On the five or six days over the past 10 years that I have been free to participate in what passes for the democratic process in Canada–federal and provincial election days–I have voted for the Green Party candidate in my riding, if there was one, or, if there wasn’t, I didn’t vote at all.
This reflects my disenchantment with all the major established political parties, none of which shares my concerns or priorities. (The Green Party at least seems sincere in wanting to protect the environment.)
My cynicism is far from unique. Many Canadians–perhaps even the majority–have become disillusioned with politics, mainly because their votes no longer count. No matter how they cast their ballots, the government that ensues, regardless of its party label, continues to govern on behalf of the corporate and wealthy Žlites. The public interest remains abandoned.
The vacuum on the left has effectively disenfranchised those of us who still believe that a better world–a fair and sustainable world–can be realized.
The current efforts to revamp and reinvigorate the left are laudable, but will they, even if successful, provide us with a real choice in the next election? I doubt it. Whether what emerges is a remodelled NDP or a completely new party, the policies needed to challenge and eventually overthrow corporate rule–surely the left’s overriding raison d’?tre these days–will be considered much too radical and unrealistic to be adopted.
Simply to list these policies is to show how much fortitude is required for any party to espouse them. I’ll just give you the top dozen:
1. Pull Canada out of NAFTA and the FTAA, and refuse to endorse any other trade agreement (the GATS, TRIPs, etc.) whose main purpose is to extend and consolidate corporate rule.
2. Get serious about the environment. Crack down on industrial polluters, conserve our water and its quality, set and enforce stronger curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, stop feeding the Americans’ demand for our oil and gas, invest massively in developing cleaner sources of energy, and commit the country to the achievement of a sustainable economy before it’s too late.
3. Reform the tax system to force corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share. Plug all loopholes in the tax laws that now permit those with the highest incomes to pay little or no tax. End all unjustified handouts and tax breaks to business.
4. Revoke the charters of corporations guilty of anti-social activities, such as price-gouging, extensive and repeated pollution, tax evasion, and a fixation with rewarding shareholders at the expense of all other stakeholders.
5. Stop the privatization of public services, and bring those already privatized back to the public sector.
6. Commit to a five-year program to end poverty and homelessness in Canada–and mean it. This would involve doubling the minimum wage, substantially raising payments and eligibility for UI and welfare, and increasing ten-fold the construction of social housing.
7. Restore adequate funding for health care and education, and improve them by adding pharmacare and home care and by eliminating all tuition costs for higher education.
8. Stop and reverse the concentration of media ownership, set limits on such ownership, encourage and subsidize the development of alternative media, and facilitate the expression of the widest range of free speech in our newspapers, magazines, and on radio and TV.
9. Declare our military independence from the U.S., refuse to support “Star Wars” and other U.S. military escapades, and stop Canada’s participation in the production and sale of weapons.
10. Stop trading with or encouraging investment in countries that rely on child, prison and sweatshop labour, and those that violate human rights and violently suppress democratic dissent.
11. Adopt measures to regulate speculative capital and redirect it into useful and productive channels, such as enacting a domestic financial transactions tax, creating pools of “social” capital, and making the private banks’ charters contingent on their engaging less in speculation and more in local investment.
12. Make the Bank of Canada as diligent in promoting full employment as it is in curbing inflation. Also have the Bank return to its policy of supplying at least one-quarter of the federal government’s financial needs, instead of the government incurring exorbitant interest charges by borrowing from the private banks.
Now, I’m well aware of how these policies, singly or collectively, will be described. “Impractical,” “foolhardy,” “absurd,” “Utopian,” “unreasonable,” “unworkable,” “electorally suicidal”–these would be among the milder epithets. In some quarters they would be called “stupid,” “foolish,” “crazy,” “delusory,” “repugnant,” “irresponsible”–even “communist,” still the most devastating putdown of all.
My response to these brickbats is to ask why such policies are considered so wrong. I point out that all of them, if put into effect, would benefit the vast majority of Canadians in some way or another. Perhaps so, say my critics, but these policies would also enrage the small minority who control most of the wealth and power in Canada. We can’t risk offending them.
So now we get to the nub of the matter. Any policy that would improve social and economic conditions for most Canadians must be regarded as unrealistic if it is aimed at forcing the corporations and the rich to share their wealth and relinquish their power.
If that were indeed true, we might as well resign ourselves to corporate rule forever–or until rampant corporate greed and exploitation make the planet uninhabitable.
The alternative–and there is one–is to challenge the power of the corporate and financial Žlites. That’s what millions of people around the world are doing, usually on the streets because in most countries–including Canada–they have no effective political channel for their outrage. Nor will such a political outlet take form until parties on the left summon the courage to adopt the policies I’ve listed here–and then, if elected, to implement them.
I don’t underestimate the difficulties and dangers involved in confronting the corporations at the political level. As I’ve written in the past, Canadians would feel the wrath of the most powerful organizations and individuals on Earth. The combined might of the TNCs, the banks, the money traders, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO–not to mention a furious U.S. government–would smash down upon us. Beset by capital strikes and capital flight, our economy would be destabilized, our dollar further devalued, our unemployment rate tripled.
Could we survive such an assault? Yes, we could, if we had a large majority of Canadians willing to make the sacrifice. If a little country like Cuba, with a tiny fraction of our vast natural resources, could defy the corporations and a punishing U.S. embargo for 40 years–and still manage to improve its people’s living standards–then surely we Canadians could do the same.
It would admittedly be a perilous and daunting course for us to follow–but it’s the only way to restore real democracy in this country and build a better society. Before we can take even the first step down that road, however, we need strong, audacious, and resolute political leadership.
It may come eventually–but probably not soon.
