Dear Editor
For the first time since I started voting more than 30 years ago, I will be marking a cross on my ballot beside an individual who is not running for the New Democratic Party.
Like many progressives in this country, I have watched with increasing dismay as leader Thomas Mulcair and his brain trust dragged the NDP to the middle of the road, abandoning or watering down traditional socialist principles, emulating Tony Blair’s “New Labour” movement in Britain.
New Labour, of course, fractured the party and while it put Blair in office for 10 years, it cost Labour its heart and soul, as trade unionists and longtime allies took their support elsewhere. And here’s an interesting side note: a poll conducted a few weeks ago singled out Tony Blair as, by far, the least respected prime minister in recent history (the survey drew on respondents throughout the United Kingdom and was indicative of just how far the mighty have fallen).
The NDP’s strategists and spin doctors have been working overtime to emphasize Mr. Mulcair’s commitment to “business as usual” in our home and native land—thus, he has carefully avoided any talk about income inequality (yes, Canada, we have our share of “one per centers,” too), a tax system that allows the super rich to pay as little as possible (granting them access to offshore havens at the same time), while continuing to place the burden of financing government on middle and working class men and women. The multi-nationals have little to fear in Tom Mulcair’s Canada. Corporate taxation won’t be getting any big bumps and the minimum wage will continue its slow creep upward.
These days, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the NDP and Liberals apart.
Which is why Oct. 19 I’ll be voting for my local Green Party candidate, Mikaela Tenkink.
It’s time to admit radical steps are required to reduce the enormous harm our human presence is inflicting on this planet, while preserving a viable, sustainable future for generations to come. The days of piecemeal solutions, bandaid treatments are over. We need to permanently alter a culture in Ottawa that is in thrall of Big Oil and refuses to address the very real perils that climate change represents to human societies around the world.
The damage is apparent on land, in the skies and in our oceans (a new study has concluded that the shells of crustaceans off the Atlantic coast are literally dissolving because of the acidity of warming ocean currents).
The New Democratic Party, especially in the past decade, has become part of a political apparatus in Canada that has deliberately dragged its feet, abdicating responsibility and moral leadership in lieu of a chance at the big brass ring — power. The party needs to reappraise its core values and recognize that the true ideals of socialism—shared responsibility, collective decision-making, an eradication of the class system—are not out of step with the views and mindset of most Canadians.
We want to see a government that acts in our interest, protects the most vulnerable among us and honestly addresses the many challenges facing a vast, diverse nation such as ours.
I sincerely believe Elizabeth May and the Green Party have presented us, in their platform, with a vision of this country that is inclusive, democratic, courageous and far-reaching. We need more voices in Parliament demanding an end to the status quo, instilling a sense of urgency into a moribund institution that has been compromised by lobbyists and special interest groups, sold to the highest bidder.
Elections are the one chance ordinary Canadians have to effect real change.
The future is rushing toward us.
We can no longer avert our eyes or feign ignorance.
Our children and grandchildren will never forgive us.
Cliff Burns
North Battleford
