Blaikie willing to take on the U.S.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2002 (8759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Winnipeg Transcona MP Bill Blaikie, the first declared candidate for the federal NDP leadership, the next federal election must be about nothing less than Canada itself.

“I promise you that an NDP led by Bill Blaikie will make Canada the issue.”

Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has replaced Quebec’s position in Confederation as the most important question confronting Canadian nationhood in the coming decade. The battle lines are already being drawn. Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper made Canada-U.S. relations the theme of his maiden speech in the Commons. And Liberal heir-apparent Paul Martin is expected to stake out his ground on the continental connection soon.

The Alliance leader told the Commons that Canadians “can never allow our affections for our own country to become the basis of resentment towards the United States.”

Mr. Blaikie sees things differently. As polling consistently confirms, Canadians, unlike Americans, have social democratic values. “We are a country with a social democratic majority,” he told the audience at his campaign kick-off. “Why shouldn’t (we) be governed by those values?”

Canadians must fight to rebalance Canadian society. Canada’s drift to the right plus free trade and its corporate model of globalization are destroying Canada’s essence, eating out its history of social and economic justice and destroying its programs of universal health care and education.

“We must form a broad coalition with all people who want to make Canada a people-centred society again. But it is not just equality that we fight for, it’s Canada itself,” Mr. Blaikie continued.

“Whether it’s how we sell our wheat, manage our softwood lumber, look after our sick, promote our culture, educate our children, patent our drugs or regulate our environment, our way of doing things is on a number of hit lists. We can either accept it or resist. We already have an abundance of political parties willing to cater to the spirit of the age. I believe Canadians would like to resist the dismantling of their country. I believe that they will respond to a credible and thoughtful alternative to the silence of the lambs offered up by the Liberals and the eager Canadian self-immolation advocated by Stephen Harper and the Alliance…

“Let’s have a leadership race that helps Canadians understand the issues. Let’s have a debate about the future of our country. Let this be the beginning of a sea change in Canadian politics that will wipe away the cynicism and betrayal of Canada that began with Mulroney and has so treacherously been complemented by Chretien. Canadians deserve better.”

The NDP House leader and United Church minister believes it is equally vital to re-engage young Canadians in the political process. A year ago, he identified the massive political disillusionment and disgust of post-Generation-Xers –a disillusionment and disgust that contributed to the lowest voter turnout ever in the 2000 federal election and continues to fuel street protests –as an extremely serious issue facing the nation.

He is no longer satisfied just to be the “conscience” of Parliament. “It matters who is in government and who is not,” he said. Social activism has to be followed by electoral activism. The fabric of Canadian democracy must be strengthened to ensure that “votes count for more… money counts for less.” Mr. Blaikie favours some form of proportional representation to reduce “negative regional politics” and “significant reform” of election and party financing.

“Democracy will be an issue, as it was in Seattle and Quebec City, and will continue to be, until we get trade agreements that are not designed to limit the legitimate power of government to act in the public interest,” he continued. He quoted Salem Bland, an early member of Winnipeg’s social gospel movement, who warned in 1913 that Canada was “‘headed along the same road as the United States, ruled by millionaires. We need an ideal, before our resources are seized. Our ideal should be Canada for the people.’ ”

The NDP plans to focus on recapturing its lost ground in Ontario and B.C., an objective some think boosts the chances of Toronto city councillor Jack Layton, Mr. Blaikie’s expected major rival.

But Mr. Blaikie should be hard to beat. He has NDP roots; rooted, in fact, in the best and earliest traditions of the party. Before entering politics in 1979, he was the director of the United Church outreach ministry at Stella Mission, where CCF founder J.S. Woodsworth once preached and worked. He is one of the most respected MPs in the Commons. He is considered at least an equal to Stephen Harper in intellect. And he enjoys that rarest of qualities in the era of 30-second sound bites. He is an orator.

frussel@escape.com