1-22-06, 8:47 am
On January 9, two weeks before voting day, People's Voice interviewed Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa in Vancouver during his cross-country election tour.
People's Voice: As January 23 comes closer, how would you characterize the election campaign to date?
Miguel Figueroa: Overall, the campaign has had a certain surreal quality. Nothing is as it appears, and truth and 'openness' are in short supply. The Liberals under Paul Martin have been trying to reinvent themselves as a progressive, even marginally 'left- leaning' party in a desperate bid to hold onto power. They would have voters see their party as the 'saviour' of public health care, and as staunch patriots, willing to stand up to Washington to protect Canadian sovereignty.
Of course, this is so much rubbish. Their record over the past dozen years - and Paul Martin's in particular - shows how wedded the Liberals have been to neoliberal policies, and to economic integration and political collaboration with U.S. imperialism.
But first prize for 'most extreme makeover' must go to Stephen Harper and his Conservatives. Their image handlers have managed to package the Tory message as 'mainstream' and non-threatening. They have cynically misrepresented their positions on Medicare, education, Canada-US relations, among many others, to obscure and conceal their reactionary, pro-imperialist agenda from the people. They have managed to gag their more imprudent, red-neck backbenchers from spewing racist, ant-women, Christian fundamentalist diatribes. Andthey have focussed their fire on a handful of so-called 'wedge issues' such as Liberal corruption, gun crime, and the need for 'change in Ottawa.'
Unfortunately, the latest polls appear to indicate that the Conservatives' grand deception strategy is working, and may even result in a Tory minority, or worse still, a majority government.
PV: This turn puts a whole new complexion on the campaign, doesn't it? What would a Conservative government mean for working people?
We should be absolutely clear: the election of Stephen Harper and the Conservatives would be a major setback for the working class in Canada and would seriously complicate the fightback of labour and the people's forces. Even a minority Tory government would move quickly to accelerate the dismantling and privatization of the health care system and other social programs and services. They would speed up economic integration and structural 'harmonization' with the U.S., and tie Canada even closer to Washington's aggressive imperialist drive global domination.
Not least, a Tory government would exacerbate the constitutional crisis, strengthening the pro-sovereigntist forces in Quebec, and bringing the country closer to fragmentation.
Therefore, the possibility of a Conservative victory constitutes the main danger for the working class and its allies today, for women, Aboriginal peoples, for youth and seniors, for New Canadians and oppressed minorities, and for all those concerned about peace and social justice issues here and around the world.
PV: Does that mean voters should cast their ballots 'strategically' to prevent a Tory election victory?
Figueroa: No. We don't think that voting Liberal to stop the Tories is the answer. This is where we part company with Buzz Hargrove and other advocates of 'strategic voting.' Working people need to break with both parties of big business, and to elect the largest block of progressive MPs possible. That said, we also feel it's crucial that the labour movement and the Left and progressive forces use the remaining days of this campaign to warn the people of this main danger, to expose the real Tory agenda, and show how punishing the Liberals by voting Conservative would be like 'hopping out of the frying pan and into the fire.'
PV: What about the campaign of Jack Layton and the New Democrats?
Figueroa: To describe the NDP's campaign as disappointing would be extremely charitable. Layton and his party had an excellent opportunity to sharply differentiate itself from the pro-corporate, right-wing policies of both the Liberals and Tories. They could have presented themselves as a serious alternative - even in a limited, reformist sense - to the parties of big business. But they have failed miserably to do so.
Instead, they have made a number of policy retreats on key issues such as the proliferation of private health clinics. On tax policy, they have been completely silent about increasing corporate tax rates. They have come out in support of the chauvinist Clarity Act, the main aim of which is to deny Quebec's right to self-determination. And most recently, they have pandered to the right populist press to 'get tough' on gun violence and youth crime. They even toyed briefly with the idea of NDP cooperation with a Conservative minority government, although they thought better about it later and dropped any reference to that.
Much like they did in the pivotal 1988 election, they have concluded, from a narrow partisan point of view, that the Liberals are their main enemy, and that a Harper victory would be an acceptable, even welcome, outcome so long as it also resulted in some additional NDP seats.
PV: Many people find this campaign extremely frustrating, since some of the most important issues facing the country are being studiously avoided by the leading parties.
Figueroa: And rightly so. It is indeed a sad commentary on the state of our 'democratic process' that such vital questions as Canada's deepening military occupation of Afghanistan, and its role on the overthrow of the Aristide government in Haiti are being completely ignored. Little if anything is being discussed about extricating Canada from the NAFTA straight-jacket, and stopping the sell-out of Canadian sovereignty. Nothing about the need for swift action to stop the fleecing of the Canadian public by Big Oil, which is amassing obscene profits. Nothing about the spread of poverty and homelessness amidst the rapid accumulation of wealth. Of course, this is only a partial list.
The Communist Party and our candidates are doing everything possible to raise these issues, and connect them to the deepening crisis of capitalism and the need for a revolutionary alternative, and for socialism.
PV: What are the objectives and expectations of the Communist Party in this election?
Figueroa: We have no illusions about what is achievable, given the polarized conditions and the backward, undemocratic first-past-the-post electoral system. We have limited resources, and we face a lack of media exposure, although there has been some improvement on this front. So we are not anticipating any substantial breakthrough. Of course, we will fight for every vote, because a Communist vote is the most class conscious expression a worker or other progressive-minded person can make at the ballot-box.
Our primary objective is to bring our ideas and our 'people's alternative' to as many working people as we can, to bring them closer to our Party. We want to win new readers for our press and new members for the Young Communist League, and to welcome new, fresh forces into our ranks. From this perspective, we are very enthusiastic. Our website has received over 1.6 million hits since the beginning of the campaign, and we are being flooded with requests for more information and with membership applications. A lot of credit must go to our candidates across the country, who are doing a superb job of presenting our platform in a militant, popular way. Our candidates are being very well received in the local media and at all-candidate forums and meetings.
So we are very encouraged by this response. It shows that we are taking important steps towards the day when a larger Communist Party will elect MPs and play a major role at the Parliamentary level.
From People's Voice
