The Canadian right is united
in Parliament and in elections; to its left are three national parties that
are divided in Parliament and in elections. Left politicians complain that this
is unfair; only a handful wants to do something about it.
Canada, it seems, must carry
on as a multiparty democracy alongside 315 million Americans who organize
their public affairs within two big tents. Canadian reformers believe Americans
are too impatient. They’d rather spend their intelligence struggling to be in a
good place, when sometime in the future, things change.
The latest half-measure on
the way to party unification—electoral co-operation—is not making much
progress. Professional Liberals and professional New Democrats would rather try
once again to beat Stephen Harper—and each other—in the next election. Co-operation’s
governing logic—parliamentary coalition—is played down.
Most critics focus on
emotions and messaging problems. Old wounds and professional jealousies are
more keenly felt, and expressed, than hope. Furthermore, electoral co-operation
requires mutually acceptable messaging and public declarations that any three opposition
leaders would better lead the country than Stephen Harper.
The idea is weak tactically.
Its only virtue is that it’s more democratic than the left’s 2008 parliamentary
attempt to persuade the Governor General to form a coalition government without
the bother of a national election.
The most attractive case
against the idea was expressed by Adam Goldenberg in an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen. He actually wants more genuine debate and differing
ideas in our public discourse and sees no national emergency to justify
splitting up the “center.” He prefers to see the two main opposition parties as
distinct standard-bearers.
“Liberals are, or should be, committed first and last
to equality of opportunity and to individual freedom — freedom from
unreasonable government interference, freedom from fear and discrimination,
from the indignity of poverty and the financial burden of disease.
“Social
democrats are, or should be, more concerned with equality of outcomes, achieved
by imposing confiscatory taxes on high incomes and inherited wealth and by
championing the cause of labour against capital.”
That said, Goldenberg asserts accurately that Liberalism is not a “left-wing” ideology. Fair enough. The
Greens, for that matter, needn’t cluster exclusively on the left. Socialism, in
practices, has hardly been great for the environment.
He goes on, however, to assert
inaccurately that the Liberals are not a “left-wing” party. He implies that
they are the “center” and, at the same time, rejects putting ideologies on a
left-right spectrum.
This is unpersuasive. Ideas are always roughly
treated in power politics and never permanently housed in partisan organizations.
Classic liberalism and socialism do not guide either the New Democrats or the Liberals
and hardly keep them apart.
Indeed, the center of the new
Conservative Party thought they elected a classic liberal last time and
probably will replace him with a classic liberal next time.
Socialism is as much a conceit in the
NDP as Toryism is in the Conservative Party. Both ideas, of course, are kept alive
and refreshed. The former is sheltered in university campuses and the latter in
cottage country in Eastern Canada. Partisans who still call themselves "socialists" have a night reserved at each national convention to honor the
past—and the "Tories" get to see the word "royal" on military uniforms.
Once you set aside the romantics and
bigots, Canada is rather evenly and loosely divided on a number of persistent national
questions: need the federal government inspire or just keep the country open
and secure? Must the federal government drive reform in health and other public
services? Should we invest more in
creative government or ambitious individuals? Should we be closer to the US or
polish our own brand?
On these questions, today’s so-called “left”—Greens,
Liberals, and New Democrats—say almost exactly the same thing.
With heating and operating subsidies
shrinking, they’d be wise to get into one tent and do politics pretty much the way
their sister factions play politics in America’s Democratic Party.
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