The Myth That Ordinary People Have No Power

❖ Series II: The Power to Change It ❖
Part 1: The Broken Ladder: Why Working People in Canada Feel the System Is Rigged
Part 2: The Myth That Ordinary People Have No Power (you are here)
Part 3: Coming soon

Where This Fits

This article is Part 2 of The Power to Change It — the second major series on mycdnprince.

If you’re new here, this series builds on the earlier Enough Is Enough 5-part series, which laid the foundation on corporate power, housing, public ownership, and democratic change in Canada.

❖ Enough Is Enough ❖
Start here if you missed it:
Enough Is Enough – Series Pillar Page

The Myth

In the previous post, we explored why so many working people in Canada feel the system is rigged. It is easy to look at the power of corporate lobbies, the concentration of wealth, and the sheer unaffordability of everyday life, a sense of dread feels almost inevitable. The natural reaction is to think, What can I possibly do against that?

That feeling of powerlessness is not accidental. It is the single greatest barrier to change.

And here is the truth the system depends on you forgetting: it is a myth.

The belief that ordinary people are powerless is not a fact of life; it is a psychological barrier. And once you look at the actual history of this country, you realize that every single right you take for granted today—from the weekend to public healthcare—was not given freely. It was won by organized, ordinary people who refused to accept that things couldn’t be better.

Every Democratic Right Came From Organized Pressure

Let’s start with a fundamental truth that history repeats relentlessly: power is never given; it is taken.

The 40-hour work week, overtime pay, safety regulations, and even the legal right to form a union were once considered radical, dangerous ideas.

Before 1872, if you tried to form a union in Canada, you were part of a criminal conspiracy. The only reason that changed is because the Toronto Typographical Union went on strike for a eight-hour workday. When their leaders were jailed, over 10,000 people marched in solidarity. The government of the day, facing that kind of organized pressure, legalized unions. They didn’t do it because they believed in them — but because it feared what would happen if it didn’t.

Labour Rights Were Written in Blood

The labour movement Canada history is not a dry story of paperwork and polite negotiations. It is a story of sacrifice, repression, and courage. The workers rights Canada history is stained with the blood of those who demanded dignity.

In 1919, workers in Winnipeg shut down their city for six weeks, demanding the right to collective bargaining and fair wages. The state’s response was brutal. On “Bloody Saturday,” the RCMP charged into a crowd of strikers, firing guns and killing two men. They didn’t win that strike immediately, but they won the future. That general strike marked the birth of organized labour as a political force that could not be ignored.

Decades later, in 1945, Ford workers in Windsor struck for 99 days to secure union security. They parked their own cars to blockade the plant, and their solidarity resulted in the Rand Formula—the principle that everyone in a workplace benefits from the union, so everyone should contribute. This principle is the bedrock of union stability in Canada.

Public Healthcare Was a Movement, Not a Gift

We are often told to thank political figures for “giving” us public healthcare. But public healthcare as a movement victory is the accurate version of history. Yes, Tommy Douglas implemented it in Saskatchewan, but he did so because decades of pressure had made it inevitable.

In the 1930s, long before Medicare, communist doctors like Norman Bethune were organizing free clinics and campaigning for socialized medicine because they were furious at the class-based reality of healthcare. Workers, farmers, and socialists fought for this idea for a generation before it became law. When the doctors in Saskatchewan went on strike in 1962 to try and stop Medicare, they lost—not because of a politician, but because the public was organized enough to demand the system stay.

Why Elites Fear Organized Citizens

Here is the paradox: the people who run corporations and governments have immense resources, but they have one critical weakness. They are outnumbered. Like the saying goes, “We be many, they be few”.

This is why elites fear organized citizens. They aren’t scared of one person writing an email. They are scared of 10,000 people marching. They fear boycotts, strikes, and collective refusal. They are scared of the moment when the people who actually run the country—the workers, the nurses, the truck drivers, the teachers—decide to stop playing along.

History proves this fear is rational. In 1965, postal workers defied the government and held an illegal strike. They won the right to collective bargaining for the entire public service. In the 1960s, after five Italian immigrant workers died in the Hogg’s Hollow disaster, unions fought so hard for safety that they forced the government to pass the Industrial Safety Act, giving us the right to refuse unsafe work.

These rights didn’t come from the goodness of an employer’s heart; they came from relentless pressure.

The Lesson for Today

The feeling that the game is rigged is valid. But the belief that we are powerless is a trap.

Political organizing Canada has always been the answer. The labour movement didn’t win the weekend by being polite. The fight for public healthcare wasn’t won by waiting for a politician to have a good idea.

If you look closely, that power is still there. In 2025, residents of West Mabou, Nova Scotia, organized against a plan to sell public parkland to an American developer for a golf course. Through town halls and media pressure, they forced the Premier to back down. It was a small example, but it proves the same principle: when a community stands together, power listens.

The Myth is the Cage

The belief that you have no power is the lock on the door.

Canadian history shows the key has always been in our hands.

Mass democratic pressure works. It won the eight-hour day. It built public healthcare. It forced safety laws into existence. And it can secure the changes we need today.

If millions of Canadians feel the system isn’t working for them, the question isn’t whether change is possible.

The question is whether we choose to organize.

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Sources & Further Reading

Continue Reading

Feeling the system is rigged is the starting point. Understanding why it is rigged is the next step. If these issues matter to you, consider subscribing and supporting independent political analysis. For a deeper look at corporate concentration, housing financialization, and democratic alternatives, explore the original Enough Is Enough series. 

Next in Series 2:
Part 8: The Story You’ll Never See on the Front Page: Why Corporate Media Won’t Tell This Story

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