05) PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF ENERGY

People's Voice Editorial

     Across the planet, ownership and control of natural resources - especially energy - is an urgent issue. U.S. imperialism and its allies are shifting their military might into the Middle East and Asian Pacific regions, largely to secure domination over such resources. The human cost is enormous, from those killed in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, to the lives cut short by spending on weapons rather than clean water, housing, health care and other urgent needs.

     This is the backdrop for the escalating struggle over economic policies within the borders of the Canadian state. From the Abbott Plan - the post-WW2 decision of the emerging Canadian ruling class to become a supplier of raw materials for the Yankee war machine - to the free trade era, manufacturing and secondary industry have declined, and reliance on raw materials has grown.

     Today, the sharpest fight is over the extraction and export of unprocessed tar sands bitumen. In this situation, some argue that Canada should block energy deals with Chinese-based companies, or that the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement is "worse" than other FIPAs signed by the undemocratic Harper government without public debate. This approach is based on the absurd claim that China is less democratic or more militaristic than the United States or other western imperialist powers.

     Here's the real question: why not nationalize energy resources in Canada? Public ownership under democratic control would offer a path to redress the historic theft of Aboriginal lands and resources, and to use energy resources to meet Canadian domestic needs and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. The blind greed of the ruling class cannot remain the determining factor in setting economic policy. The call for public ownership must be raised within the growing struggles to end the destructive extraction and export of the tar sands.

(The above article is from the November 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)