Living in an era of corporate profit and community debt - Rick Grylls

As we are bombarded daily with sounds and sights of consumerism to spend our money on everything under the sun, we live our lives with hopes and dreams of creating a better world for our children’s generations. Without a doubt we live within the most wasteful,greedy, polluted and controlled generation.

We try to make sense of the last year, when banks, financial institutions and corporations received billions of tax payers’ dollars, while pensions and personal security were lost or stolen by people and practices that lack morals. This resulted in public debt — yours and mine — increasing beyond our imaginations. The call for “Freedom 55” has turned into “I’ve got to work till I die.”

Banking, energy, auto, corporations and the stock market will soon return to record profits, while our community’s Mom and Pop operations will have to wait, along with the long lineups of job seekers. Our three levels of government have to figure out what must be cut in our public services of health and education and how to tax us more to pay for corporation bailouts.

When the rights to mine the land, cut down the trees and develop the vast prairies were given many years ago, it was to create jobs and community prosperity for our country. Canada’s dream of a strong and free land was shared by all.

Over time, high-financed lobbying changes in government policies has resulted in (for the most part) the lumber, mineral, energy and land rights being transferred from the Canadian public to foreign countries’ and corporations’ ownership.

Today, foreign countries and corporations are buying Canada’s prairies and creating mega farms. It’s their food now and, in time, it could be shipped overseas while Canadians have shortages. The energy policies of Canada are the weakest in the world. The tar sands will leave us with the pollution of water and air, a landscape scar the size of Florida and no Canadian government energy. Are they not supposed to be taking care of all Canadians’ security? When the next energy squeeze comes, we will pay the prices corporations demand.

Here in Sudbury, we know what is like to live in an area inflicted with a 100 years of pollution. One only has to fly over the land that surrounds Sudbury to see the old scars of sulfuric poisoning and the new raping of forest clear cuts. Clear cuts destroy animals’ habitat. The land is dug and overturned by machines, then sprayed to kill all flora and fauna to allow lifeless woodlots to prosper for future logging. Our lakes are changing, as are the fish and the jobs. Lumber communities are disappearing faster than the lumber is being shipped to the US and China.

Mining stocks are edging up as the world buys and pushes gold to record highs, because they are turning away from the American dollar as the world currency as security. China holds billions if not trillions of the America security debt and some oil countries are slowly asking to be paid in other currencies than American dollars. Many predicted a further collapse of the USA if they have to pay up. When the US falls, it usually lands on top of us.

Here in Sudbury, we still have 100 years of mining ore reserves under our feet. Originally the development of Canadian resources was for the investor, the producer and the community that were built to support the corporation. Today that balance has been broken. The investors want more from the producer, which results in less for the community today and every day after.

We are living in an era when corporations profit and our country and its communities are indebted. The people — you and I and our children — must be taxed more and more to supplement corporate tax breaks. When communities have the same say as corporations in the development of Canada, and citizens have the same securities as CEOs, then we will be closer to balancing our country’s prosperity.

Our vision and values of Canada have changed — and not for the betterment of Canada’s tomorrow.

The workers of the Sudbury resources unionized when they joined the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union in 1943. Every contract since then has been agreed to and the workers return for his labour was to support his family and community. Sudbury has prospered because of its efforts to balance the wealth it produces from Canada’s resources. Today, new foreign investors want to erode the community’s prosperity to increase theirs.

Singer Stompin’ Tom Connors says he believes that a citizen must give total allegiance to his country which, in turn, is to our communities and our families. This is the same commitment our servicemen and women give. They are willing to lay down their lives to protect what we have, hope and dream about.

We are not as civilized as we could be because we have been persuaded by consumer propaganda that leads us to believe it is better to stand alone and self preserve, while I believe we must stand together to share the balance of wealth of our land and labours.

Rick Grylls is a community activist and former Local 598 Mine Mill union president.