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Post-election punditry misses the point on the future of the Left...
A practical debate must focus on pro-consumer, pro-worker, pro-citizen politics

By: Ish Theilheimer, Publisher, Straight Goods

  Since the federal election, the papers and broadcast media are full of opinion-leaders opining on what should be done with the poor old NDP. The usual suspects say the usual things. Voices of the Right say the NDP is dead, as they are wont to say. They've said it for years and their interests are obvious.
  Less obvious are the directions and motives of the voices of the Left calling for something new and really radical. Critics like Buzz Hargrove, Judy Rebick and Naomi Klein present scant evidence that voters are yearning for a hard left alternative. Nor do players like Hargrove give us any reason to believe that members of some new left coalition could live together more amicably and creatively than the current faithful do or don't within the NDP.
  Meanwhile, voices of the NDP itself shuffle their feet, wring their hands and talk about full and frank discussions. But that's been done in 1995 and again in 1998-99, to no apparent effect. What kind of a party is this?
 

Strategic voting was born after the 1988 free trade election. No one on the Left has found a cure yet.

  It's really a difficult time for the Left. In the US, Nader's coalition of Greens produced the largest rallies, the most excitement, and only enough votes to defeat Al Gore in a few key states like Florida. Recriminations on the American Left can be expected for years to come. We suspect it will be a hot day in January before we ever again see left-leaning voters in the US vote anything but Democrat in presidential elections.
  Here in Canada, the federal NDP has a remarkably similar problem. In 1988 most Canadians voted against free trade but Brian Mulroney was elected anyway and free trade changed Canada forever. A lot of people said they weren't going to make that mistake again, and the concept of strategic voting was born. Canadians concluded it was more important to vote against a hated party than in favour of anyone.
  They voted massively in 1993 on that principle and exterminated the hated Mulroney Conservatives. Unfortunately for the NDP, it was almost annihilated as well. It happened again in 1997 when Reform took a harsh, anti-Quebec stance that drove thousands of eastern voters to the Liberals in defence of national unity. It happened in 1999 in Ontario as anti-Harris voters moved Liberal, which defeated a lot of New Democrats without denting Harris.
  Then last month came more of the same. Despite deep misgivings about Jean Chrétien, mainstream Canadians felt the best defence against the Alliance was the Liberals. The NDP was dismissed as ineffective and unlikely to govern.
  Alexa McDonough is clearly not Jesus Christ. But it's hard to seriously believe that even He could have helped the NDP win many more seats than it did in this year's election. Canny voters have become jaded with governments of all stripes that do not deliver on promises. They've learned that perfection is hard to achieve in politics so it's best to vote practically - and strategically.
  This kind of thinking helps the NDP on the prairies, of course. The party governs competently with a nuts-and-bolts focus on economic issues. That's why in Manitoba and Saskatchewan the NDP still owns the left side of the spectrum. But federally, it's hard to see how the NDP is going to escape this trap anytime soon. Even if the party is reinvigorated by more social justice and labour types, as proposed by the left critics, what difference will that really make in the strategic considerations of centre-left voters?
  Canada would be a far poorer place without the NDP. We can all despair of its stodginess and earnestness, its insular cronyism, its rigidity and conservatism, but it has been an amazingly positive force in Canadian politics. Canada will lose a lot if it no longer has a viable parliamentary party that is explicitly pro-consumer, pro-worker, and pro-citizen. That should be the role of the NDP or any political alternative to it. The real question eluding critics left and right is how the NDP or any similarly-conceived party can create positive new images, messages and goals to advance the cause in the real world of current politics.
  In the new year, Straight Goods believes it would like to encourage a practical discussion of what it actually will take to effectively provide that kind of political representation, voice and force in Canada again. We hope to bring in a range of voices and set them up in debate with one another and maybe get beyond some of the usual rhetoric.
  Meanwhile, please let us know what you think. If you've got an opinion on the future of pro-consumer, pro-worker, pro-citizen politics in Canada, please let us know by writing to us at feedback@straightgoods.com.

- Ish Theilheimer
- Killaloe, Ontario
- December 18, 2000

Season's greetings from the whole wonderful crew at Straight Goods. We love what we do and the readers we do it for. Please have a good holiday, try to love one another, and stay away from that $%*^&!*%$ computer and spend a little time with people - except of course to check in at Straight Goods!

Thanks from the Straight Goods team -

The Board of Directors of Straight Goods News Inc. consists of Norm Jesin, Larry Solway, Ish Theilheimer, and Mel Watkins

The Straight Goods production staff consists of:

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