LARRY ZOLF:
Swing left politics
CBC News Viewpoint | October 6, 2003 | More from Larry Zolf
The Liberal landslide in Ontario has pundits wondering whether the province has swung left. Certainly the massive defeat of the Tories was a blow to their social conservatism. Being in favour of the war in Iraq didn't help Ernie Eves, nor did jumping on the anti-same-sex-marriage bandwagon with the Alliance, nor did coming out for capital punishment.
Eves, like the Alliance, was tied into a cult of negativity, of divisive politics, of us against them. Fighting school teachers and blaming immigrants for crime in the streets didn't resonate with voters.
The federal spillover of the Ontario election results are there for everyone to see. The Alliance's views on social conservatism, all adopted and used by the Eves Tories, brought Eves nothing but grief. Social conservatism didn't work any better for Eves than it works for the Canadian Alliance. In Ontario, the politics of inclusion beat the politics of division.
Much has been made of Dalton McGuinty being the first Liberal to unseat an incumbent Tory government since Mitch Hepburn beat George S. Henry in 1934. Hepburn ran on a radical ticket, saying "I swing well to the left, where Grits traditionally fear to tread."
Hepburn was as good as his word. He forced farmers to pasteurize their milk, nationalized the Dionne quintuplets, repudiated Quebec hydro contracts and introduced industrial labour codes a la Roosevelt's New Deal.
But by 1937 Mitch was hitting the bottle, stashing his mistresses on the government payroll and becoming the buddy of gold mining nabobs, who feared that the American CIO unions would unionize their mines.
Mitch shared their fears. By 1937 he and Prime Minister Mackenzie King had become bitter enemies. When the CIO moved on General Motors in Oshawa, Mitch declared war and asked for Mounties and soldiers for a peaceful strike. King refused and Mitch declared war on the federal Liberals and the CIO. Mitch became the first Canadian to be on the cover of Time magazine.
McGuinty's Liberals show no signs whatever of being in future strife with their federal cousins. McGuinty is as unlike Mitch Hepburn as it is possible to imagine. Paul Martin is the clear winner in this stunning McGuinty victory. Indeed Ontario, not Quebec, will be a Martin stronghold in the next election.
McGuinty's Liberals look positively tame compared to the Paul Martin Liberal MPs who are so eager to dump Jean Chrétien as soon as possible. McGuinty's Liberals will play it safe and treat Chrétien as prime minister until he decides to quit. In the meantime, a very large group of the McGuinty Liberals are avowed Martin supporters.
Not only will the McGuinty Liberals work hard for Martin in the next election but the McGuinty victory puts an end to the bitter feuding between Ontario and Ottawa. Agreements on SARS relief, immigration policies and housing will come speedily. There will be an atmosphere of co-operation, not hatred and distrust.
All this benefits Martin. Ontario is now two machines, the Ontario federal Liberal MPs and McGuinty's 72 members. Should the Ontario federal MPs give Martin some trouble in the future, Martin can call on McGuinty for help. The calibre of McGuinty's Liberals is higher, they're less bitter, less angry than the Ontario federal Liberal caucus that now supports Martin.
Almost naturally the Ontario Liberals will swing left; Ontario Liberals are more progressive, more liberal, than the Ontario MPs. Nor are McGuinty's Liberals likely to turn hard right as Hepburn did in 1937. Martin now has 72 Liberal MPPs, all or most of whom fit the left-wing populist brand of liberalism that Chrétien made popular and from which Martin is now trying to distance himself.
Actually, Martin is relieved to see the Ontario results. It gives him a needed pause to reflect on whether he's too far right of the McGuinty Liberals. He may well be.
For a long time Chrétien seemed to be boxing Martin in, stealing his planks and his glory. Now the reverse is taking place. Martin is busy being PM-in-waiting and is doing a marvellous job of it.
Martin's tours of the B.C. and Halifax disaster areas have been pure gold. He looked relaxed and happy for the first time in a long time. He tackled the "two-headed government" charge dead on, saying Chrétien alone will decide when he steps down.
Now it's Chrétien who looks tired and worn-out and harassed. The Alliance is playing politics by demanding Martin answer their questions in the House. The gambit seems to be bothering Chrétien and working well on TV for the Alliance, even though the Speaker has ruled out Martin answering questions in the House.
Instead, he's holding his own scrums; Martin is in command and the media are his servant. Every gimmick he uses from prestigious speeches, to on-the-scene disaster man, to captain of the scrum is working for him.
The McGuinty Liberal victory is really icing on the cake for Paul Martin. Still, it's a firm reminder for him that left-wing liberalism is more than just Sheila Copps. The McGuinty Liberals may just swing Martin to the left, where neither Martin nor McGuinty need fear to tread.
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LARRY ZOLF
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
Veteran journalist and Canadian political expert Larry Zolf is a regular contributor to CBC News Online. Larry has been a critic, reporter, producer and consultant for CBC news and current affairs since he joined the CBC in 1962. Born and raised in North End Winnipeg, the hotbed of general strikes and socialism, Larry has covered stories such as integration in Mississippi and the October Crisis in Quebec. He was one of the hosts of the CBC's flagship current affairs television show "This Hour Has 7 Days." He is now retired.
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