The NDP has two options in the next Parliament. It can support the Conservatives, or help defeat them on a motion of confidence. The Conservative leadership is counting on fears of triggering an election to keep the other parties from voting them out.

Already the Bloc Québécois has indicated its willingness to lend its support to Stephen Harper, so long as he acts in “the best interests of Quebec.” Voting together, the Bloc and the Conservatives hold a comfortable parliamentary majority.

But that should not lull anyone into thinking a stable Conservative/Bloc alliance is about to be formed, that will hold power for the next few years. When the Bloc caucus gets a chance to show up the Conservatives, they will take it. The Conservatives, not the Liberals, are now the main rivals to the Bloc in predominately French-speaking ridings in Quebec. And the Conservatives have no interest being seen as the best friends of the “separatists” by voters in Ontario, where Harper needs to make gains, if he wants an eventual majority.

The Liberals have already laid out their strategy: Oppose the government. As the official opposition they see no need to do anything else. In the process they hope to force the NDP and Bloc to back the government, establishing the Liberals as the best choice for a voting public eventually ready to defeat the Harper government.

Much of what the Conservatives are planning is unacceptable to the NDP: Killing child care, suspending the Kelowna accord on First Nations, adding missile defence to the renewal of NORAD, just to mention two controversial certainties, and another possibility.

On principle the NDP may find itself quickly aligned against the Conservatives.

The NDP has an option, and a good one. Defeat the government as soon as it can make a good case for doing so. But, instead of heading straight from the floor of the Commons to the hustings, the party should be preparing a program for taking power in a temporary coalition government with the Liberals.

Together the NDP and the Liberals have more seats than the Conservatives. The country has had an election in 2004, one in 2005, and does not necessarily need another in 2006.

A public statement that the NDP and the Liberals are voting out the Conservatives with the intention of asking the Governor-General to allow them to form a government, and meet the House, might well win substantial public approval. The GG is not obliged to accede to a request for dissolution of Parliament from Prime Minister Harper if an NDP-Liberal coalition looks ready to govern.

For the NDP the important thing is to lay out the content of what policies it sees the Parliament adopting, in the light of the election results.

  • Recognize the Conservative support. A cut of one point in the GST, yes. A regressive tax does not need the backing of a progressive government. The provinces can take up the one per cent on their sales tax should they choose to close a portion of the “fiscal imbalance” between the two levels of government.
  • Pass the $1,200 payment to families for each child under six; call it the family allowance, not child care, and bring it in along with the child care accord outstanding from the previous Parliament.
  • Show the public why the Conservatives need to be defeated by bringing in the Kelowna accord on First Nations funding.
  • Establish in the public mind what the NDP stands for by renewing social investments and transfer spending for education, health, environmental protection, the arts, amateur sport, public transit, agriculture and the urban agenda.
  • Just say no to corporate tax cuts. At a time of record profits, bring in an excess profit surtax and spend the proceeds on a people’s agenda.

The NDP leadership can best stand behind its own campaign message — getting results for Canadians — by laying out in public its conditions for supporting the Conservatives or entering into a coalition with the Liberals.

Defeating an odious government does not have to mean an immediate election; for the NDP it could mean taking office.

Duncan Cameron

Duncan Cameron

Born in Victoria B.C. in 1944, Duncan now lives in Vancouver. Following graduation from the University of Alberta he joined the Department of Finance (Ottawa) in 1966 and was financial advisor to the...