The Canada-EU trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy

That's a crib of George Monbiot's headline from The Guardian today, and his article is definitely a must read.

While George is writing about the yet unconsummated trade deal between the EU and the US, the exact same article could easily have been written about the deal Harper just agreed in principle with his EU counterparts. That too is a onerous piece of work that will allow "rapacious companies to subvert our laws, rights, and national sovereignty."

So why do we not find a similar article in any mainstream Canadian media? Because for all their faults, the Brits have been able to maintain a small bit of space in their mainstream for points of view that do not echo the prevailing wisdom peddled by the owners. In Canada that space does not exist. Even that most liberal of Canadian journalism platforms,  the Toronto Star, increasingly embraces a corporatist agenda.

All of Canada's "mainstream" media have been relegated to echo-chambers for the point of view deemed appropriate by Harper and his big-business constituency.

That's not the fault of the journalists still employed in the system. They know full well that their continued employment is contingent on being faithful regurgitators of received wisdom, wisdom received from their corporate masters.

A journalist like Monbiot working in Canada would never have to worry about losing his job, because he would never have one in the first place.