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It is my hope that enough Liberals will open their eyes to what the Corporatist faction of their party is up to, and put a stop to it. At that point I would be willing to bridge the other differences between the NDP and the Liberals and look for a true Centre Left option. But as long as a significant number of the Leaders of the Liberals support the destruction of Canada as a sovereign nation, this cannot happen. I am in the process of researching a long article on North American Union, and the following is an unedited segment of my rough draft:
Power Corporation: The company is controlled by Paul Desmarais, Sr.. Paul Desmarais, Jr. is one of thirty members of the North American Competitiveness Council, a group whose advice directs the policies of North American Security and Prosperity Partnership. Additionally, the company has long been a close ally of the Liberal Party of Canada, although former or current members of other Canadian political parties have also worked for Power Corp. A brief summary of the connections between Power Corp. and those with political power in Canada is below.
Former Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin, was hired in the 1960s to work for Paul Desmarais, Sr. by Maurice Strong. Martin became President of Canada Steamship Lines, a subsidiary of Power Corp., and in 1981 Desmarais sold the company to Martin and a partner. Martin went on to make his personal fortune as an owner of CSL.
Former Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien sat on the board of Power Corp. subsidiary Consolidated Bathurst in the late 1980s before he became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Chrétien’s daughter France is married to the son of Paul Desmarais, Sr., André. Also Chrétien’s chief of staff Eddie Goldenberg worked in the past for Power Corp.
Former Prime Minister of Canada, the late Pierre Trudeau, served in the mid-1990s on Power Corp.’s international advisory board. Trudeau’s assistant Ted Johnson also worked for Power Corp. During the Trudeau administration Michael Pitfield held a variety of positions in government but during his time in the private sector he was at one time a Vice-Chairman of Power Corp. and is currently listed as a Director Emeritus.
Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney also has a relationship with Power Corporation. Mulroney’s friend Ian MacDonald described Desmarais as “Mulroney’s mentor in the business world,” and it is believed that Mulroney has done legal work for Power Corp. since the end of his term as Prime Minister. Additionally, former Mulroney Minister of Transport Don Mazankowski is currently Power Corp.’s company director.
Former Premiers of Ontario William Davis and John Robarts of the Progressive Conservatives have both sat on Power Corp.’s national advisory board. John Rae, the brother of former NDP Premier Bob Rae, currently serves as Power Corp.’s Executive Vice President. ( John Rae is also a long time advisor to the Federal Liberals, and was instrumental in bringing the prodigal Bob Rae to the Liberals)
Former Premier of Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson, Jr. worked for Power Corp. from 1973 to 1981 and in the last three years of this term was a Vice-President in the company.
Former member of the Liberal Party of Canada Maurice Strong became President of Power Corp. by his mid-thirties. He had a role in the creation of the Canadian International Development Agency and in 1976 he was appointed to run Petro-Canada. He later worked for the United Nations.
Power Corp.’s international advisory board has featured individuals such as former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, former oil minister of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, former head of the US Federal Reserve Board Paul Volcker, and the previously mentioned former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.
The former Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec’s President and CEO Henri-Paul Rousseau became the vice-chairman of the company and a member of the board of directors of Power Corporation.
Times have changed in terms of donations to political parties. But John Rae, (Bobby’s big brother) is still on the Power payroll while working almost full time as a Liberal advisor. How many others?
How many employees of major Western oil interests work for Harper’s Conservatives?
How much money is given to third party “think tanks” and outfits like the “National Citizen’s Coalition” which do tons of the leg work for the Conservative party and others that do the same for the Liberals?
How many pols are promised lucrative board appointments in return for a job well done? Can you say Manley? Can you say Mulroney? Here’s what John Manley has been uo to just before he took the job to whitewash the extension of the Afghan mission for Harper and his supporters WITHIN the Liberal Party: Manley was named to the Board of Directors of telecommunications firm Nortel Networks. On January 27, 2005, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He is also chair of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, a project of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. In March 2005, the Task Force released a report that advocated a North American union, an economic union between Canada, Mexico and the United States which would resemble the European Union. This is the guy that many Liberal insiders wanted as leader.
I hope to have a completed article prepared in about a month. There will be more on the Liberals, MUCH MUCH more on the Conservatives , and revealing expose on the large number of bilateral organizations that are already establishing the infrastructure of a North American Union. All of this, and it has never been debated in Parliament, and never exposed in a meaningful way in the main stream media. We will be the first nation in the world to lose our independance by stealth and with the full co-operation of our leaders.
CK wrote in her article about Canada 150: “sadly, even a few progressives who still insist on nit-picking.” about some who will remain critical of the Liberals.
My “Comrade des plumes” will forgive me I hope, if I pick at a rather large nit.
Corporate “faction”? Well, yes, but it really is the leadership of the party which is the crucial and decisive point.
Jim, what is your opinion of the leanings of the current leadership of the LPC?
NO!!! you’re not forgiven!! Kidding! Kidding! Thought I’d open with a joke.
I understand whate you’re saying about the corporate faction; fact is it’s also with the Harpercons. Probably more so. Unfortunately, corporations are here to stay within political parties. Cons too.
I am suspecting that for several years now, lobbiests are becoming as powerful to our parties as they are in the U.S. I suspect that’s another reason. Sad but true.
In my world, no one is more frightening that Steve the Socon and his evangelical ministers and for me, he needs to get out of office even if it means an Iggy PM.
for some reason, the video didn’t embed itself on my post “Mary Mary Quite Contrary”. I will attempt to fix that when I get home from teh office (Youtube is banned where I work) and publish and update: I think more people should see that not so subtle hint of Steve’s intentions.
All folks who are critical of the Liberals and whatever other problems exist in our political system: Unfortunately, with a mostly apathetic Canadian population who seems content to swallow whatever kool-aid du mois is serving up. Those kind of things depend on the Canadian population to accomplish; not the politicians themselves. How does one wake up a bunch of apathetic Canadians and convince them that the corporate media kool-aid is too toxic to swallow?
Unfortunately, all those improvement some ask for not going to happen under a Harper minority or majority. Believe me, Harper will get his coveted majority in an election which I am 99.5% certain will occur this fall. In fact, life will get far worse for us under a Harpercn majority.
With Iggy, I see it remaining pretty much the status quo;.
If my only choices are status quo or worse: I think it’s a no brainer.
As I’ve said. Get rid of St-stevie and then lobby for change: and, as I’ve said, it will be up to us (grassroots movement of some kind) to do it. Largely in part, we’eve deteriorated because of ourselves.
As for NDP, they will never ever govern. Canadians were never that progressive to begin with (If they were; Broadbent would have governed at least one term, instead of 2 Mulroney massive majorities; yes, even a second one in spite of his screw-ups during first term) and nowadays, the majority centrists and right of center folks are being steered on Steve’s sharp right.
No, the best teh NDP can ever hope for to come close to governing is a coalition. Unfortunately, that ain’t about to happen, if Chantal Hebert’s analysis holds true, it is because of those majority centrists who would more than likely be turned off by NDP. I usually don’t like Chantal Hebert, but what she said on this subject made perfect sense.
Left Hand, I do look forward to your future posts on this subject. Lord knows we’re never going to get these truths from the Corporate media machine
A letter I wrote to Michael Ignatieff:
Dear Mr. Ignatieff,
I am researching an article on North American Union, and in the process, have found a significant number of highly placed members and former members of the Liberal Party of Canada who appear to have taken a position strongly in favour of North American Union. Specifically, John Manley wrote a report in 2005 which recommended NAU, and Paul Demarais Jr,, of Power Corporation fame, the sometime employer of at least four Canadian Prime Ministers, and a member of the S.P.P. advisory council clearly are in favour.
As current leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, could you outline your position on North American Union? Also could you tell me what the official position of the Liberal Party of Canada is on that topic (if any)
Sincerely,
I will share any reply I receive.
ck Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 4:57 PM
Well, if it’s a response or further research that really can’t be found in today’s corporate media, please do share it. I, for one, look forward to it.