Were also being sold out --this happened to Argentina not so long ago same pattern ,
Many of those CEOs represent companies that are foreign-owned and controlled – corporations whose true interests are the profits of their shareholders, not the good of our country, not the well being of our citizens and not the global well being of citizens around the world.
How to change that and this
The International HIV-AIDS conference began in Toronto Sunday. Nothing demonstrates the reach of corporate power more than this. Two years after Canada passed ground-breaking legislation to let generic drug companies produce affordable medicine to export to desperate countries, not one life-saving pill to help those with HIV or AIDS has been shipped anywhere in the world.
That’s right sisters and brothers - not a single low cost pill has been shipped to Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people have died, where children are being orphaned every day.
Why? Because the Canadian law requires companies holding the drug patents to voluntarily licence a generic manufacturer to produce the medicine.
And they are not doing it.
Why not ?
As our good friend Stephen Lewis said this past weekend, “this is not rocket science - a government has great power”. But they are just not using it. The Canadian government could issue compulsory licences under the law, but it has not.
in BC, the University of British Columbia was the first university in Canada to sign a contract with Coca Cola and its bottled water company, Dasani. In exchange for some badly needed funding, the university gave the company a monopoly on campus.
Wait... it gets worse.
CUPE maintenance workers at the University reported that 44% of the public water fountains on campus were removed or disabled within 3 years of the exclusive contract. Coincidence?
Buy a Dasani or go thirsty – talk about a deal with the Devil!
My friends, these corporations even want to name our charities.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce gives substantial funding to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in order to put its name to the Foundation’s main event, now called the “CIBC Run For The Cure”.
And while no one can fault a worthy cause, what message is it sending when finding a cure for the scourge of breast cancer also becomes an effective marketing vehicle for a highly profitable bank?
This sort of corporate influence is insidious.
And its purpose is obvious – to make Canadians believe that corporations are positive forces in society, that corporations only do good things to help us and are a vital part of our lives.