By a quirk of the first-past-the-post electoral system, the labour-based NDP was able to capture a majority of the seats (74) with less than 38% of the vote. The former ruling Liberals got 32.4% (36 seats) and the Conservatives, 23.5% (20 seats). What are the implications of this victory for socialist activists in Canada? BARRY WEISLEDER
T HE closest the NDP, or its social
democratic forerunner, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, ever came to forming government in Ontario, was in 1943 when the CCF came within four seats of overtaking the Tories who then held onto power for the next 42 years.
However, the election of the first ever provincial government in Ontario represents more than just some parliamentary history in the making. It opens a little wider the road to political action for hundreds of thousands of working people, women, natives, youth, visible minorities and other oppressed layers of the population.
But there can be no reliance on this government, formed by an arch reformist party. Already NDP Premier-elect Bob Rae has gone out of his way to issue abundant assurances to big business that they have nothing to fear from the new provincial administration. Most business leaders understand this quite well, without being told; nonetheless, business will fight tooth and nail against every mild, reformist initiative of the new government. They will seek to vilify and isolate the NDP, and hasten the return of their more reliable political representatives, their big business partners of first choice, the Liberals 20 and the Conservatives.
And within the state apparatus, longing class with governments that have increased taxes, diminished social services and undermined job security. Many noticed that "free people have enterprise doesn't distribute opportunity, much less wealth - it merely concentrates both.
Then there's the resentment of arrogance and manipulation, triggered by the premature election call. It turned what was to be a droll summer exercise into a rather prickly political experience.
Moreover, the rejection of the
Liberals, who were elected in
1985 as a minority government, and in 1987 with a majority - both times on the promise sweeping reform - indicates a basic change in the political atmosphere. Today many workers are prepared to test political alternatives hitherto considered too "risky" because they are very annoyed at, and distrustful of, the familiar politicians they have come to
Red-baiting flops
More than that, the old reliable, rigidly ordered world is gone. Stalinism being in an advanced stage of decomposition, the imperialist bourgeoisie has been deprived of a useful political bogey-man to instill and/or invoke the fear of "socialism". Former Liberal Premier David Peterson now knows first hand that such red-baiting and fear-mongering has lost much of its politi-
And then there's the crisis of the federal state. When the Meech Lake Accord died, something snapped in the ideology of the ruling class. Since then the psychological shackles have been slipping badly across the country. This is especially apparent in the rise of Ouebecois and aboriginal peoples struggles (see IV 191). Images of armed native blockades and Quebecois nationalist sentiment at its peak, ensure that the summer of 1990 will not soon be
It is also a question of growing social and political polarization. The recession is upon us. Thousands of jobs have been lost in industry. Capital is relatively mobile.
Yet the majority of the population wants social justice and an interventionist govpassed 7% — triple their 1987 figure.
So what should the NDP do? Clearly, it should move to bolster its narrow base -and expand it — by taking bold and decisive actions in the interests of the working class and oppressed. The NDP should seek to mobilize those who stand to gain by the reforms it has promised: increasing the minimum wage, improving welfare benefits, strengthening the rights of workers and their unions (especially in terms of work place safety, injury compensation, and the scourge of strike-breaking), and putting a halt to land speculation and rent-
Make the rich pay
The NDP could rally hundreds of thousands to a campaign to make the corporate rich pay for major improvements in childcare, public housing, social services, education and environmental protection. The party would inspire and involve even more people by democratizing the electoral and policy-making process, by leading a mass campaign of protest and non-compliance with the [indirect] federal Goods and Services Tax, and by refusing to enforce any new federal anti-choice abortion law. But the NDP cannot succeed by being content to "rule from above", much less by abandoning its commitment to implement progressive and significant social change.
Yet, with the benefit of historical hindsight, socialists have reason to suspect that the NDP, like its predecessors across Canada and around the world, will precisely seek to "rule from above" and put the needs of capital ahead of any commitments to labour and the oppressed.
Already the evidence is mounting. The day after his election Bob Rae reneged on his opposition to Toronto's bid to host the underwriting outgoing Premier Peterson's commitment to cover deficits in the billion dollar range, devouring funds projected for the expansion of social
The same day, Rae seemed to put in doubt the NDP's pledge to phase out the expansion of nuclear power. He also played down the bite that promised new corporate tax would put on business. This is a prescription for alienating the social and labour helped the NDP catapult to victory on Sep-
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CANADA
October 15, 1990 • #192 International Viewpoint tember 6.
Later the world learned that instead of a much publicized $23m surplus, the Liberals bequeathed to the NDP a $700m deficit. This sets the stage, in the context of the hard economic times ahead for a confrontation between workers and the government.
The trade union leaders are already trying to head off any such confrontation by issuing "their" party a blank cheque for its struggles will occur outside the NDP, in the streets, on the campuses, in the plants and communities. It's already evident. The industrial scene vividly demonstrates the restiveness of workers. More than 36,000 are now on strike at companies in the auto, steel, transportation and forest product sectors.
There will also probably be struggles in the NDP itself. The party will attract many new members over the next couple of years. Some will join in order to feed at the governmental trough. Some will want
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