Category Archives: Canada

Want, waste and wealth: The immorality and inefficiency of capitalist food distribution in Canada

Posted on by

Michael Laxer's picture   By Michael Laxer August 13, 2013    From: http://rabble.ca

It has been both a disturbing and telling couple of weeks in terms of news developments related to food distribution in Canada.

First, at the end of July, a report by researchers at the University of Toronto showed that nearly four million Canadians face what they, as is now commonplace, somewhat euphemistically describe as “food insecurity”; an academic way of saying that these citizens either are not able to buy enough food for themselves or their families or that they are constantly struggling to do so. In the case of Nunavut, where the situation is at its worst, over 50% of households experienced food insecurity, while in both PEI and New Brunswick it was a quarter or more of households.

Jennifer Taylor, head of the PEI Food Security Network, reacted to the island province’s embarrassingly high numbers by stating:

It’s a social problem. It’s not a nutritional problem [but] it has nutritional outcomes…

This is an embarrassment. We have the home of Green Gables, we have beautiful beaches, we have friendly, generous people and we have the most kids — save Nunavut, that’s the only place higher — that are possibly going to bed hungry or going the whole day without food. This is a crisis and we need to deal with it.

The consequences of “food insecurity”, or put more bluntly, hunger, malnourishment and the stress of trying to get food on the table, is devastating for those families and individuals facing it.  The report’s project leader, Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, put it in stark terms:

The impact of this situation on children, families, communities, the health care system and our economy cannot be overstated…The problem is not under control and more effective responses are urgently needed. The cost of inaction is simply too high.

Shortly after the release of this report, came news from Statistics Canada about the rising price of food in Canada between 2007-2012. In the words of Mark Brown of their economic analysis division:

The report showed that prices have increased at a cumulative rate of 19% over the last five years. The report also showed that for Canada, the price of food rose at almost twice the rate of the Consumer Price Index, excluding food.

This is a staggering increase that directly effects the financial well-being of citizens, especially, obviously, lower income households and those on fixed (and always declining versus inflation) social assistance rates. It also clearly adds to the acute problem of “food insecurity” described above.

Finally, a third report released by the Conference Board of Canada on August 8, found, among other troubling environmental conclusions, that as much as 40% of all food in Canada is wasted. This waste is equivalent to as much as $27.7 billion annually.

Put in the context of widespread food insecurity and the rise of prices, this level of waste is truly appalling both socially and morally. It means that not only is food that could feed citizens who are going hungry being wasted on hard-to-believe and disgraceful levels, but such wastage inevitably will be a factor in keeping food prices high, in this case artificially.

The Conference Board, typically and disingenuously given its business bent, puts the onus for the waste on consumers, and calls for greater “education and awareness campaigns”. While it is, no doubt, true, that most food waste cumulatively will occur in households, the 40% figure is not an average, it is a total. Any given household, taken individually, will waste far less food than the vast majority of restaurants and supermarkets/food retailers taken individually.

What the numbers really indicate is that food waste is a systemic part of our food distribution system, that it is tied to the quantities in which food is packaged, marketed and sold as well as to standard commercial food practices, like restaurants and diners filling plates with more food, often by far, than a person is likely to finish. The food industry, as a whole, profits greatly from this waste, as it directly impacts supply and demand in ways obviously in its favour and drives up prices.

Further, though, the Conference Board’s calls for “education and awareness” are absurd in a society and economic system predicated on the principle of  perpetual over-consumption (in economic terms) socially, with the over-consumption the more pronounced the higher up the economic ladder one climbs, it being basically non-existent at the lower end. Placing the “blame” on households conveniently diverts attention from the profound immorality of what this waste represents. It is an intrinsic part of our capitalist system of “food distribution” and not an incidental one.

The waste embodies the very ethos and underlying driving forces of consumerist capitalism and highlights its moral and economic contradictions as well as how it is basically unsustainable.

Most Canadians are aware that we are living in a dangerous housing bubble which is at best now “cooling”, though it shows very real signs of collapsing. This is especially problematic as the housing bubble was essentially engineered by the Federal Government as a form of economic stimulus, and the government, and citizens, are on the hook for it should it collapse.

These actions have also had the, to say the least, morally dubious effect of dramatically driving up housing prices making them less affordable to those with lower incomes, even despite the loosening of mortgage qualification rules until recently. In the long term they have also created conditions in which it is quite likely that many Canadians will be paying mortgages on properties worth significantly less than what they purchased them for.Finally, they have placed many Canadians in a position, though admittedly of their own nominal “free will” in which they have a remarkable net worth on paper, tied up in the value of a house they do not actually yet own, but who in reality are a paycheque or two away from losing everything.

Many are also aware that we have sustained much of Canada’s economic “recovery” since 2008 through the extension of credit and the facilitation of a culture of indebtedness that has led to Canadians being in far greater debt than at any other time in their history. This is a credit bubble which is also clearly driven by consumerist forces in the economy backed by the government’s and corporate sectors policies around credit. As with all bubbles, it would take a surprisingly small number of initial defaults on mortgages and credit card/line-of-credit debts to set a whole chain reaction of default and rapid economic downturn in motion.

Further, looser credit spurs over-consumption in that people buy things that they otherwise could not afford and may in fact not be able to afford. Cars, more expensive housing, appliances, etc. This is what makes it such a dangerous form of economic “stimulus”. The consumption is not based on higher incomes (as we all know incomes are largely stagnating versus inflation) or on direct government spending on infrastructure or social programs that actually puts real money in the pockets of citizens, but rather on making it easier to buy things without having the actual money to do so. This can only, for obvious reasons, go on for so long. It also leaves out entirely the poor and the lower income working class, as they often cannot get credit in any real sense and thus cannot “benefit” from it.

The loosening and over-extension of credit is the worst possible and most corporate friendly “solution” to the diminishing ability of the consumerist society to sustain consumption. It places the “risk” and obligation of the stimulus entirely on the back of the consumer and citizen.

The alarming reports in the food sector very much fit this broader social pattern. We see the growth of “food insecurity” at a time of rapidly rising food costs in a setting of a largely unregulated corporate food industry that has engineered, facilitates and that profits from tremendous social waste. 

In a society  that makes a virtual cult out of the disposable, the food sector has not been left behind. From club packs, to encouraging citizens to buy more to “save” (an inherently absurd concept), to the socially created expectation that a “good meal” out means being served more food than we can eat, to retailers stocking shelves with more product than they can sell, the system is designed to create waste on a massive scale.

And as with other sectors of our consumerist economy it is not sustainable environmentally, economically or morally. It needs to be radically reexamined as do its systems of ownership and distribution.     

Michael Laxer lives in Toronto where he runs a bookstore with his partner Natalie. Michael has a Degree in History from Glendon College of York University. He is a political activist, a two-time former candidate and former election organizer for the NDP, was a socialist candidate for Toronto City Council in 2010 and is on the executive of the newly formed Socialist Party of Ontario.

The middle class: The battleground of all politicians

Posted on by

Monia MazighBy Monia Mazigh August 9, 2013 http://rabble.ca

Photo: Peter Klein/flickr

In the U.S., the “M” word has been on the lips of politicians from the left to the right of the political spectrum, albeit for different reasons. President Obama is not an exception. Indeed, he made the mention of the middle-class part of his electoral rhetoric immediately after the 2008 financial crisis and after hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their houses, their American dream.

Last February, in his State of the Union address, Obama declared it was “our generation’s task” to “reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth — a rising, thriving middle class.” A few days ago, on August 5, he spoke in a gathering and he again pondered the same message, to “secure a better bargain for the middle class.” Whether we agree with Obama’s plan to revive the middle class or not, one must admit that he has been quite explicit about it. It includes measures affecting child care, dependent care, college expenses and retirement savings.

Here in Canada, Justin Trudeau is on the footsteps of Mr. Obama and his talk is all about the middle class. The only difference is that we don’t have any idea how Justin Trudeau is going to tackle the middle-class issue. Is he going to continue to give free rides to corporations as both Liberal and Conservative governments did in the past, or will he be offering a real program with fiscal and economic measures specifically targeted to the fading middle class? (Even though a lot of words are being said about the new Liberal star candidate in Toronto Centre and how her book might make up the next platform for the Liberal Party campaign). Or is he only interested in the votes of this class and then will turn his back and continue to help the big corporations instead?

But in reality, do we still have a “real” middle class? Where does the political opportunism start and where does the economic reality end?

In the last two decades, generations of politicians watched the erosion and the crushing of the middle class. Some denounced the situation and stood by their principles but many nodded and acquiesced to all the economic and social measures making the poor poorer and the rich richer, effectively shrinking the middle class.

According to a report prepared by Canadian bureaucrats and presented to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, and recently released by Postmedia, Canada’s middle class improved its average income only by seven per cent between 1976 and 2010. This is equivalent to 0.2 per cent per year. The median income of this class did not do better. From 2007 to 2011, it grew from $66,700 to $68,000, a mere 0.5 per cent per year.

This assessment is confirmed by another report that was prepared by TD Bank. The report documents the fact that low-wage and middle-wage jobs in Canada have been shrinking as a share of the economy as job growth focuses more and more on high-skilled, high-end jobs. Meanwhile, the spending by the middle class didn’t decrease. To the contrary, it continued to increase and the funding comes from the larger amount of debt Canadian families are contracting from the banks and other financial institutions, making the Canadian household one of the most indebted in the OECD countries with a debt-ratio of around 161 per cent for the first quarter of 2013. 

Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, never missed an opportunity to speak against the high amount of debt that is contracted by Canadians. The government never raised an eyebrow (until they changed the rules for mortgages). They barely reacted to the horrifying numbers of children who now live in poverty. Canada’s child poverty rate increased between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s. These are not only children born to single parents of low-income families but also to working parents who can’t make enough annual earnings to afford all the basic necessities for their families. The Conference Board of Canada reported that Canada scores a “C” grade and ranks 15th out of 17 peer countries. Moreover, more than one in seven Canadian children live in poverty.

Last July, the city of Detroit in the U.S., where the middle class was first formed by the autoworkers and later by public employers running city services, went bankrupt. The fall of the auto industry, the cuts to public funds, the fiscal structure of the American government and many other socio-economic factors took Detroit to the cliff; it was forced close shop. It is interesting nowadays to watch the Conservative government trying so hard to dismantle the unions in Canada and to slash thousands of jobs in the public sector. Yes, it would be both stretched out and simplistic to draw similarities between Detroit and the path Canada is following. Nevertheless, it is crucial to study the effects of recent public sector cuts and their impacts on the Canadian middle class, and the state of our economy in general.

The middle class today is like a beautiful woman, desired and solicited by everyone but insidiously feared and despised by all. The politicians are no exception.

Monia Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991. Mazigh was catapulted onto the public stage in 2002 when her husband, Maher Arar, was deported to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year. She campaigned tirelessly for his release. Mazigh holds a PhD in finance from McGill University. In 2008, she published a memoir, Hope and Despair, about her pursuit of justice, and in 2011, a novel in French, Miroirs et mirages.

Photo: Peter Klein/flickr

System Error: Signs Canada’s Crumbling

Posted on by

From: http://rantingcanadian.tumblr.com/

 

Canada is an un-developing country.

It has been for decades. Here are some of the signs.

* Crumbling infrastructure.

* Irresponsible deregulation of industry and cutbacks to enforcement of the few, weak regulations that remain. This resulted – and will continue to result – in otherwise-preventable deaths, injuries and illnesses; worse working conditions; lower wages; and lowly consumers being ripped off.

* Electoral fraud, bribes and other types of corruption being grudgingly accepted as “business as usual”.

* Bizarre, expensive and unnecessary transformation of Canada back into a colony that is subservient to foreign interests, specifically the archaic monarchy of the United Kingdom and the big corporations of China and the United States.

* The federal Conservatives blatantly erasing the line between governing party/leader and non-partisan public institutions, as well as bombarding us with propaganda under a thin guise of news and information (paid for by the taxpayers, of course).

* An overwhelming trend of unpaid internships (slavery by another name), short-term contract jobs with no benefits, unpaid overtime, and other abuses against workers who are desperate for opportunities.

* Handovers of key natural resources and industries to foreign-owned companies.

* Shockingly growing gap between the rich and the rest of us – financially, culturally and physically.

* Artificial and arbitrary hierarchies becoming more deeply entrenched.

* Rampant white-collar crime, tax evasion and other scams going unpunished.

* Victimless petty crimes being severely punished (except when the offender is rich and well connected).

* Continued reprehensible treatment of First Nations peoples, and no serious attempts at honouring treaties, making amends or solving institutional problems.

* Serious shortage of safe and affordable housing in many areas.

* Transfer of social responsibilities from public institutions to private charities, many of which siphon off huge percentages of donations to pay for high salaries and administrative costs.

* Exporting jobs and raw natural resources while importing underpaid/exploited “temporary” foreign workers and cheaply made – often-substandard – finished goods.

* Deliberate and unneeded environmental destruction in the name of corporate profit and executive compensation.

* Growing surveillance of, and persecution of, non-violent dissidents under the false pretence of public safety.

* Increasing government secrecy and clampdown on information that is relevant to the public.

* More intense consolidation of power and wealth at the top of society.

* Frighteningly high levels of government and personal debt – with no genuine plans to ever pay them off.

Our nation has been falling apart at the seams and is gradually turning into a third-world oligarchy. Meanwhile, our smug, hypocritical, right-wing politicians lecture other countries about democracy, freedom and human rights (and sometimes send our troops to those countries to kill people and destroy property).

If the treasonous Harper Conservatives manage to cheat their way back into power in 2015, Canada is pretty much done, over, finished. Don’t be fooled by the sneaky Liberals though. History shows that Liberals have no desire to reverse the damage caused by the Conservatives. The Liberals are happy that the nasty Cons are doing the dirty work, so they can benefit from their elitist, pro-corporate policies while maintaining a phony public image as nice, happy progressives who care about the poor, the marginalized and the environment.

When this eventually becomes blindingly obvious to even the most hardened deniers, those of us who saw it all along will be able to say: “We told you so! We told you fucking so, you stupid assholes, but you didn’t listen! Now you’re screwed too!” Unfortunately, there is no lasting joy in that, since we will be amongst the victims of our society’s self-destruction.

So now what?