The joke goes that Canada is three mining companies in a trench coat. Or three oil companies in a trench coat. Or three telecom companies in a trench coat. It's funny because it's almost true: there are only a few corporations that exert a disproportionate amount of power over Canadian democracy. Corporate profits are at a record high, and the divide between the rich and poor has never been wider. Canadians are struggling with affordability, a housing crisis, and wages that don't cover basic needs. The combination of these forces is a pressure cooker that politicians have promised to tackle, except they can't: they are too restricted by corporate power to confront the roots of the problems that Canadians face.
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