Canada’s Choice: the Liberal-NDP Coalition or One Man Rule

As the debate continues about who should hold the reins of power in Ottawa, the urgency of the economic situation, the underlying cause of the debate, has become unmistakably evident.

Stephen Harper and his Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, have been portraying Canada as an island of economic stability in a turbulent world. Everyone with any sense, however, knew that the global storm was about to break on the shores of this country, as it now has with resounding fury.

In November, Canadians lost 71,000 jobs, with Ontario bearing the brunt with a loss of 66,000 jobs. Right at the centre of it was the shedding of 42,000 manufacturing jobs in the province.

Canada’s loss of jobs, the worst in a single month since the recession of 1982, was three times as high as economic forecasters had expected.

The Conference Board of Canada anticipates that in the crisis-ridden auto sector, another 15,000 jobs will be lost before the New Year.

Worse still, while Harper fiddles, Canada’s share of North American auto jobs could be dramatically reduced as a result of talks and potential bankruptcies south of the border. The federal government, the provinces, the auto makers and the CAW should be agreeing right now on a plan to save our auto industry.

In the forestry sector, tens of thousands of jobs have been shed in recent months. Two hundred mills have shut down over the past five years, over half of these shutdowns seen as permanent. In one-industry towns in the B.C. interior, what for others is a recession, has become a full-blown depression.

In Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, the AbitibiBowater paper mill is about to close. Four hundred and fifty workers will be out of a job. The economic future of the entire community is at stake.

Even the formerly high-flying petroleum sector is seeing plans for expansion being put on hold by Petro-Canada and Suncor.

Job loss, belt-tightening, severe dislocation in many communities is now the order of the day. The economic crisis the Harper government failed to anticipate is here.

Stephen Harper’s response to the economic crisis was an almost incomprehensible failure to act, and when this cost him the loss of the confidence of the majority of MPs, he turned to scapegoating the Quebecois, and he has now hijacked the federal government.

The response of all shades of Quebec opinion to Harper’s onslaught against the legitimacy of the province’s MPs makes clear that the Conservative leader is in the process of provoking a national unity crisis for which he alone will be responsible.

There is only one possible road ahead to restore political sanity and parliamentary rule to the country so that Ottawa can deal effectively with the economic malaise---the formation of a Liberal-NDP coalition government. The alternative is the one-man rule of Stephen Harper. In the absence of a move by moderate Conservatives to force Harper to resign as their party leader, there will be no middle ground.

Despite the bad video of the ever hapless Stephane Dion and the ranting of the ever witless Jim Karygiannis, the supporters of the coalition need to stay the course. Many temptations will be put in their path. The Globe and Mail, to take one example, will plead that even if Harper will not resign, he could be purged of his sins by walking barefoot to Canossa. I don’t buy it. This Holy Roman Emperor is not redeemable.

To emerge into the land of the sane, we will all have to do our part. That includes those who will attend rallies across the country tomorrow in support of the coalition. It needs, as well, to include the full-time support of Michael Ignatieff, who is very effective when he shows up.

Meanwhile in the spirit of the Season, I wish to bestow kudos on three individuals I’ve often criticized in the past.

First, Jack Layton. This week has been his finest. He has explained more clearly than anyone else why we need the coalition. In the midst of the taunts of Stephen Harper, Layton has kept the country on track by pointing out the ways Canadians are suffering as a result of the economic crisis.

Second, Bob Rae. He got it right yesterday when he said that there is no turning back from the course the coalition has set. The reasons Harper has to go cut to the very centre of the way we run our government. Rae’s cross-country tour to make the case for the coalition provides leadership we sorely need.

Third, CBC Television’s Don Newman. His interview with Transport Minister John Baird was an exercise in skillful surgery. With grace and wit, Newman (who knows more facts about Canadian politics than any other mortal) didn’t allow Baird to get away with the lies and half-truths on which the Conservatives have rested their case.