March 1st, 2025 | RYAN TYLER

Canada Is Profoundly COrrupt

A small handful of billionaire families and corporations control everything.

Canada is a corrupt country. It is an oligarchy dressed up as a democracy, where billionaires and powerful corporate elites dictate policy while the government acts as a facilitator of their interests. This corruption runs deep, from an economy monopolized by a handful of powerful players to a foreign policy dedicated to enriching corrupt dictators around the world. To make matters worse, Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have been able to skate through multiple scandals without any real consequences, undermining the idea that accountability and rule of law are hallmarks of Canadian democracy.

Let’s start with the less obvious and most obscure issue: Canada is an oligarchy. I know you don't want to fathom how your beloved country compares to Russia, but take the price-fixing scandal as an example. For 15 years, major grocery chains, including Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro, colluded to artificially inflate the price of bread. When this was finally exposed by accident, there was no meaningful punishment and no executive accountability. A few billionaires were fined millions, but escaped criminal prosecution. Sadly, it didn't stop there. More recently, Loblaws was caught construing the weight of meat. These are just two examples of how Canada’s elites operate with impunity. Whether it’s telecom giants like Bell and Shaw/Rogers charging some of the highest internet and phone rates in the developed world, or the grocery monopolies forcing Canadians to pay inflated prices—this country functions as a rigged game designed to benefit its wealthy elites.

Whenever this happens, Canadians shrug their shoulders and put their heads in the sand. Never mind all that negative, complicated political stuff. How about that hockey game last night, eh?

How about Canada’s economic reliance on the United States? Canada has surrendered its economic autonomy by tethering itself almost entirely to American interests. The majority of Canadian exports go to the United States, meaning our economy lives or dies based on American policy. This has become painfully obvious recently. When Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel during his first term, what did Canada do? Essentially nothing. The government’s response was weak and ineffective, a clear sign that Canada’s leaders have no real leverage. Any retaliatory tariffs on American goods would have done more harm to Canadians than to Americans.

This time will be no different.

Democratically, Canada operates within an outdated, archaic parliamentary system known as the Westminster system. We inherited this trainwreck from the Brits and it has failed us miserably. Unlike the American and French systems, the Westminster system lacks any real checks and balances. While presidents in other countries face roadblocks in courts and legislatures, a Canadian prime minister can appoint senators, cabinet ministers, and court justices without any confirmation hearings or oversight. As a result, Canada's entire Supreme Court and Senate are now stacked with ideological liberals who will serve for decades. Because none of this gets covered by the media, most Canadians have no idea when it happens.

Not to mention a prime minister's ability to suspend parliament and to shut down all government business whenever an inconvenient political situation arises.

On the electoral chessboard, Ontario and Quebec have more seats than BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba combined. If one party swept all the seats in Western Canada, it wouldn't be enough to win a majority government. On the other hand, if one party swept Ontario and only two-thirds of Quebec, it would win a majority. If you don't see a rigged system in any of this, you must be blind.

Culturally, Canadians are Americans. We watch American television, watch American movies, play American video games, and indulge in American customs. Aside from our pathetic obsession with hockey and shitty coffee, nothing really separates us from our Southern overlords.

On security, the picture is even worse. Canada relies almost entirely on the United States for defence, making us little more than a satellite, or vassal state. Our military is underfunded, outdated, unhealthy, woke, and incapable of defending the country without American assistance. While Trudeau postures on the world stage about human rights and sovereignty, the reality is that Canada is dependent on the United States to an embarrassing degree. In fact, Canada has a such a problem with recruitment, it has resorted to recruiting people with ADHD and health disorders.

All the while, Canadians spend most of their time sanctimoniously mocking Americans, riding their high horses across some mythical dreamland the CBC and Liberals convinced them to believe in.

Then, there is the Trudeau government, which has turned corruption into an art form. The list of scandals under Justin Trudeau is staggering. The SNC-Lavalin affair—where Trudeau’s office pressured the Attorney General to intervene in a criminal case involving a major Liberal-connected corporation—should have ended his career. Instead, he walked away with nothing more than a bruised reputation. Then came the WE Charity scandal, where Trudeau's government funnelled hundreds of millions into an organization that paid his family hundreds of thousands in speaking fees. And again, nothing happened. Any other leader in a functioning democracy would have been forced to resign, but Trudeau remained firmly in power, protected by a media establishment that still refuses to hold him accountable.

Imagine if Trump had done all of these things.

Speaking of the media—which is controlled by the Shaw and Rogers families, alongside Bell Media—they have committed themselves to one partisan ideology. There is no room for debate, no room for contrary views, and no room for opinions that in any way might damage the country's ruling Liberals. Canada's corporate media acts as another propaganda wing of the Liberal CBC. This has been the case for decades, so much so that when Conservatives are in charge, the social narratives and cultural tides remain controlled by Liberals.

Canada is not a transparent haven of accountability and good government. The country is run by a network of billionaires, corporate executives, and political elites who protect one another at the expense of ordinary Canadians. The government, through entities like the CRTC, allows monopolies to gouge the public. It bends to corporate interests without question, and enables corruption at the highest levels without consequences. Worst of all, voters question nothing. As their country drowns in its own self-righteousness and sanctimony, Canadians prefer to double down and distract themselves with misplaced patriotism and hockey. While their elites take advantage of them, they continue to believe the false narratives about their country being a global leader in democracy, transparency, and good governance. They continue to avoid the truth at their own expense, hence refusing to fix the blatant corruption that is always happening underneath their noses.