Globalization is
Killing Canada:
Fight for Your
Freedom
by Paul
Hellyer
Is Canada worth saving? Is democracy worth
saving? These are the two fundamental questions we must address
now - before it is too late. Canadian values are disappearing
rapidly as we lose our independence and our sovereignty. The
country is being dismantled after more than a century of nation
building. We are losing control of our most important
industries. As we give up domestic ownership of our assets, we
lose the most exciting and challenging jobs, which too often
move to the new corporate headquarters outside Canada - and
young people who want those jobs must follow. It's part of the
brain drain. In effect, Canada has become a victim of
"Globalization". We are told this process is both inevitable and
good. It is only inevitable if we let it happen. It is only good
for two to five percent of the world's richest and most powerful
people. It is bad for the vast majority.
.
I should make a distinction between those
areas where global cooperation is both good and essential, and
those areas where it is harmful. We must cooperate globally to
protect our oceans, the ozone layer and prevent Global Warming.
International cooperation is also required to protect endangered
species, fight international crime and in other areas of mutual
concern. What we have to stop is the relentless drive on the
part of multinational corporations and international banks -
centred largely in the five big powers - to take over governance
of the world for their own benefit.
The Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement
The "Globalization" process got a
rocket-assisted boost with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement
(FTA). Canadians were led to believe that this was a trade
agreement. When I read it, I found, to my dismay, that it was
primarily an investment agreement. Sure it called for reductions
in tariffs, but this was already happening under the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The most important parts
of the FTA were about investment. The Americans wanted our
industries and resources - especially energy and water. They
also wanted our land. Instead of Canada being open for business
again, as Prime Minister Brian Mulroney proudly boasted, it was
up for sale.
Mr. Mulroney allowed the Americans to insert
a "national treatment" clause which was a new concept in
international law that gave U.S. investors the same rights in
Canada as Canadian citizens. I think this is wrong in principle!
Where is the value of citizenship if foreign investors have the
same rights? In fact, the "national treatment" clause gave
American investors the right to invest in Canada without
conditions and without limits. We can no longer say "You can't
buy more than 50% of our forest industry or oil and gas
reserves" - because the treaty says they can own all our
reserves. The same rule applies to our best farmland. With the
FTA, Brian Mulroney accomplished two things: He virtually
guaranteed the demise of Canada as a nation state, and he
allowed the conquest of Canada by America. The conquest is
still tentative, perhaps, for about two more years. Then we will
reach the point of no return after which annexation by the
United States will become inevitable. I am concerned that
several hundred years of experiment in popular democracy is
coming to an end because globalization is really a code word for
corporate rule and colonization.
NAFTA - Canada is being sued
When we signed the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), we granted U.S. and Mexican investors greater
rights in Canada than Canadian citizens enjoy. Chapter 11, the
disputes settlement chapter, allows foreign investors to sue if
our governments - federal, provincial or municipal - pass any
law or regulation that affect their corporate profits or
potential profits. And we are being sued. The first suit was the
celebrated Ethyl case. When the Canadian parliament passed a law
prohibiting the importation and distribution of MMT, a
manganese-based gasoline additive in Canada, the U.S. Ethyl
Corporation sued the government of Canada. The government
settled out of court for $20 million in legal costs and agreed
to repeal the law. So who is running Canada when a foreign
corporation can dictate to the Canadian parliament? Equally bad,
the settlement agreement required two Canadian cabinet ministers
to read statements to the effect that MMT was not harmful either
to the environment or to health at the very moment that the
latest scientific evidence suggested that it may indeed be
injurious to the health, especially of children. There are other
cases pending. The Sun Belt Water Corporation of California is
suing for $1.5-$10.5 billion because we won't let it sell our
water. Pope & Talbot Inc., a U.S. forest company is suing for
$500 million. These suits are just the tip of the iceberg.
The WTO is Anti-Democratic
The World Trade Organization is another
threat to our democratic traditions. It has ruled that the auto
pact with the U.S. is illegal. It has ruled that the European
Union has to accept U.S. and Canadian beef that has been raised
on bovine growth hormones. It said that the U.S. could not ban
tuna caught in nets that drown sea turtles. (In every case
involving an environmental issue, the WTO has ruled against the
environment). Now the WTO has ruled that our drug patents are
too short and that, in effect, we have to change our laws to
correspond with U.S. laws. In addition to this affront to our
sovereignty, this ruling, if it stands, means that we will have
to pay untold millions more for drugs at a time when our health
care system is already in crisis from inadequate funding.
What Kind of Democracy?
The decline of democracy in the U.S. has
reached the point where
Lewis Lapham, editor of Harpers
Magazine, says the U.S. has two governments - the permanent
government and the provisional government. The permanent
government comprises: (a) the Fortune 500 list of the largest
American corporations, (b) the largest law firms in Washington
that do their legal work for them, (c) the largest public
relation firms in Washington that do their advertising and
public relations and (d) the top public servants both civil and
military. These groups make up the permanent government that
really runs the country. Then there is the provisional
government - "politicians for hire". Every few years there is a
charade called an election which picks a political actor to go
on stage and read the scripts written by the permanent
government. As some actors read scripts with less improvisation
than others, the permanent government checks them out in advance
and decides who they want. Then they put up the money to get
them elected. George Bush is the perfect stereotype. Listen to
him on "Free Trade" and foreign policy and you will know he is
the actor of choice. Why did Elizabeth Dole drop out of the
Republican race? Because she was not the choice of the permanent
government and didn't have the funds to continue.
There are Strings Attached
The evolution of the system has led to a
government that is little more than a big bully enforcer for
giant American corporations. The U.S. government goes to the WTO
and gets a ruling forcing us to accept whatever big corporations
want. Their giant corporations want to dominate world markets.
In a "Globalized" society, people don't matter - only
corporations do. Small independent operators and family farms
are doomed by globalization.
Aggressive Agri-Business
One of the coziest arrangements has been
between the U.S. government and Monsanto Corporation - now in
the process of changing its name due to a bad image. Monsanto is
the company that gave us Agent Orange, the allegedly safe
defoliant used in the Vietnam War which has now claimed
thousands of casualties. Monsanto is also one of the companies
developing terminator seeds, seeds that cannot be replanted
because they are genetically altered to be sterile. This is one
of the most frightening developments in modern history. Attempts
to corner world seed markets and sell only genetically altered
seed would impoverish millions of people. When I learned that
the U.S. Department of Agriculture had assisted Monsanto in the
development of such a patently evil product I wondered how this
could be possible in a democracy. Then I learned that one of
Monsanto's key directors was one of President Clinton's key
fundraisers. It is a matter of national shame that the Canadian
government has been aiding and abetting the U.S. in promoting
the interests of this destructive company including its
increased control of Canadian agriculture. Ottawa is helping to
drive Canadian farmers out of business. Globalization in
agriculture means three or four giant agribusinesses are
determined to monopolize the world food supply with their
genetically-altered species and make us all dependent on them
for our food. As we capitulate, and let our farmers go under,
these aggressive corporations are buying up some of our best
agricultural land.
National Fire Sale
At the same time, many of our best companies
are being bought out. Thirteen thousand Canadian companies have
been sold to foreigners in the last decade or so - more than
10,000 to Americans. In a stunning admission to the National
Post in early March, Industry Minister John Manley predicted
the end of federal restrictions that prevent foreigners from
buying Canadian airlines, communications companies and even
banks. There will be nothing left of Canada but an empty shell.
And the kind of corporate-controlled government that allows this
to happen is a cruel joke. Canada and the world are being
re-engineered without the consent of the citizens who are having
their birthright sold out from under their feet.
Let, Corporations Rule the World
The substitution of corporate rule for
democracy is being imposed around the world. Countries have to
sign treaties that give transnational corporations the right to
cherry-pick their industries and assets. If a country has a
business that begins to cut into market share, the
transnationals can buy it, make it part of their empire, shut it
down or move it to Malaysia, for example. Under the rules of
"Globalization", no country - other than the big five (or six) -
can hope to achieve anything like self-sufficiency.
Neo-Classical Economics - Bad economic
theory and bad economic management
All of this change is justified in the name
of laissez-faire economics, which insists that governments are
bad and markets are good. Government-owned services must be
privatized. Even basic services like health and education are on
the block. This is all in accord with the ideas of Nobel
laureate Milton Friedman and his colleagues at the University of
Chicago. At first, the Friedman system (ideology) was called
monetarism, but when that wasn't technically accurate, it was
renamed neo-classical monetarism - and, more recently - just
neo-classical economics. It should have been called
retro-classical rather than neo-classical because it is not new.
It is the same old pre-depression boom-bust system. Mainline
economists won't admit it, but their 25-year experiment with
neo-classical economics has been a monumental flop and resulted
in a monumental 2,289% increase in federal debt. The increase in
debt was not primarily due to overspending as the right insists.
It was primarily due to the slow growth of the economy and debt
compounding at high interest rates due to monetarist policies.
Compound interest was the real culprit.
People are the Victims
The cold statistics can be translated into
the heart-wrenching experiences of many Canadians. If you are a
doctor or a nurse, you are likely to find yourself so overworked
and stressed out that you are unable to provide the quality of
care you want to give. The same can be said for many teachers
whose workload has been increased to the point where they have
felt obliged to reduce or eliminate participation in
extra-curricular activities like drama or sports. If you are a
student, you may graduate with as much or more debt as the
mortgage on your parents' first house. And, no matter who you
are, if you lack skills, you may be unemployed from time-to-time
because a "Globalized" market system is not designed for full
employment (four percent). Demand management, as practiced in
the early post-war years is a neo-classical "no no". Your
company may be bought and downsized leaving you with few options
after long years of faithful service. This is just part of the
price of "Globalization".
Is there any hope?
There is hope but it will require a
revolution of the intellect followed by a revolution at the
ballot box. First, and immediately, we have to abrogate the FTA
and NAFTA in order to get rid of the "national treatment" clause
that is killing Canada. This does not mean turning the clock
back ten years on trade! Canada can compete in trade. But we
cannot compete in investment - we just don't have money on the
same scale. So, we must try to replace the FTA and NAFTA with
new fair trade agreements and, if that is not possible, rely on
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which served us so
well for so long. Once we are rid of the "national treatment"
clause, we must start screening foreign investment again and
stop the sale of our best industries and with it stop much of
the brain drain. Then, we must refuse to sign any more treaties,
such as the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) that
will extend the "national treatment" clause to the tip of South
America. And, at the same time, we must take health care,
education, agriculture and intellectual property off the table
for the WTO negotiations. To give up our sovereignty in these
important areas would reduce all Canadian governments to a state
of impotence. This must not be allowed to happen! Canada should
say "No!" to any extension of WTO jurisdiction and influence
until we can gauge the damage already done.
The Monopoly to Print Money
In 1974, the Bank of Canada owned more than
20% of federal government debt - the equivalent of an
interest-free loan. But that is the year our central bank
adopted the ideas of Milton Friedman and began to give back to
the private banks their virtual monopoly to "print" money. The
result is that today the B of C only owns about 4% of federal
government debt and the shortfall has to be borrowed from the
market, including the private banks, at high interest rates. In
effect, taxpayers are subsidizing the private banks by $4-$5
billion a year. There is insufficient space to discuss monetary
theory here but anyone who is interested can read books on the
subject including one or two of mine such as 'Surviving the
Global Financial Crisis', or 'Stop: Think', the latest one. A
system where private banks print nearly all of the money is not
a stable system (44 recessions and depressions in 200 years) and
is not one that will provide full employment for Canada or the
world. There is simply not enough money in the hands of rank and
file consumers. So, we have to learn the lessons of history and
revert to the system we had in effect from 1939 to 1974. Access
to significant amounts of publicly-created, zero cost (debt
free) money is the only way governments can meet the conflicting
demands of increased expenditures for health care, education,
environmental concerns, research and development, the arts and
other legitimate areas of public concern while permitting lower
taxes at the same time. There is no other way to reconcile the
claims of left and right.
The War [Electoral] for Independence
The next federal election will decide
Canada's fate. If any party - or combination of parties - that
supports the FTA and NAFTA forms the next government, Canada is
dead. Our only hope is a genuine alliance of patriotic Liberals,
Conservatives, Reformers, NDPers, Bloc Québécois, and even
people too cheesed-off to vote, getting together in one powerful
movement to turn the ship of state around before it is too late.
An independent Canada is best for the United States, the world
and us. If we really believe that, we all have to enlist in
Canada's war for independence and make it happen.
Editorial Note: Globalization directly
affects our personal freedom, for example, to choose the food
and medicine we need for our health.
Copyright © 2007 The Canadian. All rights reserved.
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