I have lifted the followng editorial from Straight Goods, an on line journal to which I subscribe. This outlines the latest on two former New Democrats who have experimented with Liberalism. Ish Theilheimer has been tireless in promoting critical analysis of Canadian and World Politics. Please consider supporting Straight Goods by donating or taking out a subscription.

Liberal leadership Olympics, buzzing off and more

Perhaps chocolate risotto will become part of the recipe for strategic voting.

Dateline: Tuesday, February 21, 2006

by Ish Theilheimer

Former Ontario Premier and NDP Leader Bob Rae has snuck into second place in the Liberal leadership Olympics, according to a new poll by SES Research, right behind Ken Dryden (12 percent vs. 14 percent). Rae, of course, was forever branded by imposing a “Social Contract” on public servants, running up a $10 billion deficit and launching an armed armada of lobby groups who hated him, either for what he did for others or what he didn’t do for them. Now he’s touted for federal Liberal leader and hasn’t said no.

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What would Buzz Hargrove do about a Liberal Party run by Rae? As one member of the Straight Goods tribe put it “Surely Buzz would suggest voters cast one half their vote for the NDP and one half for the candidate best able to make chocolate risotto and/or defeat the Tory, unless the Tory once worked in the auto parts industry, but not in Quebec.”

The NDP would be crazy to want Buzz back.

Hargrove made the news again this week when executive of the Ontario NDP “suspended” his membership, presumably until he sees the error of his ways. Otherwise-respectable NDP MPs like Jack Layton and Joe Comartin have been suggesting they oppose this, but surely they protest too much? They would be crazy to want him back.

The man may carry a party card, but his record of treachery concerning the NDP is quite stunning. Carol Goar wrote a good summary in the Toronto Star this week of the man’s sins against “his” party.

Some members of NDP circles argue that bouncing Buzz sends a confusing signal to party supporters at CAW. It will certainly make things uncomfortable for them, but for NDP supporters elsewhere it will be a breath of fresh air. People who believe in a cause can accept losing and suffering, but not smiling bastards who claim to be friends while sticking the knife repeatedly in one’s back.

Over the past couple of days, I have received about 300 emails. Many of these are asking for specific information before the writer decides whether to support me or not. I try to respond to all letters and have therefore become a little bit tardy at updating my BLOG.
I felt that this letter would provide me with an opportunity to answer some questions that always seem to come up for New Democrats at election. I want to thank Ezmirelda (not her real name) for her concerns. I will not reveal anything more about her.

Dear Phil

My name is Ezmirelda. I am a retired teacher and do some supply teaching. I have 2 grown children and 2 wonderful grandsons. I have developed very little faith in government over the past years and am quite disillusioned about the integrity of all politicians. Governing seems to have become about who has the best “spin”/slickest speeches, verbal personal bashing…and not what governing should be about. Is it the presence of power that changes people’s personality and affects their honesty? I’m not sure. What a poor example governments are setting for our young people who are looking to us for positive examples of how to act.

How will the NDP government address these concerns of mine? How will the NDP manage the big business of governing because it is a business. The NDP haven’t had a lot of experience running big business. How will Jack Layton fair? We need affordable daycare and early learning programs to start to address the social issues re: violence, gangs etc etc. We also need to sustain this wonderful country and not allow our environment to be destroyed and our country go into tremendous debt. Big job! Maybe one party cannot do it all. Maybe a collection of all party ideas is the way to run the country best. I look forward to hearing from you.

Dear Ezmirelda,

Thanks for your input. I too am a teacher. With respect, I have to disagree with you that government is a business. It is not. It is government. You and I have worked in education and we both know that the purpose of education not is to make money but to educate. The same is similar for health care and social services, the armed forces etc. (I shudder to think of the government trying to make a profit with the Armed Forces - that would legitimise mercenary armies)

As for the NDP and governing, well. . . let’s look it up. In Saskatchewan the NDP and the CCF has twice rescued the province from bankruptcy - once following WWII and once following the Grant Devine charade - no one can tell me that Conservatives (or Liberals) have any integrity at all - when it comes to government -they are fiscally ineffective and often corrupt.

The NDP on the other hand, is committed to a balanced budget and fully support Ed Broadbent’s campaign to restore ethical behaviour to parliament through extensive parliamentary reform.
No, government is not a business and truly, I don’t trust the two parties of big business. I trust the NDP. We have the policies and the integrity to govern. Both federally and provincially, you will not find examples of corruption to compare with the LIBCONS because the don’t exist.

Jack Layton will fare quite well governing. He proved to you and to me that he could lead when he demanded of the the LIBCONS that their May budget be revised and money be dedicated to the Economy, Universities, Health Care and the Environment.

Thanks very much for your question. Remember: the Liberals are the frying pan; the Conservatives are the Fire. The New Democrats, like a good camper, want to sit by the fire, tend it, and be sure that no one gets burned. Please join us.

Sincerely,

Phil Allt

PS: As for your comment re: more parties in the House of Commons, I totally agree. The way to do that is to elect more New Democrats. We are committed to proportional representation and neither the LIBs nor the CONs are. Until we get PR (and it will only come from a parliament of first past the post politicians - those small parties I believe you want to see more of, will be shut out.
Thank You

At a recent All Candidate’s Debate, Communist Party candidate Scott Gilbert implored Canadians to not vote for either the Liberals or the Conservatives. In his words, “The Liberals are the pan, but the Conservatives are the fire.”
Scott and I might disagree on which party best represents the interests of workers, students, retirees and others, but with this statement I can agree. I don’t want to be slow cooked by the Liberals nor do I wish to charbroiled by the Conservatives. I don’t want to be “Martinized” nor do I wish for the Albertification of Canada.

I think that Jack Layton would agree with this too. Below, is how Jack Layton expresses the choice between two bad options:

I want to make a comment on the Conservative platform, and then I want to make a direct appeal to Canadians who have voted Liberal in recent elections.
The Conservative platform is wrong for working women. Wrong for working men. Wrong for working families. They deserve better than to be bribed with the money they work hard to earn. I reject the Conservative platform, because I believe it is time working families were at the front of the line. Not the back. The only way working families will get to the front is by voting for the party that believes that’s where they belong.

What Canadians want first is to actually get the services they pay for with their tax money.

They want better care for seniors.
They want their kids to be able to get a good education.
They want good – public - health care.
They want air they can breath and water they can drink.

Sure, people would like lower taxes.

But they want their more important priorities to be addressed first.

The Conservatives are proposing almost $50 billion in tax cuts.

That is worse than a bad choice. That is a proposal to squander the chance Canada finally has to get at what we all know should be done first.

The Conservatives want to increase income taxes on people with low incomes, so that they can pay for a cut in the GST. That’s not a tax cut. That’s moonshine. And that’s always the way with Tory tax cuts. They put some dollars in one pocket, and then they pick your other pocket to pay for it.

The Conservatives want to wreck Canada’s chance to have a child care system. Instead they want to send parents with children under six a check for $3.28 a day.

Most Canadians would get less, since the Conservatives would then tax back some of this childcare money.

How do you get childcare on the private market for that kind of money? And what about kids over six?

On seniors.
On health care.
On tuition fees and access to training
On the environment.
On worker’s wages, pensions and benefits.

On many issues, Conservatives are just plain wrong, and out of touch with the values of Canadians.

They are right on one issue. We have to clean up Liberal corruption. And I’ll go one better on the Conservatives. We need voting reform, too.

And so, here in British Columbia and across this country, it’s time to take a look at what the Conservatives really want to do. And it’s time to say “no thanks”.

To that end, I want to say this to Canadians who have voted Liberal in the past.

If you’ve supported the Liberal Party in recent elections, I suspect you’ve been increasingly dismayed by Paul Martin and his team of Martin supporters.

More and more Canadians have come to the conclusion that Paul Martin has failed the test of leadership.

His term of office as Prime Minister, like his campaign, is about nothing.

The “values” he talks about are values of convenience.

The issues he and his team are talking about in this campaign are improvised, incoherent, and frequently embarrassing when they aren’t offensive.

I respect some of the Liberal Party’s achievements in the past. Lester Pearson worked with our party to introduce public health care and pensions. Pierre Trudeau brought Canada our charter of rights.

But the Liberal Party under Paul Martin isn’t what it was.

Paul Martin’s Liberal Party needs a time out to heal itself, clean itself up, and decide what it believes.

So this time, in this election, I’m asking you to change your vote.

I’m asking you to vote for the NDP.

I’m asking you to team up with us so that ordinary people and working families can be put to the head of the line in the next Parliament, and not to the back of the line.

There is a better choice in this election. It’s the NDP.