Liberal leader Mark Carney walking out of his campaign bus.
Liberal leader Mark Carney walking out of his campaign bus. Credit: Mark Carney / X Credit: Mark Carney / X

A lot of people in my social media feeds are thinking of voting Liberal in the coming election. Mark Carney seems like a safe bet and the fear of a Pierre Poilievre victory in the Trump era is frightening. If your main issue is the best person to deal with Donald Trump, he is probably that. I understand.

Carney seems trustworthy and kind. He says he understands that private industry is good at creating wealth but not so good at protecting vulnerable people in the process. Unfortunately, it’s not 1990 anymore and the idea that providing private corporations with tons of government money and tax cuts will produce wealth for everyone has been thoroughly discredited through lived experience. What it has produced is massive wealth, all of which is concentrated in the one per cent or more likely the 0.1 per cent and more and more suffering by the poor and the working class. The result is Trump and Elon Musk and the other authoritarians and fascists gaining ground around the world. And Mark Carney as the head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England as well as a senior executive in important private equity companies has been part of the problem not part of the solution.

We also know that the NDP cannot possibly win this election. But if the NDP loses seats, as it looks like they will if polls are correct, then we will be in trouble because whatever the results of this election, times are going to be tough. Whether our government is standing up to Trump or holding hands with him, most of us are going to suffer. Job losses, attacks on immigrants, diversity equity and inclusion, and women. We need strong NDP politicians winning seats in Parliament to make sure that Carney and his cabinet don’t cave into the attacks from the Right that are sure to come.

Today Canadians are standing strong for what makes us different: universal health care, diversity, strong commitment to human rights and democracy, the right to choose, union rights, universal education. We can already see our universities caving into to organized Zionist pressure and restricting the right to protest on their campuses. York University is already caving to the right wing atmosphere dropping gender studies and Indigenous studies. The City of Toronto has just distributed a survey on allowing protest that is heavily biased in favour of restricting them in so-called vulnerable areas that include City Hall, cultural centres, museums, schools, places of worship, post-secondary schools, recreation facilities and of course religious institutions. What’s left? We know this is because of the almost weekly pro-Palestinian demos but it will affect everyone and every issue.

Also, I don’t trust the Liberals. In the 1988 free trade election, we thought strategic voting would bring the Liberals in. It didn’t. In the 1988 debates Liberal leader John Turner was a powerful opponent of free trade with the U.S. Conservative Brian Mulroney won that election even though most voters voted against the Conservatives and their free trade deal with the U.S. Later Liberal PM Jean Chretien enthusiastically supported the North American Free Trade Deal, which is why Trump has so much power to disrupt our economy. As I mentioned in an earlier article, we warned how free trade with the U.S. would cost Canadian jobs and bring our social programmes down to their level. It wasn’t that bad, but it was bad. And it was a Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin who savagely cut federal funding to provincial social welfare and housing as predicted by feminist economist Marjorie Cohen during the free trade debate. Mark Carney reminds me a lot of Paul Martin, even looks a bit like him. But Mark Carney is probably closer to a Progressive Conservative than he is to the Trudeau Liberals, even Andrew Coyne thinks so.

If you are in a riding with a strong NDP candidate, please vote NDP. There are NDPers fighting to save their seats including Heather McPherson and Matthew Green who have been the strongest supporters of Palestine and an arms embargo against Israel in the House of Commons not to mention Niki Ashton and Leah Gazan. There are also a number of strong new candidates like Bhutila Karpoche and Joel Hardin, strong, community based MPP’s hoping to move to the federal level in Toronto, and of course Avi Lewis in BC.

Out west especially, voting NDP does not hurt the Liberals. Many seats switch between NDP and Conservatives. But in any case, I suspect as the campaign continues, the Liberal support will grow.  All we have seen so far of Poilievre is on videos and ads in which he has complete control. I doubt he can hold up in a debate with Carney and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. He’s an attack dog and as someone who has debated professionally on TV, I was the left wing host of a right-left debate show on CBC Newsworld, I can tell you that doesn’t work in an actual debate.

The new co-leader of the Green Party, Jonathon Pedneault was impressive in French and English at their election launch and their programme seems quite good. I would like to see the NDP and the Greens co-operate in ridings where one of them has a strong candidate since their platforms are similar but that is unlikely to happen. Last time remember Trudeau promised to change the undemocratic electoral system to actually reflect how people voted. I’d also like the NDP to stop pretending they can win the election and run on the argument that you need a strong NDP presence to protect our gains and guard against rollbacks.

Carney is already following the lead of Poilievre by cutting taxes for lower income folks and new house owners. In his pre-election cabinet he dropped the minister responsible for gender equity. Even the Conservatives have never dared to remove the Minister responsible for the status of women. A coalition of feminist groups and unions have issued a statement protesting the elimination of a separate minister responsible for the status of women. Perhaps he thinks women have already achieved equality. More likely he is pandering to right wing voters. There has been little coverage of this move and even some of my feminist friends say that it’s just temporary. Whether or not it’s temporary, it’s a sign that the Carney Liberals will be significantly to the right of the Trudeau Liberals.

Jagmeet Singh is offering to build social housing on federal lands. Perhaps he could look into using federal funds to help build them too, not to mention to tax the rich. The best way to increase federal funding is to increase taxes on the rich and it would be popular. But whether the NDP has the programme that I would like, they are nevertheless, as they point out, responsible for most of the positive social programmes we hold dear today.

This is not like the U.S. election where there are only two choices. We have other parties who can and do make a difference by speaking for us in Parliament. Please reconsider strategically voting for the Liberals. I guarantee you will be sorry you did.

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick is one of Canada’s best-known feminists. She was the founding publisher of rabble.ca , wrote our advice column auntie.com and was co-host of one of our first podcasts called Reel Women....