NDP the Best Policy Option in this Election

By Gary Morton

     We’ve heard the smooth words of the Teflon premier and lacquer-haired pundits. Now it’s time to make a decision.

    Toronto’s alternative papers seem to think the key issue is which party will do more to bail out the City of Toronto. The answer to that is really none of them. Toronto is not a program they want to favour. The strategy for the megacity has always been to keep the noose tight and the mayor begging. That’s because none of them believe that money poured into TO will result in anything more than higher wages for police, fire fighters and city unions. The guarantee of value for the dollar isn’t there. At least not in their perception.

    That said the real issue is which party will do the most to aid the poor and the working poor while sustaining the middle class. The answer is that all of the parties are weak policy wise but the NDP easily comes out as the best and most trustworthy option.

   Here’s my brief look at the four major parties.

 The PCs

   I disagree with Howard Hampton’s post debate opinion of John Tory. Hampton sees Tory’s PCs as moderate compared with those of Mike Harris. Tory is really no better. He opened his campaign with a call for unwanted social change in the form of expensive taxpayer funding for religious schools. Though this idea seems to have died under voter scrutiny we certainly don’t need an ideological government that wants to push undesirable social change. He also comes across as reckless with his promise to fast-track nuclear construction. Add Tory’s push for privatized Medicare and call to spend all of the gas tax on roads and we see a PC Party that is ugly in its core ideas. We don’t have to look any deeper.

 The Liberals

   Dalton McGuinty’s liberals are really a conservative party of the upper middle class. They testify to it best on the policy page of their website, which not only fails to put up any program to address poverty, but also fails to mention it all. If Dalton McGuinty believes we can afford the health tax it is because he also believes we are all wealthy. Voting liberal is really voting to be continually disconnected from reality. Anyone liberal in perspective would do better to vote strategically for the NDP and help put the Liberals in a minority situation that would cause a re-emergence of their buried social conscience.

 The Green Party

   The greens are somewhat confusing. They have some excellent policies and others that are dreadful. Outlawing overtime work, creating more public holidays, real enforcement of labour laws and creating green jobs are samples of many nice policies they have. Frank DeJong really should have been in the debate and questioned seriously. The reason is that the Ontario Green Party is really Capitalism Painted Green and that fact would have emerged. His plan to shift taxes away from corporations and individuals and add immediate carbon, resource and electricity charges and taxes would unbalance the economy and hit consumers and the poor with a round of hyperinflation and economic shocks. DeJong talks about sustainability but green capitalism is really a formula for enriching green capitalist business people.

 The NDP

   The NDP have some small platform pieces that will help the poor to the middle class. And they don’t counter them with other policies that are untenably ugly. Examples are rolling back and freezing tuition fees, freezing transit fares, a $10 minimum wage and elimination of the Health Tax for workers earning under $48,000. $450 will go to individuals earning between $48,000 and $80,000.

   Most Ontarians aren’t aware of McGuinty’s tax giveaways to banks and insurance companies. In that regard the NDP has a Fair Tax plan to ensure that banks, insurance companies, and the wealthy pay their fair share. That would include a new and higher personal income tax bracket for individuals making $150,000 a year or more.

    The NDP Denticare proposal would provide dental care for the working poor in Ontario, and since its announcement the Liberals have promised a smaller version of the program. Denticare is one more reason to go with the NDP. Who really wants a cut Liberal version of the plan?

    The NDP could do better and promise solid increases in ODSP. They have promised an increase in social assistance rates, and as it stands they are the only option in this election.

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