I agree with most of what Paul says. I think that the Alliance leader,
Stockwell Day, will jettison some of his goofier fundamentalist ideas for
pragmatic reasons. Apparently in his more rambunctious days when he was
assistant pastor of a fundamentalist church he led his flock to the local
pub where they prayed that the walls should come tumbling down. God
apparently suffered the sinners within to remain safe if not sober. Day does
favor a national referendum on abortion.
I am not sure why the Liberals and others seem so concerned about this. They
truly do want to sweep the issue under the table and avoid even talking
about it. In good populist fashion Day has been making much of Liberal
spending in Liberal constituencies and money spent with no good accounting.
The Communist Party is to the left of the NDP. However, it is not about
to elect anyone.
I notice a similarity between the Liberals and the Democrats. The
Liberals woo leftists by pointing out how right wing and reactionary Day is.
Yet, Liberals have been faithfully following the neo-liberal agenda and are
arguably just as right-wing as the Conservative government they replaced a
government decisively rejected by voters.The Liberals have done more to
sabotage medicare than any other party and yet they try to frighten voters
away from the Alliance by claiming, rightly, that the Alliance favors a
two-tier system. But by eroding the existing system the Liberals are
gradually making the system two-tier anyway. As Paul says there is not a
huge difference between the Liberal platform and the Alliance platform, just
as there is not a huge difference between the Democrats and Republicans. The
NDP is closer now to the two main parties than it has ever been. It is at 7
per cent in the popular vote along with the Conservative party that not
long ago formed the Federal government.
I have not been following events closely enough to add anything to
Paul's predictions. However, I think that the NDP is probably almost finish
federally in BC, but may hold some seats in Manitoba and the Maritimes. The
unpopularity of the provincial NDP governments in BC and Saskatchewan may
very well doom there federal members. Although Stockwell Day speaks a
functional French I doubt that the Alliance Party will take any seats in
Quebec. The separatist Bloc Quebecois will probably take most of the seats
and Liberals the rest.
Our choices are if anything even more depressing on the whole than in
the US.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2000 12:29 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:4192] Re: Re: Stop the name calling
> Doug asks:
>
> > Canada has an election coming up, no? Maybe you could tell us
> > something about that.
> >
> > Doug
> >
> Well, perhaps Ken and some of the others on the list should also
> put their takes on it, but here is mine.
>
> The governing Liberals (equivalent to your Democrats) are likely to
> win a plurality (majority of seats, perhaps 45 + or - % of the vote),
> with the "Alliance" -- a right-wing coalition of former Conservatives
> and the right-populist-neo-liberal-racist Reform (sic) Party -- forming
> the opposition (25 + or - % of the vote). The remaining vote will be
> split between the separatist Bloc Quebecois, the social democratic
> NDP and the traditional Tory Conservatives.
>
> The NDP which has embraced some of the objectionable "3rd way"
> nonsense of the British Labour Party, still is relatively the best
> choice for those on the left/reform side of the spectrum -- more or
> less along the Nader lines though perhaps less radical. There is
> no alternative to the left of the NDP. It may rally to get perhaps 10
> % of the popular vote, and enough seats to maintain official party
> status (somewhat equivalent to the 5% barrier in the US). In
> Manitoba, the NDP should probably retain its present seats, for
> example.
>
> The issues of the election are taxes (which the neo-liberal right are
> pushing) vs maintenance of current (inadequate) expenditures on
> medicare and other social programs (the stand-pat program of the
> Liberals). The Alliance is essentially a carbon copy of the
> Republican Party in the US, except slightly to the right thereof.
> Rather scary -- pro-death penalty, anti-abortion, religion in the
> schools, etc. The leader was formerly the principle of a religious
> fundamental school that taught creationism and labelled Jews as
> genetically evil etc. Their appeal is primarily a reaction to the
> corruption and arrogence of the Liberals who though elected from a
> moderate liberal/social democratic platform, have consistently
> governed from a neo-liberal right position. The difference in the
> party platforms between the Liberals and the Alliance is quite
> minimal.
>
> Paul Phillips,
> Economics,
> University of Manitoba
>
