On Sunday, May 5, I was the keynote speaker at the Kings-Hants NDP Annual General Meeting. In my speech, I noted that our party has some wind at its back - both locally and nationally - in the run-up to the federal election in October. Due to the resignation of Liberal MP Scott Brison, this election will be the first time in many years there is no incumbent running in Kings Hants. I also touched on the slide in the popularity of the Liberal Party and the Prime Minister nationally and in Atlantic Canada due to scandals of their own making (giving me the opportunity to use one of my favourite Tommy Douglas quotes).
"The Liberals talk about a stable government but we don't know how bad the stable is going to smell." |
The shift to the right of the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper and now Andrew Scheer has meant they have lost support among many in Kings-Hants who have traditionally voted for the Progressive Conservative Party (there is not much progressive about the current Conservative Party). Since the Conservative Party shifted their main locus of support to Alberta, it has become clear that they are in the back pocket of big oil. This is on full display with their calls to expand oil production, build more pipelines, and oppose a carbon tax. Equally distressing is the prospect of electing yet another right-wing reactionary conservative government in this country (joining the far-right United Conservative Party in Alberta and the Conservatives in Ontario).
The increased popularity of the Green Party (a party I respect) no doubt poses a threat to the NDP at the ballot box, but at least in Atlantic Canada their poll numbers seem to have stagnated while the NDP's numbers have increased.
I ended my talk by calling for the NDP to be the party that must put forth bold, innovative, progressive policies in the upcoming federal election. We must be the party that:
The increased popularity of the Green Party (a party I respect) no doubt poses a threat to the NDP at the ballot box, but at least in Atlantic Canada their poll numbers seem to have stagnated while the NDP's numbers have increased.
I ended my talk by calling for the NDP to be the party that must put forth bold, innovative, progressive policies in the upcoming federal election. We must be the party that:
- embraces the tenets of the Green New Deal;
- is truly committed to a national Pharmacare plan while guarding against the creeping privatization of our healthcare system;
- get fully behind a policy of basic income guarantees to address poverty and income inequality;
- gives First Nations the self-determination they deserve and where we can work on a government-to-government basis;
- ensure the one percent and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes and do not undermine our democracy through their power;
- promotes equality in this country whether it is for women, people of colour, Indigenous peoples, and the LBGTQ2 community; and
- stands up to neo-conservatives (alt-right) whether that is the Conservative Party of Canada or the crypto-fascist Republican cult under Donald Trump.
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