Quebec Left Debates Perspectives in Canada's Federal Election
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 22:15
- Written by editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1163 .... September 17, 2015
______________________________________________________
Quebec Left Debates Perspectives in Canada's Federal Election
Richard Fidler
Canada's current federal election campaign is now at the half-way point in the lead-up to October 19. The three major parties are polling almost equally, with the ruling Conservative vote dropping steadily while the opposition New Democrats (NDP) and Liberals are virtually tied overall at just over 30 per cent. This means the NDP has not significantly increased its support from the previous election in 2011, while the Liberals under Justin Trudeau have staged a remarkable recovery from their 19 per cent in 2011. In Quebec, the NDP polls far ahead of the other parties and even beyond its 43 per cent support in 2011, but it is lagging behind the Liberals in most of... the rest of Canada (ROC).
It is a depressing campaign, with little discussion of major issues in the corporate media. No party is offering a real alternative on such key issues as climate change, increasing neoliberal austerity, Canada's increasing militarization, etc.
As the Official Opposition in the last Parliament, the NDP was well poised for further advances this year. But its campaign, built entirely around the image of party leader Thomas Mulcair, is pathetically devoid of proposals that could inspire enthusiastic support in an electorate that by all accounts is overwhelmingly eager for "change."
Incredibly, the party brass market Mulcair as a leader with "experience" in government -- as a cabinet minister in the right-wing and federalist government headed by Jean Charest in Quebec, which Mulcair left only in 2008. And then there are his past statements on the record in support of Margaret Thatcher. And now his inability to explain how an NDP government would abolish the Senate -- which would of course require not just consent of all the provinces but a major amendment to the Constitution, something the NDP fears to do because it would once again put the "Quebec question" front and centre in Canadian politics. And so on and on....
