The following article is from the Socialist Worker November 1993,
the paper of the International Socialists in Canada. Subscriptions
can be obtained by writing Socialist Worker PO Box 339 Station E
Toronto, Ontario Canada M6H 4E3. Regular annual sub. $10 Canadian;
Institutions and Supporting $16; US and Overseas $20.
Election '93: A Massive Rejection of the Tory Legacy
----------------------------------------------------
by David McNally
In one dramatic act, voters in this country symbolically buried the
nine-year legacy of Tory rule last month.
And when the jolt came, its proportions were staggering, the Tories
plummeting to two measly seats - down from 169 in the 1988
election.
Never before has anything remotely like this happened in Canadian
politics. Nowhere in the whole of the Western world, with the
possible exception of modern-day Italy, has a ruling party been so
decisively trounced in the post-war period.
How do we explain the massive shockwave that ran through Canadian
politics last month?
Economic Crisis
---------------
Our starting point must be the economic crisis. Canada entered
recession in 1989. Since that time, hundreds of factories have
closed, and hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been
lost.
Almost five years later, two million people are still out of work.
Millions of people are poorer off than they were several years ago.
This economic crisis, and the suffering it creates, has produced
enormous anger and bitterness throughout society. Most people know
that the prospects for themselves and their children are getting
worse, not better. And they angry with political leaders who seem
to care less.
That's why such a profound hatred has developed towards Brian
Mulroney and his government. In everything they did - from the
Goods and Services Tax, to cuts to Unemployment Insurance -
Mulroney and Co. were seen as cynical, corrupt and utterly uncaring
about the struggles and hardships endured by millions of people.
Because no other had captured people's imaginations, voters were
prepared to take a look at Kim Campbell. But as soon as they
smelled just another heartless Tory, they deserted the Tories in a
stampede.
Callous Disregard
-----------------
When Kim Campbell announced that government could do nothing to
create jobs and that mass unemployment was here to stay until the
year 2000, she made it clear that she had the same callous
disregard for the hardship experienced by millions.
And when she said that a 47-day election campaign was too short a
time period in which to discuss "serious" issues like the future of
social programs, she exuded an overwhelming contempt for ordinary
people - as if they should vote for her because she allegedly
understood more about serious issues than they.
This combination of utter cynicism, contempt and callous disregard
massively alienated millions of people. Huge numbers decided to
deliver their final verdict on the Tory legacy. And most of these
took their votes to the Liberal Party which had made jobs the key
issue of the campaign.
The vote was thus in large measure a rejection of the whole "neo-
conservative" agenda pursued by Tories since 1984 - the agenda
according to which government should slash social spending, cut
back on relief to the elderly and the poor and simply leave
economic life to the private sector. By voting largely for job
creation, not deficit slashing, the majority of voters turned their
backs on the corporate agenda which has dominated for the past
decade.
But there was more at work in this election than just a shift in
votes from the Tories to the Liberals. Equally significant was the
rise of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec and the Reform Party
throughout much of English Canada.
The rise of the Bloc Quebecois is not difficult to explain.
Since the failure of the Meech Lake Accord which would have
recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" within Confederation,
frustration with the status quo has been building throughout
Quebec. That legitimate frustration, combined with the same
bitterness about economic conditions that has run through the
country, produced an enormous protest vote, with the BQ winning
over two-thirds of Quebec's seats.
Yet, while it is not difficult to see why most francophones workers
in Quebec turned to the BQ, that party offers no serious solution
to the concerns of most Quebec workers.
Its leaders, after all, are former Tories and its social and
economic program is to defend the interests of big business in
Quebec. Lucien Bouchard was chief negotiator for the Parti
Quebecois government in 1982 and 1983, when that government imposed
a massive wage cut on Quebec public sector unions.
But the most troubling aspect of the election results is the rise
of the Reform Party. The heart of Reform's approach is to channel
the bitterness and frustration felt by millions of people against
scapegoats such as immigrants and the people of Quebec.
Scapegoating
------------
Reform's opposition to multiculturalism and bilingualism, and its
calls for huge reductions in the number of immigrants coming into
the country, implies that "others" - francophones, Blacks, Asians,
and so on - are the cause of social and economic decline. It is the
classic politics of scapegoating which fuels racism, divides
working people against one another, and weakens their ability to
fight back.
The fact that Reform ran at about 18 per cent of popular support
with no candidates in Quebec indicates the high level of support it
received elsewhere. While it only elected one MP in Ontario, it
received 20 per cent of the vote there. And in more than half of
Ontario's ridings it came second - often a very strong second.
In the West, especially Alberta and British Columbia, where it
picked up 51 seats, it was the dominant party.
Reform's success is the most ominous feature of the election. It is
a warning that economic crisis and political discontent can be
channelled to the right, into a politics of bigotry.
But there is nothing inevitable in this. What the election results
underline more than anything else is that large numbers of people
have little attachment to the dominant ideas of the ruling class -
deficit obsession and attacks on social programs.
But, while one set of ruling ideas is in crisis, there is no
alternative at the moment coming from the Right or Left which is
attracting majority support. The political situation is deeply
fractured - with five parties in parliament - and there is an
enormous vacuum of ideas. Moreover, many people are open to new
ideas as to what to do about the mess in which society finds
itself.
The situation is enormously unstable. But in the event of a new
wave of struggles by the unions and the working class, anger and
bitterness could very quickly move towards a left-wing alternative.
That is the hope and the promise in the election results - that the
collapse of the dominant ideas of the 1980s can create a new space
for the ideas of genuine socialism.
Not that this will happen overnight. But with a revival of working
class struggle it could happen quite quickly, provided there are
forces on the Left, ready and able to take advantage of
opportunities.
