running and advising services of allied health professionals our family and inner circle. We were non-profit organizations that such as physiotherapists. Of course, also on this earth, she taught us, monthly giving creates a more the other policy initiatives that to give back to society and to our predictable revenue stream for the are crucial are a massive national community. This was a formative organization, allowing it to better investment and emphasis on lesson that I wish everyone was plan its annual work. affordable housing and on child care.

The CCPA is incredibly grateful to those supporters who have switched to monthly giving or are considering it in the future. We would appreciate the chance to provide you with information about the benefits of monthly giving. Please contact Katie Loftus, Monthly and Legacy Giving at the CCPA, at 1-613- 563-1341 ext. 318 (toll free: 1-844-563-1341 ext. 318) or [email protected]. 48 Feature

Who’s who in big oil? A new Corporate Mapping Project database makes the connections between the fossil fuel industry’s major producers, enablers and legitimators

OUR YEARS AGO, the Corporate Mapping Project corporate power can do so. The site allows (CMP) set out to investigate the power and users to explore each entity’s connections and influence of Canada’s oil, gas and coal indus- create network maps showing different kinds tries. This summer, the CMP, which is jointly led of relationships—such as how companies are by the University of Victoria, the CCPA’s B.C. linked through common board members and Fand Saskatchewan offices and the Alberta-based ownership relations. Parkland Institute, launched a centrepiece of the For example, the entry for the Royal Bank of project’s efforts: a comprehensive database of Canada (abridged here on page 52) shows how who’s who in the fossil fuel sector and beyond. closely connected Canada’s big banks are to In addition to the larger CMP database, which the fossil fuel sector in their role as enablers. maps more than 230 Canada-based fossil fuel Two further abridged entries—from the emitter corporations (emitters), the new Fossil-Power (Teck Resources) and legitimator (Canada Top 50 listing also includes the industry’s lesser- West Foundation) categories—show how the known enablers and legitimators. Enablers are CMP database can help us see the network of organizations that directly support fossil fuel fossil fuel industry influence, track the close production, while legitimators are influential connections between this industry and other organizations that facilitate or promote economic sectors, and uncover the links continued expansion and dependence on fossil between government, powerful corporations fuel extraction. and the advocacy groups that support them. The database project maps out how each While reading through these sample entries, of these entities—emitters, enablers and please note that the data in the Fossil-Power legitimators—are connected to the larger Top 50 and the full database are current for 2017 corporate sector in Canada and globally, as well and are now being updated. Sources for all data as their business strategies within the fossil are included for each entry in the database. This fuel sector. The CMP made the database public research was supported by the Social Sciences (www.corporatemapping.ca/database) so that and Humanities Research Council of Canada anyone who wants to investigate and monitor (SSHRC). 49 About Teck Resources is Canada’s largest incidents of environmental infractions diversified mining company and the world’s at international mines, Teck’s Frontier second-biggest exporter of steelmaking oil sands project threatens to violate coal (metallurgical coal). The company also Indigenous rights for communities whose holds large extraction operations for zinc, territories would be impacted, two of copper and oil. which—the Athabasca Chipewyan and the Mikisew Cree First Nations—have Teck Teck positions itself as a “green” mining publicly opposed the project. Teck’s lease company that is leading the pack on covers tributaries of Lake Claire, which Resources climate responsibility. Unfortunately, its feeds the largest inland freshwater delta in actions don’t match its stated intentions: the world, a part of Wood Buffalo National its coal-heavy portfolio is now diversifying Park. In 2015, the Mikisew Cree First Nation into oil production. Teck has a large stake KEY STATS appealed to have the park protected, citing t in the Fort Hills oil sands mine and is its critical importance to the continuation advancing its proposed Frontier oil sands Head office of their traditional culture. mine, which if approved would become one Vancouver, B.C. of the largest open-pit oil sands mines ever Oil from the Frontier site would be f shipped through the Trans Mountain Countries of operation developed in Alberta. pipeline, which would cut through the Canada, Chile, Peru, U.S. f Strategy traditional territories of many First Revenue In B.C., Teck actively participates in public Nations communities who oppose it. $12 billion policy development on climate change. In A number of those First Nations have f 2017, Marcia Smith, senior vice-president launched court actions against the federal Assets of sustainability and external affairs for government for approving the project. C$37 billion Teck, was named co-chair of the B.C. Finally, Frontier could make Canada’s GHG f government’s Climate Solutions and emissions targets impossible to reach. Reserves Clean Growth Advisory Council. Since its Current approvals already in place for oil 922 million tonnes inception in 2008, Teck representatives sands operations would, if operational, steelmaking coal; have sat on the advisory board for the increase Alberta’s emissions to above 130 3.8 billion barrels Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions—a megatonnes a year—30,000 MT higher of oil sands reserves government-funded research institute than the province’s annual GHG cap. f Production that informs provincial climate policy. Teck Network Connections 26.6 million tonnes has publicly acknowledged the threat of Tracey McVicar, Teck’s board tie to the steelmaking coal; climate change, advocating for a state- Sauder School of Business at UBC, also 287 tonnes copper; imposed carbon tax to address the issue links up with the Fraser Institute, a right- 61,969 tonnes zinc through market mechanisms. wing think-tank that advocates against f Measuring its progress with the yardstick Employees substantive climate policies and has of emissions intensity rather than absolute 10,109 funding ties to some of the most influential emissions, Teck boasts substantial f climate-denying foundations, such as the Memberships accomplishments in emissions reduction, Charles Koch Foundation. Jack L Cockwell, Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation claiming to be one of the “lowest GHG one of Teck’s former directors, is a member Alliance, Canadian Association [greenhouse gas] emission intensity of the Board of Governors at Ryerson of Petroleum Producers, miners in the world.” However, these University in Toronto, as well as the Royal Carbon Pricing Leadership reductions only account for the GHGs Ontario Museum. Coalition, Council for Clean produced in Teck’s operations and ignore Capitalism, International the “downstream” impacts of the products Ownership Council on Mining and Metals, the company produces; in the case of coal, Teck’s largest shareholder, Temagami Mining Association of BC, emissions from use of the final product far Mining Company Ltd., owns over 32% of Mining Association of Canada, outweigh operational outputs. the company. Other major shareholders Prospectors and Developers include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Association of Canada Controversies Québec (11%) and the People’s Republic of Along with elevated selenium levels at its China (10%). Elk Valley, B.C. coal mining operation, and

50 Royal John Hancock Ontario Life Insurance Manulife Manufacturers Museum Brookfield Company Financial Life Insurance Infrastructure Astral Partners Limited Business (U.S.A.) Corp. Co. (the) Media Inc. Council of British Columbia Ryerson BCE University Development Mining Corporation Association of Canada Jack L. Donald R. Fraser Cockwell Lindsay Paper Inc. Brascan Financial Corp. Temagami Mining Norman Company Ltd. Keevil Waterfront Toronto Brookfield Corporation Renewable Power Inc. Caisse de dépôt Marcia Brookfield et placement Smith Peter Asset Management du Québec Charles Brookfield O”ce Rozee Inc. Fm Properties Inc. Insurance Company Ltd. People’s Republic of China Norbord Inc.

SMM Anne J. Pacific Institute Resources Inc. Chalmers For Climate Solutions (pics) Mark Edwards Iamgold The Capital Group Corporation Companies Inc.

Timothy R. Freeport Fullbloom Snider McMoran Inc. Investment Corporation

Vendanta Resources plc Royal Bank of Canada Mayank M. Ashar Tracey Cairn India McVicar Limited Impala Asset Management LLC Fraser Sauder School Kenneth Institute of Business Vendanta William (Faculty Advisory Board) Limited Pickering Laura Lee Dottori-Attanasio Bank of Montreal Panaust Endeavour Limited Silver Corp. Edward Camp Dowling Public Joint Stock Pollyus Gold Company Polyus International Limited Alacer Canadian Gold Corp. Imperial Bank of Commerce

INDUSTRY OWNERSHIP CIVIL OTHER ASSOCIATIONS SOCIETY CONNECTIONS 51 About RBC is the largest bank in Canada and Controversies one of the largest in the world, with total RBC received widespread criticism for its assets of over $1.2 trillion. The bank offers investments in the Dakota Access pipeline a variety of services including personal and running from the Alberta oil sands to the commercial banking, insurance and asset U.S., which violates the rights and title of management. RBC is the world’s largest the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. In 2016, RBC financier of the oil sands, the second was accused of conflict of interest when largest investor in “extreme” fossil fuels it upgraded its assessment of Enbridge, (over US$26 billion since 2015) and the an investor in the Dakota Access pipeline, second largest direct owner of the fossil while the bank encouraged its investors to Royal Bank of fuel industry in Canada. RBC provides one buy Enbridge stock. At the time, RBC held Canada of the industry’s main arteries of capital, $350 million worth of interests in Energy supporting the ramp-up of oil and gas Transfer Partners, a company that pools production despite the climate crisis. funding for the Dakota Access project with Enbridge, Phillips 66 and Marathon Oil. KEY STATS t Strategy RBC was one of the largest funders of the With the other big Canadian banks, RBC Head office Trans Mountain pipeline while it was still is a signatory to the Equator Principles, Toronto, Ontario owned by Kinder Morgan Canada, having f a framework for determining whether helped grant the company a $5.5 billion Revenue potential business activities such as line of credit. After the pipeline was sold to $40.7 billion financing impinge on the protection of the Canadian government, RBC continued f natural habitats or Indigenous rights. to be one of two major banks providing Employees Yet it gets a poor grade (C in 2018) from financial security to the project through 84,000+ the Carbon Disclosure Project, a global Export Development Canada—the Crown f disclosure program for corporations that corporation tasked with helping manage Memberships tracks their environment impact. RBC the project’s financing agreements. The United Nations Environment has formally acknowledged the Paris expanded pipeline, which promises to Programme Finance Initiative, Agreement goal to maintain global warming ship 590,000 barrels of crude oil from Conference Board of Canada, to two degrees Celsius, stating that the the Alberta oil sands each day, has Chartered Professional bank has “an important role to play in sparked unprecedented opposition Accountants of Canada, supporting an orderly and socially inclusive from Indigenous nations, municipal and Smart Prosperity, transition to a low carbon economy.” provincial governments, and environmental Carbon Pricing Leadership groups. Coalition Yet RBC is one of the world’s largest funders of “extreme oil”—a term referencing oil that is particularly energy Network Connections intensive to extract, such as oil sands, David O’Brien, former chairman and Arctic or ultra-deepwater oil. The Fossil director of the Royal Bank, is also the Fuel Finance Report Card, produced by former chair of Encana Corporation. He Rainforest Action Network in collaboration also has a long history of directorship for with over 25 other organizations, found TransCanada—the pipeline proponent that RBC has the largest single stake in oil for the controversial Coastal Gaslink sands operations among the world’s banks, pipeline that would feed fracked gas to with over US$11 billion ($14.65 billion) the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, B.C. invested in 2017 alone. The bank also holds In addition to his fossil fuel connections, just over $2 billion in both coal (mining O’Brien is a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe and power generation) and LNG export Institute, one of Canada’s largest and financial assets. most influential think-tanks. William G. Beattie, former director at RBC, also held a During a speech to the Edmonton position at the multinational mass media Chamber of Commerce in 2016, RBC corporation Thomson Reuters. CEO David McKay commented on the importance of getting fossil fuels to market Ownership through new bitumen pipelines, stating RBC’s largest share (4.7%) is self-owned. that when it comes to regulatory approvals Other shareholders include major for pipelines, “RBC has a big stake in Canadian banks such as the Bank of Canada getting this right.” McKay added Montreal (3.7%) and the Toronto-Dominion that RBC should be viewed as “Canada’s Bank (3.7%). leading energy bank.” 52 The Hartford The Bank of Financial Services New York Stock New York The Woodbridge Thomson Group, Inc. Exchange Mellon Corporation Company Reuters General Electric Limited Corporation Company

Lincoln Center for the American Chamber European Bank for Performing Arts of Commerce Reconstruction and Maple Leaf in Ukraine Development Foods Inc.

Thomas A. Renyl William G. Public Service Beattie Enterprise Group

Atlantic Sevki Acuner Council Bank of Montreal National Academy Foundation RBC General Insurance Company BCE Inc. RBC Capital TD Bank Markets, LLC

Fidelity Investments Gordon M. Nixon

Mark A. Standish Bank of Nova Scotia RBC Life Insurance Company Kidder, Peabody & Company BlackRock, Inc. Power Corporation of Canada JPMorgan George Weston Vine Group Chase & Co. Limited Consulting Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation Vanguard David P. Group Inc. Johnathon O’Brien Citigroup Global Kim TransCanada Markets, Inc. Corporation Palm Beach Civic Association

Federal Reserve C.D. Howe Institute Encana TransCanada Bank of New York Corporation PipeLines Limited George A. Cohon McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. Molson Coors Brewing Company

FOSSIL FUEL OWNERSHIP FINANCIAL CIVIL OTHER CONNECTIONS SECTOR SOCIETY CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS 53 About infrastructure built quickly and how to Canada West is a think-tank focused on reduce the regulatory “burden” for industry. public policy issues in Western Canada. The centre’s “patrons” include Cenovus, Canada It was established in 1970 following Enbridge, Encana and Suncor, all of which West a conservative political summit in provided substantial funding for research Lethbridge, Alberta and eventually became initiatives. Foundation the ideological testing ground for Canada’s Along with traditional media, podcasts and Reform Party—the right-wing populist other ways to disseminate its views, the party led by Preston Manning until 2000. foundation takes part in conferences for KEY STATS Aided by financial support from some of elite groups of industry and government t Canada’s largest corporations, Canada officials. Calgary’s Energy Roundtable Head office West has grown into a prominent source of is one recent example. The 2017 event Calgary, Alberta regional economic policy ideas specializing brought leaders of many of the fossil f in transborder trade and economic fuel sector’s most influential firms, Countries of operation liberalization. Pipelines, coastal shipping such as Encana, Suncor, TransAlta and Canada and a critique of environmentalism all LNG Canada, together with members f factor into the foundation’s purview as an Revenue of government and representatives of unwavering supporter of Canada’s fossil $1.48 million organized labour to discuss Canada’s fuel industries. f energy future. Canada West was a key Assets “knowledge and network” partner of the Funding $8.85 million conference. Like other Canadian think-tanks, the Canada West Foundation relies on Network Connections donations and sponsorships to operate. A variety of financial institutions connect Supporters who gifted at least $50,000 to Canada West by way of shared directors. or more include Enbridge and the Alberta Director James Gray is also a board and Manitoba governments. Oil companies member for Brookfield Asset Management. Cenovus, Encana, Suncor and Shell Director H. Sanford Riley connects with Canada donated over $25,000 each. two financial companies: Canada Western Bank and GMP Capital. Director and Strategy former Nexen Energy CEO Charles Fischer Canada West identifies itself as a “non- is also a director of Enbridge Income Fund, partisan public policy think-tank that and James Dinning also directs Western focuses on the policies that shape the Life Insurance Company. West, and by extension, Canada.” Private economic growth is the key determinant Looking beyond fossil fuels, there are links in shaping the West’s success, according between Canada West and resource and to the foundation. In 2018, Canada West energy firms in Canada. Vice-Chair Charles CEO Martha Hall Findlay (a former federal Jago, who led the University of Northern Liberal MP) told CBC’s Power and Politics, British Columbia from 1995–2006, also “we want to make sure that in terms of sits on the board of Canfor, the holdings public policy we have public policies that company for Canadian Forest Products are…the best possible for all of our natural Ltd. Ida Goodreau connects Canada West resources.” For 2018, Canada West’s to Fortis Inc., a Canadian natural gas and Natural Resources Centre work plan electricity company with operations across featured research on how to get energy North and South America.

54 Canadian Phoenix Brookfield GMP Ensign Energy North West National Railway Technology Asset Capital Inc. Services Inc. Company Inc. Company Income Fund Management Inc.

Molson Coors Brewing Company Penn West Petroleum Ltd. Gary Edward Merasty Kennedy

Canadian Gail James K Macdonald-Laurier Western Bank Surkan Gray Institute Raymon Crossley

Russel Fraser Metals Inc. Institute

H. Sanford Riley James (Jim) Dinning Brian Felesky Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd.

Ida Goodreau Western Life Resource Assurance Works Geo„ Plant Company

Canfor Pulp Charles W Products Inc. Charles Jock Fischer Cequence Jago Finlayson Energy Ltd.

Canfor Corporation Robin Silvester Fortis Inc.

C.D. Howe Business Institute Council of British Columbia Alberta Enbridge, Inc. Enbridge Nexen Inc. Innovates Income Fund Holdings Inc.

FOSSIL FUEL FINANCIAL CIVIL FURTHER NATURAL OTHER CONNECTIONS INDUSTRY SOCIETY RESOURCE/ENERGY CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS DEVELOPMENT 55 Books

MAUDE BARLOW Going Blue, one community at a time

“All water has a perfect memory and simply unavailable. An April 2017 re- Communities already living without is forever trying to get back to where port by the World Health Organization clean water because of poverty, ine- it was.” —Toni Morrison warned that at least two billion people quality and discrimination now find worldwide drink water contaminated themselves in further danger as local HIS IS A book about hope. with feces every day, killing more than water sources dry up or are claimed It is a story about everyday half a million people per year. The UN for profit-related purposes. people defending the water reports that 80% of wastewater from Two populations are particularly resources of their communities human activity is still discharged into affected by the global water crisis. In and protecting the broader waterways around the world without many places, women have the primary Thuman right to water by ensuring it any pollution removal at all. responsibility to provide water for is now and forever a public trust, one Some lay the blame for this at the their families and they must walk that must not be allowed to fall under feet of climate change. While it is hours every day in their search. Often private, for-profit control. true that human-generated green- they bring along their girl children, It is a story about a grassroots house gas emissions have affected who then miss school. Girls may also campaign to address the water crisis the water cycle and natural water refuse to attend school if there are no the world is facing, which counters the storage systems, it is equally true that proper and safe sanitation conditions. argument that the best way to address our active, collective abuse of water In a world where more people have this crisis is to commodify water and is another major cause of the world’s access to cell phones than toilets, let the market decide who gets access growing water crisis. Not only are we women and girls living without a to it and how. changing the climate around us as we toilet collectively spend 266 million But it is not a story about naïveté. It heat up the world, we are polluting, de- hours each day finding a place to go faces head-on some deeply disturbing pleting, damming, over-extracting and to the bathroom. realities we must acknowledge if we diverting the planet’s water systems. Indigenous peoples around the are to move forward. world are also at extra risk from the In May 2016, the UN Environment water crisis. Often living in smaller and Programme (UNEP) released the more remote communities, they have most comprehensive environmental less collective power to stand up to study the United Nations has ever large extractive industrial operations undertaken. Reporting on its study’s in their territories that damage their findings, UNEP called water scarcity local water supplies. This injustice the scourge of the Earth and linked is not confined to the Global South. it directly to humanity’s continued Twice as many Native Americans live degradation of the lands and forests in poverty as the rest of the American that replenish the world’s freshwater population, and 7.5% of their homes do sources. In March 2018, UN Water not have basic sanitation or safe drink- released its annual World Water Devel- ing water. First Nations communities opment Report with a dire warning: if in Canada are 90% more likely not to we do not change our ways, more than have running water or toilets in their five billion people could suffer serious homes than the Canadian population to severe water shortages in 30 years. in general. Even today 3.6 billion people live in In my previous books, I have asserted areas that are water scarce for at least that to deal with this crisis, we need to a month per year. This could increase work together to address both the eco- to as many as 5.7 billion people by 2050. logical threat of a planet running out On top of these water shortages, there are many parts of the world where accessible, clean water is Barlow 56 of accessible clean water and the deep and more local scale—the rise of the of Public Employees and Eau Secours injustice that these statistics reveal. Blue Communities movement. In the in Quebec to establish the Blue Com- Many industrialized countries are also last decade, an ever-growing number munities project as a way of helping experiencing severe water shortages, of municipalities and civil society in- municipalities ward off unwanted and the deep inequality that exists in stitutions have designated themselves privatization. To date, 27 Canadian the Global South is increasingly being Blue Communities, committing to municipalities have taken the Blue experienced in the wealthier countries defend the human right to water and Communities pledge. of the Global North. to help curb plastic contamination in But the concept didn’t stay in Cana- This means that we can and must their communities. It is an exciting and da. Surprising us initially, it started to create a truly international movement hopeful development, a crucial piece catch on in other parts of the world: to fight for water justice for all. of the multi-faceted water-protection cities such as Bern, Paris, Thessalon- In my 2013 book, Blue Future: Pro- movement that is having real and iki and Berlin chose to become Blue tecting Water for People and the Planet positive results. Communities in highly visible, public Forever, I argued that a water-secure A Blue Community adopts three ceremonies. Then it spread further. and water-just future depends on our fundamental principles. Institutions such as universities, adoption of four principles: unions and faith-based organizations 1. A Blue Community promises to pro- adopted our principles and have also 1. that water is a human right and is an tect and promote water and sanitation become Blue Communities, vowing to issue of justice, not charity; as human rights. This is in keeping with protect water and the human right the United Nations’ 2010 resolution to water in a variety of ways. Many 2. that water is a common heritage declaring that water and sanitation are find the concept empowering as it is and public trust and therefore access fundamental human rights and that a positive step forward in the face of to water must not be allowed to be no one should be denied these services the many environmental and human decided by private, for-profit interests; because of an inability to pay. rights threats we now face. 3. that water has rights beyond its ser- For me, fighting for water justice has 2. A Blue Community promises to vice to humans and must be respected been a powerful personal journey. It protect water as a public trust by and protected for the ecosystem and has taken me from the United Nations promoting publicly- financed, owned other living beings; and and international conferences to the and operated water and wastewater world’s most terrible slums in search 4. that, rather than being a source of services. All decisions about access to of the solution to the twin ecological conflict and division, water can be water and sanitation must be made by and human water crises that threaten nature’s gift to teach us how we might people and their elected officials, not the planet and all living beings. learn to live more lightly on the planet by a for-profit investor. While I deeply believe that we need and in harmony with one another. 3. Where there are accessible clean good and strong law at all levels of gov- In some real ways, we have seen ad- public water sources available, a Blue ernment to protect both ecosystems vances on some of the principles. After Community bans or phases out the and humans from the coming global a long and gruelling fight, the major- sale of bottled water in municipal water crisis, the most powerful actions ity of the countries that comprise facilities and at municipal events we can take personally are at the local the United Nations recognized that and promotes its tap water as a safe level. water and sanitation are fundamen- and reliable source of drinking water. This book reflects a dream of a tal human rights. Opposition to the While this step alone will not solve world going Blue, one community at takeover of municipal water services the planet’s plastics crisis, it plays a time. M by private transnational water com- an important role in diminishing the panies has grown, and there are many devastating environmental footprint successful cases where municipalities of the bottled water industry. have returned their water services to public management. Opposition to The Blue Communities project started bottled water has also increased in in Canada in 2009 in reaction to the the last few years, especially among policies of the Conservative govern- the young, as people understand the ment then in power. Claiming that heavy environmental footprint of this municipalities could save money, the industry. And movements such as federal government was promoting the Global Alliance for the Rights of the privatization of Canadian water Nature promote the adoption of legal services by withholding federal systems that recognize and enforce funding to those towns and cities that EXCERPTED AND ADAPTED FROM WHOSE WATER IS nature’s own rights. refused to turn to a public-private part- IT, ANYWAY? BY MAUDE BARLOW. © 2019 BY MAUDE BARLOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED BY ECW These are the benchmarks of pro- nership (P3) for water infrastructure PRESS LTD. WWW.ECWPRESS.COM. gress on the macro scale, but there has upgrading. The Council of Canadians been equivalent progress on a smaller partnered with the Canadian Union 57 REVIEWED BY SHOSHANA MAGNET AND CATHERINE-LAURA TREMBLAY-DION The sincere self and the children’s book

I HATE EVERYONE pure and all-consuming love that one book takes the emotion seriously. NAOMI DANIS (AUTHOR) little boy, Raphael, feels for another, The girl refuses adult niceties: “You AND CINTA ARRIBAS (ILLUSTRATOR) Jerome. Raphael’s father feels sorry say I am perfect. I am just right. But for his son’s friend, Jerome, because I am not. I feel like a fight.” Arribas’s POW! Books, 2018 he does not like to play soccer, a sport illustration shows the girl physically portrayed as stereotypically mascu- “coming apart,” as we all do when in JEROME BY HEART line. Yet Jerome bravely withstands the grips of a strong emotion. THOMAS SCOTTO (AUTHOR) bullies and toxic masculinity as he As the little girl expresses the depth AND OLIVIER TALLEC (ILLUSTRATOR) defends those who tease Raphael, and of her rage she also touches on the he disdains the culture that ridicules startling relationship between hate Enchanted Lion Books, 2018 the open expression of feelings among and love—how even at the moment boys. we are most consumed with anger and HILDREN’S STORIES ARE filled with Though neither Jerome’s nor Raph- hate, we may still want the target of parables on the importance of ael’s parents understand the boys’ our hatred to love us. Danis’s book en- being “true to yourself.” From relationship, Raphael persists in his courages readers to grasp this complex The Ugly Duckling to The Paper love for his friend. When Raphael tells truth, and how anger is also so often Bag Princess, children’s litera- his parents that his dream is good in accompanied by unbearable feelings Cture skillfully narrates the dangers of a “Jerome kind of way,” the depth of of vulnerability. developing what psychoanalyst Don- their discomfort is revealed. They In her 2010 Ted Talk (and since then), ald Winnicott called the “compliant cannot understand that, for Raphael, scholar Brené Brown popularized the false self.” But attentiveness to what Jerome is synonymous with happi- idea that vulnerability is at the core other people might think of us is not ness. Luckily for the boy there is still of being human. When we realize the a simple individual predilection: it is a Jerome, who near the end of the book complex relationship between hate systemic response to culture. The de- poignantly refuses to rebuke his self: and love, and grasp how vulnerable it sire to assimilate as a survival tactic “And I can say—yes. Raphael loves feels to express our need of someone in a white supremacist, homophobic Jerome. I can say it. It’s easy.” at precisely the moment where we are and patriarchal capitalist culture that feeling undone, we can live fuller, rich- allows difference to persist so long as aomi Danis’s groundbreaking er emotional lives as our true selves, it can be made profitable. book I Hate Everyone, illustrated she argues convincingly. In contrasts, children’s literature, Nby Cinta Arribas, equally refuses “Great children’s books speak to the speaking “a language of absolute sin- the development of a compliant false most elemental truths of existence, and cerity,” as author and journalist Maria self in childhood. Though young girls speak in the language of children—a Popova put it to the New York Times in are too often socialized under patriar- language of absolute sincerity, so de- February, provides us with imaginary chy to deny their feelings of rage, the liciously countercultural in our age of alternatives that are miniaturized, protagonist of this feminist children’s cynicism,” Popova said in her NYTimes earnest and capable of standing up book refuses to do so. interview. These essential emotional to even the most brutal cynicism. We meet that little girl at her own truths are at the core of “feeling real.” Thomas Scotto’s 2018 masterpiece, birthday party, in the throes of rage: Isn’t this the heart of what parents Jerome By Heart, is one such example “It’s my birthday. So Boo! I hate all long for in their children’s lives? of how children’s literature can teach of you!” Anger subsumes, making Rather than compliant false selves, us to be true to ourselves despite the one want to express it with every children should feel free to feel real, homogenizing forces weighing down gesture, just as everything a person to remain open to all their emotions. on us. does becomes intolerable. “I hate when From this vulnerable place of realness, With illustrations by Olivier Tal- the balloons pop,” says the girl. “And I may we move forward. M lec, Scotto presents an ode to both hate when you say stop popping the queerness and the passionate nature balloons.” Eschewing the “hate lecture” of friendship as embodied in the so characteristic of childhood, Danis’s 58 REVIEWED BY GAVIN FRIDELL Measure(s) of progress

POLITICS RULES: developmental state, patronage and POWER, GLOBALIZATION participation—Sneyd’s overarching AND DEVELOPMENT goal is to convince the reader of the ADAM SNEYD importance of careful, “disinterested” political analysis. Despite the “celeb- Fernwood, April 2019, $20 (paperback) rity-like status” conferred on famous neoclassical economists and their OR THOSE OF us tired with obses- pretence of rational objectivity, Sneyd sive mantras over “hard” data and argues their arguments are often po- unquestioned devotion to quan- litically and ideologically motivated titative metrics, Adam Sneyd’s in ways that extend well beyond the new book will come as a breath of limits of macroeconomic models. Fa- Ffresh air. Long-standing debates over mous economist Dambisa Moyo, for the effectiveness of qualitative ver- instance, has argued that free market sus quantitative research have been policies should be facilitated by overrun in the era of the triumph of allowing more educated people more numbers and formulas. The goal has highly weighted votes in elections, an become to measure and re-measure idea which Sneyd observes has “zero anything that can be measured, how- empirical basis.” He has more affinity ever superficial or irrelevant, and with social-democratic economists ignore anything that can’t (even when like Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs, it is central to human experiences). although they fail to understand the Neoclassical economists have ways in which their proposals “butt up led this charge, but its political and against entrenched vested interests.” ideological weight extends widely. Politics Rules—named in opposition Only a return to classic and contem- The new NAFTA 2.0, for instance, to Dani Rodrik’s 2015 book, Economics porary themes in political science can contains a chapter on regulatory Rules. Informed by years of research get us to a more rigorous appraisal of co-operation that will, in essence, in Africa on cotton and food, Sneyd development, its dynamics and its pressure policy-makers to abandon offers an inventive and wide-ranging limitations. precautionary approaches to social book, accessible for students and an To make political analysis accessible and environmental policies in favour engaged public, designed to assert to an undergraduate audience, in Chap- of “cost-benefit” and “science-based” the significance of the politics of ter Two of the book Sneyd lays out a assessments. While this might development, which he argues is methodological map, envisioned as “a sound strictly technical at first, the what “development” is always about. page filled with terms, names, issues, political effect could well be to clog Drawing on classic themes in political arrows and other scribbles.” He draws up policy-making, shifting it toward science, Sneyd asserts that “develop- on the example of Canadian students the endless accumulation of data ment is not a condition that is realized travelling to Kenya to build rural and tireless corporate consultations, when quantitative economic growth schools and its political consequenc- thwarting the ability of governments targets or other metrics are deemed es, including constructing a “helping” to act at the very time when the world to have been met.” Instead, it involves narrative around outside intervention needs bold action to avoid climate “qualitative changes in the lives of reg- and entrenching politics that have his- catastrophe. ular people,” emerging out of conflict torically held back widespread school It is the neglect of politics in govern- and contestation to define, protect or construction in the country. The map, ment and mainstream development challenge the dominant consensus. however, is designed to be applied to circles, compared to unwavering While covering a range of themes— any case study. It involves charting out, devotion to neoclassical economics, from colonialism, nationalism and first, the ideas that have mattered in that Sneyd sets out to confront in inequality to the politics of order, the the past and present around the case 59 designed—asstudy; they second,always havethe prominent been or strictlystake- internalexample, prescriptions Sneyd depicts of asthe a formland. Notbetween just how research we’ve that been is ideological/ since the firstholders, missionaries from the arrived powerful and tomany the least critical of consumer Indigenous power writers, that promotesdispossessed biased of it or and how disinterested/objective. to exercise In through thepowerful; residential and school third, expe the main- Manuel contro -is refreshinglyrelational thinking pro-active, and offersjurisdiction “new overcontrast, it, but other our obligations works on the ideology rience and theversies fitful in the Liberal past or bursts present creative,that have and opportunities importantly, persuasive for young peopleto it. While to Manuelof development, advocates such for the as that of Ilan into nothingnesssurrounded like the the theme.Kelowna Then, (notone looksto mention apply witty). their talents” through corporaterebuilding ofKapoor, Indigenous argue economiesthat our commitments accord—to fixfor Indigenous links between peoples.” them. OrThe outcomeWhen askedsocial by responsibility. non-Indigenous At the same(as well time, as non-Indigenousto development economies are deeply embedded put another “mayway, to not help be us as assimilate. aestheticallypeoples elegant how he to cautions get past againstcolonialism, “the darkerfor that ram matter),- with unconscioushe insists they desires must that deny For Canadiansas the today, calculations this recon that- astrophysiManuel would- ifications say the answerof individualism is sim- be linked rooted to insome a deference traumas to the(the land persistence of ciliation framework’scists generate,” discourse Sneyd has writes, ple: but, “Canada in a globally needs to pervasive fully recognize individual and choices includes global a section inequality, of the racism, book imperialism) reached dangeroussoberer way, levels it offers of satura the - mostour accurate Aboriginal [which] and treaty have notrights stimulated and reminding much uswhile of our upholding near apocalyptic fantasies that give us tion. Manuelassessment writes: “Everything that we can is hope our for. absoluteinternational right to self-determi and global- actioncircumstances and pleasure to drive (performing the point. the role of devel- reconciliation. OnWhen this they basis, join Sneyd a round draws nation. on nu At- theattention.” same time, While we some will readers Despite might thisopment foreboding, “expert,” the lording tone bureaucratic dance, they merouscall that cases, reconciliation. teasing out therecognize politics thefind fundamental Sneyd difficult human to pin isdown, generally others power hopeful. over In the that poor). spirit, This perspective, When their eyesbehind tear them. up in Onediscussing of the mostright inter of Canadians,- might appreciate after hundreds his tentative of the nature, writing Iis think, accessible. convincingly The Recon makes- the case our poverty,esting that is examplesreconciliation. is in AtChapter years Five, of settlement, especially to for live classroom here.” use.ciliation Manifestothat there can is nobe easyread wayas out of the the same time,where when Sneyd they systematicallyare denying critiquesBut he also Perhapsknew that the Canadians greatest challenge an introductory in trap of text ideology; for Canadians only careful attention our constitutionalthe Sustainable rights, they Development call that (and Goals it should the book be noted is the thatimperative this towho advance have littleto unconscious understanding gaps and slippages of can reconciliation(SDGs) of Aboriginal for reproducing title with the statusbook quo, is addressed disinterested in large knowledge part to freecolonialism, from uncover or as an biases, intervention even if they can never Crown title. allowingIn fact, every all stakeholders, new plan to in particularCanadians) wouldideology. prefer While the Sneyd difficult views into this counterhegemonic as a be fully avoided. theorizing. steal from uscorporations, is called reconciliation.” to selectively showcasepath, because central ultimately goal ofour political interests analysis, For me, he is having In studiedthe end, Sneyd and taught offers a thought-pro- While othertheir academics connections debate to thethe goalsdiverge. while So, Indigenousnot always clear people on howmust to doIndigenous it. Econ- politicsvoking and for aengaging decade now,guide that would meaning andavoiding scope of reconciliation,political discussions cultivate of a sophisticatedomist Sachs, and for instance,commit- is Manuelcriticized reframes be of great my use thinking in the onclassroom, and Manuel showsdisempowerment, how its already socialbeen exclusion,ted grassroots in themovement book, correctly with those in my issues view, forI long would considered also be straightforhighly instructive- for spe- co-opted andemancipation weaponized. and justice. Whilein solidarity—environmentalists the imposing a standard and development ward. While cialists there areand elements development that practitioners, In a reviewoutcomes of Unsettling of the SDGs, Canada Sneyd racialized argues, Canadiansmodel on in all particular— countries, drivenrequire more elaboration themselves here so and often nuance caught up in the I wrote thatare Manuel not foreordained, is like a tall withoutold to carefulforce justice. by the Now, ideology there is of much modernization there, this ispolitics nonetheless of development a tremen without- fully cedar. He seemsanalysis to have to uncover a view ofthe the politics more: at play, strategies than careful for investor analysis. risk Sachs dously himself, important acknowledging book for it. multiple Politics Rules offers landscape in“we its cede entirety, the ground and before to the mastersanalyses, of land however, management advances plans, the the claim audiences. that his a framework for understanding the the rest of us.the His universe analysis and from their above narrow deployment visions “clinicalof international economics” legal is in- fact flexible,While Art politics Manuel of is development,irreplaceable, recognizing effectively ofputs sustainable the current development.” conver- struments, pipelinerational subversion and beyond plans, ideology. he How does do leave its an significance inheritance. and Among plotting conceptual sation around Sneyd’sreconciliation assessments into the throughout even a six-step we programdetermine for whose decoloni claims- those toward gifts isandThe practical Reconciliation ways Manto go- beyond the rightful context.are flexible and open-ended, zation.reflecting These unbiased myriad analysis of tactics are are true? ifesto, in whichnarrow Manuel vision finds of development a path imposed More thana that, central and thrust the focus of the really book thatdesigned ideas to fundamentallyWhile Sneyd challenge recognizes for that us. Nowall it’sby “theour taskmasters to clear of the it. universe.”M M of the latterare half always of the contestedbook, is what from the a rangelegitimacy ideas, of the including settler hisstate own, and areTHIS open REVIEW to FIRST THIS RAN REVIEW ON INDIAN ORIGINALLY & COWBOY APPEARED, IN THE LSE we’re going toof do perspectives about it all. Bypassing that must forcebe taken an alternative ideological arrangement. critique, he suggestsA MEMBER-SUPPORTED a fair- REVIEW INDIGENOUS OF BOOKS AND MEDIA IS REPRINTED HERE WITH PLATFORM. IT IS REPRINTEDPERMISSION. HERE WITH PERMISSION the nihilism seriously.of much of Political the settler-co consumerism,- Central for toly this straightforward new arrangement, “analytical FROM choice” THE AUTHOR. lonial frameworks and the structural and a latent theme throughout, is

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VILLAGES IN CITIES: COMMUNITY LAND support of Montreal’s mayor at the condominium would be established OWNERSHIP, CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING, time, Jean Drapeau, and the provincial in which each co-op and non-profit AND THE MILTON PARC STORY government. would own their own buildings and JOSHUA HAWLEY First, a citizens’ committee was the land under them. The land adjacent AND DIMITRIOS ROUSSOPOULOS, EDS. formed to oppose the development. to the buildings would be held as com- From 1968 to 1972, its members along mon property by all co-op and other Black Rose Books, 2018, $22.99 with people from the university non-profit owners in Milton-Parc. Only settlement knocked on doors, signed the occupants who lived in the build- N 1968, A six-block area of working petitions, demonstrated in the streets, ings could use those adjacent pieces class homes in Montreal just east marched to city hall, worked with of land. Community institutions were of McGill University and north of McGill University architecture students also developed, including a daycare, a Sherbrooke St. was slated for devel- to present alternatives to highrises, newspaper, health clubs, a food co-op, opment by Concordia Estates into a and held street festivals and endless legal clinic and credit union. Ihigh-rent highrise building complex. meetings, all the while struggling with The CMP is unique in all of North That this did not happen was due to lengthy discussions and a commitment America. It is the only land trust in organized opposition from the com- to democratic functioning. which co-ops or non-profits are gov- munity and the determined leadership Meanwhile, Concordia Estates pro- erned by a declaration of co-ownership. of people like Lucia Kowaluk and Dim- ceeded with phase one of its project, It is also unique in that it attaches so- itrios Roussopoulos. Villages in Cities forcing the tenants in about one-third cial responsibility and non-speculative is an account of how they succeeded in of the area to move out. In May 1972, restraints to the collective ownership stopping a corporate behemoth. the Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee of the property. When land, whether Told through a collection of essays occupied some of the empty dwell- privately, co-operatively or publicly by various activists and urbanists, ings, while at the same time a dozen owned, is valued in this way—primari- the book includes original contem- individuals occupied the offices of ly for its use value versus its exchange poraneous documentary materials, Concordia Estates. On May 26, 1972, value—everyone benefits. When its such as press releases and excerpts 59 people were arrested and charged use value is disregarded and land or from community newspapers, as well with public mischief. Eight were tried housing becomes merely a profit-mak- as an overview of various visions for and acquitted. People were exhausted, ing commodity, everyone loses—in the co-operative housing dating back to they felt they had failed. short run, the users, and in the long 18th century England. There are also But things were not going so well run, society as a whole. interviews with participants in the for the developers either. The oil crisis The content of Villages in Cities struggle and comparisons with similar of the early ‘70s caused inflation and remains highly relevant today, as developments in Boston, Massachu- financial insecurity, the Ford Foun- evidenced in the recent urban battle in setts and Burlington, Vermont, the dation pulled out, and the possibility Ottawa over the Herongate community, latter assisted by current Democratic of buying the property and forming the largest eviction campaign currently presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders a housing co-operative was raised. underway in Canada. Herongate was a when he was mayor. Now the political will existed, and in working class neighbourhood of mainly The economics of land ownership in May 1979 the Canada Mortgage and racialized families where Timbercreek a capitalist society make it impossible Housing Corporation (CMHC) bought Asset Management is constructing “re- to preserve centrally located housing the property for $5.5 million using a sort-style apartments” after evicting the that is well-maintained and affordable, federal program created by the Pierre current tenants. The Herongate Tenant without subsidy, to those of modest Trudeau government to help tenants Coalition was inspired by the precedent means. This central fact underlies the form co-operatives. set by the Milton-Parc Community in push to develop such land and turn it It took a number of further legal 1968. Villages in Cities may thus have into profit-making upscale housing or steps and the involvement of Seagram value as a handbook for the conduct of offices. Such was the rationale behind heir and heritage advocate Phyllis future struggles as well as being a record Concordia Estates’ plans for Milton Lambert before the Communauté of what some determined Montrealers Parc, which had the enthusiastic Milton-Parc (CMP) was created. A accomplished in the last century. M 61 REVIEWED BY MARC EDGE Starving Canadian media giants— a case of real fake news

THE TANGLED GARDEN: simply enough for the average Canadi- services. His book tells how he was A CANADIAN CULTURAL MANIFESTO an to understand in his new book, The hired by Rogers, our second-largest FOR THE DIGITAL AGE Tangled Garden. In doing so, however, media company after Bell, to write a RICHARD STURSBERG he plays fast and loose with the facts “paper” a few years ago that floated (WITH STEPHEN ARMSTRONG) and inflates the threat to Canadian the idea of using tax credits to aid media of the foreign digital giants. our country’s supposedly ailing media James Lorimer & Co., April 2019, $24.95 Stursberg notes that these U.S. compa- companies—a direct subsidy without nies have so far avoided paying tax in the need for any application process. HEN U.S. TELEVISION stations set Canada on their services to Canadians “If the costs qualified,” notes Stursberg, up transmitters just across due to Ottawa’s reluctance to regulate “the payment was automatic.” the border in the 1970s to the internet as it has broadcasting. That got the attention of Paul God- beam their signals into Cana- (The FAANGs presumably pay income frey, at the time CEO of Postmedia dian homes, and then began tax in their own countries, however, Network, Canada’s largest newspaper Wselling ads here, it started a trade war which in the case of Facebook is very chain. (Postmedia publishes 15 of our that lasted a dozen years. To keep the low in Ireland.) That will soon change if 22 largest dailies but is somehow 98% ad dollars at home, Ottawa passed a Stursberg has anything to say about it. owned by U.S. hedge funds.) Godfrey law that disallowed as an income tax As a consultant, Stursberg seems liked Stursberg’s idea about tax credits deduction the expense of advertising to specialize in coming up with ways so much that he invited him to dinner on a foreign station. The U.S. retaliat- for Big Media in Canada to wheedle with Postmedia’s board. Together ed by declaring non-deductible the money out of Ottawa. For this he was with the likes of David Pecker, then expense of attending conventions in no doubt prepared by his 25 years in publisher of the National Inquirer, Canada, which put a serious crimp in Canadian broadcasting, including six who represented the American vulture our hospitality industry. The dispute years as head of the CBC’s English capitalists, they decided to pitch the was only settled with the 1988 Cana- idea to other newspaper publishers da–U.S. Free Trade Agreement. and “finance a study on how tax credits History is now repeating itself, as might work for them.” In this effort many in Canada want to extend our Stursberg enlisted the aid of “media treatment of broadcast advertising economics expert” Stephen Armstrong, to digital media, to stem the flow a long-time Ontario civil servant who of ad dollars to foreign giants like is also now a consultant. Google and Facebook, which have Stursberg tells a fascinating tale been siphoning off revenue from about how our news media ended up newspapers and television networks with the $595 million they are currently worldwide. These same voices also deciding how to divvy up. At the height advocate taxing foreign streaming of their disagreement over how the services like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, money should be paid out, he recalls Netflix, and Google (the FAANGs) and that one publisher told him: “At the forcing them to both transmit and end of the day, if the money has to be fund Canadian content. The billions delivered in a brown paper bag late on of dollars available to be clawed back Sunday nights in the alley, we’ll take it.” from the foreign digital giants, they But a few hundred million is chump argue, would help finance government change in Canada’s cultural economy, subsidies to Canadian media, such as which Stursberg estimates is worth the $595 million promised in the 2019 $54 billion and employs 650,000. The budget to boost journalism. big bailout bucks will of course go to Richard Stursberg is one of those television because it’s the backbone of voices, and he sets out this argument Canadian culture. 62 The Tangled Garden is an una- The big media has shown. While their revenues have bashed exhortation for the “sleepy” gone down precipitously in recent Liberal government (a word Stursberg companies in years, they have been able to keep actually uses in a chapter title) to fire Canada are their heads well above water through up the tax collection machine to pump painful cost cutting, which is admitted- more money into Cancon. He counts corpulent cash ly not good for Canadian journalism. up all the dollars that would flow cows that grow Postmedia made $65.4 million in profit back to Ottawa and Canadian media last year, up 18% from 2017, on revenues companies by taxing the FAANGs and fatter by the year. of $676 million, for a profit margin of it comes to billions annually. Making 9.7%. Of that amount, however, more them pay (and charge) HST on their than $25 million went to paying down sales to Canadians would bring in $100 its massive debt, which is held mostly million a year just for starters. by its hedge fund owners. They kept it But making digital ads on foreign on the company’s books strategically as digital media not tax-deductible an income source after acquiring the should repatriate about $1.3 billion in former Southam newspaper chain revenues to domestic media annually. for pennies on the dollar out of the Taxes on ads that don’t migrate back 2010 bankruptcy of Canwest Global north (to Canadian firms) would run an Communications. estimated $590 million a year. Making The big media companies in Canada Even if Postmedia went bankrupt Netflix and other foreign streaming are corpulent cash cows that grow due to debt, however, its profitable services contribute 30% of their Ca- fatter by the year, as a glance at the dailies would continue to publish nadian revenues to fund Cancon, as financial statements posted by law on under new ownership. You don’t just the national networks are required to their websites will confirm. Bell made close down a business that makes do, would bring in an estimated $438 $9.5 billion in profit last year (earnings $65 million a year. Torstar made $60.7 million next year alone. Stursberg does before interest, taxes, depreciation million in profit last year on revenues a very good job of shaking money from and amortization) on revenues of $23.5 of $615 million, for a profit margin of trees. No wonder Godfrey likes him. billion, for a profit margin of 40%. Its 9.8%. Its profits went down $13.5 mil- Aside from the wisdom of trying to media division, which includes the lion from 2017, however, perhaps due repatriate tax and ad revenues from CTV network, made $693 million on to the estimated $20 million Torstar the U.S., with a trade hawk like Donald revenues of $2.68 billion, which were spent in developing its failed tablet Trump in the White House, the only up slightly from 2017. That’s a profit app. problem with Stursberg’s argument margin of 26%. (Bell made 42.5% profit The chains regularly report enor- is its premise. “If the federal govern- margin on its $12.4 billion in landline mous net losses, but these are only ment does not wake from its torpor, revenues last year and 42.6% on its $8.4 achieved after deducting huge “paper” the major Canadian media companies billion in cell phone revenues.) losses that estimate the reduced are likely to collapse,” he warns. “If this Rogers made $6 billion in profit last value of their businesses. Postmedia happens, English Canada will be effec- year, up 9% from 2017, on revenues is often cited as losing $352 million in tively annexed by the United States.” of $15.1 billion, for a profit margin of its 2015-16 fiscal year, but that was only Stursberg claims that big media almost 40%. Its media division, which after deducting $367 million in asset companies in Canada have suffered includes the Citytv network, made a impairment and the extraordinary $42 “losses as far as the eye can see” due profit of $196 million last year, up by million expense of severing staff. On to declining ad sales. Their financial more than half from 2017, on revenues an operating basis, it actually earned failure would bring about “the utter of $2.2 billion, for a profit margin of $82 million that year, of which $72 collapse of Canadian culture,” he 9%. (Rogers made almost 48% on its million went to paying down its debt. colourfully predicts, leaving us with $3.9 billion in cable revenues last year One thing you won’t find referenced the “arid and lifeless landscape of an and almost 45% on its $7.1 billion in in The Tangled Garden is critical re- abandoned culture.” The closure of cell phone revenues.) Making money search done by real media economists, Postmedia, which he claims has lost at that rate, Rogers can afford to hire such as Dwayne Winseck of Carleton money every year since 2011, “would a lot more media consultants like University, whose Canadian Media mean that there would no longer be Stursberg to sing the blues for them. Concentration Research Project tracks any local papers in many of Canada’s Come to think of it, a small share of the ever-increasing consolidation of largest cities.” It and Torstar, Canada’s its lush cable revenues, which come our media and the enormous profits second-largest newspaper chain, are largely from monopoly internet ser- they make. When you examine the losing at least $35 million a year, he vice provision, would go a long way facts and ignore the corporate prop- claims. toward funding Cancon, but that’s the aganda, Stursberg’s garden turns out This is so much nonsense, to use a last thing Rogers wants to hear. to be not just tangled, but overgrown polite word. It is the Big Lie of Cana- Even the newspaper companies are with weeds. M dian media. hardly losing money, as my research 63 REVIEWED BY HADRIAN MERTINS-KIRKWOOD Give up hope, but not the fight

THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: is not only bad for the environment, saving ourselves so far, even that LIFE AFTER WARMING it is also seriously at risk. much optimism feels misplaced. DAVID WALLACE-WELLS In the 12 chapters that make up Shortly before reading this book I the first half of the book (“Elements attended a private oil sands industry Tim Duggan Books, February 2019, $36 of Chaos”), Wallace-Wells explores the conference where I met a number of various ways that the planet may be fossil fuel executives. I was surprised HE CLIMATE CRISIS is unfolding made unlivable by climate breakdown: to learn that, unlike the mostly con- around us in the form of more heat death, dying oceans, economic servative politicians who go to bat for frequent droughts, heatwaves, collapse, and so on. He draws on a them, these oil execs take the science floods and other extreme weath- wide variety of scientific literature to of climate change seriously. er events. Looking ahead, the describe in practical terms how these What they do not take seriously Tmost conservative climate science changes might impact us as individ- is any kind of responsibility to stop tells us these events will cause tril- uals and societies. He also lays bare, producing fossil fuels. Instead, they lions of dollars in damage and displace with sometimes excruciating clarity, are committed to capturing as large a hundreds of millions of people in the the social and psychological hoops we share as possible of a global oil market coming decades. But those are only the jump through to convince ourselves that they acknowledge is in inevitable known, predictable consequences of that these cascading crises are merely decline. As long as there is profit to be accelerating climate breakdown. From isolated climate problems and to ab- made, they will do everything in their the collapse of agriculture to the sink- solve ourselves of any responsibility to extensive power to extract as much oil, ing of coastal cities to the depletion address the root causes. The reality is gas and coal as they can. As I wallowed of fresh water to the toxification of that the planet will not be as good to in despair reading The Uninhabitable the planet’s breathable air, the less- us in the future as it is today. Earth, I couldn’t help but wonder how er-known impacts of a warming world As the book’s focus shifts in the a book like this is supposed to change are among the scariest. second half to the social, cultural and a world run by men like that. The chal- Will all of these apocalyptic pre- economic dimensions of the climate lenge is profoundly overwhelming. dictions come to pass in the next few crisis, it starts to lose its thread. There But if there is any hope to be gleaned decades? Probably not. But if any of are valuable insights here—like a from what is otherwise an exception- them do, we are in an awful lot of dissection of our cultural tendency ally incisive and bleak analysis, it is trouble. American journalist David to hope for future technological Wallace-Wells's vital recognition that Wallace-Wells implores us to consider solutions rather than solve problems “a state of half-ignorance and half-in- that possibility in The Uninhabitable today—but the discussion is less difference is a much more pervasive Earth, a book as grim and expansive organized and not as compelling as climate sickness than true denial or as its title suggests. There is no pre- the presentation of the physical sci- true fatalism.” The greatest obstacle paring for a world that is two, three ence that precedes it. Wallace-Wells’s to climate action is our own cultural or five degrees warmer than today conclusion, that enough collective and political complacency. And that because we simply cannot know or fear will inevitably lead us to pull means the power to change the world appreciate how bad things are going together on the climate crisis, also ultimately lies with us—as citizens of to get. Wallace-Wells is not a climate feels disconnected from the book’s the world—as well. scientist or a political activist or core argument. Admittedly, his best- “Eating organic is nice,” argues Wal- even—by his own admission—much case scenario for the planet is “a state lace-Wells, “but if your goal is to save of an environmentalist. His interest we would today regard as merely the climate your vote is much more in the climate crisis stems more from grim, rather than apocalyptic,” so he important.” a panicked pragmatism over a simple is hardly idealistic. But after laying Those of us fighting for a better question: how can we preserve our out the myriad ways in which we future would do well to keep that way of life? Because it is clear from will destroy ourselves, including the message in mind. M decades of warnings from the scien- psychological and cultural feedback tific community that the way we live loops that have prevented us from 64 HELP US SHED LIGHT ON THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO YOU. (we’ve got some bright ideas)

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