Global Research

“If you can call the Prime Minister or the Industry Minister up and say, ‘I’d like to see you tomorrow,’ and boom it happens, that’s just as good, if not better than donating a million dollars to a campaign with the implied understanding that its going to buy something.” – Morgan Duchesney (from this week’s interview.)

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We often hear about the American Deep State or secret government, undermining the will of the electorate and influencing policy in ways that favour for-profit interests.

We rarely hear about a Canadian Deep State. Are there power players driving the decision-making in Ottawa behind the scenes?

There are policies where there is virtually no difference regardless of the party in power.

Both Liberals and Conservatives support NAFTA. Both advocate for Canadian involvement in NATO and ‘humanitarian interventions.’ Both scorn Russia for its perceived wrongdoings. Both champion pipelines carrying oil from the Alberta tar sands to markets abroad.

One possible explanation for this harmonization might rest in the influence of permanent systemic fixtures and players whose influence dominates policy discussion.

This week’s installment of the Global Research News Hour tries to move beyond the personalities and the partisan rhetoric and catch a glimpse of the true power brokers within Canadian society.

Our first guest Morgan Duchesney shares his research into a group formerly known as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. It represents major business interests, largely branch plants of US corporations. They first came to prominence in the 1980s in the context of the debate over the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Just as a union empowers its component members, this entity speaking for a united business lobby has enjoyed exceptional influence over governments for decades. Duchesney, author of “The Canadian Council of Chief Executives: Northern Oligarchy” shares his research in the first half hour.

Our second guest, Yves Engler, addresses the militaristic course embraced by the Canadian government. While acknowledging the influence of the United States, there is also a group called the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI) which has had role to play in propagandizing governments and the public in matters of foreign affairs.

Our final guest speaks more to the structure of financial power when he evokes the role played by Canada’s pension funds in fostering a shift toward privatization in infrastructure spending. Kevin Skerrett mines two decades of research and offers some clues as to the effect an reach of Canadian pension investment both within and beyond the country.

Morgan Duchesney is an Ottawa based freelance writer and martial arts instructor. His articles appear on the site honeybadgerpress.ca. He is also a frequent contributor to the Victoria Standard.

Yves Engler is a Montreal based political activist and writer specializing in dissident perspectives on Canadian foreign policy. He has been referred to as Canada’s Noam Chomsky, and has authored close to a dozen books over the last decade including his 2016 book A Propaganda System – How Canada’s Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation (published by Fernwood).

Kevin Skerrett is a research officer with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and co-editor of The Contradictions of Pension Fund Capitalism published by Cornell Press.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca . Excerpts of the show have begun airing on Rabble Radio and appear as podcasts at rabble.ca.

Community Radio Stations carrying the Global Research News Hour:

CHLY 101.7fm in Nanaimo, B.C – Thursdays at 1pm PT

Boston College Radio WZBC 90.3FM NEWTONS  during the Truth and Justice Radio Programming slot -Sundays at 7am ET.

Port Perry Radio in Port Perry, Ontario –1  Thursdays at 1pm ET

Burnaby Radio Station CJSF out of Simon Fraser University. 90.1FM to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border.

It is also available on 93.9 FM cable in the communities of SFU, Burnaby, New Westminister, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Surrey and Delta, in British Columbia, Canada. – Tune in  at its new time – Wednesdays at 4pm PT.

Radio station CFUV 101.9FM based at the University of Victoria airs the Global Research News Hour every Sunday from 7 to 8am PT.

CORTES COMMUNITY RADIO CKTZ  89.5 out of Manson’s Landing, B.C airs the show Tuesday mornings at 10am Pacific time.

Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 6am pacific time.

Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in  Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 10am.

Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday Morning from 8:00 to 9:00am. Find more details at www.caperradio.ca

RIOT RADIO, the visual radio station based out of Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario has begun airing the Global Research News Hour on an occasional basis. Tune in at dcstudentsinc.ca/services/riot-radio/

Radio Fanshawe: Fanshawe’s 106.9 The X (CIXX-FM) out of London, Ontario airs the Global Research News Hour Sundays at 6am with an encore at 4pm.

Los Angeles, California based Thepowerofvoices.com airs the Global Research News Hour every Monday from 6-7pm Pacific time.