THE UNBEARABLE RIGHTNESS OF VOTERS

Robin V. Sears

Once again the NDP’s hopes for a breakthrough were dashed, and its expectation of holding the balance of power denied, in the June 28 election which gave them only 19 seats to show for their 16 percent of the vote. While Jack Layton campaigned well, he became the latest in a line of NDP leaders to fall into the trap of appeasing Quebec, with his promise to repeal the Clarity Act. And the party, like social democratic movements in other countries, remains “trapped in a time warp,” writes its former campaign chair Robin Sears. In a scathing appraisal of what went wrong and a brutally frank assessment of what must be done if the NDP is to become a competitive force in Canadian politics, first, he says, it must lose the wish lists of fiscal irresponsibility. Then it must adopt a pragmatic foreign policy that reflects the realities of the post-Cold War world and Canada’s place in it. Finally, it must modernize and rejuvenate the party and its structures, which have become as ossified as Tammany Hall.

Les attentes du NDP, qui espérait faire une percée dans les élections du 28 juin et détenir la balance du pouvoir, ont de nouveau été déçues alors qu’il n’a élu que 19 députés et n’a obtenu que 16 p. 100 des voix. Jack Layton a fait une bonne campagne, mais il n’est que le dernier de toute une série de leaders néo-démocrates qui se sont laissé prendre au piège en faisant des concessions au Québec, dans ce cas-ci en promettant de révoquer la Loi de clarification. Et tout comme les mouvements sociaux-démocrates dans d’autres pays, le parti reste pris dans un « autre temps », dit l’ancien président de la campagne du parti, Robin Sears, qui nous offre une analyse dévastatrice de ce qui n’a pas marché et une évaluation franche de ce que le NPD doit faire s’il veut devenir un élément compétitif sur la scène politique canadienne : tout d’abord cesser de faire des promesses qui respirent l’irresponsabilité financière, puis adopter une politique étrangère pragmatique qui tienne compte des réalités de l’après-guerre froide et qui reflète la place du Canada dans ce nouvel environnement; enfin moderniser et rajeunir ses structures, qui sont devenues aussi sclérosées que Tammany Hall.

anadian voters knew what they wanted. They had The election outcome was the product of just the right been telling pollsters for months. They wanted to sprinkling of votes in the right places to deliver exactly what C deliver a sharp slap to the Canadian political estab- a majority of Canadians wanted. The NDP and the Tories lishment, to elect a weak and chastened government, and to got some small victories and the Liberals had a near-death ensure that federal politicians knew that they were on pro- experience. The Bloc were given so many seats that bation. And they did. Quebecers underlying message was clearly, “Okay, you’re In his marvellous new book, The Wisdom of Crowds, our vehicle to pound the Ottawa grosses têtes, but you’d bet- James Suroweicki examines the phenomenon of collective ter use the mandate well.” decision making. Big amateur groups make better decisions, Sadly, for the NDP, the message could not have clearer, one by one, than the smartest smaller group of experts in either: “You’re our insurance policy, but we’re only buying weeks of conflab. The pundit class and political hacks the cheapest coverage possible. You haven’t earned a “cen- always intone with pious solemnity in advance of an elec- tral role” in government yet.” tion, “Canadians need to understand that they can’t vote And the harshest note on the NDP report card from this for a minority government.” Yes, they can. And they did. demanding “left-lib” voter is: You got only this limited role

64 OPTIONS POLITIQUES SEPTEMBRE 2004 The unbearable rightness of voters as the chaperone or the vice squad in The NDP’s current angst can be almost entirely, with future Prime Parliament because you didn’t offer traced to one tragic error: they got the Minister Olaf Palme among the anything believable, or uniquely end of the Cold War badly wrong. young turks demanding change. appealing, that we couldn’t get some They misunderstood how to manage They’ve governed for most of the of, later, in a cheaper version from the Cold War politics often before that, past century. Liberals. but the post-war realignment of demo- 1974 — Felipe Gonzalez, the bril- cratic politics was the more recent, liant courageous strategist who ack Layton fought a serviceable cam- most important opportunity lost. consolidated Spanish democracy, J paign, and a relatively gaffe-free one Curiously, they were alone among the began dragging his militants kick- for a beginner. The party made a stab at leading social democratic parties in the ing and screaming into NATO, and a looser, federal Spain The NDP’s current angst can be traced to one tragic error: into the European they got the end of the Cold War badly wrong. They Community. In power for a decade and now back. misunderstood how to manage Cold War politics often before 1982-85 — Paul that, but the post-war realignment of democratic politics was Keating and David Lange pre- the more recent, most important opportunity lost. Curiously, scribed tough taxation medi- they were alone among the leading social democratic parties cine and ensured Australian and New Zealand Labour sta- in the world in misunderstanding who the 1989 earthquake’s tus as parties of government. victims would be. 1995 — the most impressive turnaround of fiscal prudence, but then undermined it world in misunderstanding who the them all, as the rot was the most deep by listing 250 “urgent priorities,” and 1989 earthquake’s victims would be. there, Tony Blair and British Labour. estimating revenues “generously.” But To its great misfortune, the NDP On issues as varied as security pol- they were neither fish nor fowl in the has usually followed the lead of the icy, the role of state corporations, the end: not a party of government, nor a British Labour party. This is a party market, the global economy, health thundering populist opposition. A clas- that, until recently, was a dinosaur and care, education, and party structure, sic nightmare for an NDP leader (“NDP” the most consistent failure of the big no honest New Dem could claim that and “leader” here and below refers only left parties. As well, the NDP has rarely the party had tackled the challenges of to the federal party, not the 13 provin- had the kind of tough, visionary lead- the post-war era aggressively. For that cial and territorial parties) is too many ership that allowed the leading parties matter, its efforts since the end of the chefs, too many interests, and therefore of the democratic left to escape irrele- Second World War to give up the com- too many “one day policy hits.” The vance. Tommy Douglas, David Lewis forting 19th century rhetoric of the effort to feed all the demanding mouths and Ed Broadbent make up the entire Regina Manifesto have been sporadic. showed in this campaign and the lack of list over three generations. They alone No, the NDP ducked most of these focus and cohesion allowed the media had the power, the guts and the vision debates. After all, a biggish slice — to freelance on that day’s message. to drag the party from its comfort zone maybe even a third — of Canadian vot- Layton’s inability not to address any of opposition sloganeering — a task ers are soothed by fanciful, microphone stuck under his nose got they only occasionally took on. sanctimoniously anti-American social him into trouble on Quebec and on The experience of the most impor- and economic policy nostrums. The homelessness. tant parties of the Left is interesting to problem for the NDP in appealing to But the party did well, given that compare: this “credulous voter” segment is that it has yet to face its deeper problems of 1959 — under the prodding of the most of them are more comfortable vot- relevance. To double the vote back to future global statesman, Willy ing Liberal. The failure to hail the role of historic levels was an achievement. Brandt, the German SPD met and the social market, to fight Quebec sepa- Achieving this threshold of 15-20 per- fought bitterly. They dropped the ratism, to challenge utopian fiscal policy cent of popular vote again is not bank- last vestiges of Marxist command nonsense, to adopt a believable defence able, especially in a runoff election and control rhetoric and the Bad policy or to resist the temptation to following an argumentative minority- Godesberg program eventually indulge in childish anti-Americanism government. The Liberals will really propelled them into power. was relatively harmless if one wanted to turn up the heat on “strategic voting” 1966 — Swedish Social Democrats, elect a federal caucus of a couple of in that round. If history is any guide, the world’s most successful party dozen regularly recycled MPs. voters will respond, and the NDP will of the Left, survived a similar Embarrassingly though, even Red sag back to 10 to 12 percent again. struggle, dropping nationalization Tories began to understand the chal-

POLICY OPTIONS 65 SEPTEMBER 2004 Robin V. Sears

lenges of the modern public sector bet- arrived. No one wanted to go through respond, it substituted old slogans for ter than many New Democrats. that kind of unpleasantness again. hard choices about Canada’s role in the Ontario Tory Bill Davis’ famous dry wit world, and the NDP’s role in Canada. slashed the arrogance of the largest he delicious irresponsibility of per- By the middle of the decade, the party Crown corporation in the world: he T manent opposition — the Svend had drifted into describing Arab suicide would say with a shrug, in private, Robinson School, as it were — was a far bombers as the moral equivalents of “Ontario Hydro’s been a fabulous con- more congenial political space than the the Israeli military, to the horror and tributor to our success. I just wish, harsh tradeoffs of preparing for power. quiet shame of many party loyalists. It sometimes, that they didn’t see the The Ontario and BC New Democrats in had a perfect track record of opposing province as one of their assets.” government were painful examples of international intervention in: Bosnia, Liberals understood that pander- why long-term opposition parties usu- Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia, and the Gulf ing to Quebec separatism was not a ally fail in power. A despairing BC gov- War. Tommy Douglas, the first anti- strategy for Canadian survival, as early ernment and party leader asked to fascist Canadian federal politician was, as Frank Scott in the 1960s. Social explain why most of the attacks on the no doubt, spinning in his grave. democrats who were serious about Harcourt government seemed to be government — Alan Blakeney, most coming from the rear, observed sourly, hen the Soviet Union disap- famously, in Canada — understood “The BC NDP has fought governments W peared, and with it overnight that to govern successfully you had to for most of the past century, just the competence of Marxists to govern, tell the truth about economic and because it’s our own government is no many New Dems heaved a huge sigh of social policy choices. reason to stop now.” relief. No longer would social democ- Intellectual laziness and political Ed Broadbent forced the party to rats be tagged with the horrors of state cowardice were the root causes of these accept the appeal and social democrat- capitalism as practiced by knuckle- failures. The defenders of the “social ic logic of the Charter. He successfully dragging Soviet thugs. No longer movement theory” of the party from prodded the Liberals into key changes would the Trotskyites and their bizzare Carlyle King in the 1930s to Gerry on individual, women’s, and First Maoist enemies be a source of treachery Caplan and Buzz Hargove in the 1980s Nations’ rights, and on limitations to and disruption inside the NDP. didn’t believe in seeking power. Power the power of capital. In 1988, he Canadian social democracy would be was corrupting, the gadfly role dragged the party to a less pacifist seen as European and civil, electorally ennobling. The activists and the lead- defence policy with a credible new pragmatic and modern. Wrong. ership also knew there was never a global strategic doctrine based on The collapse of communism high- prospect of federal power without “common security.” (Full disclosure: lighted the triumph of social market Quebec, so what’s the point. And some provin- To its great misfortune, the NDP has usually followed the lead of cial New Democratic leaders consistently sab- the British Labour party. This is a party that, until recently, was a otaged the federal party, dinosaur and the most consistent failure of the big left parties. claiming with hardly a As well, the NDP has rarely had the kind of tough, visionary blush that the route to leadership that allowed the leading parties of the democratic national power was through the provinces. left to escape irrelevance. Tommy Douglas, David Lewis and Ed The party had Broadbent make up the entire list over three generations. launched and survived a few tough fights: over pacficism in the the author was among those who capitalism. It painted in stark relief the 1930s, with the communists and their expended hundreds of hours crafting irrelevance of traditional social demo- “useful idiots” in the forties and fifties the new security doctrine.) cratic and conservative postures. In — though it was always a bit like But Broadbent left, frustrated in Canada, it legitimated a two-party sys- shooting fish in a barrel given the part by the reaction to these struggles tem. For after all, in MacKenzie King’s Canadian communists’ surreal inepti- and the churlish reaction to his 1988 immortal phrase, what were social tude. There was struggle that the Lewis campaign success — 20 percent of the democrats but “Liberals in a hurry”? family bravely led against the anar- vote, and 43 seats, the highwater mark That we ended up briefly with a half- chist children’s crusade called “the in NDP history. The Berlin Wall fell and dozen parties was a product of our Waffle” in the seventies. It was the the party snapped back to 1960s anti- regional peculiarities. Ideologically, party’s “most un-Canadian,” bloody Americanism. Instead of a clear-eyed there were two menus on offer: a mild and ultimately successful conflict, view of how the world had changed state interventionism combined with a until the war over “Trudeau’s Charter” and how the NDP would need to modest international agenda from the

66 OPTIONS POLITIQUES SEPTEMBRE 2004 The unbearable rightness of voters

Liberals, and a market-driven, mild social conservatism from the PCs. Pundits were hard pressed to describe what the NDP even claimed to repre- sent in this period. Its demands were usually framed in terms of “more, sooner, faster, better,” as responses to government initiatives. The whiff of intellectual decay had been rising on the democratic left since the 1960s. Although Marxists were the biggest victims of the “glorious delu- sion of ‘68” in Paris, and Berlin and Berkeley, social democratic leaders were marginalized as well. Awkward at inte- grating the challenges of women and gays and new immigrants, they tried to square the circle of growth and jobs, with the constraints of environmental sanity and the prejudices of organized labour. They struggled with the demands for flatter, more open party hierarchies, extra-parliamentary activism and a less ritualized and more transparent style of politics. Even in the 1980s, the NDP failed to understand that the triumph of “lib- eration theologies” in the third world, and “new social movements” in the developed world, were not necessarily a boon to the democratic Left. With most of the Left, they failed to develop a coherent response to the nostalgic and nationalistic appeals of the Reagan/Thatcher neocons.

he earthquakes launched by the T fall of communism were but the Wagnerian final act of this long- running political opera. Though few predicted the timing of the final cur- The Gazette, Montreal tain, the terminal incompetence of Jack Layton ran a strong campaign at the retail level, but stumbled on his promise to repeal Marxism was obvious to most. For lib- the Clarity Act as a gesture to Quebec. Moreover, he was stuck in a time warp from another erals around the world the thunderclap era of spending promises beholden to left wing constituency groups and a foreign policy of the falling Berlin Wall was a huge of anti-Americanism and non-engagement that would shame many of the NDP’s founders. gift: they claimed immediately that it was an endorsement of their approach new world. They co-opted the rhetoric, umphant “triangulation” became the to government, a middle way. some of the leaders, and much of the ideal for liberals everywhere. Neoconservatives in Canada and energy of this new political environ- Throughout the following fifteen elsewhere judged the impact as parti- ment. They swept into their embrace all years the NDP slowly declined; pushed sanly and foolishly as New Democrats: manner of social movement activists to the sidelines, it grasped harsher and for them it was a triumph of the hard- and former hard-liners. They successful- more unbelievable policy positions line Cold Warriors. Liberals, and ly occupied a huge swathe of the mid- internationally, and clung to increas- Canadian Liberals especially, were dle class, the moderate swing voters in ingly dubious economic postures. The much more clever at adapting to this many democracies. Bill Clinton’s tri- massive public deficits of the period

POLICY OPTIONS 67 SEPTEMBER 2004 Robin V. Sears

were “not a problem, they were an ous tacking against the wind. Karl three surviving “tribes” of democratic investment in our children.” It looked, Kautsky, the great German social politics, the banner of social democracy by the turn of the millennium, at the democrat leader believed that Lenin looks the most tattered today. national level, as if social democracy in was the key enemy of the democratic Libertarians, fascists, Leninists and Canada would simply continue to qui- left, not liberals. FDR understood his suicide bombers are no longer wel- etly fade away. job was to save America “from his own come in the democracies. But conser- Then, along came a new century, a class,” if it was to avoid the twin perils vatives have, in some cases, managed new leader and some newish ideas. of left or right totalitarianism. to reconfigure themselves as national- Together, in this election, they would It may seem previous or peculiar to ists, supermanagers and, most ironical- deliver a new elelctoral triumph for refer to these leaders of another century ly, modernizers. Liberals continue to Canadian social democracy. Wrong. in reflecting on tomorrow’s choices for successfully ooze across the spectrum, spilling left or right Intellectual laziness and political cowardice were the root dependent on political causes of these failures. The defenders of the “social fashion. Social democrats, movement theory” of the party from Carlyle King in the in countries like Canada, Austria, and Japan — essen- 1930s to Gerry Caplan and Buzz Hargove in the 1980s didn’t tially conservative cultures believe in seeking power. Power was corrupting, the gadfly — remain trapped in a time role ennobling. warp. There is neither time A plurality of Canadian voters Canadian lefties. But our political cleav- nor space here to enumerate the new chose Paul Martin’s smooth assurance ages differ more in texture than in sub- approachs that a “modern social demo- that they could get most of the stance with those of the 1900s. Liberals, crat” might deploy on a philosophic or rewards of an NDP-backed govern- then and now, endorse a more opti- ideological plane. The much missed ment, with him and without them. mistic hands-off approach to the American progressive Michael They were spooked very effectively by inevitable acceleration of inequality in a Harrington outlined some in his final Liberal attack ads at the prospect of the market economy. A “light hand” of reg- book, Socialism Past and Future. Joseph Albertan Talibanis seizing power, ulation will temper the accumulation of Stigliltz and Robert Reich have explored lynching gays, jailing loose women, wealth and power, and the challenge to the international challenges with and making gun ownership compulso- democracy that that presents, is a core courage. The Progressive Policy Institue ry. In the absence of any strong NDP liberal conviction. Isaiah Berlin’s “nega- in the US and the several Blairite think countervailing message — except beg- tive liberty” — the freedom to be left tanks in the UK have all plowed the ging to be given a chance — English alone by society — remains at the centre domestic policy ground well. Suffice it Canadian voters decided, not unrea- of modern liberalism. to say that, sonably, to vote Liberal. Similarly, now that Canada has a defence of the poor and the As a Prairie sage of NDP campaigns given up its peculiar home-grown weak, put it: “The Liberal Party is the Coca- “progressive conservatism” and adopt- an activist promotion of equal Cola of Canadian politics: boring, pre- ed the more plain vanilla social and opportunity, dictable, no thrilling new taste economic conservativism of most of tough social, environmental and sensations; but reliable, a comfort the right-wing parties in the Western productivity performance require- food, and risk-free.” So when the NDP democracies, we see the thread run- ments of governments and corpo- offers a “a green new day with no one ning back to Palmerston, Hoover and rations, and left behind,” and the new Tories are R.B. Bennett. Low-tax, trickle-down more genuine democratic decision- promoting, “tough love and truth economics, married to militarism and making, in all institutions and telling,” Coke looks pretty good. What Protestant family values, after all, have communities, are central to each is to be done? a century or more of great currency, if of these “revisionist” social Lenin disparaged those “social somewhat less credibility. democrats. democrats” who would claim common A more Malthusian pessimism Some policy tools and campaign cause with other social movements in informs traditional social democrats. elements, which embody some of his famous 1902 pamphlet. He rallied They insist on sterner mechanisms of these principles, that a “New NDP” his revolutionary allies by attacking redistribution and intervention in a could employ to move itself to compe- Mensheviks (today’s liberals) as the defence of democratic fairness. The state tition for a role in government are: greater enemy, not the defenders of must be the instrument of this balanc- Cities: Neither begging nor hope Czarism. Lloyd George and MacKenzie ing act, and the market is to be tolerated are strategies. Cities need political King believed in gentle and continu- but regularly trimmed. Sadly, of the power as well as new revenue. The

68 OPTIONS POLITIQUES SEPTEMBRE 2004 The unbearable rightness of voters

Liberals can’t push their provin- Knowles created pensions, Layton lic funding changes. Force turnover cial cousins to grant it — the NDP might be able to save them. Force through “internal term limits” for can. Re-examine burden-sharing Liberals and employers to party leaders. Set independent and consider “uploading” some acknowledge our system is broken oversight rules for nominations tasks: immigrant integration, safe- and fix it to protect the most vul- and conventions. Cut MPs’ ability ty and security, regional transport. nerable — privately employed to build cash mountains and pri- Layton brings unique credibility baby boomers. vate political fiefdoms. to this file — use it to wedge the Environment: Bury Kyoto, it’s dead. The World: Outline a sensible Liberals. Deliver better air and water quali- defence strategy: emphazise Democratic reform: Forget PR. Any- ty to Canadians. Campaign on coastal and air defence, cut land thing requiring a constitutional asthma, and diabetes and brain forces; pump up special forces and amendment died with the Charlot- damaged kids. Low-head hydro, air mobile capability, cut bases. tetown Accord for a generation. access to the power grid for small Steal Martin’s idea of a G20 and And you can’t reform the give it some teeth. Admit previ- Commons without tack- The Berlin Wall fell and the party ous errors on Kosovo, et al. and ling the Senate. Set up a snapped back to 1960s anti- outline a progressive case for credible commission of armed intervention. Return to “wise men” to look at the Americanism. Instead of a clear-eyed sanity on the Middle East. issue of “democratic view of how the world had changed None of these messages is decay.” The choices are too and how the NDP would need to radical given the revolutionary many and the complexities respond, it substituted old slogans changes taking place within too great to simple pre- social democracy international- scribe solutions today. Try for hard choices about Canada’s role ly. Compared to the SPD’s “volte mandatory voting and in the world, and the NDP’s role in face” on global security policy, fixed terms as ways of lev- Canada. By the middle of the the international changes are eling the playing field in decade, the party had drifted into notional. Nor are they risk-free: the short term — they only Gerhard Schroder is almost cer- need a Commons majority. describing Arab suicide bombers as tain to be defeated by his own Health: Forget playing on the moral equivalents of the Israeli party, and then the German the margins of the military, to the horror and quiet electorate, for pushing a more medicare funding wars. No shame of many party loyalists. It had modest reform agenda. solution acceptable to the Compared to Blair’s efforts to provinces can be imposed a perfect track record of opposing force choice in both health and from Ottawa. The international intervention in: Bosnia, education on the public sector, provinces are not ready to Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia, and the Gulf these ideas are timid. face the truth of their War. Tommy Douglas, the first anti- “Canadian” issues such as incompetent management Quebec, our aboriginal shame, of Canadians’ health. Out- fascist Canadian federal politician direct vs. income taxes, and line detailed deliverables was, no doubt, spinning in his grave. North American integration like a national drug plan will still need to be addressed. and formulary, mandatory patient producers, and gas-for-coal power But even incremental changes such data-sharing between providers, substitution all connect to the as these should move the NDP’s “com- support for family-centred home cities’ agenda. Giant wind farms petence to govern” marks from F to C+. care, etc. are too easy to make fun of. These changes need to be delivered as Education: Our failures in ESL sec- The party: Party barons are seen as part of a competent economic and fiscal ondary education and university Tammany buffoons, internal management agenda, believable rev- funding are well known. Forget democracy as the plaything of enue and cost projections, and a com- federal/provincial sensitivities and union and corporate and ethnic mitment to throw out the bottom 327 set literacy and academic perform- bosses. The NDP is not immune. items on previous campaign wish lists. ance improvement standards in Reform party governance and the return for funding. Australia, a fed- sources of power. Guarantee places Robin V. Sears, former chair of several eral state with more hostile govern- for First Nations, women and NDP campaigns, is a principal of mental relations did it. We need to. under 25s in the councils of power Navigator Ltd., a Toronto communica- Pensions: The next social policy and on candidate lists. Cutback tions strategy firm. crisis for boomers. Stanley union prerogatives in light of pub- [email protected]

POLICY OPTIONS 69 SEPTEMBER 2004