Destruction of middle class planned and well executed

To the editor, In the 1980s, when Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney suggested entering into free trade agreements with other governments, most of us would not have believed that our politicians would deliberately set out to do us harm. We may have held them in disrespect but there were limits to those ill feelings. At the time, I listened to the arguments for and against free trade as a principle. It seemed that opening up markets for our manufactured goods was worth giving greater opportunity for the importation of finished goods from lower wage countries. Groups representing our well paid labour sector warned of job losses to come if we went ahead with free trade. Nevertheless, as a country we accepted free trade, as witnessed by the re- election of the Mulroney government. After a quarter century of free trade, we now understand that those warnings of job losses were spot on. Most of our heavy industry, the source of hundreds of thousands of middle class incomes, has been shipped out of the country. Those once high wage earners have been forced to take what they could find for employment, often call center and other minimum wage and temporary work. It now seems entirely obvious that the politicians of the day understood what they were doing and intentionally set in motion the destruction of the middle class. If that were not true, would we be entertaining more free trade deals considering the effects of earlier agreements? The recently concluded free trade deal with the European Union came with much promise of new export opportunities for our business interests. Is that not entirely similar to earlier promises of great benefits for Canadians. Is there any reason to expect different results this time? If the Trans Pacific Partnership, the biggest trade deal yet, gets implemented we will see virtual control of every aspect of our economy and government services passed to big international corporations. This will finish the planned destruction of our middle class. Successive governments have bought our support by offering reduced taxes. That has been achieved to a far greater degree than we ever expected. People earning minimum wage pay far less taxes than those working at good manufacturing jobs. But that was never mentioned as the means of achieving lower taxes. Now, as a result of a seriously reduced tax base, governments are telling us they must cut back on services. Fewer tax dollars being collected, coupled with greater demand for support programs, has seen governments and individuals maxing out their credit. Where do we go from here?