In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell wrote that “Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past.” Within Canadian politics, this assertion has proven to be an immaculate reflection on Harper’s rewriting of history, seen by Jack Granatstein as a way to de-politicize emphasis on social history and restore the place of military history in education. This focus of Confederation and military history, in particular the World Wars has not been without its critics. One of the foremost was the Canadian Historical Association and its concern that the weight on military history obstructs social history expressing progressive causes. These concerns were also shared by Ian McKay, whom argues that Harper’s
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What is not examined by these revisionists is how Harper’s historical revisionism normalizes planned economic reforms based on neoliberal capitalism in favor of big business by marginalizing the nature historical events critiquing the negative aspects of capitalism. For instance, within the plans for the Canadian Museum of History by the Conservatives to celebrate the centennial of the Great War, the Canadian Museum of History were not given any plans to recognize struggles against the precived inequalities of capitalism; amoung these struggles was the upcoming centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. The strike was significant because of controversy over heavy-handed use of RCMP forces to break the strike in fear of revolution. This neglect of working-class history appears to demonstrate that while celebration of warfare as strengthening the nation is to be celebrated, no recognition should be given to systemic oppression against the working class through the use of police and RCMP forces when they demanded better wages and working conditions in the warke of the First World …show more content…
Yet this assertion must be viewed in the greater political context directed by Harper torwards the working class. When an analysis of Conservative policies torwards the working class is taken into account, it reveals contempt by the Harper government torwards union mobilization and simultaneous support of corporate elites. Between March to May of 2012 for instance, legislation was passed preventing Air Canada and CPR workers from striking. This was followed by requests for unions to provide an online account of their transactions along with right to work legislation allowing for federal level workers to opt out of unions; these legislations having already crippled trade unions in many American states. At the same time as the power of unions organization was marginalized, employers have been granted power to exploit the disadvantages of the foreign workers within Canada despite provincial labor laws on workplace safety. In retrospect, with such a disregard for the health of Canada’s workforce, as seen in it’s assult on unions and the granting of more freedom to employers, it cannot be claimed that Harper’s historical revisionism is used to just simply to give reconition to military history. Instead, Harper’s revisionism is used to rewrite history in a neoliberal context on the basis of present day pro-business
What is not examined by these revisionists is how Harper’s historical revisionism normalizes planned economic reforms based on neoliberal capitalism in favor of big business by marginalizing the nature historical events critiquing the negative aspects of capitalism. For instance, within the plans for the Canadian Museum of History by the Conservatives to celebrate the centennial of the Great War, the Canadian Museum of History were not given any plans to recognize struggles against the precived inequalities of capitalism; amoung these struggles was the upcoming centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. The strike was significant because of controversy over heavy-handed use of RCMP forces to break the strike in fear of revolution. This neglect of working-class history appears to demonstrate that while celebration of warfare as strengthening the nation is to be celebrated, no recognition should be given to systemic oppression against the working class through the use of police and RCMP forces when they demanded better wages and working conditions in the warke of the First World …show more content…
Yet this assertion must be viewed in the greater political context directed by Harper torwards the working class. When an analysis of Conservative policies torwards the working class is taken into account, it reveals contempt by the Harper government torwards union mobilization and simultaneous support of corporate elites. Between March to May of 2012 for instance, legislation was passed preventing Air Canada and CPR workers from striking. This was followed by requests for unions to provide an online account of their transactions along with right to work legislation allowing for federal level workers to opt out of unions; these legislations having already crippled trade unions in many American states. At the same time as the power of unions organization was marginalized, employers have been granted power to exploit the disadvantages of the foreign workers within Canada despite provincial labor laws on workplace safety. In retrospect, with such a disregard for the health of Canada’s workforce, as seen in it’s assult on unions and the granting of more freedom to employers, it cannot be claimed that Harper’s historical revisionism is used to just simply to give reconition to military history. Instead, Harper’s revisionism is used to rewrite history in a neoliberal context on the basis of present day pro-business