The Toronto Star editors have lost control of the family newspaper. Starting with an albeit confusing mix of sections, writing 2000 or more words per news item, where 500 would have done the job, the Toronto Star has gone off the deep end. It might just be the lack of newspaper training for the new owners. There is no excuse for the Star to allow Frank Stronach, creator of Magna International, to promote fascism in the Star’s business pages.
You would think the Star’s lawyer David Peterson would recognize fascism. He had a rocky career in Ontario politics but he was premier at a time when business was trying to exert more influence in Canadian politics through groups such as Tom D’Aquino’s business council on national issues. Even Peterson’s nemesis Bob Rae and the new democrats, eventually bought into the D’Aquino’s demand for government restraint and the ensuing ‘Rae Days’ led to the bleak years of the Mike Harris conservatives in Ontario.
You would also think that Frank Stronach’s youth, in an Austria ruled by the Nazis, would have turned him away from the extremes of right-wing fascism. Yet, here he is complaining about what he calls “the Achilles heel of democracy. He wants more business control in governing our country.
While many Canadians would agree that our passenger trains should run on time, it is not the role of government to set the timetable. In Canada, we expect government to make the rules and business to follow them.
Government is not a business. While business can often assist government in achieving societal goals, it is government that establishes objectives and rules. Government has to set health and safety standards and assure the public that it is overseeing adherence by the private sector.
Stronach thinks that more business involvement in government would be beneficial. He wants business to scrutinize our governments. Stronach does not seem to realize that the right to vote is all that any Canadian gets.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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