News and views from SA Canada Trudeau trying and lying to catch up in polls
2015Barry Weisleder 2015-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 8 →
The words are the paper's own, from its digital file; the division into articles was made by machine, so a box or caption can end up inside the article next to it.
Scan page 8
Though the Oct. 19 Canadian federal election is still three months away, the changing pattern of public opin ion is forcing the major parties to shift gears. According to a major late-June poll, the labour-based NDP has the support of 35 per cent and is extending its lead. The governing Conservatives have fallen to 28 per cent, and the Lib eral Party is down to 29 per cent.
It’s no surprise that both big business parties are increasingly directing their fire at the NDP. But the Liberals, under their leader Justin Trudeau, are turn ing to very traditional tactics—stealing and lying.
By advocating electoral reform that might include proportional representa tion, easier and wider access to infor mation, and a return of the long-form census, by letting government scien tists talk to the media, making it easier for university students and Canadians living abroad to vote, and stopping Canada Post from ending door to door mail delivery, the Liberals are simply copying NDP policies.
They also promise to restore some so cial spending that Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut.
But can the Liberals be trusted?
Remember the Liberal Red Book in the 1993 election campaign. P.M. Jean Chretien, and his successor Paul Mar tin, shredded the document and broke nearly every promise they made. Mar tin infamously cut 40 per cent of fed eral transfer monies to the provinces.
represents “real change.”
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, on the other hand, champions change in the form of a $15 per day national child-care pro gramme, raising the minimum wage to $15/hour, increasing Canada Pension Plan benefits, and giving the cities a new deal for mass public transit—and he demands abolition of the Senate.
The party also calls for removing Ca nadian forces from Iraq and Syria, and restoring home mail delivery. Such progressive policies helped the NDP to a shocking win in the Alberta provin cial election. They can carry the labourbased party to government in Ottawa.
Mulcair would be wise to resist pres sure from the business class to down play differences with the Conservative Party, leaving that role to the Liber tional pharmacare, no new pipelines, expropriation of Big Oil and Gas to fi nance a rapid shift to green energy, and the implementation of steeply progres sive taxation to give relief to workers, farmers, and small business, and to make the rich pay.
The business media constantly re mind us that the NDP is a working-class party linked to the unions. So, why not make the most of it? Fan the flames of discontent with capitalist rule.
And what if the Oct. 19 federal elec tion results in the NDP being in first place, but no party with a majority of seats?
Socialists urge the NDP to stand firm, form a minority government, and implement policies in the interest of the working class and the vast majority. If the capitalist parties choose to vote against progressive measures and force an early election, make them bear the consequences.
Rule out any notion of a coalition with the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois, or the Green Party. Despite its many short comings, the NDP represents the possi bility of a course of action independent of the bosses’ parties, and that must be amplified—not compromised. n