The Canadian National Newspaper: It's Time to Become Citizens of this Beautiful Country

Ed Finn's recent article in the CCPA Monitor, "If unbridled capitalism is the problem, what's the solution?" calls for Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow to build greater solidarity and a pooling of resources within the activist community. Jim Stanford, takes it one step further, in his article, "Progressives must unite on both politics and principles" suggesting that there needs to be a cohesive fight for seats and issues between the progressive movement and the NDP. Both of them are right to point out the need for solidarity at this point in our country's history. Canada's survival as an independent, sovereign nation, has never been more precarious but it will probably take more than a cohesive bonding between these two groups to get us out of this "Globalization" nightmare.

Support is growing for small political parties like the Canadian Action Party because the mainstream parties are not saying what people want to hear. Political parties like the NDP, will have to put the survival of Canada, ahead of their desire to gain power. The political landscape has become less democratic. For a Liberal or Conservative, political office no longer requires public input, merely, as James Laxer puts it, "implementation of decisions that have already been made". Any MP's wanting to protect the public good should be prepared to accept a similar fate to Carolyn Parrish, rather than Belinda Stronach.

Although they are the only left of centre party to win seats in parliament, the NDP has yet to prove they are more concerned about the fate of this country than they are about becoming the next government. The NDP first rejected a nationalistic vision for Canada when they threw out the Waffle in 1972. Later in the free trade debate in the election of 1988, it was not NDP leader Ed Broadbent who argued so eloquently against the agreement, but Liberal leader John Turner. There are members within the party like National Defence critic Bill Blaikie and MP Peter Julian who have spoken out against deep integration, but in the last two elections Jack Layton managed to skirt around this pivotal issue as if medicare and childcare were somehow immune to the effects of privatization, foreign ownership, and militarization.

It would be naive to ignore the fact that the NDP has been slowly but surely moving to the right. In his article, Canadian Election Aftermath: New Actors, Same Play?, political economist, Gregory Albo argues that their silence on NAFTA, no new taxes and mandatory minimum sentencing for convicted youth involved in gun violence, were among the most right wing policies yet to be put forward by a social democratic party in Canada.

The Council of Canadians (CoC), who celebrated their 20th anniversary last November, were successful in preventing MAI but so far, have been unable to stop the FTA, NAFTA, FTAA, GATS, Canada United States Customs Union, North American Security and Prosperity Initiative, Safe Third Country Agreement, Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, Security Partnership, Continental Defence Project, NORAD accommodation of missile defence, Canadian troops in Afghanistan and Haiti, and government contracts out to weapons manufacturers for the U.S. war on terror. This is not meant as a criticism of the Council of Canadians. It is unrealistic to expect an organization with 100,000 members and only grassroots funding to stand up to a superpower alone. However, their Voters Guide Election 2006 has led some of us to suspect they still support the status quo in electoral politics. They need to realize that mainstream political parties are not necessarily home to progressive nationalists anymore.

The CoC's Guide to party policies made only cursory mention of alternative parties, including the Canadian Action Party, the only party with Canadian sovereignty as a priority. They could have alerted Canadians to the fact that the Liberal/Conservative behind closed doors agreement to economic and military integration with the U.S. is a mockery of our democratic principles and violates our sovereignty. Instead, they carefully outlined the two party's platforms, which only bolstered their legitimacy as a choice worthy of consideration by Canadian voters.

If the CoC is going to adopt a leadership role in saving Canada they must reach out to the political parties that share their vision and acknowledge their contribution to the cause. Adopting a more inclusive approach would help to dismiss any suggestion that the CoC secretly supports the NDP.

The NDP has to be willing to build alliances with other political parties too. At one time, the platform of the Greens, the Canadian Action Party or the NDP were not that different. All parties have been in favour of fair trade, environmental health and social justice, the difference being more in the emphasis of one issue over another. Candidates in these parties were able to build on these similarities to fight against Missile Defence, after the 2004 election. If the NDP were to embark on some sincere soul searching, opportunities like this could be created around the issue of deep integration.

There have been several attempts to build solidarity to save Canada. When David Orchard decided to run for the leadership of the Conservative party in 1992, provincial Green Party leader Frank de Jong, put his party loyalty aside and urged members to buy a PC membership. Many of them did and they were able to tap into their own volunteer networks for support.

Although most PC leadership organizers considered Orchard to be an opportunistic outsider, they were visibly impressed with the commitment and effectiveness of his volunteers. Ten years later, in an effort to prevent Canada from entering into further integration with the U.S. then Canadian Action Party leader Paul Hellyer and present leader Connie Fogal, tried to bring together the NDP and Greens with their "One Big Party" campaign. In the end both attempts failed because leaders like David Orchard, Jack Layton and Jim Harris failed to grasp the merits of cooperative power over individual power -a concept most consensus building activists and feminists take for granted.

It has been seventeen years since the so-called "Free Trade" Agreement was signed by Brian Mulroney. Since then, most high profile, progressive intellectuals, activists and politicians have been unwilling to roll up their sleeves and link arms to build the momentum necessary to turn this country around. It has been left up to too few of us to undertake the difficult task of building that momentum slowly, from the grassroots.

A caring, nationalist economic vision for Canada demands that we leave our egos and our party loyalties at the door; that we be inclusive, democratic and willing to come out of our ivory towers and join the people slogging in the trenches. Solidarity can only be achieved when we take back our role as citizens of this beautiful country.

About the Author:

Brenda Thompson ran as a candidate in British Columbia for the Canadian Action Party in the 2006 federal election.