This is What Creative Destruction Looks Like

“Bringing in temporary foreign workers to displace Canadians is not acceptable . . . when we have Canadian skills and talent that could be at work,’’ Finley said.

But her department’s own figures indicate the jobs that are being filled by foreigners are not skilled positions.

They really don't know what they're doing here.  They are taking a society with an increasing riot culture and giving them more reason to take to the streets.  Team Harper is paying lip-service to training and innovation, yet is focused on marginalizing increasing numbers of Canadians and forcing them into a reality that discourages value-add.  That's no way to strengthen our economy - instead, it's trying to recreate the Dirty Thirties.  There are other parallels on that front, too - just look at Europe. 

Why?  Why would they repeat history when the lessons are there to be learned?  It's easy - they're fixated on power and control and think that, because they're in charge, they can defy social gravity.  They are reacting on instinct - not proactively planning.

So, let's look at history and see what else is there to be learned.  The Tories are going to pay for this at the polls, eventually, but in the meantime, with only two viable political parties at the forefront, people are going to be looking elsewhere to see their concerns represented.  This could be a renewed Liberal Party, or it could be a series of somethings new.  I hate to say it, but I would keep an eye out for a party further to the right of the CPC gaining some presence, too.  Where success will emerge, though, is from the Centre. 

While Team Harper might not have learned the lessons of history, there are others that have.  Society, as a whole, has completely changed from what it was then, in ways that are irrevocable.  Case in point - the Internet.  We are all much more connected, just as we are more urban.  It's hard to get away with marginalizing your neighbours when they are still going to be your neighbours - there's no way governments can get away with labour migrations today.  Now, multiply that worldwide and you'll see where we're at.

Where are the new, progressive political movements going to come from?  The same place they always do - coffee shops, pubs, places where people gather to share ideas.  While Occupy and students are taking to the streets (there's that protest movement, again) civic engagement movements like Why Should I Care or former MP (and visionary thinker) Gerard Kennedy's Democracy Renewal Nights are discussing policy in the context of reality and coming up with tomorrow's social solutions.

These pub nights are supplemented by the growing Social Entrepreneur movement - a term we should all get used to hearing about.  Places like MaRS and the Centre for Social Innovation are nurturing a generation of Conscious Capitalists, society-minded individuals that want to earn a living making the world a better, more inclusive yet diverse place - generating legacy in the progress.  Call it specialized collaboration.  These are the true conservatives, focused on efficiency not just of dollars but of our natural resource use as well.  For them, success is about sustainability.

It's ironic to the extreme - in trying to obtain ultimate control and establish a Conservative dynasty that will last a thousand years, Stephen Harper's Conservatives are actually serving as social brushfire, burning off the the accrued detritus of past social models and clearing the way for what comes next.  They are playing the role that society has engineered them to.

Welcome to the 21st Century; welcome to the Conscious Society.