Abraham Lincoln once
declared “you can fool the people some of the time, and some of the
people all the time, but cannot fool all the people all the time.” The
Liberal Party of Canada—the one we’ve enjoyed, so to speak, from the
arrival of Pierre Trudeau to the present time—hasn’t paid much attention
to this sage advice, it seems.
Before
1968, the Liberal Party was about social issues, foreign politics,
economic achievements. It was the party of the free trader and, at the
same time, against “American imperialism.” It was mainly at about the
time of the execution of Louis Riel that the Liberals were identifying
themselves with the aspirations of the people of Quebec.
However, before they could become a modern political organization, they
had to wait for the arrival of Wilfrid Laurier. He used the support from
Quebec to build a modern Liberal Party and become a party ready to
govern the country. He had more immigration into Western Canada, and
created new provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Later,
they promoted an independent foreign policy with its own defence
capacities, and worked for the creation of a social safety net. Then it
was Lester Pearson that became the champion of the so-called
“progressive social policy,” and put Canada on the political
international map.
It was
at that time that Canada created the mother’s allowance, universal
health care, the old age pension and many other social programs. Yes,
they did need a push from the New Democratic Party’s Tommy Douglas and
the Canadian Labour Congress, but the Liberal government made it.
However, since the arrival of Pierre Trudeau, the Liberal Party has
become big on ideas, but narrow in scope.
Most
of the party’s policies were not economically or socially-driven, but
everything has been evolving around cultural or ethnocultural issues
becoming the party of the “ethnics” and all Canadians convinced that
they were the only politicians to save us from the separatists.
Of
course, in the early 1970s it made some sense, but the Liberals have not
been able to move on and have remained the party of the “federalists”
and the “ethnics.” Last Monday’s provincial election in Quebec has
proven that “federalism” is re-called merchandise and will soon be
removed from the shelves, and “ethnics” cannot be taken for granted any
longer.
What
happened to Liberal MP Joe Volpe during the leadership campaign has left
its marks. It is not a coincidence that after the Montreal convention
two of the Liberal MPs that parked themselves outside the Liberal Party,
were former supporters of Volpe: Wajid Khan and Joe Comuzzi.
So,
going back to Lincoln: it is time that the Liberals realize that the
farce about federalism and multiculturalism, not the ones they preach,
but the ones they practise, is over.
If the
Liberals want again to be taken seriously, in Quebec and outside, they
need to go back to the party of Wilfrid Laurier and Lester Pearson, the
party with real ideas, real programs, and without gimmicks like
federalism and phony multiculturalism.
