Everybody's Wrong But Me

The Liberal Party of Canada managed something quite remarkable during this 2008 federal election campaign.  They somehow convinced just about everyone that they are progressive; and no one seems to question that.  Here and there, websites (voteforenvironment.ca, etc.), newspaper columns, kitchen table conversations, etc. call many to vote strategically to unite the progressive vote behind whomever is most likely to succeed in blocking the Conservatives.  Which is most of the time, o surprise, the Liberal candidate!

Sure, I agree that the Liberals are not as archaic as the Conservatives.  They support Kyoto, are against the war in Iraq and most Liberals MP supported the legalization of Same-sex marriages.  However, in my opinion, progressive means a lot more than that.  It also means, financing public transportation, affordable education, taxing polluting activities, etc.  During their time in power, from 1993 to 2006, Canada’s greenhouse gases emissions increased by 35% (higher than any other G7 country; that even includes George Bush’s United States!).  They cut significantly funding in health care, education, social housing, etc.

Paul Martin, the last progressive Prime Minister???

The last Liberal Prime Minister, Paul Martin, can hardly be considered as a progressive.  He left power just two years ago; how much can a party change in such a short time?  The Liberals are not conservative, I agree, but that alone hardly qualifies them as progressives.  The Liberals are, well… liberal.  Nothing wrong with that, but it is just not progressive.

The Liberal’s 2008 campaign is centered on the Green shift, a progressive and environmentally sound project on how to transform taxes and public finances in this country.  The plan is good, but do you really believe that the same people who support the Kyoto protocol but have done nothing to make it a reality in this country can deliver a plan like the Green shift?  In my humble, the NDP and the Greens are more likely to succeed in implementing that plan than the Liberals; And the NDP do not even support it (the Green Party does).

Voting strategically is your right.  But don’t think that you’ll remain in the progressive family by giving up a Green or NDP vote for a Liberal one. If you want to block Harper at any price, then fine, vote for whomever is most likely to stop the Conservatives.  However, if you truly consider yourself as a progressive, then you better look closely at the Liberal candidate in your riding before switching, because the simple label Liberal just is not enough to be considered a progressive.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 10:56 and is filed under Canada, Issues & politics.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.