Though I am no expert on Canadian politics, more attention to its ongoing federal election raises political possibilities activists south of the border should take seriously. Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have been seeking a mandate to govern Canada for up to five more years. Time magazine injected a little flame into a rather lackluster campaign by publishing a nearly two-decade-old picture of the future prime minister in blackface and wearing a turban.
For any politician such a revelation would be harmful, but for Trudeau this surprise was toxic. Trudeau and the Liberals had already denounced opponents in several ridings, including Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer, for insensitive remarks or tweets in their past lives. Though this event changed the early stages of the campaign, in another sense it merely reinforced what had always been a major theme of the campaign — could Justin Trudeau be trusted?
Personality has played a disproportionate role in this campaign. Sure, voters legitimately want to know whether a political leader will keep his/her political promises, but it is much more important to know what those promises are, how defensible they are, what mechanisms and strategies we as voters and citizens can apply to compel adherence to those promise. Voters need less attention to whether Mr. Trudeau is a racist and more discussion of systemic or institutional racism and how Liberal policies address or fail to address these pathologies.
In this regard neither Trudeau nor his Conservative opponents score very well. Human rights attorney Christopher Black comments: “Trudeau pays lip service to their ‘rights’ but his government still holds with the policy of trying to force the indigenous people to disintegrate and cease to exist as a culture.”
Canadian journalist Finian Cunningham adds: “One revealing indicator is the way the Trudeau government is in favour of pushing through the giant ...Trans Mountain Pipeline… It has been criticized for its damaging impact on the environment and its encroachment on the historic land rights of indigenous Canadians..”
This pipeline project, promoted by Trudeau as a way to finance future Green investment, makes about as much sense as selling cigarettes to finance public health initiatives. More broadly all three parties with a possibility of participating in government promote initiatives far short of steps necessary to address the climate emergency. (A bolder NDP might have moved beyond its call to end subsidies to fossil fuel industry. It might at least discuss public and worker-managed retooling factories deserted by GM to produce Green public transit.)
In a healthy democracy, campaigns should contribute to a process of movement building, not merely a choice of leaders.
Trudeau has shown a lack of trustworthiness on important political reform issues. In his 2015 campaign he promised to promote reform of the party system, including proportional representation. Such reform would give more voice to minority parties, which are heavily disadvantaged by current electoral arrangements. Had a PR system been in place in 2015 the Federal Liberals likely would have been forced to form a minority government in partnership with the Left- leaning New Democratic Party.
Trudeau’s commitment to clean democratic politics stands questioned in light of the SNC-Lavalin scandal in which the Prime Minister pressured his justice minister to grant a deferred prosecution agreement to a major construction company based in Quebec. SNC-Lavalin was accused of massive bribes to win a Libyan construction and engineering contract. A sweetheart deal would allow that corporation to compete for lucrative contracts worldwide.
Trudeau and some of his critics share many assumptions about the political economy of Canada. A favorite word used by some critics and by Trudeau himself was “privilege.” The PM’s privileged background rendered him oblivious to the multiple instances of discrimination minorities face. In these discussions privilege clearly meant white privilege.
While watching a group of thoughtful CBC commentators I waited in vain for someone to say that economic wealth — including but not limited to private schools — insulated him from the pain and indignities suffered by minorities. The closest surrogate was private school education, but even that received little attention.
Canada embodies several forms of diversity, including ethnic, racial, indigenous, class, and linguistic. Many Canadians pride themselves on that diversity. Thus in the 2015 election then Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau remarked: “This government [Stephen Harper’s] … is continuing with the politics of division and even fear, and that is not worthy of a country as diverse and extraordinary as Canada.”
However, despite the celebration of diversity, Canada, like most modern democracies, faces substantial tensions on grounds both of ethnicity and social values. These can be and have been exploited for political and economic purposes.
Thus during the 2015 campaign Stephen Harper charged that the niqab, a veil worn by some Muslim women in public, covering all of the face apart from the eyes, is contrary to Canadian values and the product of an “anti-women” culture. As one Canadian journalist put it, “Harper’s tough-on-terrorism talk appears to have particular resonance in Quebec, where debate over the accommodation of minorities has raged for years.”
Perhaps one reason class does not receive the attention it merits is that all parties share a faith in markets and are at most willing only to trim a few excesses around the edge. The NDP has endorsed a 1% tax on wealth over $20 million. Unfortunately, however, such a tax does little to address the causes of gross inequities and is far short of the wealth tax proposed by US Sen. Bernie Sanders. Market-induced economic insecurity and inequality exacerbate ethnic and cultural tensions. The NDP—along with all other Canadian parties — also professes commitment to a balanced budget. Austerity in the face of a softening world economy is a sure route to deep recession. Nor will continual cuts in fiscal spending allow Canada even to begin an adequate response to the climate emergency, such as massive spending on public transit and renewable energy.
The NDP’s anemic performance in recent years has led some activists to question its broader role on the Left. In an eloquent piece in the journal Canadian Dimension Andre Frappier comments:
“NDP unfortunately holds no appeal as a left-wing political alternative. It is part and parcel of the politics of austerity and the extractivist economy. It is incapable of grasping the importance of Québec’s national liberation struggle against the domination of the Canadian state and its institutions, precisely, because it aims to reform those institutions. This is an unachievable goal in a state controlled by financial institutions and multinational corporations. Several successive generations of activists have tried in vain to get the party to change course, the latest one being the group around the Leap Manifesto.
“In addition to its descent into ethnic nationalism, the Bloc Québécois is equally wedded to neoliberal and extractivist politics. Clearly it cannot and does not represent an alternative; it only … creates divisions with people waging resistance in the rest of Canada … Several activists from Québec and English Canada have done some spadework in recent years to establish a pan-Canadian left network …”
Frappier raises crucial concerns, but it is too soon to give up on electoral politics. Liberal/Left electoral coalitions ushered in universal health care, first at the provincial level. Ideally a pan Canadian left network, or better yet a nonviolent multipronged movement across borders, ethnicities, and religions could spur a more relevant electoral politics., that might in turn further motivate activism on many fronts.
John Buell lives in Southwest Harbor, Maine and writes on labor and environmental issues. His books include “Politics, Religion, and Culture in an Anxious Age” (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011). Email Jbuell@acadia.net.
From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2019
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