The following article is from the Socialist Worker, November 1993,
paper of the International Socialists in Canada.
Who Are the Liberals? By Paul Kellogg
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"If you make the voter feel happy or comfortable, you'll get his
vote," wrote Jean Chretien in his autobiography.
But Canadian voters should not be too happy yet.
The man elected to be Prime Minister of Canada has a long history
in Canadian politics. And a quick look at that history should make
us feel rather uncomfortable.
Chretien poses as an alternative to the Tories. He says that he is
different than the Tories and can improve on their nine-year
record.
Let's see, then. What were the big failures in the Tory tenure in
office? They promised to help workers by creating jobs. They
created mass unemployment and drove down wages.
They promised to protect social programs, telling us that
universality was sacrosanct. Social programs lie in tatters.
And they promised to "bring Quebec into the constitution." The
people of Quebec have never felt more alienated from English
Canada.
So on wages, social programs and the "Quebec question" the Tories
failed miserably.
But look at what Chretien accomplished in the 21 years he ruled the
roost as a senior Ottawa politician.
Through the 1970s, he was a senior cabinet minister, holding at one
time or another all of the key financial ministries. In 1974, he
was president of the Treasury Board and one of the chief architects
of the wage controls program of Pierre Trudeau.
It is that program which began the erosion of wages continued under
the Tories.
What about social programs?
In 1977, Chretien became finance minister. As such, he was one of
the chief architects of the dismantling of the social safety net.
Under the Liberals, the rules by which money was transferred to the
provinces were changed, so that federal transfers no longer kept up
with inflation. As a result, for the last 15 years, cuts to social
programs have been implemented, accelerated by the Tories, but
begun by Chretien and the Liberals.
And what about Quebec? Well, if the people of Quebec became
disillusioned with Mulroney, they gave up on Chretien years ago.
In 1982, he was Trudeau's right-hand man in forcing a constitution
onto the people of Quebec after manoeuvring to exclude the
participation of the Quebec government.
Worse, in 1970, he was a member of the federal Liberal cabinet
which lied to Canadians about the "threat of Quebec terrorists."
Claiming that the Quebec Liberation Front was about to lead an
armed insurrection, Chretien and Trudeau imposed the War Measures
Act.
They sent thousands into the streets of Montreal, and threw
hundreds of Quebec nationalists, trade unionists and socialists
into jail.
The Tories attacked wages, social services and completely alienated
the people of Quebec.
Chretien and Trudeau in office last time around began the attack on
wages, began the attack on social services and were involved in the
military occupation of Quebec on the basis of lies and deception.
Chretien in office this time around will be worse. The economic
crisis is much deeper, the room to manoeuvre is much less, and thus
the probability is much greater of attacks on wages, services and
on the rights of the Quebecois.
Chretien's "honeymoon" with the Canadian people is likely to be
short indeed.
