Canada's Emergent Libertarian Movement

How free market ideas went from marginal to mainstream in our neighbor to the north

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

Canada's Emergent Libertarian Movement

HD Video Download

"For a couple of years now, Canada has had a freer economy than the United States."

That's Martin Masse, one of the leading figures in the Canadian libertarian movement. Back in the late 90s, when libertarianism was a thoroughly marginal ideology in the country, Masse started Le Quebecois Libre, an online gathering place for allies to the cause.

Things have since changed. Free market ideas now inform Canadian public policy to a degree that's probably surprising to the average American. Reason TV recently sat down with Masse to find out about this transformation and the problems with Canada's centralized health care system.

Watch the full video above, or click below for downloadable versions. And subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for daily content like this.

Run time: 6 minutes.

Interview by Todd Krainin. Camera by Jim Epstein. Edited by Rob Montz

Comments

[Tonio]

Go frozen lovers of freedom!

[Paul.]

It's nice that Canada has a movement that attempts to get greater economic freedom. And I do believe that Canada (in some areas) has a more free, less regulated market than we.

But libertarianism goes further than just economic freedoms. It includes such areas of an EXPLICIT freedom of speech, right to be free from warrantless, unreasonable search and seizure, the right to keep and bear arms etc.

Here's a video of how the Candian state can send armed officers into your home and search it, without a warrant. If you watch the whole video, note the Orwellian implications of what the officers are saying to this person. They're monitoring his activity online and telling that "he's on the radar forever".

[Jerry on the sea]

Yeah, when will they kill off the CHRC & CRTC.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Missed your comment.

Absolutely.

There's a lot Canada needs to do vis-avis individual liberties before I can take the claim seriously.

[Knoss]

I don't think they need to end the CRTC, but they should end the idea of public airways, and intead have a fee transferable ownership. They also need tor stop running internet and cable as a public utility.

[UnCivilServant]

I'll believe they're interested in freedom when they drop the bilingualism mandates.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Paul and Uncivilservant,

I agree with both of you. I'm not sure if I agree with Mr. Masse's position of Canada being 'freer' even on economic terms. For this I single out our home province of Quebec. I don't think anyone in business (as I am) would conclude Quebec's business model is friendly to free-enterprise. As well, our language laws infringe on civil liberties and are punitive in nature.

[Cytotoxic]

Get out of Quebec.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If I could - and I'm trying - I would.

[Ketogenic Paleo]

Quebec is horribly socialist, way more than any other province. People there compare themselves only to Europe & France whereas other Canadians compare ourselves to America (and Europe for leftists)... radical leftists have way more influence in Quebec

[rts]

Canadian here.

As Paul says above, there's much more to it than free(r) markets. Individual liberty could be a lot better here.

And expect all that free market love to disappear when the (shudder) Conservatives stumble and the (vomit) Liberals or (self-immolate) NDP take over.

[Cytotoxic]

The Liberals aren't going to do much. They might even be a lot better on prostitution and MJ in the right conditions. Harper is awful.

[Not a Libertarian]

What about either a Liberal Minority supported by the NDP or even an official Liberal-NDP coalition?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Are you retarded?

[Not a Libertarian]

Well I don't think so, but then I would be a biased observer.

But in my question above I wondered if given that the Liberals would "not do much" worse than the present Tory government, but would a Liberal-NDP coalition government (whether official or "confidence and supply" variety) still do little harm?

Is there not a chance that the Liberals would be the largest party in the next Canadian Parliament but not the majority?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If you're the largest chances are you're the majority. Unless you mean they win the plurality but a minority government.

Depends on how the West votes.

As for the Liberals not being any worse, under Trudeau I think they can bring this country to derpy heights that which we've never seen before.

Add Mulcair to the mix and you get all the worst ideas ALREADY proven to be bad and fraught with unintended consequences.

[waffles]

I have never heard of a Canadian libertarian. Canada is anathema to freedom. I will not entertain any arguments to the contrary.

[waffles]

Who are you and what are you doing in my house?

[Ketogenic Paleo]

See kids? Drugs are bad

[John Titor]

Nothing says 'Canadian libertarian moment' like expanded punishments for non-violent drug offenses, more pushes for gun control, a provincially based alcohol distribution monopoly, and a Trudeau likely to be in office soon.

[John Galt]

And you've only mentioned the tip of the Canadian anti-libertarian iceberg. However! When it comes to developing natural resources, Canada is far more libertarian-leaning than the USA.

[waffles]

Ah, the Gaia Rape.

[John Galt]

What? You can't hear Mommy scream as they cut her breasts?

[John Titor]

Well yes, but I'd argue that's largely the result of Canada historically being a natural resource based economy rather than any inherent pro-libertarian stance. It used to be wood products for American development and British ships, then mining, now oil.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's just being practical. If Canada would take any other position it would be nothing short of foolish.

We have a semi-diversified economy that's tied to 87% with U.S. trade.

We never sought to develop trade outside this relationship, say with the EU.

[John Galt]

We once had a natural resource and manufacturing based economy here in the USA. In fact, in the Western regions, that once-upon-a-time was within my lifetime. And, while well-seasoned for sure, I am not ancient.

[Ketogenic Paleo]

This might be because America is more a victim of old mercantilism thinking and doesn't care about its primary resources as only poor countries earn wealth exploiting those. Canada has a greater amount of primary resources per citizen and I guess we're better at finding higher profit margins from primary resources or something.

America could have a forestry industry rivaling Canada's if they didn't let the ecofascists run their resources

[Cytotoxic]

Trudeau is blowing it.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Trudeau can suck his own dick?

[The Last American Hero]

They still acknowledge a royal family as their sovereign. It's amazing they have as much liberty as they do.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Symbolically.

[David Emami]

Meh. Not being Canadian I can't know for sure, but I doubt the power of the Queen has harmed their liberty a fraction as much as the social influence of the average lefty American celebrity has harmed ours.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The Queen has ZERO-ZILCH say in our affairs nor any influence on any level. Celebrities hold more sway as you point out.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, but the Prince of Canada is pretty powerful from what I've seen on TV recently.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

+1 South Park.

[John Galt]

Having closely watched Canada for some years now, even lived and worked there for a short period, I'd certainly agree that in recent times they've had a much more libertarian economy than the USA. However, IMHO, it's due to the fact that the USA is racing towards economic lock-down more than Canada is heading for economic libertarianism. Socially, Canada is hardly libertarian in any sense of the word.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Classical liberal thought in Canada is just something in a history book. Listen to our radio and it becomes painfully obvious the ideas of classical liberalism (neo-liberalism in modern-speak among the left), is absent.

Try and spark up a civil conversation about universal health care here.

Good luck. You'll get to Lena Dunham derp-deth-con levels in seconds flat.

[John Galt]

Well, hello, neighbor.

To stay on the safe side I think I'll pass on sparking up any conversations that could potentially lead to anyone's jailing.

[Cytotoxic]

The funny part is that 1/3 of Canada's health spending is handled by private entities. Provinces are slowly ceding a lot of healthcare to private entities. This is done without a peep because there is no alternative.

[John Galt]

And that sounds very libertarian.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I've contributed to TQL and have had communications with Pierre Lemieux in the early 2000s. A gracious fellow and it's good Canada has TQL.

Canada, as pointed out in the video and by me in past posts, imported socialism from the United States.

Last, I just got whiff that the government is getting set to overhaul subsidized daycare in Quebec. How? By giving ALL private daycares a subsidy. Is this the 'free' economy Mr. Masse alludes to? In Quebec, as I mentioned above in an earlier comment, you can't turn left or right without the shadow of the bureaucracy lurking just behind.

[BigT]

Canada, as pointed out in the video and by me in past posts, imported socialism from the United States.

I thought it was a concurrent development, with Canada starting out a bit ahead due to the King/Queen connection.

[John Titor]

Not really. Canada's exposure to American labour movements, along with American progressivism and anarchist/socialist strikes in the late 19th century was the main factor. Canada didn't really experience major socialist parties or strikes until the early 20th century, then you get things like the emergence of the CCP and the Regina Manifesto.

[John Titor]

*CCF, not the Chinese Communist Party.

[Cytotoxic]

This is very true. Central banking, prohibition, and medicare all started in America and headed north.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Nope.

[John Galt]

The way it's been told to me is those first groups of socialists who arrived here in the USA staking out entire regions of the country, only to fail miserably when there was nothing other than themselves and their philosophy to blame, upon failing the real hardcore believers migrated to Canada to set up shop anew. So, yeah, that sounds about right.

[Ketogenic Paleo]

To be fair Quebec is pretty fucked up, it's the only province that seriously uses socialist Europe & France as a model of comparison. (Every other province when looking at foreign countries look to America or the Commonwealth countries).
As blatantly anti-capitalist & socialist as they are I think the next generation is getting a little bit fed up & they have new political parties promoting fiscal responsibility... so they may have a messed up culture when it comes to economics but at least they're slowly waking up to the fact that they're basically bankrupt

[to_each_his_own]

While I don't contest Canada being ranked higher than the US in economic freedom by Cato, Heritage etc.., I'd like some examples of things that I can buy and own in Canada that I cannot in the US.

Having strong, absolute private property rights as the law of the land is just as important as removing regulations, bureaucracy and unnecessary licensing from business.

I'll move to Canada when I can legally buy an M1Abrams.
(Yes Piers Morgan, I should be able to own a Tank) 🙂

[Almanian!]

I stopped playing in Canadian pipe bands when the border guards were more concerned about the ivory on my epic, old-school bagpipes than whether I was carrying guns and pepper spray.

Fuck that - not confiscating my pipes, bitch.

[seguin]

Maserati Shamal, Alfa Romeo 159, Brera, the MGV8...

They accept both EuroNCAP and NHTSA standards up there. Other than that, no idea.

[Almanian!]

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from BC is Canada's great contribution to the world. Multi-time World Pipe Band Champions, had the opportunity to compete against them, some of their guys played in my bands over the years.

What were we talking about? Oh - pipe bands are dictatorships, BTW.

That is all.

[Cytotoxic]

Canada made serious budget cuts in the '90s the likes of which the GOP would NEVER contemplate without an economic no choice situation. Our cops are also less likely to kill you, and there's no federal minimum wage and no inheritance tax (I am pretty sure). Corporate income tax is way better here. But a lot of things vary from province to province. Alberta used to be liberty's lodestar in Canada, and it may have been rather overrated. Lately Alberta's government has become the biggest wastrel in the land and i just hope fallen oil prices put the crimp on it. Danielle Smith has been disappointing as the head of the Wildrose party, which used to be a promising quasi-libertarian party but has abandoned all of its really interesting planks for no good reason to be a ProgCon redux party-and it gained them nothing. Quebec is insane but I think it is changing albeit very haltingly. The only thing that could screw that up is more transfers from the federal government. At least Quebec has good alcohol laws. Ontario doesn't even have that.

Ontario is a fucking wasteland. No hope for freedom there. The 'people' are sheep-like in their conformity and retarded in their political choices. It's a slow-growth albatross that I'm sure we're all going to bail out when it's massive debt takes it down to bankruptcy town. No redeeming feature. Fuck that awful province.

[Not a Libertarian]

And the budget cuts were put in place by the Liberal Party (the Progressive Conservatives having disappeared and the NDP, well what the hell _did_ they do in the '90s)

The only way that any serious cuts may occur in the US is if the Democrats propose them, and this seems presently impossible.

[Not a Libertarian]

Soci?t? des alcools du Qu?bec is a good solution?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'no inheritance tax'

No, but you can't roll over assets like a building from, say, a parent to child without triggering a capital gain (or loss).

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Canada doesn't have 'asset forfeiture' either.

[Cytotoxic]

I think the provinces do. BC and Ontario are bad that way.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Never heard that before. Always learning something.

[kayledysonmul]

my roomate's mother-in-law makes $66 /hr on the computer . She has been without work for 8 months but last month her paycheck was $21762 just working on the computer for a few hours. take a look at the site here....

?????? http://www.payinsider.com

[Not a Libertarian]

Our two countries both have "first past the post" systems but why does Canada have three main parties and we have two?

[Ketogenic Paleo]

Canadian Prime Minister doesn't have veto power

[JeffreyinSandySprings]

would love to make those Canadian libertarians rich by buying oil from them but the Democrats in the Senate blocked the XL Pipeline once again in the Senate. Rich Canadians vacation in the US and buy our goods especially our cars and computer equipment.
Remember this when you vote for a Democrat or a third party candidate who helps defeat a free market Republican. The Republicans are far from perfect but not anywhere as bad as the socialist Democrats.

[LibIntOrg]

Thanks for the item. CORRECTION: The Libertarian movement was and is quite strong in Canada, hence the changes.

For more on world Libertarians, please see http://www.LibertarianInternational.org the non-partisan Libertarian International Organization.