If the Liberal Party of Canada thinks it is going to please the middle class with its policy plans, it is deluded. The party cannot even define middle class. The Liberals who gather in Montreal for the party’s biennial convention and policy fest on February 20, 2014 have a single objective: to win the country in 2015.
But with all their middle of the road platitudes, how do you distinguish the Liberals from their opponents? For example: Harper and his Conservatives will promise tax breaks. Do you really think Trudeau and the Liberals will counter these tax breaks with promises of higher taxes? Hardly. The Tories will try to show how middle class tax breaks can be.
And do you think Thomas Mulcair and the New Democrats are going to let Justin Trudeau’s Liberals steal all their votes by telling the traditional NDP voters that they are really middle class? Not a chance. Mulcair wants his share of that political middle and he will spend the election showing Canadians how middle class he can be.
And before some sociologist jumps up and starts explaining the various quartiles of the Canadian population, remember that being middle class is a state of mind. While we are very much a middle class country, we are a classless society. The people who sweep our street (mechanized today) are not lower class. They can make more than $30 per hour, with good benefits, because of their unions. A bright young person with a post-graduate degree can be working in retail for $10 per hour and no benefits. By living with the parents, life is good.
As much as real estate people like to sell homes in millionaires’ enclaves, these peoples roots can be the same as the rest of us. Paying someone else to mow your lawn and clean your swimming pool does not make you better than those you pay. And remember that Lord Cross-the-pond—Conrad Black—is not a Canadian citizen and cannot vote.
At their policy meeting, the Liberals will consider a mish-mash of policy alternatives ranging from the far right of the political spectrum to the left. Whether they will dig into the seminal issues of concern to Canadians is a good question. Take a key environmental issue: the exploitation of the tar sands in Alberta, for example. All three of the major parties are on side in this. Can any party deny Alberta spewing its tonnes of carbon into the environment for the pure objective of profit? Dare we say ‘No’?
Will we return the long-gun registry? Will we save Employment Insurance? Will we try to ditch the Senate? Could we dump the crown at the same time? Will we buy the F-35? Do we really want to legalize pot? There are so many weighty questions. Will the media report them all? Will the voters respond?
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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