01) VOTERS BLOCK TORY MAJORITY

(The following article is from the October 16-31, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Commentary on the Oct. 14 federal election, by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada

The governing Conservatives under PM Stephen Harper managed to improve their standing in the new Parliament after the October 14 general election, but fell short of the majority which they and their corporate masters were so determined to achieve. This was a victory for the majority of Canadians, who succeeded in preventing the Harper Tories from having a completely free hand. Despite their claims, the Tories have no mandate to impose their right-wing agenda on the country.

     When the stock markets crashed halfway through the campaign, the early lead for the Tories faded. But much credit for blocking Harper must go primarily to voters in Quebec who, thanks to an effective mobilization by women's organizations and the artistic community, prevented the Conservatives from gaining the extra seats required to reach their coveted majority. Public exposure of the real Tory agenda (gutting social spending, attacks on democratic rights and youth) helped to shut the Tories almost completely out of major urban centres, except in Alberta.

     The Conservatives will most likely attempt to "bulldoze" legislation through the House as if they indeed had a working majority, as they did during the previous session. Whether the opposition parties - especially the weakened and divided Liberals - will be willing or prepared to stand up to the Tories will largely be determined by the degree to which the labour and people's forces succeed in uniting and mobilizing their ranks to resist the Tory/corporate offensive outside Parliament.

     Harper and his Conservatives ran a most arrogant, manipulative campaign, hiding their full political agenda from public view and only releasing their formal platform in the final week before the vote. They mercilessly and dishonestly attacked the Liberals' "green shift" policy as a tax grab, and whipped up a vicious fear-mongering attack against "young offenders". But despite such deceitful tactics, they only managed to increase their popular vote by one percent (to 37%); however because of the "first past the post" electoral system and the collapse of the Liberal vote (from 30% down to 26.2%), the Tories were able to capture a number of new seats due to splits in the anti-Tory vote.

     The NDP campaign also benefitted from the Liberals' difficulties and focused its attack on Harper's pro-corporate record, managing to gain seven additional seats (to 37), although their popular vote edged up only fractionally to 18%. The biggest vote gains were scored by the Green Party under Elizabeth May, increasing from 4.5% to 6.8%, but the Greens still failed to win any seats.

     Most notable was the further decline in the overall turnout to 59% of registered voters, the lowest in Canadian history. The drop was even higher in terms of eligible voters, due to the effective disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands - mostly tenants and youth - not included in the seriously flawed "permanent voters list" and those prevented from voting by tightened ID requirements at the polls. This continuing decline in voter participation reflects not only increasing cynicism about the electoral process and the unwillingness of the major parties to stray from the neoliberal agenda; it also brings the demand for proportional representation to the front burner of electoral reform.

     The election was marked by flagrant efforts by the corporate-controlled mass media to "black out" coverage of the smaller political parties, including the Communists. Despite this, the Communist Party and its 24 candidates mounted a spirited campaign to popularize its "people before profits" alternative platform, scoring some increases in a number of ridings, and winning many new members and supporters.

     The political terrain is now quite murky as the country enters into a deep and likely protracted economic crisis and recession. The post-election battle lines will most likely centre around the struggle to block the attempts of finance capital and its big businesses parties - in the first instance, the Conservatives - from foisting the burden of the crisis onto the backs of the working class and working people. The challenge now for the labour and democratic movements will be to move the struggle back into the streets, workplaces and communities across Canada. For its part, the Communist Party will do everything possible to help build such a united and militant fightback.