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The Tories are back! � in Canada
CANADA�S NEWLY elected Conservative minority
government, led by Stephen Harper, was sworn into office in Ottawa, last
month. The Conservatives were brought to power after a festering
political crisis had brought down the previous Liberal government only
15 months after the 2004 election. Holding a minority of seats in
parliament, Harper�s Tories need the support of at least one opposition
party to pass legislation and avoid another early election. There will
be no coalition government; it is expected that different opposition
parties will support the Tories on different items.
The main election issue was political corruption.
The election was forced by a no-confidence motion last November against
Paul Martin�s Liberal government. This was a result of the Gomery
inquiry into the �sponsorship� kickback scandal involving the earlier
Liberal government of Jean Chr�tien, whom Martin succeeded in 2003.
Initially, it appeared that the election would produce a second
successive Liberal minority government. However, a new scandal emerged
when the mounted police began investigating allegations of insider
trading against the prime minister�s office and the staff of the finance
minister.
The new Conservative Party, the product of a merger
between the old Progressive Conservative Party (Canada�s traditional
Tory party) and the even more rightwing Canadian Alliance, had been
considered unelectable by many. The Progressive Conservatives had been
reduced to only two seats in 1993 (from 170 in 1988), while the Reform
Party (forerunner of the Canadian Alliance) won 52. The Conservatives�
policies were unpopular with most Canadians, particularly in Quebec,
Canada�s second most populous province.
But the desire to punish the Liberals for years of
corruption and cuts was irresistible and the Conservatives proved to be
the beneficiary thanks, in part, to a corporate media that openly
supported Harper and suppressed criticism of his policies.
The Tories form a government despite only winning
124 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons. The Liberals were reduced to
103, the Quebec nationalist Bloc Qu�b�cois (BQ) won 51 and the nominally
social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) 29, up from 19 though its
vote only increased 1.8%. Most of the NDP�s gains were in working-class
areas such as Hamilton, Ontario. However, the Liberals were still the
most popular party amongst the working class. The Tories failed to win
any seats in Canada�s three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and
Vancouver. The Tories won ten of Quebec�s 75 seats, considered a
breakthrough as they had been expected to win none and the BQ had hoped
to win over 60. It was the Liberal Party in Quebec that was the source
of the corruption allegations, and many federalist Quebecers switched to
the Tories out of disgust.
Harper�s weak mandate reflects the fact that he won
the election by default, not because of widespread support for
Conservative policies. These policies include opposition to same-sex
marriage and the Kyoto protocol, and support for privatised healthcare.
They also promised to scrap Canada�s emerging national day-care
programme and replace it with a tax cut for parents that amounts to less
than $5 a day - hardly enough to feed a child at snack-time, let alone
pay for care.
Real issues affecting the lives of workers received
almost no attention, with the media focus on corruption, political
gaffes, and who was ahead or behind in the latest polls. This was
facilitated by the fact that there is very little substantive difference
between the Liberals and Conservatives, both neo-liberal in their
economic orientation. The Tories also attempted to present themselves as
�moderate�, downplaying their more draconian policies.
While the Liberals often present themselves as
�leftwing� during elections, Canadians have become accustomed to them
campaigning from the left and governing from the right. The Liberals
supported corporate globalisation during their twelve years in office,
and carried out anti-working class policies, including attacks on
unemployment insurance and a dramatic curtailing of social programmes.
Liberal governments under Chr�tien and Martin (who was Chr�tien�s
finance minister), have been the most right-wing since the 1930s.
The lack of substantive debate during the election
was not helped by the NDP, which has links to the labour movement. While
the NDP has been unable to move as far to the right as New Labour in
Britain or many social democratic parties in Europe - largely because of
Liberal Party attempts to occupy that space - it has tried to adopt
right-wing policies to make it acceptable to Canada�s ruling elite.
The NDP�s goal for many years has been to hold the
�balance of power� in parliament. It achieved this after the 2004
election by propping up the Liberal government in exchange for some
increased spending on healthcare and education. But the NDP pulled the
plug on the Liberals last November, claiming it was due to disagreement
over the spread of privatisation in the healthcare system. However,
during the election campaign, Jack Layton, NDP leader, said his party
would not ban private clinics, but would deny them government funding.
This undermined the NDP�s image as the �protector� of public Medicare.
An even more blatant example was its adoption of a �law and order�
platform that included increasing mandatory minimum sentences for many
criminal offences � despite the fact that these have been shown to fail
as a deterrent.
Paradoxically, while the NDP desires to be a junior
partner to the Liberals in parliament, its main election tactic has been
to almost exclusively attack the Liberals, hoping to win over Liberal
voters. At the same time, the NDP gives the Conservatives a pass �
according to the NDP leaders� political calculations, attacking the
Tories indirectly encourages Canadians to vote Liberal to stop the
Tories.
Recently, the goal of holding the �balance of power�
has become so central that Layton has entertained the possibility of
supporting the Tories on certain issues. Some leading NDP members crowed
that with 29 seats the party would be able to offer the Tories stability
to govern in exchange for concessions on issues such as electoral
reform.
Judy Rebick, a well-known political activist, was a
strong ally of Layton�s in the past, but has become openly critical of
his leadership. She argues that the "NDP ran the most right-wing
electoral campaign in recent memory" and violated official party policy
in three areas: its law and order platform; support for increased
military spending; and support for the �Clarity Act�, which undermines
Quebec�s right to self-determination.
By making concessions to the right, the NDP made it
all the easier for some rightward moving union leaders to support the
Liberals. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), Canada�s largest
private-sector union, officially called for �strategic voting�,
encouraging its members to vote Liberal in constituencies where it had
the best chance of defeating the Tories. Unofficially, Buzz Hargrove and
other senior CAW officials openly supported the Liberals. Hargrove
shared the same stage with Martin several times � on one occasion in
Windsor, a NDP stronghold � and even went so far as to drape him with a
CAW jacket. Hargrove also campaigned for human resource minister,
Belinda Stronach, a Tory-turned-Liberal, formerly CEO of union-busting
auto parts giant, Magna International. CAW�s chief economist, Jim
Stanford, endorsed the Liberal candidate in Oxford, an executive with
union-busting Toyota. This reflects the CAW leadership�s abandonment of
any pretence of being a class-based �social union�. Instead, it favours
collaborating with elements of the ruling class to win �concessions� for
the auto industry, even if these corporate executives are union busters,
and even if the union they�ve busted is the CAW!
As for the Conservatives, while they tried hard to
portray themselves as �moderates�, Harper is a modern Thatcherite,
favouring a right-wing version of class warfare reminiscent of the
�common sense revolution� that Mike Harris�s ruling Tories inflicted on
the Canadian province of Ontario in the mid-1990s. He has appointed
three key architects of the Harris regime to his cabinet. The new
finance minister, Jim Flaherty, was finance minister under Harris.
Harris�s health minister, Tony Clement, de-funded the health system in
an attempt to justify privatisation, and now holds the same position
under Harper. John Baird introduced �workfare� and slashed social
assistance under Harris and has a key financial portfolio today.
The NDP argues that with its increased number of
seats, it can use its �influence� to blunt the Tory agenda. This is
fallacious. While a minority government provides an opportunity for
legislative jockeying, the only real way of stopping the Tories is by
getting into the workplaces and onto the streets, organising a mass
social movement to bring down the Tories and putting forward a genuine,
progressive workers� agenda for social change. The NDP has shown, yet
again, that it is incapable of representing the interests of workers.
The only way forward is with a true workers� party built through
struggle and mass action.
Robert Messing,
Socialist Alternative (CWI) Toronto
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