The Greatest Disrupter of the 21st Century… ?
Ms. Wilson-Raybould said on Facebook on Tuesday night that she will speak with her supporters about what to do next.
“I did what I was SNC-Lavalin required to do and what needed to be done based on principles & values that must always transcend party,” she wrote.
- Trudeau and Liberal Party Expel 2 Ex-Ministers at Center of Storm, New York Times
JM Hamilton (4-7-2019)
Playing out in real time - just North of the US border - is a Canadian story that presents lessons for all Western democracies.
This paradigm has all the things JM Hamilton loves to write about: political dynasty; corporate rule; crony capitalism; a two-tiered justice system; a liberal darling, whose political career maybe on the ropes; the power of monopolies; the corporate co-option of left of center political parties; the rise of feminism & minorities, and the erosion of white male dominance & privilege; and of course, what is likely to be the great disrupter of the 21st Century.
Tout d'abord, un peu de context (First, a little context). Justin Trudeau comes from a privileged background – his father, Pierre, served as Canadian PM (Prime Minister) for 15 years, during the late sixties through the early eighties – and continuing in his father’s considerable wake, is presently the Canadian PM. Mr. Trudeau is the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party (in the US, the equivalent to establishment Dems on economic & foreign policy, while, definitively, more liberal leaning on social policy issues), and entered Canada’s executive office in 2015.
Mr. Trudeau is up for reelection later this year.
In 2015, Mr. Trudeau ran on a fairly liberal platform, with, perhaps, its signature position being a new inclusive leadership. In short, his cabinet would not be made up exclusively of Ottawa & Ontario insiders, or other persons of privilege, but would draw upon women and First Nations' talent, as well. Mr. Trudeau is a champion of the homosexual community, women’s rights & empowerment, and called for – and has followed through upon – highly responsible & heavily regulated cannabis legalization (making Canada the second country to legalize recreational cannabis). Canadian pot stocks have been on a tear, since recreational sales began last year.
On economics, Trudeau is an advocate for Canadian business, and an ardent free trader (albeit w/ a nod to populist upheaval, advocating more progressive trade agreements that attempt to look after the environment, labor, and afford responsible regulation). On foreign policy, the Trudeau government stood alone & was quick to call out the Saudi Monarchy for human rights violations, presciently, even before the Khashoggi killing. In short, as w/ any leader, Trudeau is a champion of his country’s economy. In many respects then, some have referred to PM Trudeau as the Anti-Trump, that is bi-lingual, polished, socially liberal, witty, and urbane.
If the reader is beginning to think JMH is a fan of Mr. Trudeau & his policies, you’d be about 90% accurate. Mr. Trudeau has even paid reparations to well deserving, and long abused, First Nations' children and Canada’s gay community (an issue, reparations, that some Americans are beginning to hear more about, from the 2020 Democratic field of POTUS candidates). As for reservations about the Canadian PM, there’s the issue that has brought down many left of center governments, that is to say, the center-left’s love affair with big business, or crony capitalism.
And before we finally launch into the key issues at hand, and at an abundance of fairness to Mr. Trudeau, Canada is not the United States (which many Canadians are thankful for every day). Canada is resource rich, and much of the economy is resource driven, not the least of which is Alberta’s oil sands. W/ only about 10% of the population of the US, Canada doesn’t have the deep bench of businesses the US possesses to generate employment & jobs. Like the US, many business sectors w/in Canada are concentrated, not the least of which is Canadian banking (which is highly regulated, eminently profitable, and does not posses anywhere near the risk that Wall St. banks present to the US taxpayer).
The bottom line, not only is Mr. Trudeau a liberal, but clearly, he walks the walk; and Canadians enjoy a nationalized healthcare system that frees them up from worry, and allows them considerably more freedom to pursue other activities (whether it be the arts, entrepreneurial endeavors, leisure, or philanthropic pursuits).
Acte deux, le drame (Act Two, The Drama): And now, the scandal. It appears that a Canadian engineering firm, SNC-Lavalin, was - allegedly - caught paying bribes to the Gaddafi/Libyan government. Allegedly, SNC-Lavalin lobbied for deferred prosecution, in lieu of criminal prosecution (which, if found guilty under criminal statute, would have prevented the firm from obtaining Canadian government contracts for a ten year period). Right on time, the Canadian legislative body did their part last year, in passing a deferred prosecution law.
And then came the heat. Canadian Attorney General, Wilson-Raybould, appears to have been placed under considerable pressure to agree to deferred prosecution for SNC-Lavalin, by many members of Mr. Trudeau’s government, including the PM himself. And yet, Ms. Wilson-Raybould would not yield. Even when the firm, allegedly, threatened to relocate, Canada’s first, First Nations Justice Minister would not yield to the demand for deferred prosecution. Ms. Wilson-Raybould was subsequently demoted, from Canada’s AG (aka Justice Minister) to Minister of Veteran Affairs. Shortly after her demotion, Ms. Wilson-Raybould wrote:
It has always been my view that the Attorney General of Canada must be non-partisan, more transparent in the principles that are the basis of decisions, and, in this respect, always willing to speak truth to power. This is how I served throughout my tenure in that role.
In February of this year, Minister Wilson-Raybould resigned from the Trudeau cabinet, followed by another woman cabinet minister, Ms. Jane Philpott (President of the Canadian Treasury Board).
On April 2, 2019, Mr. Trudeau expelled both women from the Liberal Party, citing the division created w/in the party, and a taped conversation. Meanwhile, Trudeau and Liberal Party poll numbers have dropped, particularly among women. The very next day, approximately thirty women turned their backs on the PM, during a young female leadership conference w/in the Canadian House of Commons.
Des leçons, toujours des leçons (Lessons, always lessons): The lessons from this Shakespearean tragedy are too numerous to count, and yet, several core truths w/ application to the US, and many Western democracies, are striking. W/in the US, Dems in particuar should take note.
Let’s start with the obvious :
The whole SNC-Lavalin Affair speaks to the defective form (i.e. crony) of capitalism that has infected Western economies and governments. Moreover, it speaks to a two-tiered justice system, whereby w/ political influence, size & scale, the elite and multinationals receive deferred prosecution (a slap on the wrist), whereas citizens and smaller business owners would face criminal prosecution (& likely, jail time, for the same criminal infractions). It is this very brand of crony government, and the rigged economy, that citizens throughout the West are up in arms about, as reflected in the recent rejection of center left & right political parties.
The Canadian example is spot on w/in the US. Here in America, corporations & multinationals have amassed so much power – through uncontrolled concentration – that they, directly & indirectly, dictate economic and public policy to the various branches of US government and The Federal Reserve. Regulatory & government capture is the order of the day, at the expense of the consumer, labor, innovation, opportunity, and ever-increasing wage & wealthy inequality. Monopolies operating w/in the US take advantage of the US government and markets, while moving core operations offshore to mitigate taxes and exploit EM labor. The threat of corporations cutting jobs - if they do not get their way on any number of issues - is nothing exclusive to Canada; but is ever present w/in the US as well… and is little more than extortion.
The SNC-Lavalin Affair draws attention to the fact that it is no longer democratic/representative government that is calling the shots, but rather, multinationals & monopolies. Moreover, while CEOs and their lobbyist are always crying out for greater scale, and thereby, less competition… the resulting monopolies give politicians – who might like to do the right thing – far less room to maneuver. In short, politicians – over time - have placed a great deal of the nation’s economic output w/in chosen industries, that have consolidated into cartel & monopoly. So that, by way of example, instead of allowing Wall Street banks to fail (circa 2008), instead, the public witnessed taxpayer funded bailouts for US banks and the billionaire class (ongoing to this very day). And possibly arriving soon, another round of Fed QE, all the better to goose a range bound stock market.
And the great disrupter of the 21st Century? My guess is that it won’t be AI, and is not likely to be automation, or a rising China totalitarian menace… of course, anyone of these are capable of providing considerable disruption to world economies and governments. But rather, the great disrupter of the 21st Century is likely to be women. Women have been put upon for centuries, and in some countries are, to this very day, treated like chattel, property, and second-class citizens. Women, in particular, know what it is like to be the victims of a crony – male dominated– system, where they, homosexuals, and minorities are exploited, persecuted, & often victims of patriarchal & paternalistic attitudes. Too many women are treated w/ condescension by their white male colleagues.
This means, many women – in the interests of taking one for the team, or surrendering ethics & values – aren’t likely to play ball.
That’s not to say women aren’t capable, like men, of great corruption (or averting their eyes - like men - to go along and get along); but as women rise up in the ranks w/in business and government, certainly more women than men are likely to call attention to corruption, unfairness, and inequities w/in the system (as they, and their children, are often the victims of same). In the business world, it’s been documented that more gender diverse corporate boards, and management teams, produce better results for the company. Taking one for the team, or being a team player, is not in the long-term interests of the team – or a nation – if the team is corrupt or playing by rules that constitute a double standard or are unethical.
Calling out a lack of ethics w/in a team doesn’t make one a traitor, it makes one a leader, seeking to improve the team and/or a nation.
In the SNC-Lavalin Affair, Mr. Trudeau (as much as it pains me to write this) appears to have chosen party and power, before ethics and policy. The counter argument against Mr. Trudeau, and the Liberal Party, is that as the leader of the team, the PM should have shown his support for his cabinet ministers/team members, Madams Wilson-Raybould & Philpott, over what appears to be a corrupt Canadian multinational looking to escape justice.
Meanwhile, former Ministers Wilson-Raybould & Philpott, as they have admitted, have shown the audacity & bravery to speak truth to power.
In another era, these women would have never seen their respective positions of power (and that’s to Mr. Trudeau’s credit); as heretics & iconoclasts, these women would have likely been burned at the stake, by an all white male jury. Most fortunately, we live in a new era, and women are calling men out on centuries of abuse, gross corruption, and global warfare, itself…. And the world already is, and will likely become, a much better place, as women rise w/in power structures (formerly the exclusive domain of men).
Here in the states, some of the more dynamic POTUS candidates, today, are women of considerable stature, brimming w/ excellent ideas, and women who have refused to join the male insider’s club. Of course, JMH writes of Senator Elizabeth Warren & Representative Tulsi Gabbard.
At the end of the day, it’s great to be a team player, but if the team is corrupt, it’s time to pick up the ball and head home. Canadian Ministers Wilson-Raybould & Philpott should be heralded for having the bravery & brass ovaries to call it as they see it. At risk to their careers & for the betterment of Canada, they spoke – and continue to speak - truth to power.
These women are an example to us all.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2019
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