Take a deep breath. Do you smell it? Take another one, take another deep breath. Now do you smell it? If you ask me I smell fear, and an election. Its odd to think that in politics one can associate the word fear and election together. However Mr. Martin has gone and done that and maybe we should give him a little bit of credit for doing this. Mr. Martin is doing something very courageous and yet very dangerous. He is taking this sponsorship scandal head on, and wouldn’t you do the same thing? Would you want to wait and hear the results of the scandal then call the election, or would you call the election while the inquiry is taking place? Well if I was Mr. Martin I would do exactly what he is doing right now. There is no shame in hiding your answer. I think you would do the same thing as well. In fact, Canadian history is plastered with images of scandals and corruption and it is all hidden through committees and inquiries, and our system allows this. Look at the Mahar Arar inquiry, we have yet to hear from it, and because an inquiry is taking place, no one in parliament can discuss it. With that said I am not going to blast the system, even though it needs some sort of change, I am here to discuss the possible outcome of the election that is going to be called.

Mr. Martin is most likely going to take us into an election before all the inquiries and committee results hit the fan (if you know what I mean) and this is very brave of him. However the Liberals are not going to run on a campaign about the Liberal party. No, it seems like the campaign is going to be run on Martins image. Mr. Martin is projecting what he believes is best for Canada and taking a non Liberal approach to things. If Chretien was in power my hunch is he would have taken this scandal slowly and cautiously. Mr. Martin came in saying we are going to change things at the government level, thus separating him from the Chretien Liberals. So what does Mr. Martin believe in and what will his platform look like?

Well, he seems to be in favour of same sex marriage, he seems to be in favour of public healthcare, he seems to be in favour of new marijuana laws, and he seems to claim that there is a democracy deficit in Canada and something needs to be done. Well no kidding, I think if you ask Mr. Broadbent he will tell you that these items and reforms are all policies that the NDP have been advocating for many decades. And it only took the Liberal party about 40 years to clue in that this country has some problems. Thus by talking about change and taking a strong stance on these issues it makes Martin look good. It also makes him look good when he says that he is for new reforms and ideas, this may pursued some votes. However, he also seems to be in favour of reducing taxes on big businesses. He seems to be inefficient in helping the university students. In the past the amount of money the Liberal government promises to students is never enough or the government falls short on the amount promised.

I think Mr. Martin is scared and he looks at the policies that the NDP supports and is going to use them in the next election to persuade the people to vote for him. Does he really mean what he says? I mean in B.C. he allows three prominent federal candidates to by-pass the nomination process and thus he doesn’t allow the grass roots of democracy to work, and he claims he is going to fix the democracy deficit in Canada? Well I think you can come to your own conclusions on this issue.

As for the new Canadian Alli… err the Reform … err the Progressive Cons… err the new Conservative Party. WOW, take a step back for a second, have you noticed that the name of this right winged party has just gone in reverse? Think about it in 1867 Sir. John A. Macdonald was the leader of a fine Conservative Party, then the party’s name was changed to the Progressive Conservative Party (an oxymoron in itself) and then was changed to the Reform Party, then changed to the Canadian Alliance and now back to the Conservative party. Don’t take anything away from this party because their name has reverted back to the name it had in1867, it just seems ironic that this has happened. It also seems ironic to see that Stephen Harper can relate his party to the one of Sir John A. Macdonald. Macdonald was keen in recognizing the mushy middle of success; in fact Michael Bliss states that Macdonald “set the genetic code of Canadian Prime Minister”. Stephen Harper, a hard core right wing man, is now trying to find this success, this mushy middle. He says he is willing to allow the members of parliament to vote on same sex marriages, new marijuana laws and is against a form of two – tired health care system. Harper also indicates that there is a democracy deficit in Canada. Excuse me if I am not confused, but it seems that this is the same rhetoric that Mr. Martin is using, and it is the same rhetoric the NDP has been saying for many years. What is going on here? I am totally confused. I don’t know who to support anymore. I am flabbergasted; don’t all the parties look the same now?

Well there is hope, and I hope the NDP does make some political movement. A professor of mine said that the NDP seems like a party of the 1970’s and that they are unable to get out of the 1970’s policies. Well he may be right. We still talk and have rhetoric of a class struggle, we still assume that our support will be the union workers and the working man, yet they don’t seem to vote for us at the polls. This is very concerning. I suggest that the NDP move on just a little. Don’t abandon good ideas, but bring them into the 21st century. Put a new spin on them. Let us get the farmers to support us. Let us prove to the working class that we are the best choice and let us prove to the intellects and the rest of the country that the NDP is the best choice for Canada. How do you do this you might ask? Well I have a few solutions.

1) Start moving more towards the mushy middle, control it. Stop allowing the Liberals to control the mushy middle. Let’s control the middle and left of the political spectrum.
2) Stick to our policies of social reform like public health care, U.I., C.P.P., and other social safety nets.
3) Bring back Keynesian Economics. It works, just don’t get arrogant and spend more than you have. Keynes economic theory works best when you save during good times and spend during bad times. Do this and we should be able to sustain a social safety net and keep a balanced budget
4) Keep attacking our democracy deficit. Remind the house that we are the first party to discuss reforms that make sense for Canada. We are for a form of PR, and that the Senate is useless (I have other opinions) but lets keep it consistent. The Senate in our eyes seems to be a waste of taxpayer money. Grass roots democracy has been our idea from the CCF era, and it is still our idea, don’t let Harper think he is the only one for it. And…
5) Bring back the farmers and the working class. Remind the workers that we are for set wages and guarantee income and yet remind the farmers that we support their business.

Farmers feel that we want to control their business, which is not true. We should support small businesses and farmers. I think that the farmers are in more trouble with free trade because bigger and stronger farmers will buy them out, and there is nothing in place that will support them. Also the market is fluctuating too much for farmers to survive on and open market that is heavily relied upon by the States. Look at what has happened to the chickens and beef industry in Canada. The farmers need help, we shouldn’t give them a band aid solution like handing out money. We need to plan and think of a better solution that is long lasting and profitable for the farmers. A government that is willing to help them is better than a government that wants them to survive on the open market.

If the NDP can move to the middle and keep coming out with new ideas, wooing the farmers, show the people that Keynesian economics does work and keep a strong social safety net we should be able to be successful in the next election. If we wanted to take another dangerous step, look at the socialist parties in Europe and find out what they are doing that is so popular and create a Canadian spin on it, this too can be very successful for the nation.

It looks like the next election is going to produce a minority government, and let me tell you there are Liberal and Conservative seats up for grab, lets get them.

To read Nathan's March column click here

If you have any comments for Nathan you can email him at nathan.willard@ottawacentre.org