The Council of Canadians recently held an internal webinar on “Trump, Trudeau, and Neoliberalism.” Here are some talking points based off that information:
1. Neoliberalism is an ideology promoting a governing structure in which financial and capital markets make decisions, regulation of these markets is limited, and non-market government policy and programs are inhibited. Based on historical precedent and current actions Canada’s current government supports a governing model based on neoliberal values.
2. A nationalist response to neoliberalism’s logic makes invisible the beneficiaries of unregulated markets: the corporations. Trump’s election identifies how a right wing nationalist response to neoliberalism places blame on the “outsiders” and the marginalized communities, while providing space for white supremacists to organize against the impacts of neoliberalism without targeting corporate power. In other words, nationalism is used as a shield to distract disenfranchised right-leaning groups from the true cause of their struggles – neoliberalism.
3. The progressive / left movements must reclaim space from the right in order to establish well informed opposition to neo-liberalism.
