NDP and Liberals have little in common |
I write in response to The Leader-Post's July 12 editorial suggesting a merger of the federal Liberal Party and the federal NDP. The editorial states that "there are strong philosophical similarities between the Liberals and the NDP." In fact, there is far more common ground between Liberals and Conservatives than between Liberals and New Democrats.
The Conservatives call for huge tax cuts. The Liberals just implemented the largest tax cuts in Canadian history, mainly to the benefit of wealthy individuals and profitable corporations. Only the NDP would use a more progressive tax system to finance important public services and to bring about a more equal distribution of wealth.
The Conservatives would tightly constrict public expenditure. The Liberals have consistently underestimated federal surpluses in order to hold federal public spending at its lowest level, relative to Canada's economy, since the late 1940s, when modern social programs were first introduced. Only the NDP favours reinvesting available surplus dollars in important public programs.
The Conservatives oppose the Kyoto Accord. The Liberals have greatly increased Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions and have no plan to implement Kyoto. Only the NDP advances policies to reduce Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions.
The Conservatives and Liberals embrace "free trade" agreements that grant special privileges to foreign corporations and sharply limit the ability of governments to act in the public interest. Only the NDP would renegotiate such agreements.
On the substantive material issues, the NDP's agenda starkly differs from the Liberal-Conservative position. Only on questions of legal rights and foreign policy might Liberals overlap more with New Democrats than with Conservatives. Even on these matters, the NDP takes clear stances in support of civil rights and Canadian independence, while the Liberal Party obfuscates.
The Liberals have found it tactically effective to campaign from the political left. The NDP has negotiated with minority Liberal governments to get left-wing policies enacted. But neither of these facts provide an ideological basis for unity between the two parties.
The past decade of majority Liberal rule was Canada's most right-wing government in decades. The NDP can move Canadian politics - and perhaps the current minority Liberal government - to the left not by being absorbed into the Liberal Party, but by standing as an alternative to it.
ERIN M.K. WEIR
Weir was the NDP candidate in the riding of Wascana in last month's federal election.
Regina