r/canadaleft • u/yimmy51 • Apr 22 '24

HellBerta It is industry, not government, that is getting in the way of a ‘just transition’ for oil and gas workers

https://theconversation.com/it-is-industry-not-government-that-is-getting-in-the-way-of-a-just-transition-for-oil-and-gas-workers-227303
24 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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10

u/CombatClaire Apr 22 '24

Industry is government, government is industry (with a few nominal barriers that don't do anything). We live under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the state rules at the behest of capital. It's a liberal mistake to think that the state is somehow above society and independent of it.

3

u/Frater_Ankara Apr 22 '24

I think it’s more accurate to say that most members of parliament are bought and paid for by capitalist industry, that’s the main reason for the alignment. The Oil and Gas industry obviously has no interest in transitioning workers away so they are lobbying heavily; similarly they have no interest in acknowledging or supporting climate change since it’s a massive loss of their centralization of power, so they are lobbying heavily against that as well. The sheer amount of climate denial in this country is a clear example of that.

4

u/CombatClaire Apr 22 '24

It's not more accurate, it's more specific. You're describing (one of) the mechanism through which capitalists direct the state. The problem is in thinking that parliament could be any other way. The (uncommon) moment that a "leftist" enters parliament, they become dominated by capital (see AOC, John Fetterman, John Horgan, Alexis Tsipras)

3

u/SirPoopaLotTheThird Apr 22 '24

The average person is simply too stupid to understand that the government is ours and a force for good because for their entire lives the government has been captured by the top ten percent and does its bidding which is always in our worst interest.

3

u/SnooHesitations7064 Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24

I'm deeply confused why a conservative puff piece which only provides evidence which contradicts the entirety of its thesis (Industry, not government), even if you take its facile attempt to reduce it to some kind of either or, rather than recognize that it can easily be both.

WTF is the point of sharing this? Thanks. I really needed to know what "Canada The Strong and Free" and "Conservative Values Tomorrow" thought was some kind of apolitical trojan horse or scapegoat for literally using public coffers to set up a "war room" to simp harder for oil and gas, and .. I guess get upset about a children's bigfoot show on a streaming service?

Real important praxis to share on Canadaleft.

2

u/SlippitySlappety Apr 22 '24

Wait what? Did we read the same article? This isn’t a conservative puff piece; it’s written by some very leftist academics who study just transition politics (I am in the same academic sphere as a couple of the authors and am familiar with their work). The article here gives some snapshots of their book on the Regina Co-op refinery strike to show how industry is shedding jobs and undermining organized labour, and literally obstructing just transition opportunities. They criticize government too, but I take it the point was to show how industry is leading the way on the “unjust transition”, which is a good intervention, since a lot of workers still identify strongly with the oil and gas industry and see it as a good thing.