It is with a jaundiced eye that many view the current hoopla over election reform. Remaining with the present or switching to another electoral system is argued as somehow being more democratic. But once elected by whatever system; does this change the true nature of governance? Political parties and their inhabitants are fronts for special interest groups, which is largely hidden from the public.
The real nature of the democratic process happens after an election. It is then a case of politicians making decisions on whether rank and file activists within society have any voice at all in comparison with the paid lobbyists that have exclusive access to them and the ‘inducements’ lobbyists bring with them. This is actually where the supposed democratic rubber meets the road.
The Site C dam and the spin in the aftermath is a prime example. This project makes little economic sense to the average B.C. resident. But it certainly has made sense to the politicians on both sides and to those corporate entities who have their collective ears. There are much larger factors at play in this mega-project than the public is being allowed to know but that is known in the backrooms where such projects are hatched. Will this project bankrupt BC Hydro - and like Ontario One - then become a prime target for privatization? If BC Hydro should be privatized then under NAFTA the water behind the dam becomes a privately-owned commodity. Enter then the North American Water and Power Alliance, a corporate construct with plans for a continental wide private-for-profit owned electrical grid and continental wide water diversion plans under a private-for-profit corporate plan. This is just one part of a corporate drive to privatize everything that the people own in common, after which the people can expect to pay the global price for the commodity or service that has been privatized.
B.R. Fuller
Nelson