Saputo: a capitalist like any others

Lately, the alleged links between the Saputo enterprise and organized crime have caused a stir in the bourgeois media. It all started on January 16 when the Radio-Canada program Enquête devoted an episode to the personal and business relationships of Lino Saputo (founder of the company of the same name) with members of the organized crime, namely the members of the powerful American mafia family Bonanno. More so, it revealed that Saputo would have links with members of the no less powerful Montreal clan Rizzuto. But what was deemed the most scandalous by the bourgeois press was that despite the long time doubt, Lino Saputo has been decorated many times by the Canadian and Quebec states.

Once again, the bourgeois media gloat over secondary distractions. Indeed, the real scandal here is not that Lino Saputo was decorated despite his alleged ties to organized crime, but that he was decorated for his achievements as a businessman. Saputo, mafia or not, is just one capitalist among others, a capitalist who has spent his life exploiting the proletariat for its own enrichment. We should be equally scandalized by the success of the leaders of SNC Lavalin, Bombadier and so many companies that multiply the bribes paid to corrupt politicians, even dictators. These companies only exist and reproduce by exploiting workers from here and elsewhere.

Under the leadership of its founder, the Saputo company has become one of the ten largest dairy processors in the world with an annual turnover of 13.5 billion. During the 1990s and 2000s, the multinational acquired several companies including the monster companies of Stella Foods, Culinar, Cayer-JCB, Dairyworld Foods, Molfino Hermanos, Neilson Dairy, etc. Today, Saputo is made up of more than 65 factories and nearly 17,000 employees in Canada, the United States and around the world. Saputo’s growth has enabled its leader, Lino Saputo, to rise to the forefront of the wealthiest individuals in Quebec. According to Forbes magazine, his fortune is estimated at 5 billion.

As of March 31, 2018, according to company documents, the company’s Canada Sector had approximately 5,400 employees. The USA Sector, meanwhile, had approximately 6,100 employees. Finally, the International Sector of the company had around 1,700 employees (1,000 in Argentina and the rest in Australia). The rise and notoriety of Lino Saputo are dependent on the theft of the labor force of these thousands of workers spread across the company’s various facilities around the world.

The bourgeoisie can defend the indefensible, that is, exploitation, as long as the picture is not darkened by the criminal activity exposed. In this context, Saputo may well ruin the living conditions of thousands of workers everywhere as long as appearances are saved. This is what he did during his career, among other things by closing three facilities in eastern Canada, thus laying off more than 230 workers for the sole purpose of improving his “operational efficiency”. ” The words of Quebec Solidaire political party member Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois could not be clearer. He told the press that he had no problem with “congratulating businessmen, but if it is a fortune that has been accumulated by working with organized crime, checks must be made, and if that is confirmed, the National Order of Quebec must be removed from it”.

Also, the representatives of the bourgeoisie sitting in the National Assembly of Quebec must maintain important business relations with the capitalists while appearing concerned with justice and by being impartial in the treatment of “citizens” . Their credibility depends on it. But everyone knows it’s just a parade. It is very often the multinationals that supply the politicians who lend themselves to the electoral circus and who act like puppets on Parliament Hill in Quebec or Ottawa, in the White House in Washington, etc. To name a few, think of Trump, Mulroney, Bourassa and Legault. Conversely, ex-members of bourgeois parties often find refuge in these multinationals. Jean Charest and Peter MacKay are good examples. It is therefore not today that bourgeois institutions will stop glorifying the rich exploiters …

Capitalists all over the world form a brotherhood of criminals!

Bourgeois legality protects the crime of capitalist exploitation!