The political middle in Canadian politics is a ghost. Many speak of it but nobody has ever found it. Instead, we are a country that compromises in extremes. It remains easy to locate the Conservatives, Libertarians, Communists and New Democrats in the political spectrum but, to many, the Liberals remain a mystery.
Determining the political location of the Liberal Party really depends on where you are standing. If you are standing to the far right of the spectrum yourself, then the Liberals are clearly to your left. You can then rail at them as being lefty lunatics.
If you are more of a Marxist-Leninist, you would then perceive the Liberals as being to the far right. Would it therefore surprise you to learn that the Liberal Party of Canada has people of both right and left wing persuasion? It was this conflict of philosophies that caused the Liberal Party to take so long to implement social programs such as Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan, to fight internally over control of foreign investment and to renege on cancelling the Goods and Services Tax.
The dominance of the Toronto-based philosophical left of the Liberal Party that coalesced around people such as Law Professor Mark MacGuigan in the 1960s saw themselves as reformers. It was their efforts behind Pierre Trudeau’s campaign that enabled him to succeed Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister. Much of that momentum was lost in 1972 when Prime Minister Trudeau decided that a campaign was a dialogue with Canadians and he almost lost the election because of the lack of direction.
The strength of the Toronto Liberals in the party was destroyed in the 1980s by the ethnic takeovers of many key ridings in the city. At the same time, Paul Martin’s influence on budgets under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in the 1990s left the party standing as the party of business and it lost its connection to reform and the Canadian voters.
It is this political middle that Justin Trudeau now needs to find. He can hardly run on youth alone—he has to have a reform program. And he has to ask the party to develop this reform program as he restores democracy to the Liberal Party. The door is open.
What will form this reform program has yet to be determined. It can certainly solve the problems created by the Conservative Senate. It can tackle the erosion of higher-paying, meaningful employment across the country. It can address the need for stronger federal involvement in higher education and lowering fees for those with the grades to succeed. It can strengthen women’s rights. It can assure fair trade with other countries as well as free trade. It can return our country to peace-keeping. It can protect our borders rather than buy attack aircraft. And the list goes on.
If the Liberal Party of Canada can return to its beginnings as the party of reform, it will win the support it needs from Canadians.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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