I have been a strong supporter of Canada in its trade war with Trump and his fascist MAGA supporters. I campaigned for Bruce Fanjoy in his successful bid to defeat PP. I met your wife at our local MPs office, and I read your book Values.

So to say that I am appalled to learn of your CEO summit in Toronto on Monday next is an understatement. You are inviting to our country some of the very worst people on earth, and rather than Elbows Up, I see this as Elbows on the table and pants around the ankles. Rather than standing tall, this is prostration and prostitution of the whole country.

On your LinkedIn posts you have lauded GDP growth as showing your direction is correct. I have a Ph.D as well, though my economics training is not at your level. I do have forty+ years in business. I started seven companies, still own two. Five were in Alberta. None were sold to US interests. We still do business around the world. To me, as the author of Gush Up!, a book on wealth inequality, GDP should stand for Gross Dumb Palliative.

GDP measures money generation, but NOT where it ends up. It has essential zero value to measure citizen well being or wealth distribution. It does not track the flow of money south of the border essentially free of Canadian taxation through things like Real Estate Investment Trusts. It does not measure the perversions of predatory buyout private equity. It does not track the effects of monopoly on consumer prices. It does not track our poisoning and destruction of the climate and the environment, destructive wars and death, our health and well being — all in the misplaced worship of money.

Milton Friedman loosed the monsters in the 70s, and the Reagan, Thatcher, Mulroney triumvirate began dismantling the checks and balances. I sang “Harperman, It’s Time For You To Go” on the steps of Parliament Hill, with hundreds of others. It echoed across the entire country. I hope you come to your senses before someone writes “Carneyman ….”