A dangerous centralization of power is happening in Canada right now.
Canada is deploying the current wave of nationalism to rob the treasuries, hand over corporate subsidies, and take Indigenous land.
Stephen K. Bannon calls it “flooding the zone.” It’s a fascist strategy. Change so many laws and policies at once that people are overwhelmed and can’t fight the onslaught of oppression. And now it’s come to Canada.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, in coordination with provincial and territorial premiers, is doing it, too. Under the guise of “elbows up,” we are getting jumped.
Canada Driving the (Omni)bus
In Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, will grant the federal Cabinet the extraordinary power to waive the application of any federal law in respect of projects it deems to be in the “national interest.”
There are also many examples of recent provincial legislation and fast-tracked development:
- In British Columbia, Bills 14 and 15 streamline extraction and infrastructure development
- In Alberta, Bill 54 tried to open a pathway to Alberta’s secession
- In Ontario, Bill 5 speeds up mining approvals and creates deregulated and dangerous “Special Economic Zones” that undermine Indigenous rights and labour protection.
- In Nova Scotia, Bill 6 lifted the ban on uranium mining and the moratorium on fracking, and also announced changes to the Environmental Assessment Act.
- In Nunavut, Grays Bay Road and Port Project is being relaunched to access critical minerals.
The common thread in this onslaught of new legislation is the dangerous centralization of power within the Privy Council Office and in provincial cabinet offices and the total railroading of Indigenous rights and protections. These bills are also an attack on migrants, refugees, workers, and tip us deeper into the blazing wildfires of climate change.
We say: elbows up against the oligarchy!
