Letter to the Editor published in The Brunswickan (Fredericton), 6 November 2003
Reports have surfaced, confirming that federal Liberal cabinet ministers received favours from the Irving corporation. Minister of Labour Claudette Bradshaw hitched a free ride in an Irving jet. Justice Minister Allen Rock received similar perks of office. Conservative MP and former Saint John mayor Elsie Wayne has also flown for free a la Irving. Too bad the fruits of the Irving gravy train are not distributed more equally.
This should be no surprise to thinking people. Rather, it confirms what we have long suspected: that an economic and political oligarchy rules this province and country. Through an intricate web of personal favours, media concentration, and class interest, the wealthiest Canadians control the levers of government, ensuring public polices defend, rather than redistribute, power and privilege.
This fact is starkly demonstrated by a $55-million federal grant to Irving to shutdown the Saint John shipyard. The logic evades me. Public dollars are being handed over to the richest family in New Brunswick, to eliminate an economic enterprise as well as the jobs and opportunity it affords? Prime Minister Paul Martin has already confirmed that this deal will go through once he assumes power next year.
If the Chretien gang demonstrated frequent ethical lapses, the Martin government will only get worse. Our next political leader is a former owner of one of the largest shipping companies in Canada – Canadian Steamship Lines. There is a ship named after his father: the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin. In a compelling display of patriotism, Paul Martin Jr. sailed his ships under foreign flags, such as that of Liberia, to avoid paying pesky taxes to the Canadian government. To some this would be considered high treason. To others, astute business practices.
As Finance Minister, Paul Martin delivered over $60 billion dollars in tax cuts, the majority to corporations such as Irving. In the same period, transfer payments to universities and hospitals were slashed, leading to a doubling in tuition barriers and the privatization of healthcare jobs and services.
Our political and economic system would be a tragedy, if it weren’t such a glaring farce.
Political participation is sorely lacking in this country. Many Canadians are still blinded by corporate media lies, from Irving mouthpieces such as the Daily Gleaner and the Telegraph-Journal. Those who have learned to think critically too often retreat into the paralyzing corners of cynicism and defeat.
Political participation is no longer an option. It is a moral imperative to everyone who believes that poverty and unemployment have no place in a country such as Canada, vested with trillions of dollars in resource wealth and human capital.
It is time for the students and faculty at UNB to descend from their Ivory Tower and join the larger community in the streets and in the parliaments of this country. The rule of Irving, Martin and their gang must be brought to an end. We must spread the idea that a more cooperative and just social order can be established in our time.
