News and views from SA Canada NDP win in Alberta: A sign of things to come
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The electoral victory of the New Dem ocratic Party in Alberta, where Rachel Notley led the labour-based party to a majority of seats with over 40 per cent of the vote, is just the latest in a series of events signaling the process of recomposition of social movements across the Canadian state.
The emergence of the Quebec student movement as a broad and combative force; the growth of the Idle No More indigenous people’s movement, which demands a public inquiry to investigate the murder and disappearance of over 1,200 indigenous women; the advance ment of First Nations as the vanguard of the environmental movement fight ing the destructive practices of Big Oil, mirroring the role of indigenous com munities in Latin America; the shakeup of the elected leadership of the Cana dian Labour Congress and prospects for a militant, cross-union caucus; and finally the massive May 1 social strike against austerity in Quebec, where over 800 social and trade union organiza tions participated—these indicators form the backdrop for the unexpected NDP victory.
While the size of the vote for the NDP surprised many pundits, those closely watching the changing nature of Alber ta politics saw the clues. They were to be found in major changes to the com position of the working class.
As the concentration of capital in the oil industry grew through the various mega-projects, so did a younger and more combative workers’ movement centered in the construction and re source extractive sectors. In addition, the change in ethnic demographics in the main urban centers of Calgary and Edmonton weakened the hold of the Socialist Action (Above) Linda McQuaig, NDP candidate for Toronto Centre, speaks at SA educational conference.
several currents and sections of the Fourth International met. They planned to in crease their collaboration, and to strength en efforts to build revolutionary, Leninisttype parties around the world. — B.W.
mayor, associated with the NDP, in the previous two mu nicipal electoral cycles.
The mildly left-wing pro gram put forward by the Notley leadership team, of increasing corporation taxes by 2% and reviewing the level of oil royalties with an eye to increasing them, com bined with popular rejection of the perceived corruption and incompetence of the Conservative government, which had been in power for more than 40 years, was enough to make the NDP a pole of resistance to the austerity budget presented by the Tory cabinet. A vote for the NDP was thus seen as a vote against austerity, and for the continuation and expan sion of social expenditures, especially in health and education.
Unfortunately, this vote and the ex pectations raised by it, will be disap pointed by the Notley leadership. Not ley, like most of the NDP tops, embraces the neo-liberal mantra “balance the books,” which is nothing more than code for freeze or cut social spending. She has already begun to lower expec tations by announcing that the finances of the province are in worse shape than the public had been led to believe, and that consequently her election promis NDP governments in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The one force able to stop this retreat is the social movement. Socialists in Alberta need to step up and organize to defend the demands of the popular sectors and their expectations that the NDP will be different. Militant trade unionists in particular should pay no heed to the union bureaucrats who will preach wage restraint, social peace, plead for time to allow “their” govern ment to get things in order, and so on.
The Alberta working class, having taken a step forward on the road to po litical independence from the parties of the capitalists, can take the next step by putting forward its social demands and by organizing around them using the methods of the organized workers’ movement — mass action — and press forward to ensure that these demands are satisfied.
Only a resolute struggle against the austerity-lite program of the NDP lead ership will guarantee the active and en thusiastic participation of the working class, and its allies among youths, the indigenous people’s movement, and progressive self-employed and small business folks, and guarantee that the NDP victory in Alberta will be more than a one-off, like the Bob Rae NDP di saster in Ontario in the early 1990s. n