The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.
—The Communist Manifesto

Theories of the state have advanced considerably since Marx and Engels issued their famous challenge to the workers in 1848. But trust the Harper government to revive their too-simple observation, with a twist: in today’s meetings, the executive sends top officials, and the bourgeoisie has sitting members.

The committee brought together the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) with deputy ministers from Natural Resources, Environment Canada, Alberta Energy and Alberta Environment to synchronize their lobbying offensive in the face of mounting protest and looming international regulations targeting the Alberta crude.

Environmental organizations criticized the existence of a committee they said they were hearing about for the first time.

“I’m old-fashioned enough to believe that there should be a separation between oil and state, but with these types of secret committees it’s hard to see any daylight between them,” said Keith Stewart, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace.

Welcome to Harper’s Canada, where we have nothing to lose but our polling stations.