Strange how some people think Canada is a colony, a victim of U.S. power, when so much evidence points to the Great White North being an imperial power. For example, Canada is an international banking powerhouse. The Globe and Mailreport on TD’s third-quarter results noted that its “international operations – mostly in the United States and... Continue Reading →
Mining people along with minerals
If you take a nation's mineral resources do you have a moral responsibility to also accept its people? On Sunday about 40 people rallied outside a Montreal Metro station against deportations to Guinea. The protesters called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to live up to his "Welcome to Canada" rhetoric and allow asylum seekers from... Continue Reading →
‘Free trade’ has come to mean powerful interests get whatever they want
"Free trade" has become a euphemism for "whatever power wants," no matter how tangentially tied to transfering goods across international borders. In an extreme example, Ottawa recently said its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Israel trumps Canada’s Food and Drugs Act since accurately labelling two wines might undermine a half-century long, illegal, military occupation. Of little connection... Continue Reading →
Are corporations only responsible for making money?
Imagine if a corporation had to justify its existence beyond making money for capitalists. What would happen if a social balance sheet, as well as financial one, had to be filed every year and companies continually in a deficit position would eventually disappear? Consider Barrick Gold. Would the world be better off if the world's... Continue Reading →
Mining companies receive Canadian ‘aid’
Significant sums in Canadian “aid” are spent promoting international mining initiatives. In a press release last week Ontario-based Carube Copper said it acquired over “500 square kilometres of the most prospective ground in Jamaica based on historic showings, the work completed and reported in 1993 by the Canadian International Development Agency (‘CIDA’).” Canadian aid has facilitated... Continue Reading →
Exploitation of Africa often comes with a ‘humanitarian’ smile
What do you call people who try to make people believe what they say but ignore the results of what they do? How about spin-sploiters? After a few years of research I have come to realize that there is a long and ignoble history of Westerners exploiting Africans while touting humanitarian objectives. Unfortunately, this practice... Continue Reading →
Canadian companies well known abroad for bribery
While most Canadians proudly recognize the beaver, the hockey player and the curling broom as symbols of this country, some of us would be made uncomfortable by another enduring emblem of the Great White North: a businessman wearing a maple leaf lapel pin discretely passing a plain manila envelope stuffed with cash to a foreign... Continue Reading →
Canadian foreign policy is to promote corporate greed
Should the primary purpose of Canadian foreign policy be the promotion of corporate interests? Canada’s business class certainly seems to think so. And with little political or ideological opposition to this naked self-interest, Harper’s Conservatives seem only too happy to put the full weight of government behind the promotion of private profits. Recently, the Conservatives... Continue Reading →
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