Author Topic: Anti-war leaders stymied, frustrated  (Read 5032 times)

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Michael Tee

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Re: Anti-war leaders stymied, frustrated
« Reply #15 on: September 13, 2007, 11:16:17 AM »
<<Do the parties in your country present clear alternatives? Do the positions change or are they consistent over time?>>

Sorry for the long delay in response.  I got very busy over the past week and barely had time to glance at this board.

On some issues the alternatives are clear and consistent - - the Liberals are always for public schools (which in Ontario include RC schools in a parallel but tax-funded system) and the Conservatives are for tax-funded private schools for any religion that wants them.  The Liberals are for safeguarding our public health care plan, the Conservatives for eroding it by allowing privatization to creep in.  The only party where I see accomodationism taking place on a large scale is the NDP, a former socialist party which has gone from outright socialism (public ownership of the major means of production) to public ownership in competition with private industry, to free enterprise with a pro-union slant and always a very "liberal" social agenda.  They aren't so much about moving to the "centre" as they are about lopping off the radical branches which seem to make most voters uncomfortable, i.e., the Trotskyites, revolutionaries, "eat the rich" fringes.

I have never seen anything in our country remotely resembling the Democratic Party's race to the "centre" from either of our two major parties.  Liberals are still Liberals and Conservatives are still Conservatives.  The elections are fought on clear-cut choices between issues.  The last one was basically a referendum on the ruling Liberal Party and its scandals, which ended in their defeat.