THE REALITIES OF THE CLOWARD-PIVEN STRATEGY AND IT’S EFFECT ON CANADIAN SOCIETY

THE REALITIES OF THE CLOWARD-PIVEN STRATEGY AND IT’S EFFECT ON CANADIAN SOCIETY THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH WE LIVE are very often designed to favour particular outcomes, whether we realize it or not. Quite recently, I came across an online discussion about what is referred to as the Cloward-Piven Strategy, being a process for social and political manipulation – and a topic that has since led me to examine more thoroughly the degree to which this initiative may exist in Canadian society. In this week’s column, I will share with you some of what I've learned. The Cloward-Piven Strategy is a political and social blueprint that aims to create a crisis, both politically and within our welfare system. The aim is to force radical social change and an increasing dependency on government. In recent years, this has included the establishment of a guaranteed minimum income – a topic most Canadians have by now either read or heard about. The strategy was outlined in a 1966 article entitled "The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty," published in the ‘The Nation’ magazine by two American sociologists and political activists, Richard Cloward and Frances Piven. The central idea of their thesis is to encourage mass enrollment into social welfare programs to the point of overloading the administrative and fiscal capacities that support them. What that basically points to is a calculated effort, over time, to mobilize the ‘poor’ and so-called ‘marginalized’ groups in our communities to apply for all the benefits to which they’re entitled. The resulting flood of claims would strain local bureaucracies and budgets, leading to a breakdown in their ability to function properly. In theory, this would compel governments at various levels to intervene with a much bolder solution, such as a guaranteed minimum income provided by the state. As we know, this would result in a massive redistribution of wealth in our country – and add a frightening new level of dependency. For decades, Canadians have witnessed an ongoing expansion in Provincial welfare rolls, however, the concept of a guaranteed minimum income has yet to be implemented – regardless of the efforts made by social activists. I would argue that such a program would, primarily, encourage many thousands of unemployed people across this country to simply rely on government handouts manifestly designed to promote a socialist agenda. Stay with me, because there’s much more behind the ideals that form the basis of such an economic and political theory – ideals that go well beyond a guaranteed minimum income. Some of the more worthwhile commentary I have read on social media suggests the Cloward-Piven Strategy is right now being implemented by our federal government in ways I hadn’t previously considered. It begins with programs put in place during the Covid pandemic, those that included massive government stimulus spending, including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which gave more than eight million Canadians free money with no strings attached. Some say desperate times call for desperate measures, however, there’s an argument to be made that CERB was in fact part of a broader agenda, one that helped to create an additional dependency on programs that allowed the federal government to gain more control. Justin Trudeau and his cabinet appeared ready and eager to raise our national debt to the point of bankruptcy-by-design, even under the guise of keeping our national economy temporarily afloat. Another example to be considered is the Liberals’ radical climate agenda that began affecting Canadian energy producers as major banks stopped issuing loans to oil and gas firms unless they complied with net-zero targets. With fuel prices soaring, we faced historic inflation, and food banks across the country reported record demand as the cost of groceries increased roughly 30 per cent between 2020 and 2025. This, too, helps to create a dependency never before seen, as individuals from coast to coast still struggle to feed their families and are more often starting to look to government for assistance. On a larger scale, our now-Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke at the Vatican in 2019 in support of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, a group designed to unite global corporations, financial institutions, and the Catholic Church under a single moral-economic framework. His message was clear: Loyalty must shift from traditional institutions to a centralized system where authority is dictated by economic compliance. At the same time, there appears to be a movement dedicated to the creation of an even greater permanent dependency on the State through what is known as ‘programmable money’. Our Prime Minister has been seen as one of the most vocal international advocates for Central Bank Digital Currencies. In a speech given at a gathering of the Bank for International Settlements, Mark Carney suggested the future of ‘money’ will be programmable and trackable, and that its purpose must include support for what international agencies see as ‘sustainable’ development. In October 2023, the Bank of Canada began pilot testing a central bank digital currency, and our Prime Minister helped to advise that effort. If implemented, this programmable currency would allow the government to freeze accounts, limit purchases, and control every financial transaction – in theory. What is not mere theory but rather factual evidence is the swiftness of action taken by the federal Liberals to freeze the bank accounts of protesters they simply didn’t agree with. Those “financial incapacitation” measures by which individuals seen at a protest were subjected to bank account freezes and auto insurance cancellation decrees - all without a court order or even notice and a chance to respond - were ultimately deemed by the courts to be unlawful. The actions taken by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet remain as one of the most glaring examples of government overreach in Canadian history. Additionally, many Western leaders across the globe appear to have loyalties more connected to the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and other unelected global institutions than to national sovereignty and the maintenance of individual freedoms. The future is full of doubt, particularly for Canada, as in recent days our federal government has brought forward a budget that forecasts a total debt of $1.347-trillion in 2025-26, while at the same time offering up additional spending in excess of $140-billion over five years. When taken as a whole, these and other government initiatives that tear down the rights and freedoms of the individual can only succeed when a community of citizens is itself corrupted into almost complete dependency. This is the Cloward-Piven strategy in full force.