When is it Wrong to Support the Liberals?

Always. Does that mean it is wrong to vote for legislation that benefits the working class and its allies? No.

Oct 1, 2024 | by Barry Weisleder

It is imperative to fight for social and economic gains.  Never hesitate to grab any concessions that can be pried from the icy grip of the bosses and their political parties.

But it is always a mistake to give political support to a bosses’ government, or to enter into a pact like the “Supply and Confidence” agreement (March 2022-September 2024) between the labour-based New Democratic Party and the hard-core capitalist class Liberals.

This is not a matter of bowing to a dusty old dogma.  It is, rather, the foundation of practical principle.  Only the political independence of the working class, engaged in mass action, enables workers to attain the leverage needed to wrest gains from the ruling rich.  It is a matter of one proposed law, or one gain at a time.  Just say no to any pledge of allegiance that carries with it abominable baggage.

So, good riddance to the NDP-Liberal pact.

But for the record, let’s examine what was gained and what was lost in the process of that pact.

Supporters of the deal claim that it was instrumental to the gains made in healthcare, housing affordability, climate and workers’ rights.  On close examination, a different story emerges.

The original Supply and Confidence arrangement consisted of 24 pledges across seven policy areas.

The centrepiece, demanded by the New Democrats, was a new dental coverage program, and the implementation of universal pharmacare.

(For details of the results of the Confidence pact, see the complete article on the electronic edition of The Red Review at:  www.socialistaction.ca )

So, how should the ‘accomplishments’ of the pact be characterized?  Much ado about very little - apart from the dental plan and anti-scab legislation.  Could the latter have been achieved without supporting Liberal-Bay Street budgets and pro-war, pro-genocide policies?  Very likely.

And now that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled the plug on the "supply and confidence" arrangement by which the NDP propped up the Justin Trudeau-led federal minority government for two and a half years, how will Singh differentiate from the Liberals who he said “always cave to corporate greed?”

And why did he terminate the alliance on September 4, 2024?  Did Liberal strike-breaking directed at railway workers trigger the move? Perhaps.  But Singh has yet to explain why the NDP voted for Liberal budgets that approved subsidies to giant oil and gas companies, and their pipelines that despoil Indigenous lands.  The NDP backed increases in war spending, and re-affirmed its commitment to membership in NATO.  And what about earlier examples of Liberals undermining collective bargaining, as in the case of dock workers.  The list is long.  Growing inequality, a cost-of-living emergency, an alarming housing crisis, a public health care system on the ropes, to say nothing of carbon-energy-fueled massive wild fires that poison the air – all those crimes offered ample reasons to dump the Liberals.

But why pull the plug now?  It is obvious that NDP popularity has not grown during its association with the government, nor did the gains in dental care services, and the phantom progress towards pharma-care, boost the NDP.

Polls show the NDP languishes between 15 and 20 per cent in public support.  Its base has declined. And the Liberals under Trudeau have plunged to the low- to mid-20s in the face of withering criticism by the Conservatives. By-election losses in historically core Liberal districts St. Paul’s, in Toronto, and LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, in Montreal, may presage a general collapse for the Grits.  The news for the NDP, which narrowly held on to Transcona, in Winnipeg, was not much more encouraging.  Meanwhile, the populist ultra-right wing Conservatives, drawing 40 per cent-plus in most polls, have a wide lead that puts them in reach of a majority government if a vote were held today.

How did we get here?

The truth is that class collaboration with the big business Libs comes all too easily to the Singh leadership of the labour-based NDP.  Unions and other working class organizations should be alarmed.  They should conclude that socialist policies are the only option to stop the Tories and to terminate a failed social system.

A federal election is unlikely in 2024, since the 33 Bloc Quebecois MPs and the 25 NDP MPs will not vote to topple the Liberals any time soon, notwithstanding relentless agitation by Pierre Poilievre.

But the inescapable question remains:  What policies will the NDP tops advance to clearly distinguish the party from their erstwhile Liberal partners?

Well, public ownership of industry and commerce, economic planning in harmony with nature, and putting a halt to war spending and corporate waste would be big steps forward to a cooperative commonwealth.

As socialists have consistently said:  To survive, the NDP must turn sharply to the left.