Exactly this. People on the right in Canada like to blame all this on "socialism", but it's really the opposite. The state in Canada has always been captured by

Exactly this. People on the right in Canada like to blame all this on "socialism", but it's really the opposite. The state in Canada has always been captured by private interests, for the purpose of enforcing monopolies. Sometimes justified by nationalism (protectionism relative to the massive US economy next door), sometimes justified by expediency, but almost always working in some private sector interest at the expense of the public's. In the west it's the oil & gas sector (or forestry), in Central Canada its banking, service, and manufacturing. The reality is we have very little "socialism" in Canada, and a whole lot of corporatism which has worn a liberal facade for its own survival. It dates back to colonial times, we just replaced the British colonial parasites with our own local ones.