Dear editor:

I find that a great many Canadians are still deceived into believing that we have parliamentary democracy in Canada and that the majority of MPs we elect serve the best interests of their constituents.

The reality is that if MPs did control Parliament, foreign takeover of Canadian enterprises, land, and resources would be banned; Canada’s wealthy corporate elite would not be able to use tax havens and loopholes to get away without paying their fair share of taxes; international petroleum corporations would not be getting away with scandalously low oil and gas royalties; the export of military hardware would not be a major industry in Canada; Canadian troops would not be playing a combat role in a futile war; social programs and infrastructure replacement would be adequately funded; and the list goes on and on.

The real power in Ottawa lies with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), a non-partisan organization made up of about 150 chief executive officers of leading Canadian enterprises. They maintain a force of several thousand lobbyists in Ottawa who like to call themselves “government affairs consultants.” Their function is to influence government policy in favour of their clients and to maintain a constant vigil to ensure that their power and interests are not infringed. They accomplish this by arranging “information” meetings with government representatives, their aids, senior civil servants, and their advisors. They may also “entertain” their targets with a view to achieving their cooperation.

It is my conviction that the major decisions in Ottawa originate in private corporate boardrooms.

Parliament’s role is to merely to rubber stamp them and to create the illusion that power lies with the common people. Instead of calling our system of government a “democracy,” I believe it would be more correctly named a “corpocracy.”

Yours truly,
William Dascavich
Edmonton