‘Canada’s game’ (I)

Predictably, the Canada and the United States men’s team have been eliminated from the 2022 Winter Olympics, lasting only to the quarter-finals. Congratulations to Sweden and Slovakia and all the athletes.

Associated Press, imperialist media and CBC fakes photos from Cuba

Government supporters gathering at the Máximo Gómez monument in Havana on Sunday. Photograph: Eliana Aponte/Associated Press

By TONY SEED*

(July 13, updated July 16, 23, 27) – On July 12, 2021 the London Guardian newspaper published a sensational decontextualized article on riots in Cuba. Along with other “serious” newspapers on every continent throughout the world, it claimed that “thousands took to the streets in cities throughout the island, demonstrating against food shortages, high prices and communist rule.”

Nineteen tragic facts about the COVID-19 economy in the US

September 18 demonstration in Chicago of some 1,000 workers poured into downtown Chicago. Over 4,000 University of Illinois at Chicago workers from SEIU Local 73 and 800 nurses, members of the Illinois Nurses Association, walked off the job demanding that administrators “respect us, protect us and pay us.” Nurses initially walked out Sept. 12 and were joined by thousands of Local 73 workers on Sept. 14. All were demanding safe working conditions, including sufficient personal protective equipment with increased staffing and a living wage.

By Bill Quigley, December 11, 2020

87 million.

87 million workers will lose federally mandated COVID sick leave at the end of December unless Congress acts to extend the law.

The Green Face of BlackRock

Discussion on the Direction of the Economy | PETER EWART

“The Great Reset”

At a time when youth, workers and people all over the globe have deep concerns about climate change, the environment, and the political and economic system itself, influential factions of the global financial oligarchy are calling for a “Great Reset” of the financial system in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; or to put it another way a “better” or “repurposed” capitalism, one which can supposedly ensure its preservation. Such calls for a “systemic change” and a return to “stakeholder capitalism,” especially in regards to climate change, are coming from various organizations of the North American and European oligarchies including the World Economic Forum,[1][2] U.S. Business Roundtable,[3] Climate Action 100+,[4] and other oligarchic bodies.

Canada’s top 20 billionaires get richer by the day

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in a new report says that Canada’s top 20 richest billionaires have increased their collective wealth by $37 billion since March, when COVID-related lockdowns and closures began across the country.

The appropriate political response to the Speech from The Throne (2)

Nation-Wrecking No! Stop Paying the Rich; Increase Investments in Social Programs!

On August 17, the Prime Minister asked the Governor-General to prorogue the first session of the 43rd Parliament. The second session opened on September 23 with a Speech from The Throne in which Prime Minister Trudeau said he will lay out his government’s “new approach” and the House of Commons will have the opportunity to determine its confidence in his Government.

The new approach is rooted in the claim that the government is now addressing the growing inequalities in the society, championing the 99 per cent against the one per cent. The pandemic didn’t exist at the time of the last Throne Speech; it is a new situation and Canada can’t go back to the old status quo, Trudeau said at a press conference.

The role of Anglo-American financiers in preparing World War II

The Merchants of Death – lithograph by Mabel Dwight

By Valentin Katasonov 

This article was originally published in 2015 by Strategic Culture Foundation and also reproduced by TML Weekly at that time. We are republishing it today to enlighten readers on the role played by international financiers in World War II and debunk the Anglo-American falsification which blames the Soviet Union for that tragedy so as to exonerate themselves.

The article also clearly examines the origins of the international financial institutions at a time the Trudeau government and provincial governments are once against indebting the country to private interests to unprecedented levels based on the fraudulent claim that this is how to achieve economic recovery. Not only that, the Trudeau government likes to claim that Canada’s adherence to these international financial institutions makes it democratic and provides proof of its multilateralism. The material in this article provides ample information which shows that there are obviously various kinds of multilateralism with various kinds of aims and not all of them serve Canada. This the Trudeau and other governments in Canada do not want discussed.

Falsifications about the origins of the Second World War

Information picket against the glorification of Nazism, Ottawa, August 21, 2020.

By Dougal MacDonald 

The government of Canada declared August 23 Black Ribbon Day to spread lies which blame the former Soviet Union for starting the Second World War. The Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler Germany on August 23, 1939 which the government of Canada claims was a “military alliance” to take joint military action against some third country. But the pact contained no such agreement. The agreement was only that the two countries would not attack each other.

Foxes in the henhouse – Who decides where government bailout money goes?

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, trillions of bailout dollars in the U.S. and Canada are about to be fire-hosed into particular areas of the economy. Given that this is public money, who decides where and to whom these funds should go? | PETER EWART

How the Trudeau Liberals seized emergency police powers behind the backs of Canadians, and what we can do

No to secret deals! Parliamentary negotiations should be broadcast live! | TML Weekly commentary

The cartel parties which have seats in the Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-13, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, on March 25. The bill was negotiated between the parties and with business interests and between the Premiers in secret negotiations behind the backs of Canadians. It was adopted by both the House of Commons and Senate and given Royal Assent in the name of protecting Canadians during the coronavirus pandemic.

Beware of the fend-for-yourself aspect of federal economic response to COVID-19

Our Security Lies in the Fight to Defend the Rights of All | TML Weekly

This past week the federal government made a series of announcements which it says are aimed at coping with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Government ministers have repeatedly stated that their aim is not perfection but speed and asked for the cooperation of the public, if implementation does not go smoothly. Overall, an impression is created that the government has everything under control and Canadians can rest assured they are being looked after.

The Calgary stadium swindle (II)

Exactly how bad is the new Calgary Flames arena deal? Neil deMause writes in the Field of Schemes website:

(July 26) – With all of four days of public comment period (expiring today at noon, July 26) allowed before the Calgary city council votes next week on its Flames arena plan, the media have been commenting like crazy on how it’s either terrific or godawful. Among the takes:

The latest Calgary stadium swindle (I)

After a closed meeting behind the backs of the people on July 22, the Calgary city council announced an outrageous pay-the-rich deal with the owners of the Calgary Flames of the NHL for a new 19,000-seat arena. It will be built on current Calgary Stampede parking lots to replace the Saddledome. Details include:

Bombardier debacle shows what it means for Quebec to be ‘open for business’

By K.C. ADAMS

The U.S. warmongers of Boeing and the Pentagon have crushed Bombardier’s Canadian commercial jet production. While doing so, they also seized Brazil’s Embraer commercial jet production this past July. The anti-social pro-U.S. coup government of Brazil appears to have approved the Boeing takeover of Embraer. The former Brazilian governments of Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff opposed the U.S. war profiteers gaining control of Embraer. However, Rousseff was removed from office via a parliamentary coup in 2016 and Lula was unjustly imprisoned and blocked from running again for office this year. The foreign seizure of both Embraer and Bombardier’s commercial jet sectors leaves Boeing and the Pentagon in face-to-face open combat for dominance with Airbus and its European backers.

GM shutdown, the loss of jobs and manufacturing value must be stopped

Time for a new direction for the economy under the control of Canadians! | K.C. ADAMS

Unifor 222 press conference, November 26, 2018, demands GM keep Oshawa plant producing.

GM executives in Detroit have announced the closure of an auto assembly plant they control in Oshawa, Ontario. The shutdown will terminate the direct employment of 2,522 auto workers, members of Unifor Local 222 and a large number of salaried workers, and result in an enormous loss of value for the Canadian economy and community.

Bombardier economy in turmoil

Necessity for a new pro-social outlook and direction for the economy | K.C. ADAMS

For the second time in two years, Bombardier has announced massive cuts to its workforce. In 2016, the global oligopoly fired 7,000 workers; this time another 5,000 workers will be dismissed: 2,500 workers in Quebec, another 500 in Ontario and 2,000 elsewhere with Belfast in the north of Ireland the most probable target.

On the US attack against Oshawa auto workers

In the same breath as they pass brutal anti-worker legislation to criminalize the postal workers, the cartel parties ooze sympathy for the auto workers in Oshawa. The pundits are brought to the fore by the media to cynically tell the workers “to move on” and “prepare for the new economy” featuring robotics and automated cars. The president of Unifor is right when he says this is an attack on both the workers and the nation but is not he the one who cast his lot with NAFTA and split the CLC and now fulminates how he has been “betrayed” and will “fight.” That will be a good thing!

Anna Burns may have won the Booker, but monopoly publishers are the real victors

The Man Booker rules make submissions from small publishers very tricky because of the size of the print run required and the amount of money that involves. Because of this, a win can be a drain rather than a boost, and costs can outstrip sales if you don’t win.

Who is singing now?

By TONY SEED

(July 11, revised July 19) – The world has been saved from an England-France Brexit final at the 2018 World Cup, renditions of “Three Lions” and “Rule Britannia” in the stadiums, and the tsunami of British chauvinism unashamedly embraced by the Canadian sports media.

What goes around, comes around. The dodgy English threw their final match in the opening round with Belgium back on June 28 with the pretext of resting players and avoiding injuries for the Round of 16. “Sometimes, you have to make decisions with the bigger picture, and that’s what I did tonight,” rationalized head coach Gareth Southgate at the time – as if the decision was his and his alone. That bigger picture seems to have included getting a better draw in the knockout stage, that is, to avoid Brazil and therein build the betting pool, the TV market, the revenues of the English Football Association, and “hearts and minds” diversion from the crisis at home – giving a new definition to match fixing and a level playing field. Such are the elastic ethics of England. 

No consent – No pipeline! Canadian’s opposition to Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project

Protesters block the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain facility, March 17, 2018.

Sobeys attacks workers and economy in Western Canada

Whose Economy? Who Decides? | Workers’ Forum

Since Sobeys’ 2013 takeover of Safeway in Western Canada, it has closed over 50 stores within its empire affecting thousands of workers and those who relied on those locations for groceries and other supplies. Fifty store closures alone were announced in June 2014, that the company asserted “logically follow the acquisition of Canada Safeway.” These included Sobeys, Safeway and IGA stores in the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, with a majority in Western Canada.

Who owns Amtrak?

The name Amtrak comes from a combination of “American” and “track.” The USA does not have a national passenger rail system, let alone a publicly-owned system.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is a government-owned corporation established as a product of the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, to provide intercity passenger train service throughout the United States. It was created by the Richard Nixon presidency largely to protect the private railroads (today’s Class I freight railroads) from their obligation of having to run money-losing passenger routes. The U.S. government owns the preferred stock while private rail companies, including Canadian Pacific and Canadian Rail, own the common stock. Later the Congress stripped preferred shares of voting rights and any liquidation preference, effectively leaving common shareholders in control. Curiously, there has never been a shareholder’s meeting.

Turkish-ISIL oil trade: The role of Britain, Israel and the Kurdistan Regional Government (III)

Turkish officials were involved in illegal transport of oil from Iraq long before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS/IS/DAESH). Their illegal trade expanded to the Syrian Arab Republic with the intensification of the conflict in Syria. Turkey, however, is not the only player involved in the illegal oil trade in Syria and Iraq. The operations of the Anglo-Turkish company Genel Energy PLC, which works in Iraqi Kurdistan and Malta, illustrates the constellation of financial and energy sector interests involved | MAHDI DARIUS NAZEMROAYA

‘Panama Papers’: It’s actually quite simple – corporate taxation is a fraud

No information has been released so far in “The Panama Papers” from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with all its bells and whistles about any U.S.  or Canadian millionaires, monopolies or government officials hiding wealth in offshore tax havens. The six Canadians of the 350 reportedly in the data dump who have been identified so far by the collaborating media in this country, the Toronto Star and the CBC, are small fish, e.g., a sports physician from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

What did you expect?

Canada is a corporate tax haven. It is no mystery.

Looking at the Trudeau budget

The federal government released its 2016 budget on March 22, which it calls Growing the Middle Class. The March 26 issue of TML Weekly  features part one of a series “Looking at the Budget,” which points out that the “aim of the Liberal budget is found in the details.”

No payoff to US Steel! Keep Stelco producing!

Unite to defeat monopoly right!

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) denounces with utmost contempt the CCAA ruling that sanctions not only the bogus claim of U.S. Steel on the remaining Stelco assets but also its deliberate wrecking and liquidation of a productive Canadian asset. The ruling under the anti-social authority of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) puts at risk the pensions of 20,000 retired and retiring steelworkers and salaried employees of the Stelco steelworks in Hamilton and Nanticoke and further threatens the livelihoods of the remaining employees.

Nepean – Q & A from Electors: Should the largest corporations pay ‘their fair share’?

Q: The NDP talks about bringing in measures to make Canada’s largest corporations “start paying something resembling their fair share,” as Tom Mulcair put it during the Globe and Mail debate on the economy. Can you comment on this idea of the largest corporations paying “their fair share”?

A: The adjective “fair” is subjective and should not be used in economic science. Corporate income tax on declared net profit or income is not a modern method to raise public revenue, neither is individual taxation. The large corporations employ scores of tax accountants to find loopholes to drive down their income tax. Assessing the tax on net income allows corporations to fix their accounts in their favour, especially given the fact that company accounts are normally considered private unless a tax audit is ordered.

Build the workers’ press to oppose media monopolization: The working class must have its own voice!

Samples of the Party and non-Party press on display at the celebration marking the 44th anniversary of the Party press, Etobicoke, August 23, 2014.

BY DOUGAL MacDONALD

The U.S.-controlled media monopoly Postmedia announced on October 9 that it had purchased the Sun Media chain, the English-language publications of the Peladeau media monopoly, Quebecor, for $316 million. The deal gives Postmedia control of the five daily Sun newspapers in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg; 27 small-market dailies; 140 weeklies; the London Free Press and numerous other media properties. Postmedia already owns, among other properties, the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Regina Leader-Post, Ottawa Citizen, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Windsor Star, Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province. The purchase of Sun Media still requires regulatory approval from the federal Competition Bureau.

North American Energy Summit organized by Goldman Sachs

Strategy for control of energy resources

In June of this year, the major monopoly financier Goldman Sachs organized a North American Energy Summit at their New York City headquarters. According to their webpage, the summit “brought together the most thoughtful and influential public and private sector decision-makers – including leading CEO, public sector officials, and experts from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as key global investors and companies involved in the North American energy sector – to discuss how the region can achieve its energy potential.”

Vice President Joe Biden gave the keynote address. President Pena of Mexico participated, as did Canadian Ministers of Foreign Affairs John Baird, Joseph Oliver of Finance and Greg Rickford of Natural Resources and the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.

Word. UKRAINE – What is the endgame?

Oligarchic topography of Ukraine

Screenshot of Prof Andrei Fursov

For the information of readers, we are publishing extensive excerpts from a wide ranging analysis of the 2013-2014 situation in Ukraine, its antecedents and consequences from the perspective of a senior Russian academic, ANDREI FURSOV, director of the Centre of Russian Studies. This is an unofficial transcription of a recent video lecture published on Wikispooks, The Great Game. I recommend watching it first, to see for yourself the integrity and outlook of the analyst. It is one hour, in Russian, but with good English subtitles. Prof Fursov analyzes the different vested interests in combat, their tactics and strategy, in an international context with lots of facts. The section on the Ukrainian oligarchs is very informative. His outlook might be described as Russian chauvinistic. One of his main theses rings very true: “he who is reactive is doomed.” (Update May 12: The video of the discussion following the lecture was just published on Youtube on May 10th. It is 100 minutes in length in Russian with subtitles in English, and may be viewed here.