Elections 2008

Written - 7 September, 2008

Canadian politicians are off to the races and it seems the economy is going to be top agenda for most voters. Quite understandable, most Canadians are beginning to feel the crunch of a changing economic landscape. Political promises will be championed from the four national parties (and one provincial one); however, each needs to articulate its weaknesses to give a balanced picture, though it is doubtful any will do so.

Expect the Liberal and Conservative parties to focus economic discussions around creating more diverse export markets and reducing trade barriers with these partners. While this approach is conventional, it is completely unstable and will do little to create a sustainable Canadian economic system. By further integrating into the world system, Canada essentially will continue to outsource its resource base to other countries for manufacturing.

This approach assumes oil prices will remain low and transportation networks will function as they have in the past. However, oil depletion is making global transportation systems highly expensive and therefore mass exports from Canada, thus probably reducing the number of long-term trade partners. Further, most foreign manufacturing is done by poor nations where workers rights are ignored and corporations export profits. Therefore, this economic approach will be a direct contradiction for political parties championing language like human rights and justice.

The NDP will focus on orienting markets to national ones, with localized stability. While this system is more stable than a global one, the NDP fails to address how national integration will occur as Canada is now oriented north-south rather than east-west. Where the national plan weakens is again on transportation: the railways in Canada have largely been removed, the steel sold to foreign markets and unfortunately, recreating this network may not be unachievable.

The Greens will discuss tax incentives to orient markets to more local and recyclable economies. While local economies are definitively more stable than global ones, the Greens fail to note that these local economies may be hindered by an obviously huge reliance on bureaucracy to implement tax programs of this scale. Should economies become locally oriented under the Green system, there would be a long-term danger of reverting back to personal income taxes to support this bureaucracy.

While these are the positions of political parties, it is important for voters to recognize their own position. The affluence we have enjoyed has been at the cost of the environment and the human rights of poor nations. We are now entering an epoch where we can no longer ignore these realities, whether it is for the rights of people today or generations from now. When listening to political parties we should realize that politicians promising riches is an illusion and that change will come from us, not them.