THE RECORD
October 04, 2000

Fiat Lux

by Ed Deak

Just before I sat down to write this column the news of Pierre Trudeau's passing came on. I have lived under a lot of politicians and Prime Ministers in my time, including Churchill in Britain, but the only two I have learned to respect were Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau in Canada, with Trudeau outshining the rest by a country mile.

When I think of the pathetic excuses for politicians we have since Trudeau's time I almost want to cry. I can't imagine Trudeau signing Canada away with phony free trade deals, like the FTA, NAFTA, WTO and now the worst horror of them all, the coming Free Trade Areas of the Americas. I can't imagine Trudeau permitting some secret star chamber decisions by three trade lawyers, meeting in secret, overruling the democratic decision making rights and constitutional freedoms of Canadians, so that some multinationals can come in and strip the country bare, firing people by the thousands in the process.

Remember Trudeau's much maligned NEP, or National Energy Policy? It was set up to protect Canadians from the vagaries of the so called "free markets" and to cushion out the wild fluctuations in energy prices. The conservatives, especially in Alberta, were hysterical in condemnation of any regulations protecting the citizenry. After years of bashing the NEP in Parliament the first thing the Mulroney gang has done was to jump into free trade negotiations with the USA and do away with the NEP. Now we reap the bitter harvest of monetary economics, where human beings don't count.
Thanks to our corporate friends who now own the Liberal/PC/Alliance coalition we don't have any national energy policy any longer and our oil and natural gas prices are going out of sight. I find it very ironic when people are complaining against the doubling of natural gas prices in eighteen months and of course, directed by the media, blame the BC government for it. They say : "It is our natural gas, why do we have to pay such exorbitant prices?, Why doesn't the government do something ?"

Well friends, the government is powerless because our natural gas is no longer "ours." It has been sold by Messrs. Mulroney and Chrétien to globalization, privatization and deregulation. It is now global property and everybody's free to come and take it provided they fill the corporate coffers and let the devil take the people of BC. The BC government has no right to interfere. If they'd try to lower the costs to BC residents the full force of the NAFTA and WTO Mafia enforcers would descend upon us. As they will sooner or later anyway, over our still very low electricity prices. With privatization and deregulation the people in California and in other states have had 300 percent increases in their electric bills within a few months. Yet, the push is on for more deregulation and more sellouts. Ask Gordon Campbell what his plans are for ICBC and BC Hydro?

Those high prices are just around the corner for BC. The gas industry is not completely deregulated yet, for another year or so. But then, expect a major jump in natural gas prices that could multiply the present heating costs for BC families. How long will these natural gas reserves last? The corporations in charge are only concerned with the next quarterly profit report and couldn't care less. If we have a very cold winter, we can expect not only more cost rises, but also shortages. Meanwhile they are pushing more of it across the border, like that power station planned for Sumas.

What our free traders are not talking about is that under their rules once the flow of a commodity starts across a border, it can not be stopped. The gas, oil, or whatever, must be pumped out to the last drop without any rights left for any level of government for conservation, or reasons of public protection. If the demand in the US increases and they are paying a higher price the corporations have the right to cut supplies off to BC users and let them freeze, while sitting on still large, but diminishing gas reserves. Anybody who doubts my statements is welcome to ask any trade lawyer, or even economist to prove me wrong. Of course, the economists will claim that all these are important steps to globalized wealth creation. The only things they can not show are the places where it had created any wealth, except in the bank accounts of a few who already have too much.

I was watching Jean Chrétien on TV, eulogizing over Trudeau in the House, how he "made us proud." Yes, Jean, Trudeau has made us proud to be Canadians so that you can come and sell the whole country down the river. You are aided and abetted by the Loyal Opposition of Day and Clark, not to mention Harris, Klein and Campbell, clamouring to get their hands on what is left so they can sell the last crumbs.

So, here we are now the mere shadows of what we were in Trudeau's time, spineless satellites, wholly owned subsidiaries to a daily growing corporate dictatorship. In a way I'm glad Trudeau will no longer have see the Canada where the democratic rights of citizens he fought for so long are subjugated to the profit mills of multinational corporations.

Good-bye Pierre, it was an honour to have known a person like you...................

Copyright (c) 2000, West's International