Jagmeet, Erin, Justin - Whose Side Are They Really On? Not Yours.

 

For Linda McQuaig, what the leaders say isn't nearly as important as what they won't say. From Canadian Dimension.

For sure, there’s talk about climate change—how low our emissions must go, how the parties’ climate plans compare, etc. But rarely does such talk zero in on the corporate crowd that keeps real climate action off the agenda and even manages to push a “climate warrior” government to purchase an oil pipeline, enabling ever higher emissions.

This failure to shine a spotlight on the real force blocking climate progress leads to a sense of hopelessness. It feels like we’re up against human stupidity when we’re really up against a highly organized group of cunning and ruthless corporate barons with the biggest war-chest of all time and legions of political and business lackies working tirelessly on their behalf.

This problem of overwhelming corporate power—and its effective veto over key areas of public policy—isn’t confined to the fossil fuel industry, but the stakes there are particularly high.

Curbing the power of corporations and those who own them—so we can have a future—should be our top priority. At the very least, it should be an election issue.

Almost a century ago, US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis observed: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

That could be updated: “We can have a world that is livable for humans or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few; but we can’t have both.”

That’s the real choice on the ballot on September 20. The rest is just talkity-talk.