By Roger Annis
Sept 11, 2013–Below is an informative commentary by Toronto Star columnist on the conservative economic program of the federal NDP under leader Tom Mulcair. Enclosed below that is a letter to Walkom by myself, clarifying a point in his column regarding proposed and existing tar sands pipelines from Alberta to the BC coast.
Today on CBC radio One’s The Current, the newly-elected president of the Unifor union, Jerry Dias, outlined his views for the union’s future. He describes a top-down brand of social unionism. When asked about the kind of economic order he would like to see in Canada, he replies that his model is… Germany. Listen to the 20-minute interview here.
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NDP leader’s conservative economics
By Thomas Walkom, columnist, Toronto Star, Sept 11, 2013
Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats are accused of vagueness when they talk about the economy. That’s not entirely fair. In fact, the NDP does have an economic policy. And it’s a relatively conservative one.
Unlike Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who maintain strict radio silence on their plans for government, the NDP has plenty to say. In fact, New Democrats have an entire book of policy promises passed at various conventions.
In theory, the party is committed to organic farming, stiff increases in the capital gains tax, a statutory ban on strikebreakers and a cap and trade regime to limit carbon emissions. Again in theory, an NDP government would restore the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over the sale of Western grains, regulate ATM fees, reject all private-public partnerships and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
I say “in theory” because Mulcair would be under no obligation to implement any of these party policies if he became Canada’s first NDP prime minister. In fact, he could and probably would ignore most of them.
So how would a Mulcair government act? If the NDP leader’s comments are any indication, the answer to that question is: very, very cautiously.
First, he has rejected most tax increases. As he told the Bloomberg news service in March, an NDP government would not raise income taxes on the rich. Nor would it boost the federal portion of the HST.
Marginal tax rates on the well-to-do, he said, are already too high. However, Mulcair has left open the possibility of hiking corporate taxes. He said he would use any money raised there to fight poverty and bring back down to 65 the age at which Canadians can receive Old Age Security pensions.
Second, like Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mulcair would aim to balance the federal budget. As part of its effort to appear fiscally responsible, the NDP has been promoting balanced budgets since Jack Layton was leader.
What isn’t clear is the time frame involved. Harper has pledged to balance the books by 2015. Mulcair hasn’t yet committed himself to a zero-deficit date. But at the same time, he hasn’t attacked the Conservatives for being too hasty in eliminating the fiscal shortfall. Rather, he criticizes them for bad management — for spending too much on the wrong things.
Third, Mulcair has gone out of his way to mend fences with the petroleum industry. When he first became NDP leader, the former Quebec environment minister talked a lot about sustainable development. In particular, he talked of the need for Alberta tarsands operators to pay for the damage they are wreaking on the environment.
It was a reasonable position, but one that Mulcair doesn’t raise quite as much any more. Rather he talks of enforcing existing environmental standards. And he has promised the oil industry that an NDP government would be a reliable “partner” in developing the energy sector.
He no longer suggests that Canada is afflicted by the so-called Dutch disease, wherein governments favour resource development over manufacturing. And while the NDP is opposed to a pipeline linking the tarsands to the west coast, Mulcair tentatively supports a plan to move Alberta heavy oil eastward across Canada.
Free trade? Mulcair is not as gungho as Harper, who wants free trade deals everywhere. But the NDP leader says he favours trade and has indicated that he is open to a deal with Europe. While he been critical of Harper’s performance in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, he hasn’t suggested that an NDP government would withdraw from these talks.
Trade. Oil. Fiscal probity. If this sounds like a fairly conservative economic platform, that’s because it is. An NDP government would almost certainly differ from the current Conservative regime. I expect, for instance, that Mulcair would push for an expanded Canada Pension Plan.
But on the broad strokes of the economy, there appears to be surprising amount of agreement. Boring but competent. This is how Tom Mulcair’s NDP hopes to be seen.
Sept 11, 2013
Hello Mr. Walker,
Thank you for today’s column. It’s good to get facts instead of myths on the table re the NDP program.
I think you make one small error. You write, “And while the NDP is opposed to a pipeline linking the [Alberta] tar sands to the west coast, Mulcair tentatively supports a plan to move Alberta heavy oil eastward across Canada.” You are referring to the Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat on the northern BC coast. But there is an existing pipeline carrying Alberta oil to the west coast–Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain. Some of its product goes to Washington State and the remainder goes to Burnaby for refining or raw export. According to the Sierra Club of BC, Kinder Morgan began transporting tar sands bitumen through Trans Mountain this year.
You will recall that BC NDP leader Adrian Dix came out against the proposed expansion of Trans Mountain during the election campaign earlier this year. Then he backed off. So where does Tom Mulcair stand on the proposed expansion of Trans Mountain (tripling of existing capacity) to carry Alberta bitumen? Dumb.
Regards,
Roger Annis
