A significant victory against big business parties

The result of the June 28 Canadian election has been described 
as a "significant victory against big business" in a statement by 
the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). The Conservatives were 
defeated and the Liberals barely managed to hold onto power and 
were reduced to a minority government, dependent on the support 
of other parties for survival.

The primary question in the election was to blunt the drive to 
the right by preventing a Tory victory, denying either of the Big 
Business parties a working majority, and expanding the size and 
influence of other more democratic and progressive parties in 
Parliament. In this context, the outcome was a significant 
victory for the working class and the left and progressive forces 
in the country, says the CPC statement.

The two parties of big business were hammered by voters, falling 
from 80 percent of the total popular vote in 2000 to 68 percent 
in 2004. The Conservatives lost over one million votes from the 
Alliance-Tory totals four years ago, and the Liberals dropped 
300,000, mostly in Quebec.

Progressives made gains

On the other hand, the parties seen by voters as defenders of 
progressive positions made gains; the New Democratic Party 
[social democratic — editor] (NDP) gained about one million 
votes, the Bloc Quebecois about 300,000, and the Greens almost 
half a million.

The first result is that the Martin Liberals were denied a fourth 
consecutive term as a majority government. Despite Martin's 
hypocritical posturing as a "progressive" during the campaign, he 
has led a concerted drive to shift Liberal policy in a more 
right, neo-liberal direction.

Second, the even more right-wing Conservative Party has been kept 
from power.

Third, the minority government situation in which the Liberals 
will have to make certain concessions may open up prospects for 
the extra-parliamentary forces to exert greater pressure. This 
could blunt the pro-corporate agenda of the Liberals, and even 
win certain reforms around issues such as proportional 
representation, or blocking Canadian participation in Missile 
Defence and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). On the 
other hand, the Liberals may well seek support from the 
Conservatives on important economic issues where the parties have 
similar policies.

The Liberal Party suffered the greatest losses at the polls, 
losing 37 seats and witnessing the defeat of seven cabinet 
members.

But it was the "new" Conservatives under Stephen Harper who 
suffered the biggest rebuke from the electorate. Despite their 
efforts to soft-pedal and in some cases completely obscure their 
reactionary, right-wing program, many voters saw through this 
deception and acted to prevent the Conservatives from achieving 
control of Parliament.

Counter reactionary influence

However, the Conservatives control a large bloc of seats, and it 
will be necessary for the progressive and democratic forces 
inside and outside of Parliament to counter their reactionary 
influence on policy and government action.

The results for the New Democratic Party marked an advance, 
although not nearly as much as its optimistic forecasts. The New 
Democrats under their new leader Jack Layton mounted an ambitious 
campaign focused on pro-environment, anti-war positions, and 
pledges to defend healthcare, education and the public sector, 
and bring about electoral reform, including the introduction of 
some kind of proportional representation.

The NDP benefited from presenting their policies as a dynamic 
alternative to the big business parties. However, their proposals 
fell far short of a militant, class-based program for political 
change which the circumstances require to meet the offensive of 
finance capital in Canada and imperialism on a global scale.

It is clear that the last-minute decision of many workers and 
progressive-minded people to act strategically by voting for the 
Liberals in a bid to block the election of Stephen Harper's 
Tories also limited the chances of the NDP to make further gains. 
In the end, the NDP's popular vote rebounded to 15.2 percent from 
its dismal 8.5 percent showing in 2000, but their representation 
will only grow by six seats to a total of 19 in the new House.

Greens moved to the right

The Greens built their popular vote to over four percent, but 
failed to elect anyone to Parliament. The Green Party received a 
sizable chunk of the "protest vote" of those wishing to express 
displeasure with the big business parties. The Greens however 
have shifted their policies sharply to the right, offering tax 
incentives to "environmentally-friendly" corporations and 
proposing to cut corporate and income taxes, replacing revenue 
shortfalls with a highly regressive consumption tax [such as the 
GST] that would fall most heavily on working people. Tellingly, 
the largest environmental groups did not endorse the Greens in 
this election.

The Communist vote was modest in the 35 electorates its 
candidates contested. This resulted from a combination of factors 
such as the continuing effect of the undemocratic first-past-the-
post system, the corporate media blackout, and lingering anti-
communist bias among sections of the people. Mostly, however, a 
compelling sense of urgency led many left and socialist-minded 
people to vote strategically to block the Tories and deny the 
Liberals a functioning majority.

That said, the Communist campaign had an important positive 
impact, gaining a higher public profile for the Party, the CPC 
statement said. The campaign was able to reach out to broader 
circles of working people, especially progressive labour and 
youth activists. The party's website received over 3,500,000 hits 
during the campaign, reflecting growing interest in the policies 
and perspective of the Party, and new members and supporters were 
won across the country.

Stage set

The election results set the stage for a new period of ferocious 
struggle over such issues as Canada's position on missile 
defence, the battle over privatisation, the FTAA and moves for 
further economic, cultural, political, and diplomatic 
"harmonisation" with the US, and the direction of foreign and 
defence policies, to name but a few, the CPC said.

While battles will continue in parliament the decisive field of 
battle will shift to the streets and workplaces of Canada, to the 
extra-parliamentary arena of struggle. "More than ever, unity of 
the labour, progressive and popular forces will be the key to 
blunting the continuing offensive of Big Business and its 
parties, and shifting momentum in a new direction", the CPC 
statement concluded.