In the last election, many voted for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s calm, friendly demeanor and against Pierre Poilievre’s policies. 

Since coming to power Carney has tacked hard right. He has been concentrating power in the prime minister’s office, bypassing democratically elected individual ministers and traditional cabinet authority. 

Carney has made major changes to immigration and refugee asylum policy with Bill C-12.  Carney is executing the fastest rate of deportations in over a decade totaling a record 22,500, of failed refugee claimants, including temporary foreign workers and international students. 

Carney passed Bill C-5 which is eerily similar to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 5, giving the government the right to suspend environmental, labor laws and regulations to fast-track projects of national interest. These regulations were originally brought in to protect the environment and protect us from the excesses of the free-market system are now derided and ridiculed as red tape and barriers to prosperity.

Tax cuts and privatization  

Both premier Ford and prime minister Carney are using the crisis created by Trump to bring in tax cuts, deregulation (cutting red tape) and privatization which they present as factual claiming it will protect us and bring back prosperity which is factually false and complete bunk.

Since the 1980s, trickledown economics has repeatedly been debunked, and repeatedly failed. The only thing trickledown economics has ever done is make the fabulously wealthy wealthier. Crisis and disaster capitalism has been brilliantly outlined by Naomi Klein in her book, The Shock Doctrine, a very good read. 

Carney intends to privatize our airports and seaports claiming we have to modernize, reform, increase competitiveness and efficiencies through alternative models of ownership. Whenever you hear the words “modernize” and “reform,” alarm bells should go off.  

Using the exact same language as when Conservatives tried to bring in “right to work” legislation, Carney is attacking unions by claiming he has to “modernize” labor legislation. The right to free collective bargaining and the right to strike is a human right. A right recognized by the United Nations.

It used to be that unions had to worry about Poilievre’s threat to bring in “right to work” laws that have decimated unions in the US. Now unions have to worry about a very serious attack on bargaining rights by Carney. 

The top one per cent love their money. They also love the processes that make them even more money. These processes are tax cuts and tax avoidance, deregulation, privatization of public assets and services, weak environmental, health and safety laws and low wages. The only way to lower wages and increase profits for the wealthy is to weaken unions. 

The existence of a union at your workplace is often the difference between a good standard of living and a bad one. It means you don’t have to live in constant fear of your boss and if you are fired, you have the right to a fair hearing.

Unions have been exposing the smoke and mirror show and corporations and the wealthy don’t like it. Carney is weakening unions so they can increase profits. 

Perhaps the worst action Carney has taken is a complete reversal on the climate crisis, putting corporate profits before people and the planet. 

Carney is on bended knee to Danielle Smith’s oil oligarchs who run that province. Carney has scrapped the carbon tax, EV mandates and dropped the emissions cap on oil and gas. Carney is committing to new pipelines to the environmentally sensitive west coast as well as supporting the carbon capture and storage scheme. A scheme dreamed up by oil executives, who are worried about the increasing evidence of the climate crisis, trying to protect their profits.

There is more wealth now than there has ever been. We do not have a wealth creation problem. We do have a very serious distribution of wealth problem. Many Canadians voted against Poilievre and his hard right policies. It looks like we elected Poilievre’s hard right policies without Poilievre. Where’s the prosperity? Climate change denial and foot dragging by our current political leaders, is just letting the wealthy and their corporations continue their profit rampage. Profits must not come before people and the planet. A dead planet profits no one.

The post Carney’s disturbing hard right turn appeared first on rabble.ca.

Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to privatize our airports, our seaports and build a lot more private gas and nuclear power plants. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is privatizing our water, our healthcare and building a lot more private gas and nuclear power plants. Carney said Canada was “not for sale,”  and Ford says “that’s how we “protect Ontario.” 

Both Carney and Ford are using the Trump crisis as was so brilliantly described in Naomi Klein’s book Shock Doctrine. Crisis capitalism is being used to privatize our public assets and services.

When privatizing our public assets and services, we always hear the same song.

We have to “modernize, reform, increase competitiveness, innovation and increased efficiencies through alternative models of ownership.” Then we are told the same false claim: This will lead to “lower costs” which will be passed on to you. The same claim of lower rates came from Ontario Premier Mike Harris’ hydro legislation. Rates have now more than quadrupled.

 Hwy 407 is now the most expensive toll way in the world. In a deal far worse than the privatization of HWY 407, the privatization of the Bruce nuclear plant in a long-term lease in the year 2000, the profits were privatized but the $34 billion debt and the risks and cleanup remained public. 

The privatization of long-term care homes where many died from neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic and the higher and higher rates of Hydro privatization has left the people of Ontario with no appetite for any more privatization of public assets. 

The privatization of Connaught Labs by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney also hurt us badly during the pandemic. The record of privatization around the world is dismal. The prime example of privatization failures is in the UK where the privatization of water, electricity and rail has left that country a basket case. The record of privatization is clear, when you introduce the profit motive, private corporations benefit and we all will pay a lot more. The risk is not just higher rates,the loss of sovereignty and control is the biggest risk. There doesn’t seem to be any difference between the Conservative and Liberal parties; both are on a public asset privatization rampage.

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Mark Carney says Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise office hasn’t been ‘effective’ since its 2019 setup

Canada is eliminating a watchdog that investigates alleged human rights violations committed by Canadian companies operating abroad, after Mark Carney said the office hadn’t been “effective” since it was set up in 2019.

The move comes as Canada faces criticism from Donald Trump’s administration over its “unacceptable” efforts to combat forced labour.