Editorial

The Federal Election and the Necessity for a Pro-Social Agenda

For the second time in a year and a half Canadians will be going to the polls in a federal election. This time the prospect of any party forming a majority government is even more remote than it was in 2004, so all of the parliamentary parties are jockeying for position within another minority government. The Liberals are trying desperately to hang onto power, knowing that they can rely on the support of the NDP. The Conservatives would like to replace them as the governing party, but it is difficult to conceive of how they could gain the cooperation of any of the other parties in forming a government. The NDP is satisfied with being a junior partner in a Liberal government, but hopes to increase its numbers and, therefore, its influence over the Liberals. For its part, the Bloc Quebecois hopes to capitalize on the outrage of Quebecers over the sponsorship scandal in order to sweep the Liberal party out of Quebec.

As in last year’s election, Quebec is key and unless support for the Bloc Quebecois plummets over the next few weeks, which does not seem likely, it appears that nothing much will change in the new parliament. The Liberals have dusted off their standard scare campaign about the horrors of a Conservative government in order to pressure NDP supporters into voting Liberal. However, it is questionable whether Canadians will fall for that ploy again, since it is clear that there is no possibility of a Conservative majority government and a minority Conservative government would be forced to implement the Liberal agenda in order to stay in power. Furthermore, the Conservatives are already faltering and a long campaign gives them plenty of time to make mistakes. Therefore, the most likely scenario is for the Liberal plurality to be reduced, the NDP and Bloc to increase their number of seats and the Conservatives to remain about the same. However, regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain – the neo-liberal anti-social agenda which has been pushed by successive Liberal and Conservative governments will continue.

The problem confronting the Canadian people, therefore, is not how to prevent a Conservative victory or how to ensure good government. Rather, the problem is how to put an end to the neo-liberal anti-social agenda, block the Liberal-Conservative pursuit of deeper integration with the United States and implement a pro-social policy which benefits a majority of Canadians. However, there is also another problem, namely that none of the current parliamentary parties is prepared to rise above its own narrow, sectarian interests, let alone champion a pro-social agenda.

This leaves the Canadian people without a national electoral vehicle to represent their interests. Within this situation they can continue to hope, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that one of these parties will undergo a fundamental change and place itself at the service of the people. Alternatively, they can decide to give themselves that which they lack by building such a vehicle for themselves. Rather than getting caught up in the media circus that passes for Canadian democracy, Modern Communism encourages workers and all progressive and democratic people to use these elections to develop discussion about a pro-social alternative to the anti-social policies of the current parliamentary parties, as well as to explore various possibilities to establish a national electoral vehicle capable of advancing the people’s movement against neo-liberalism and the anti-social agenda of the Canadian ruling elite.

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