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PrintBitter and bewildered: The sad plight of the disillusioned left-wing Canadian voter
Do you ever feel like you're a rock 'n' roll fan stuck in the Eighties? Or a science teacher at a Republican education convention down in the southern U.S.? Or an environmentalist in oil sands-ravaged Alberta?
Well, if so, then you're quite possibly a left-wing Canadian voter. Because feeling discouraged, depressed, dejected, and downhearted is all part and parcel of being a progressive voter here in this country these days.
In fact, this must be what it feels like to be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan after a while.
It might even be close to how a young Stephen Harper must have felt growing up here in Canada, a place he once called "a second-tier socialist country" and "a northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term".
Not since the days of Brian Mulroney's consecutive majorities have things seemed so bleak to those of us on the left here in Canada.
It is, of course, wonderful that Harper and his Conservatives haven't been able to win a majority in parliament and therefore haven't been able to ram through their right-wing agenda; nevertheless, this feeling of despondency remains.
Cynicism and Apathy
Last year in a speech in Toronto Harper said, "Cynicism and apathy is the last thing Canadians, especially young Canadians, should feel, about politics or about anything else about this country".
However, I'd say that unless you belong to the minority of Canadian voters who are right-of-center, how can you possibly not be feeling at least somewhat cynical and apathetic?
The fact remains that a vote for the Greens here in Canada means no representation whatsoever in parliament, even if they were to get 15–20 percent of the national vote. And that's simply undemocratic.
Then there are the Liberals—never all that progressive at the best of times—who are presently led by Michael Ignatieff, their most right-wing leader in decades. Someone who not only supported the Iraq War, but also Guantanamo Bay and the enhanced interrogation techniques (that is, torture) that went on there. Who the hell wants someone like that leading our country?
Then we've got the NDP, who after years of mocking the Liberals for propping up the Conservatives in parliament are now doing the exact same thing. They say it's because they support the Conservatives' employment insurance reform bill, but in reality it's pretty obvious that it has a lot more to do with their rather dismal standing in the polls right now. Presently sitting at around 15 percent or so if an election were held today, they face losing seats and have therefore decided to try and avoid an election at all costs. Even if it makes them look completely hypocritical and pathetic.
So, what's a poor lefty to do?
Obviously, the worst case scenario would be Stephen Harper and his Conservatives remaining in power, or, worst of all, gaining a majority. That would clearly be downright depressing. Still, do any progressive types really want to see Michael Ignatieff leading this country? Once again it comes down to the lesser of two evils instead of a government to actually feel excited about.
What I Really, Really Want
Personally, I know exactly what I want and it's called electoral reform. Specifically, what this country really needs is a form of proportional representation. See my earlier piece on that topic here: What Canadians Need: The Canadian Election Rant (Part 2).
The way I see it, Canadians are generally quite a progressive lot and many more would undoubtedly vote both Green and NDP if they actually saw a possibility of them winning power and didn't view such a vote as "wasted".
Presently, many admit to voting for the Liberals not because they support them, but simply to keep the Conservatives from winning a majority. Under a P.R. system that would never be a real concern, since I can't see the Conservatives ever winning anywhere near a majority (50 percent) of the votes in this country.
You may call me crazy, but under a revamped—that is fair and truly democratic—political system I someday see a Green-left coalition governing Canada, just like the one that governed Germany in a stable coalition for years up until 2005.
But until then I guess I'll just keep "wasting my vote" and hoping for anyone but Harper and the Conservatives to form the next government. Though I can already envision feelings of dread and dismay when I first hear the words, "Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff".
Well, at least it won't be quite as bad as being a rock fan back in the mid-Eighties.
Mike Cowie is a freelance writer who writes about politics, music, film, travel, and much more. You can read more of Mike’s views on his Web site.
Comments
"Electoral reform" has been trotted out repeatedly by both the left and the right (depending on who lost the previous election) for years. It's also been rejected by voters every time it's come up. There's a reason for that. Changing the rules may seem like a quick fix, but it doesn't address the real problems with our democratic system.
I think you have internalized the spin. Glen Clark's deck, fastcats, Jack Layton's mustache,...
The fact is these are people that represent ordinary Canadians and Canadian families. They do not support foreign corporate interests or other cronies and because of this they pay dearly in the corporate controlled media outlets - which amount to most of them.
But if you or anyone thinks for just a moment about the atrocious crimes being perpetrated against Canadians right now by our neo-con regimes the NDP's so called mistakes are not even worth mentioning.
Our public debt has been privatized (find out what that means it's terrifying). Taxes have been continuously shifted from the wealthy and corporations to the poor in the name of building wealth through "trickle down". We participate in torture, illegal rendition, corporate warfare, and we have some of the worst suffering in the world in our slums.
If anything I think people look around - and see Canada for what it is - and they are afraid. And rightfully so. Look what happens if you try to unionize. Look what devastation is laid on those social programs that once ensured people were housed, fed and generally treated humanely. We have been successfully divided. I think it takes bravery to look around see who clearly has the power right now and who is cruelly wielding it - and to vote for something else.
I vote Green every election, I don't give a rat's ass if it's a wasted vote, it's not as wasted as if I voted NDP or Liberal - Ignatieff for PM over my dead body! Might as well be Harper! Same excrement, different pile, really.
Now I know Harper has had no intention of operating parliament in anyway a minority parliament should work. That is making compromises with at least one party who can give you a majority of votes. Paul Martin understood it.
So for this one instant, Harper knew the poles where too close between him and the Liberals and he couldn't make the same miscalculation he did last year when he forced an election. Which reminds me, Harper is the one being hypocritical when he lashes out at Ignatieff for trying to be an opportunist and force an election.
So I don't feel like a dissollusioned left-winger because of what the NDP did. They did what every party in a minority parliament should do - that is make it work, make compromises.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/canada2008
If you voted Green, Liberal, or Conservative, you are right-of-center. That is the majority.
The final stake in the heart was driven in by the small amount of BC voters who bothered to vote in the last provincial election and who rejected BC-STV at that point. With it having failed once in BC already and in two other provinces the chances of it going national are gone.
The NO-STV movement was brought to us for the most part by the right wing of the BC NDP, who unlike their federal counterparts do not see any value in proportional representation. Georgia Straight writer Bill Tielman and party insider David Schreck were at the helm of that movement, ably aided and abetted by the Georgia Straight's Editor Charlie Smith, who posted a number of fear-mongering hatchet jobs against STV leading up to the referendum. Thank you BC NDP backroom boys.
So I guess that this is what passes for wit amongst the knuckle-draggers currently. Oooh ... ouch.
greggron thought he was witty, he was half right.
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Well, at least Mike Cowie didn't use the same totally incredible Ipsos 12% figure that Charlie Smith did in his article. Still, it's a selective and unrepresentative figure, offered up as fact, and then the rest supposedly follows. Even if the figure were accurate the rest would not follow, and the figure is in fact erroneous in any case.
However, most media pundits get visited early and often by Liberal spin doctors, from Warren Kinsella to Brad Zubyk, and "data" and "insider information" is profered that reporters, tired of getting tepid, non-committal material from other parties, are eager to accept. The reporters never seem to notice that none of this "insider information" concerns shenanigans within the Liberal Party! How very strange.
An Ottawa observer who is a recognized political expert told me that the mood there the last few weeks has been truly frantic. At The Hill Times 20th anniversary party, the Liberal spin machine was out in full force. Nothing wrong with that, but when you add to that the tendency of the press galleries, federal and provincial, to engage in pack journalism, and the philosophical predisposition of most journalists to accept the basic Canadian Big L Liberal positioning - economically conservative, socially liberal - there's little room for the NDP to get a voice in the media.
And notice, that exclusionary treatment exists REGARDLESS OF PRESS OWNERSHIP. That's why the NDP gets the shaft from the CBC every bit as much as from CanWest, and often much worse. In fact, in the 2004 and 2006 elections some CBC "news" tricks, promoting the Paul Martin "vote strategic" scam, were truly incredible. Why the NDP didn't forcefully complain about them, I have no idea.
Another thing that stands out for me with Mike Cowie's article is that he never talks about any of the issues, be it Afganistan, carbon pricing, labour and employment and consumer legislation, medical care, social housing, fisheries and salmon farms, trade troubles like softwood, or anything else for that matter. His whole artice is basically pure politics. There are no issues, per se.
By deduction, I would conclude that his own opposition to Harper is a matter of taste, lifestyle, culture, etc. IOWs, he too buys into the Liberal package of being economically conservative and socially liberal. Like someone else here, he has a pathological hatred of the Tories because of their well-known diabolical and sinister plot to spoil the pleasurable night lives of sophisticated Straight readers.
That's what enables him to airily dismiss as $1 billion increase in unemployment insurance benefits to long tenured workers as just an excuse. And that's why he's furious with Layton for refusing to treat the Tories as vile anathema all day, every day, if they happen to be doing something useful. That's a jarring and discordant thing for people who are into the Canadian equivalent of American "culture war" politics.
Rod Smelser
The reason the NDP fares so poorly is simple. People who don't like Harper vote Liberal because they are seen as the lesser of two evils. Do you vote Liberal knowing that tens of millions of dollars will be stolen....or do you vote NDP knowing that Billions of dollars will be pissed away on poorly thought out economic policies?
it's easier being conservative.
The opposite of this is true. In fact, our federal and provincial governments are taking the debts and liabilities of private companies and moving them public. The most absolute worst recent example of this is: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/556979
Congratulations, everyone on this thread is now the owner of companies that no one with a calculator and a brain would ever want to purchase a single share of.
Yes. Which everybody voted for.
Not only did GM get the bailout, but they will also get a tax deduction for providing the 4500 vehicles. It's called a 'business' expense. To me, its called "double whammy" for us suckers whether right or left.
I wonder just what percentage of voters in Canada belong to a political party? I am sure it is well below 0.001%. This is hardly something we could call a political system.
The example of the NDP and Labour embracing neo-liberal policies is well documented and has lead to disillusionment. It has pushed voters into the Green camp, even though some of their policies resemble Harper's or in the case of BC, Campbell's P3 bankrupting energy policies.
Let's keep talking and perhaps we the voters can find enough common ground to restore democracy and the economy for the benefit of all.
What would be ideal?
The opposite of this is true. In fact, our federal and provincial governments are taking the debts and liabilities of private companies and moving them public. The most absolute worst recent example of this is: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/556979.
This is true but I think Pride was writing about national and provincial public debt that was once held by our national bank (BOC) is now held privately by RBC, international investors, private enterprises - and they are jacking up the interest rates. We are an incredibly wealthy country that can no longer afford social programs we once took for granted because our tax dollars are leaving the country and going to pay interest to private lenders (26% of our taxes). It is terrifying.
"Socialism as you know it is dead Rod, deal with it. Do you have to leave your union if you want to run for office?"
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beelzebub, I don't undertand what you're talking about or what you're driving at. Do you?
Rod Smelser
No. This is all very wrong, and doesn't entirely make sense. Private banks do not control interest rates, the Bank of Canada influences it directly using a tool they call the "target for the overnight rate"
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/monetary/target.html
International investors or "private enterprises" definitely do not affect interest rates in any way at all; you've got the relationship here 100% backwards. Investors take a very reflexive stance with regard to monetary policy.
Your idea that interest rates are now being "jacked up" is more or less crazy. It's probably the most wrong thing I've ever read on a message board. The current interest rate we have of 0.25% is the lowest we've had since we've had central banking. Our own government can't find any other nation that has ever set the rate that low.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/04/21/bank-canada-rate.html
We can easily maintain our social programs if we simply had a more aggressive fiscal policy. While Paul Martin was finance minister, we ran record government surpluses for years. If we weren't so busy throwing our money away like drunken chimpanzees while cutting our tax base, we could easily be on the road to a balanced budget while leaving social programs unscathed.
Like back in grade school when we picked team captains for our individual classrooms.... wasn`t that the true democratic process??
Example:
If I vote "Green" in a Federal election then that should count as a vote during the Federal Election as a green vote for the Green party rep that's running for primeminister.....
Why do you think there's apathy? Because that 1 vote means nothing when it has to go thru a filtered process.... I want my vote to count! Until that vote counts, everything is going to remain the same.
Neither the current election system works, nor would those proposed ones that are out there!!
Back to basics people! Simplest answers usually are the best solutions.
Everything starts at a local level... that`s how these ministers acquire powerful positions...
Wasn`t Gordon Campbell Vancouver`s mayor once?
Right, 77% of eligible voters don`t vote at municipal elections... hmmm, maybe some of that blame lays right there..
The NDP, under pseudo-socialist principles, wants private enterprise to run industry (because the NDP can't do it themselves???), but tax just private business more. This drives business crazy, it pisses off lefties like me because it implies that the NDP don't even have the confidence in managing industrial enterprises themselves. It exposes the NDP as cowards, because they want to take advantage of the wealth generated by industry but don't want to take on the risk of running those wealth generating industries, the goal of true socialism. Welcome to the mushy middle of the Canadian political road where the NDP loves to hang out - the eager beaver getting constantly pummelled (i.e. run over) by both sides of the political spectrum, never learning a damn thing. The NDP is a slow-learning piece of half-dead roadkill getting clipped on all sides.
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