Terence Corcoran: The rise of ‘‘national sovereignty’

Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.HomeFP CommentTerence Corcoran: The rise of '‘national sovereignty’New Bob Rae book champions the end of neoliberalism, free market ideas and capitalismLast updated 17 minutes ago A demonstrator throws a tear gas canister at the police during the first day of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, April 21, 2001. Photo by HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty ImagesFew today remember the Quebec City riots against free trade. The 25th anniversary of the April 2001 clashes between police and rioters passed without notice earlier this year, despite their obvious relevance to current political and economic developments.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountA news report captures the scale of the confrontations on April 21, 2001, at what was known as the Third Summit of the Americas: “Quebec City, Canada (CNN) — Anti-globalization protesters are preparing to march through Quebec on Saturday prompting fears of further violent clashes with police. Demonstrators fought running battles Friday with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.”An estimated 6,000 police faced off against up to 30,000 demonstrators opposing negotiations to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a project supported by U.S. president George W. Bush. “This will make our hemisphere the largest free trade area in the world, encompassing 34 countries and 800 million people.” Prime minister Jean Chrétien also backed plans for a trade deal that would span North and South America. “Today we begin a new era in hemispheric co-operation.”Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThe Quebec summit clash had also escaped my forgetful brain until Sunday when I picked up a copy of a new book, Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World. Edited by politician, diplomat and former NDP Ontario premier Bob Rae, the book is a collection of essays and commentaries dedicated to advancing the Carney crusade against free trade, free markets and all the other attributes of capitalism.In the book, the 2001 Quebec summit demonstrations are mentioned by Laurence Deschamps-Laporte, former adviser to three Liberal cabinet ministers. After heaping praise on PM Mark Carney’s Davos speech and the concept of a “rupture,” Deschamps-Laporte compares today’s anti-free-trade sympathizers to the riotous Quebec City demonstrators of 2001. “The rupture that became visible in 2001 in Quebec City was not just a sudden reaction but was ultimately grounded in a popular response to decades of extensive neoliberal reforms” under the early global leadership of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, she wrote.The implication of Deschamps-Laporte’s perspective is that the anti-free market mobs that stormed the Quebec summit are today set to take over running Canada’s trade and economic policies. It’s a conclusion reinforced by the views of most of the 28 other contributors to Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty — including editor Bob Rae, who has strongly opposed free trade with the United States.I wrote about the Quebec summit back in March of 2001 — under the headline “End the hegemony of civil society.” Included as part of Canada’s negotiating process were labour, social, environmental and other groups. They wanted to weave into the FTAA policies on children and youth, poverty clauses, environmental controls, sustainable development, and corporate social responsibility.Under social activist guidance, Canada wanted the preamble to the FTAA to open with a “commitment to advancing economic prosperity, strengthening democratic values and institutions and protecting fundamental human rights.” My 2001 conclusion was “never mind the hooligans outside; the official agenda is just as bad, maybe worse.” The FTAA talks ended in 2005 with no deal.This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.As with other authors in the book, Rae sees today’s anti-free market movement, as backed by Carney, as a worthy crusade to stop the spread of the f-word state. Rae supports firm commitment to human rights, the health of the planet, peace and security, the rule of law, and a “prosperity that is more widely shared than the inequality and corruption that have once again become part of the ‘gangster rule’ that was a foundational reason for the resistance to fascism.”The f-state appears a few times in the book, most notably in a republished newspaper column by Jason Stanley, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Titled “Living Next Door to a Fascist State,” Stanley said it is “possible the United States will remain fascist far into the future.” Not only is Donald Trump a fascist, so are the American people who voted for him, said Stanley.Former CBC radio personality Carol Off also floats the f-state, warning about how the Nazis used mass media to warp the minds of citizens. Today, to stop the rise of modern technology, Off calls for governments to strengthen legislation around social media, co-ordinate civil society organizations, and educate young people with media literacy and critical thinking skills. It will take “the whole of society to counter these dark forces of deception.”Does anybody see the irony in this? The overriding theme of the book is to turn Canadians into permanent protesters and demonstrators resisting free trade and freedom in general, while advocating for greater government control in the name of “sovereignty.”Rae refers briefly to the work of Timothy Snyder, now professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School. Rae notes that Snyder, in his book On Freedom, argues that national sovereignty and self-determination are “important expressions of freedom.”In reality, Snyder is rabidly anti-free markets and anti-freedom. In On Freedom he argues “there is no such thing as a ‘free market’ in the world, nor can there be. Capitalism minus norms and laws is murderous conquest. If someone invades your country, seizes your house, enslaves your children, and puts your kidneys up for sale, that is the magic of the unregulated free market at work.” Fascism, says Snyder, is just “one more form of capitalism.”When Rae picked the title of Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty, he was thinking of the sovereignty of the state, not the sovereignty of individual or private organizations or corporations. Most of Rae’s team of writers are nothing if not proponents of more government action in the name of sovereignty in opposition of the past seven decades of expanding free trade and market liberalism that, by any objective measure, has lifted the lives and living standards of millions of people in Canada and billions around the world.Nothing is perfect, but nobody would vote to go back to 1950.There is one clear warning issued in Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty. Buried as one of the last chapters are comments by Adam Gordon, a visiting fellow at the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in Victoria. In his essay, “The Risks of a Sovereignty Agenda,” Gordon nails the issue. “The renewed focus on sovereignty has changed everything — from the way we think about our economy, to the priorities of our international diplomacy, to what we buy at the grocery store. Using such an idea to shape our approach to the world has risks, including what this change may do to who we are as individuals and as a nation.”While we need to implement measures to protect our country, writes Gordon, “we must not lose sight of who we are and of our beliefs, values, principles and attitudes.”Any reader of Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty should begin with Gordon’s next-to-last chapter.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. 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