A Moment of Opportunity for the Left and Organized Labour

Finance Flaherty’s economic update had two goals; one to cover up the Harper Government’s responsibility for the crisis and the other to use government fiscal policy to assist the banks and the corporate sector to profit from it.

Flaherty failed utterly on the first, but hasn’t given up on the second. Budget cuts and restraints were imposed on transfers to the provinces, while no strings attached public money will continue to flow to private banks and financial institutions. Massive military spending on the US-NATO war in Afghanistan is to continue.

Neo-con deficit abstinence and deregulation is no longer the hallmark of Conservative economic virtue. In fact it never was. Harper copied the George W. Bush deficit and deregulation policy to militarize and give speculative investors free reign in Canada. Without the slightest embarassment Flaherty is now ready to engage in illicit deficit sin because the Conservatives blew a $13.7 billion surplus on war and corporate tax cuts and has no where to go but into deficit. Now after three years of de-regulation Flaherty wants to re-regulate.

Budget deficits aren't sinful. On whose behalf will deficit be incurred determines its virtue? Avoidance of deficit by the Conservatives is the rhtetoric used cut spending on people’s needs. They have renamed deficit “budget restraint” to enact attacks on labour.

Under cover of “budget restraint” Flaherty announced the Harper Government will eliminate the right to strike for public sector workers, impose a wage freeze on the civil service, (a signal to the private sector to do the same), halt and roll back pay equity gains for women workers and eliminate the $1.75 per vote that helps smaller parties to participate in federal elections.

The opposition parties all attacked the government as though they had a joint caucus prior to the debate. Surprisingly the NDP muted its attacks on the Liberals and the Bloc did the same. Scott Brisson for the Liberals, Gilles Duceppe for the Bloc and Jack Layton and Thomas Mulchair for the NDP between them said what had to be said. All pointedly continue to avoid comment on the disastrous and costly war in Afghanistan.

Now what?

The opposition parties are temporarily on the same page regarding the urgency of the need for massive government stimulus package to get the economy moving. All have stated they will vote against the Government. The chattering classes and the media are speculating about a coalition government not another election.

This is a moment of opportunity for the left and organized labour to come forward with its own plan for the working people. A Parliamentary coalition government can make sense as a short term answer to a long term problem.

If that is to happen, labour must convene its own Parliament and layout now its minimum demands. If that were done, labour could establish its terms of support for a Parliamentary coalition and just possibly make it work for the people.

Left Turn Canada!