Editorial

Leadership Races, but No Actual Leadership

Just days after the sacking of Finance Minister Paul Martin plunged the Liberal party into an unannounced, but very real leadership race, Alexa McDonagh announced that she is stepping down as leader of the New Democratic Party. How will these leadership races affect Canadian politics in the years to come?

During the past several months, significant sentiment in support of Canadian sovereignty has emerged amongst the Canadian people, largely in response to the increasingly militaristic, unilateralist and protectionist policies of the United States and the servile attitude of the Canadian government. Since there is no indication that the U.S. intends to give up its imperial pretensions in the near future, this pro-sovereignty sentiment of Canadians is also bound to deepen and broaden over the next few years. Indeed, it may not be an overstatement to predict that any political organization which fails to come to grips with this emerging pro-sovereignty sentiment will rapidly become irrelevant.

The Canadian Alliance has already committed itself to a policy of continentalism, demanding that the federal government speed up the economic, political and social integration of Canada into the United States. The Progressive Conservatives under Joe Clark's leadership remain committed to free trade, but have tried to avoid taking a stand on the issue of sovereignty. The Liberals have adopted and escalated the continentalist policies of the Mulroney Conservatives, while still attempting to portray themselves as the greatest defenders of the Canadian nation. However, their facade is wearing thin and people are increasingly grasping that Chretien's appeals for "national unity" have a lot to do with suppressing the legitimate claims of the Quebecois for sovereignty, but nothing to do with defending Canada's sovereignty.

That leaves the NDP. Will it be capable of emerging as the champion of Canadian sovereignty? Its history would suggest that it is incapable of doing so. Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, the NDP has been desperately trying to shed its image as a "socialist" party and to avoid any suggestion that it opposes capitalism. It has also been careful to avoid any appearance of being anti-imperialist or, more specifically, anti-U.S. imperialism. And it has a history of quashing members who advocate such politics. Despite this fact, at least one likely candidate to succeed Alexa McDonagh, Bill Blaikie, is attempting to present himself as an advocate of the Canadian nation.

The problem that the NDP faces is that today it is no longer possible to defend Canada's national sovereignty without simultaneously opposing capitalism and imperialism, because those are the two main threats to sovereignty. There is no longer any significant section of the Canadian capitalist class which is interested in defending Canada. The interests of Canadian capitalism have become synonymous with continentalism and neo-liberal globalization. At the same time, Canadians are increasingly coming to the realization that Canada's present system of representative democracy is inadequate to the task of defending Canadian sovereignty and that a new system of popular democracy is required to replace it.

During the course of the upcoming Liberal and NDP leadership races there will undoubtedly be numerous candidates who wrap themselves in the Canadian flag and attempt to parasitize on the growing sentiment for sovereignty in order to preserve both their own relevancy and the neo-liberal status quo. However, their continuing commitment to the capitalist system makes it impossible for them to actually defend Canadian sovereignty and reduces their "nationalism" to mere posturing.