Canada is a capitalist society. The basis of building capitalism in Canada has, in the main, always been external. Capital accumulated outside the country has been brought into Canada in the form of investments, and it is this imported capital which constituted the backbone of the capitalist economic system. This situation has always remained the same. To date, the sources of capital are, in the main, the foreign investors. No enterprise in Canada of any calibre is established without the involvement of foreign capital. Because of the Canadian capitalists’ dependence on foreign capital, there exists in Canada today a foreign-dependent capitalist system.
The capitalists who came into being as a result of massive foreign investments were essentially middle-men who mediated the hauling of Canada’s natural resources to other countries. These capitalists makeup basically two categories: 1. Those who are descendants of the “family compact” close collaborators of the English crown who made their living by subjugating Quebec and by rendering services to English colonialism. This “Family Compact” was enriched by the English crown which bestowed vast privileges upon it. 2. Alongside the “Family Compact”, the capitalists connected with the U.S. imperialist expansion came into being. These capitalists later became the managers of the U.S. imperialist branch plants in Canada. It is of the latter capitalists that the labour aristocrats are the close ties. The Progressive Conservative Party came out of the “Family Compact”; the Liberal Party was formed by those capitalists which opposed the “Family Compact” and came to support U.S. monopoly capital; and the close allies of the Liberal Party became the labour aristocrats.
At the present, there are two types of capitalists:
Those who are still enjoying the colonial privileges – basically known as compradors – and those who are managers of the U.S. imperialist branch plants – basically known as bureaucrat capitalists. Between the two of them, they engage in both selling out of Canada’s natural resources, and the opening up of Canada as the dumping ground of all sorts of commodities.
The comprador and bureaucrat capitalists not only import large amounts of foreign capital, but they also assist the foreign imperialists, especially the U.S. imperialists, in the export of capital to other countries. Their basic nature of middle-man remains.
The entire comprador ideology forms the basic ideology at the root of the economic life in Canada at the present time. From Pierre Elliot Trudeau to William Davis of Ontario, Dave Barret of B.C., Richard Hatfield of New Brunswick, Peter Lougheed of Alberta and Robert Bourassa of Quebec, they all put forward the view that without the import of large amounts of foreign capital there can be no economic progress in Canada. It is not the export of capital that concerns the capitalists, but the import of capital. They all advocate the procurance of this capital from whichever quarter of the world is willing to invest in Canada, whether the investors are from the United States, England, France, Germany, Japan, Belgium, or the Netherlands. There are numerous foreign imperialists who are exporting capital into Canada and are further opening Canada up for their exploration.
The entire production in Canada is geared toward foreign use. The main sector of the economy, the natural resources, are all developed for the purposes of export. There is no other reason behind the development of natural resources. The manufacturing sector is weak. Consumer products in each sector are, in the main, imported. The basic economic life in Canada is all geared to producing what the foreign imperialists want. There is very little independence in the economy. The capitalist system in Canada has reached its peak of development. Production is declining, inflation is raising the prices of goods and services to astronomical levels while the real wages of the working class are declining. The living conditions of the working class are further deteriorating and general economic crisis is setting in. The collapse of the economic system in Canada is only a matter of time.
Politically, Parliament is the tool of foreign expansion into Canada. Previously, Parliament was the tool of English colonial expansion. Parliament expropriates funds to provide favourable conditions for the growth of foreign investments. Parliament passes legislation to closely ally itself with the imperialist powers – especially the U.S. imperialists. Parliament is used to expropriate the wealth of the nation and hand it over to foreign imperialists. Besides this, Parliament enacts legislation to suppress the working people and the progressive people. There is freedom for foreign exploiters in Canada but there is little or no freedom for the Canadian patriots who stand up against domination and exploitation.
The universities, schools and other aspects of the cultural superstructure (media, art and literature, music, social form), and the entire judicial system, including the armed forces and the police, are all established to support foreign imperialist inroads into Canada. The entire politics is based on sell-out politics. The entire spiritual and mental outlook promoted is the outlook of the sell-out. The Canadian in the eyes of the monopoly capitalists is one who sells out and does so without any feeling of shame.
Because of Canada’s historical, social and cultural background, as well as its geographical make-up, the Canadian people are comprised of four sections:
1. Native Indian and Inuit People (Treaty and Non-treaty Native population). They make up between 250,000 and 300,000 people (about 1% to 1.5% of the total population). They are the most oppressed section of the populace. They are enslaved people, surrounded on all sides by the monopoly capitalists who are committing genocide against them. The only salvation of the Native Indian and Inuit peoples lies in the overthrow of the monopoly capitalist system in Canada and the restoration of their hereditary rights.
2. The people of Quebec. The Quebec people makeup close to 7 million people (around 30% of the total population). They are mainly the sons and daughters of the French peasantry and artisans brought to North America to work for French colonial interests. After the French colonialists were defeated in the 18th century, this population was converted into the chattel slaves of the English bourgeoisie, and they remain in that position to date. Because of the tremendous motion in populations in the 20th century caused by expanding imperialism, and the rise of people’s resistance which goes with it, Quebec also has a large immigrant population which is mainly from European countries. There is also a tiny monopoly capitalist class in Quebec which is supported by Anglo-Canadian colonialism and U.S. imperialism. The people of Quebec, including the immigrant workers, are the most oppressed section after the Native Indian and Inuit people. The Quebec people can win liberation only it the present monopoly capitalist rule is overthrown forever. Other than the straightforward capitalist parties in Quebec, the social fascist Parti Quebecois has arisen in Quebec to divert the Quebec people from genuine national liberation and social revolution. It is waging the national struggle not on behalf of the oppressed groups and social strata in Quebec, but rather on behalf of the Rockefellers of the U.S. and the monopoly capitalists of other countries.
3. Immigrant families. There are around 7 million people of immigrant worker families which have come to Canada in the twentieth century. A large number of these families came to Canada since the Second World War to fulfill the need of a labour market for U.S. imperialist investors in Canada. These immigrant worker families came from over 40 different countries and form the next most oppressed section of the society Their population is close to 30% of the total.
4. Canadian working class. The rest of the main populace in the Canadian working class is mainly of English, Irish and Scottish origin. They were brought to Canada as part of the English colonial expansion into North America. They are, as a class, oppressed people.
The Canadian working class as a whole, which includes the Quebec as well as the immigrant workers, make up the overwhelming majority of the population. Together with the Native Indian and Inuit people, they have the basic desire for the overthrow of the U.S. imperialists and the Canadian monopoly capitalist class, and they have everything to gain by the impending social revolution.