Montreal LYM Applies `New Politics'
by Rob Ainsworth, LaRouche Youth Movement
The Liberal Party of Canada held its Federal leadership convention in Montreal, Quebec at the end of November and beginning of December, to elect a new leader and, or so many claimed, the "next Prime Minister of Canada." The Liberals enjoy vaunting themselves as the great nation-building party of Canada and a veritable force for goodness; however, the reality is something quite different. It was the Liberals, under the leadership of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, who imposed massive austerity measures on the Canadian economy throughout their mandate, from November 1993 until February 2006. The nation has decayed to such a point that Ontario alone requires $100 billion in short-term infrastructure investments simply to maintain what already exists, as recently confirmed by a conservative member of the Federal government from Ontario.
At the outset, the frontrunner was Michael Ignatieff, the great-grandson of the founder of the Russian secret service, the Okhrana, a leading proponent of the abolishment of the modern nation-state. Ignatieff, through his writings and pedigree, has proven himself to be an asset of the currently dominant financier-oligarchy. Ignatieff is also closely connected to financier George Soros through Project Syndicate, a media network which is funded by Soros's Open Society Institute. This was the man with an 11-point lead in the polls over his closest rival, and whose platform consisted primarily of free trade, deregulation, and debt repayment policies.
The next most-popular candidate was Bob Rae, ex-Premier of Ontario and current director of the Canadian Ditchley Foundation. Rae's brother, the executive vice president of Power Corporation, contributed $750,000 to his campaign. Power Corp. is controlled by the Desmarais family, which is at the center of Canada's oligarchic networks. The total assets of the companies in which the Desmarais family has a controlling interest are estimated to approach $280 billion. The Desmarais are also at the center of the powerful Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the primary private business lobby in the country, which is currently the driving force in Canada towards the complete integration of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.A.—the so-called North American Union. The clan has numerous connections to the Anglophile establishment of the U.S.A. as well as to the aristocratic Lambert family of Belgium and the Synarchist faction in France, via Felix Rohatyn. The Desmarais clan, since the 1970s, has controlled the following Prime Ministers: Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien, and Paul Martin. All of these men have worked directly for Power Corp., and Chrétien's daughter is married to one of the sons of Paul Desmarais, Sr., the current patriarch.
None of the other candidates were of any substance whatsoever. There were no ideas, no principles (apart from appeasing popular opinion), and no conception of how to deal with the looming financial blowout. Much of the debate centered on a "Green Economy" concept. It seemed as if the entire party had been brainwashed with greenie ideology; thus, despite much talk of climate change, there was nothing said with respect to the critical role which nuclear power must play.
The first morning of the convention was dominated by Jacobin mobs stomping to and fro while incessantly chanting the candidates' names. The noise was astonishing, particularly when one crowd entered blowing whistles. Throughout the week the majority of literature being distributed, apart from that of the LaRouche Youth Movement, pertained to the nightly festivities the Young Liberals had organized in accordance with their own concept of "party politics": They were Jacobins by day but sans-culottes by night!
Bringing Reality to Bear
It was into this milieu that the Canadian LaRouche Youth Movement deployed from Nov. 29 until Dec. 2, with the mission of reshaping the event to correspond with the historic times in which we live. We wrote a four-page leaflet for the occasion, entitled "Canada Needs a New Bretton Woods!!" which elaborated on the crisis, its remedies, and the principal issue of the survival of the nation-state system. By the end of the convention, we had circulated approximately 4,000 leaflets (the total attendance for the convention was less than 7,000), and talked to hundreds of people, the results of which will presently become clear.
By the end of the first day we had managed to speak with six of the eight candidates, placing the leaflet directly into their hands. One memorable moment occurred when, during Ignatieff's first public appearance at the convention, LYM organizer Valerie Trudel marched straight through the ring of bodyguards protecting Ignatieff, grabbed his hand, drew his face close to her own, looked him squarely in the eyes, and demanded, "Do you think a broken nation can survive the financial collapse?"
Ignatieff, who had been all smiles, recoiled in shock. Trudel repeated, but this time with a powerful bel canto projection, "Do you think a broken nation can survive the financial collapse?" Ignatieff looked stunned, as did a great number of the sycophants who were ranged about him. At this point, the bodyguards converged on Trudel, grabbing her scarf and goonishly dragging her away from the still speechless candidate while she began calling out repeatedly, "The U.S. economy is collapsing!"
Luc Trudel and Valerie confronted Bob Rae in front of his supporters four times, demanding to know how he would deal with the financial collapse. Candidate Stéphane Dion was also given a leaflet by Luc and told that his green agenda would not work. Dion said he would read the leaflet and that he would speak more with us in the future. Bill Graham, the interim leader of the party, was briefed several times by LYM members, receiving both the leaflet and Lyndon LaRouche's latest webcast pamphlet.
Dozens of conversations, primarily on economic policy, took place over the course of the convention, both with Members of Parliament and delegates, as well as observers and young people. All of the organizers noticed that the quality of discussion was consistently better with the delegates, youth, and observers than the MPs. People were noting that we were providing the leadership which none of the candidates were themselves able to provide. We provoked many thoughtful responses simply by asking people if they believed that any of the candidates were prepared to deal with the financial crisis. Few of those to whom we spoke denied the economy was tanking; the only point debated was the degree of severity. There was widespread recognition that we must reindustrialize our nation if we are to survive, coupled with a general disgust with free trade.
On the final day of the convention, we brought our chorus into a crowded hallway through which all the attendees had to pass. For at least half an hour, and just after Dion had pulled slightly ahead of Ignatieff on the penultimate ballot, we sang several canons we had prepared such as the following, to the tune of "I should be envious?" by Haydn: "Goodbye, Mike Ignatieff: You're a nut, Your policies suck, You financier slut! Your lips are glued to Cheney's ass! Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, you puppet of the right! Goodbye!"
Dozens upon dozens of people were stopping to listen, laughing, and taking literature—especially Dion's supporters. Hundreds of people heard us singing, our voices resonating throughout the convention center, provoking scowls from Ignatieff supporters.
Changing History With the 'New Politics'
By the time the last round of voting was completed and the giant crowd of delegates and candidates had assembled in the main convention room, it was clear that the actions of six young adult LYM members, with the help of three contacts, had managed to engage hundreds of people on a profound level, with those most integral ideas of the human experience, with the reality of the global strategic situation, and with a sense of citizenship rarely manifested in this country before. We saturated the terrain with literature, made numerous interventions, and uplifted a gloomy mob with a certain bel canto grace. By means of these methods the total environment of the convention was reshaped to reflect the real events taking place throughout the world, events which the new Liberal Party leader will find impossible to avoid.
Thus, when Stéphane Dion was pronounced the new chief of the Liberal Party, by a margin of only several hundred votes, we knew that we had expressed a principle of political organizing which Lyndon LaRouche recently elaborated upon in "The New Politics." They changed history in the same way that the LYM changed history with the midterm elections in the U.S.A. Thus it was, that due to our actions, people were given a certain margin of freedom to react to reality, as opposed to the generally prevalent fantasy world concocted by the campaign spin doctors and convention organizers.
One confirmation of our influence came several weeks later, when a contact in British Columbia reported that several of his friends, who had been delegates at the convention, were talking about how our leaflet and our activities significantly altered the convention, causing "quite the sensation," such that that many people who would have gone with Ignatieff chose the acknowledged anti-Establishment candidate Stéphane Dion. The contact was thrilled with what we had accomplished, exclaiming, "You guys changed history!"
The full implications of what this are not yet known, for Dion will not easily remain free from the tentacles of the Desmarais family and the other powerful figures working behind the scenes. However, what is known, is that these oligarchs were both surprised and dismayed that both their candidates were defeated, and that Canada will not face a choice between the Conservative goon Steven Harper and a boot-licking lackey of the Liberal Imperialist Establishment. The full fruits of the LYM's activities will now depend upon mobilizing the party in the coming months, and saturating the nation and the government with the ideas and solutions of Lyndon LaRouche.
