LolaBeeAndMe writes, “This is me Standing on Guard, lots is happening right now, it’s hard to read the tea leaves sometimes and hoping for some insight from this sub on this Build Canada initiative.

“Canadian Tech CEOs getting together to try and influence public perception and policy doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to be the US, even if that means we are a little behind the times, or a little less productive. I just don’t want to become the US.”

There has never been a shortage of corporate interests creating platforms to advance their own versions of what Canada should look like – The National Post and Financial Post newspapers are exactly this sort of thing.

They have been invariably one-sided, stifled any discussion that mentioned the public interest (as opposed to their own financial interests) and lobbied relentlessly for the privatization of public services. You all know this – you all were able to read the Post newspapers.

The real concern, in my mind, is what happens if they gain control over actual policy platforms.

The defunding and eventual sale of the CBC would be a case in point. Privatization of Canada Post would be another case in point. The conversion of Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) as well as public service pensions into private sector agencies would be similar examples. The same with public health care. We can expect all of these if we elect a government that follows the Trump model,

The consolidation of government computer services into Shared Services Canada (SCC) by the Harper government was a likely prelude to its eventual privatization. This would have been an irreversible disaster for Canada – but may well be on the Poilievre agenda.

Even if we don’t lose Canada to our southern neighbours, we can lose a lot of Canada just by emulating them.