Trust me. This is not a Toronto Sun article. As much as the Toronto Sun likes to do, I won’t be writing about how this country is about to become the Communist Canucks of Canada because of a few government investments in social programs and actually tackling climate change. No, this article will be in line with what many other analysts and columnists have been writing about on Macleans, National Post, and CBC in regards to the political shift of this country. Unlike our southern neighbours, there is an increase of pressure by constituents, voters, advocates, young people and the current political climate that more so requires Canadian parties to shift leftward on the political spectrum. When considering factors such as the pandemic, growing inequality, inflation, a need for governments to introduce and expand social programs, demands for increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations. It’s no wonder that the major political parties in Canada have shifted leftward - I would go as far as to say that it’s the logical thing to do if you want to win an election.
Even Erin O’Toole has attempted to embrace the trend by shifting his party to be more centrist than completely right-wing. Although I would argue that the Conservative party’s shift to the centre is only a facade if you actually look at what their MPs support - restrictions on abortion, consciousness rights, gun control, LGBTQ rights, etc - all of these policies are not the position of a centrist party. Thus, O’Toole attempts to shift left but ceases to take into consideration the makeup of his Conservative party. That is at least half of his party’s MPs are right-wing, not centrist. Such a discrepancy would automatically disqualify the party from being a “left” or “centrist” party. Thus, for the Conservatives, I would say they must go through further reform in order to truly brand themselves as a centrist party. Rather than posting themselves as “new” centrist Conservatives, they must introduce policies that are in line with left or centrist values. Otherwise, people simply won’t believe the falsely advertised “centrist” Conservative brand.
For the NDP, they’ve traditionally always been the social democratic party of Canada. Policies such as Pharamacare, public long-term care, child care, taxing corporations and the wealthy, LGBTQ+ rights, investments in public transportation, pro-union, etc. Many of these policies are staple left-wing policies, and the NDP is the only party that truly espouse the title of Canada’s left-wing party. The Liberals - although close - are not as left-wing as the NDP, because the Liberals are still very much a pro-big business party. The NDP fills this gap as the pro-worker, anti-corporate dystopian party. As Jagmeet Singh likes to say over and over again: “The rich should pay their fair share”. Whether or not he would actually do it if he becomes PM, that’s another question for another day.
Now for the most interesting party of them all, the Liberals. I would strongly argue that the Liberal Party has shifted leftward. Sometimes, the Liberals go as far as social democracy, and at other times, they are neoliberals in the literal sense. The Liberals are keen on subsidizing our oil and gas sector, continuing the reign of our oligopolistic telecom industry, are union-busting at times, as well as reluctant but open on increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy. From these factors, they can be considered an establishment neoliberal party. On the other hand, the Liberals are absolutely social democrats when it comes to preserving public health care, introducing national child care, improving long-term care, fighting climate change (see the latest Environment Minister), investing in public transit, investing in mental health, ensuring access of abortion services, punishing provinces that offer private health care, etc. These are only some policies of the many policies the Liberals have that I would consider socially democratic.
From the new Cabinet, appointments such as Steven Guilbeault as the new Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Deputy PM Freeland taking charge as Finance Minister, LeBlanc retaining his position as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Duclos leading the position of Minister of Health, and Anand taking on the role of the Minister of National Defence. This Liberal Party has made it apparent that they are looking to legislate big change in Canada. A change that is definitely not fiscal conservatism. A change that is the essence of social liberalism and brings Canada closer to social democracy.
For hard progressives, this may not be enough of a leftward shift. But I can assure the hard progressives that this is a step in the right direction for the Canada they seek. Perhaps we’ll get there slowly, but we’ll get there nonetheless.
In regards to the PM. Trudeau himself always ousted himself as a progressive willing to do big things for the country. Whether or not he has is a different question, but at least he has the rhetoric and team to do it. When cabinet appointments are chosen to reflect the party’s desire for change, it means that change is coming. What this change will likely be is an incremental expansion of existing social programs, expansion of healthcare programs, and dealing with the biggest issues facing Canada: climate change and housing. The latter is the least likely to be addressed while the former is the most likely to be addressed. I say this because there is a lot of money involved in both our housing market as well as in our GHG emitting industrial, manufacturing, and natural resource extraction sectors. Where there is money, the government will support it. For policies that expand social programs, the government will also support it. That is the vibe I get from both the Liberal party and indeed Trudeau.
Now the most important question would be whether or not Canada can truly achieve social democracy (or at least aspects of it). With current trends, the answer is more of a ‘Yes’ than it is a ‘No’. But it would only take one term of a conservative government to steer the path back to a neoliberal Canada. Although, the steer would be more subtle under O’Toole (according to him at least) than some other leaders in his caucus (think Poillievre, Scheer, Chong, Lewis). In other words, we’re not out of the woods yet; the path out of the woods is clear but there is still much that could go wrong before we reach sunlight.