Marc Carney has rapidly reshaped the public sphere to serve corporations. He is counting on next week’s CEO summit to boost his billionairist agenda.
On Monday and Tuesday, the prime minister is convening the largest gathering of wealth holders in Canadian history. Around 300 capitalists in control of $120 trillion in assets will participate in the first ever Canada Investment Summit.
With over 30 firms represented at the swanky Four Seasons hotel the US delegation is set to be the largest. The head of the $15 trillion Wall Street behemoth BlackRock will be on hand. Representatives of major wealth funds from two dozen other countries and the CEOs of many of Canada’s biggest companies, including the big banks, will also be at the at the invite-only summit.
Our former Goldman Sachs banker PM will kick things off with a keynote address. Alongside Carney, five other ministers are scheduled to speak and all 13 provincial and territorial premiers are expected to attend.
Reportedly Canda’s premiers will pitch projects to the international capitalists. On Wednesday a “deal book” with 167 profit-making opportunities on projects worth half a trillion dollars was sent to the investors. The proposals in the “deal book” are overwhelmingly in mineral extraction, oil, LNG, hydroelectricity, AI data centres and arms production. Premiers, government officials and Canadian companies will present proposals to the international capitalists in private “presentation rooms”.
The “deal book” also mentions the possibility of privatizing Canadian airports. The selloff of other public assets, such as ports and toll roads may also be on the agenda.
The summit solidifies Carney’s bid to reshape the public sphere in the interests of corporations and wealth holders.
On Wednesday the government announced that many of the country’s most polluting fossil fuel projects will no longer be reviewed under the Impact Assessment Act. Without even a press release, the government published the change “gutting Canada’s environmental safety net” in the Canada Gazette.
Earlier in the year the Liberals passed two other pieces of legislation weakening the regulatory apparatus in service of corporate profit. Bill C-30 gives cabinet the power to authorize the use of pesticides Health Canada deemed unsafe while the Budget Implementation Act enables ministers to effectively exempt any individual or company from virtually all federal laws and regulation (except the Criminal Code) that “encourage innovation, competitiveness or economic growth.”
The most egregious example of Carney bypassing democratic oversight in the service of corporate profit is the Major Projects Office (MPO). Set up as part of the Building Canada Act, the MOP subverts environmental oversight and tramples on First Nations’ constitutionally protected right to free, prior and informed consent. Operating as a special agency under the Treasury Board, the MPO lacks the public reporting requirements of typical government departments. Led by a former CEO of Trans Mountain Corporation, the MPO is one of numerous important positions in Carney’s government staffed with top corporate officials.
Under the cover of Donald Trump’s madness, Canada’s banker PM is giving ever more to the billionaire class. But not everyone is acceding to the corporate attack on democracy. Two dozen groups are mobilizing to “Confront Carney’s CEO Summit” with a series of counter forums this weekend and a mass mobilization on Monday evening at 6PM at Nathan Phillips Square.
Everyone is invited to join the Carnival Against Capitalism.
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