CANADIAN LOSS OF DEMOCRACY

This week's Woolwich Observer has another shocking but nevertheless incisive Editorial by Steve Kannon titled "The game less rigged, local elections offer a real chance at democracy". Steve gives facts and data to support his thesis that Canadian democracy is essentially lost to a few players who have sucessfully seized control of both power and money in Canada. He refers to elections here as "...so much window-dressing, with real power resting firmly in the hands of the few...". Furthermore Steve refers to journalist Chris Hedges who has stated "...we now live in a corporate dictatorship, the result of a decades-long erosion of the progress made in the post-war years. ". "The corporate elite, through a puppet political class and compliant intellectuals, pundits and press, still employs the language of a capitolist democracy. But what has arisen is a new kind of control, inverted totalitarianism,".

While Steve believes that municipal elections are less rigged he still gives a few local examples of municipal/regional corruption. This includes a sense of entitlement as expressed by the expense claims of Woolwich Mayor Todd Cowan as well as the Waterloo Regional Councillors "...who said one thing in the last election, then voted to support the white elephant that is light rail transit...". The long reality is that decisions are not and have not been made in the best interests of the majority of Canadian citizens for a very long time.