January 21, 2021

ADVICE FOR PARTIES by supporters: Waddell, Falcon Ouellette, Baran, Dookeran

By Robert Falcon Ouellette, Yaroslav Baran, Ian Waddell, Nira Dookeran

ADVICE FOR EACH FEDERAL PARTY – FROM THEIR SUPPORTERS

We asked friends of the Pearson Centre connected to each national party, to share their ideas about what each party should focus on when the House returns on January 25, and we are delighted with the brilliant and well considered ideas they put forward. The are constructive and delightfully free of partisan bickering!

In their own words, the writers are:
– Robert Falcon Ouellette, Former Liberal MP for Winnipeg Centre (Associate of the Pearson Centre)
– Yaroslav Baran, former strategic communications advisor for several Conservative campaigns. (Panellist at a Pearson Roundtable 2019)
– Ian Waddell, Former New Democratic Party MP, MLA and Minister (Advisory Board Member, Pearson Centre)
– Nira Dookeran, Former Green Party candidate (Panellist at a Pearson Roundtable 2019)

(While we did ask them to keep it to 500-1000 words, we accepted the length they sent us.)

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THE LIBERAL PARTY

Ideas for the new session of the House
by Robert Falcon Ouellette, Ph.D.

As Parliament resumes on January 25th there are a number of issues which will be extremely important for public debate. These are all related to the pandemic. The most important is our economic well being. Provinces which are having wide spread shutdowns are seeing citizens fall through the cracks. These people are unable to work, unable to earn income and unable to support themselves and their families. The Finance Minister will need to consider different levels of income support programs which are targeted towards provinces where large numbers of people are unable to work. While the expanded EI program changes made by the government are vital to addressing most of the needs; people need more funds than what is provided by the weekly employment insurance payment of $500. There is a strong need to see higher payments which actually help cover basic income needs.

The government and the House of Commons will need to start a in depth debate using the Finance committee and all other committees about the post pandemic period and what will the future hold in all aspects of life? Industries will need support; jobs and the creation of jobs are going to be key to all Canadians. While there are industries which are sitting on large cash reserves, others are relatively cash poor and will need injections of funds to restart businesses.

The House of Commons should be debating the cessation of all international travel for years to come for all citizens without permission from the government. While there are still Canadians taking off for vacations because they don’t like the cold, being a citizen not only entails rights, but responsibility and duty. As Canadians start the vaccination program, new strains of COVID-19 are emerging around the world. If we eradicate the virus here using our vaccines, but another strain is introduced into our homes and our vaccine is no longer effective then we will be repeating 2020, in 2021, and 2022. This is untenable. This raises the difficult question of what to do with the United States which has a very porous border with the world. Canada should be considering absolutely no entry or exit for anyone, unless they are willing to pay for surveillance. There are too many people breaking the rules and putting our economic, and health wellbeing at risk. It only takes 1 person to start a chain reaction. We have sacrificed too much to let it be wasted.

Our children are suffering and we have not taken the time to address the things they will need to be successful in the world. Canada while it is still a rich nation needs to be thinking about how we can ensure the learning of our children is not adversely impacted. We must understand their physical, mental and spiritual needs are being met. While provinces are ultimately responsible, all of Canada should be sharing ideas and the best place to start is using the institution of Parliament to review what has happened and what we must do.

Finally, it is time for Parliament to be sitting. With the opportunity to be vaccinated, our democracy is essential, our Parliament is essential. MPs need to be in Ottawa debating, discussing and talking about these issues face to face. ZOOM is a wonderful piece of technology, but it clearly cannot replace the discussions that happen on the floor of the House and behind closed doors. The smaller the number of people participating the weaker our ideas and the weaker our future. The greater number of people debating our future the stronger our collective future will be.

Robert Falcon Ouellette, PH.D was Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre for 2015 to 2019. He is an Associate of the Pearson Centre

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THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY

What the Conservatives Need to Do in 2021
by Yaroslav Baran

The coming year’s politics will be dominated by two distinct, inter-related and overarching themes: COVID vaccine procurement and roll-out, and the increasing likelihood of a general election. Everything that political parties do this year will and should be planned through these two filters. They are inter-related, in that the success (or lack thereof) of a mass vaccination program will largely determine whether the government will want an election, feeling confident in its performance, or, alternatively, whether the combined opposition parties will want an election because they sense government weakness over this central issue. Either way, we should brace ourselves for an election that is more likely, and for all political activity to be planned through the prisms of election readiness and COVID.

For the Conservative Party, that means several important imperatives: branding the leader before his opponents can, developing an election platform suitable to the times, and offering a constructive yet acute “opposition” challenge function to the government’s pandemic response.

Branding will be important. Mr. O’Toole’s is aware his public name recognition remains low. This is an opportunity but also a challenge. On the positive side, it means a fresh start – he need not carry any negative baggage associated with previous leaders or elections. He’s a blank canvas on which his team can proactively paint a persona suitable to the needs of the party at the present time: moderation, smarts, responsibility, tolerance and inclusion. In short, there remains hangovers from the 2015 election that still need to be medicated.

Mr. O’Toole has taken important steps in this vital work: he has clearly signalled his opposition to the gay blood ban; he has deliberately made known his pro-choice views; and he has embarked on a charm offensive toward unionized workers – the other half of what is widely seen as a blue-collar power base split between the Tories and New Democrats.

The flip side of a low profile is that political opponents are also capable of painting on that canvas. The Liberal machine has already embarked on a campaign to try to tie O’Toole to Trumpian sympathies, supporters and politics. Successful brand stewardship will require an active and explicit rejection of the ugly road that “MAGA” politics took, while still finding a way to give constructive voice to the legitimate concerns, frustrations and aspirations of those left behind. Successful navigation of these twin imperatives will perhaps be Mr. O’Toole’s biggest challenge of the year. With the expulsion of Derek Sloan from caucus and a recent public manifesto on the need for positive and constructive politics only, he has made an important start and is on the right track.

A second focus must be the drafting of the right election platform, suited to these unconventional times. It must be comprehensive (as the platform of any party with a credible shot at government needs to be), it must be non-ideological and pragmatic (resist the traditional pressures to promise a balanced budget or to reject Canada’s consensus on the need to address climate change), and it must be focused largely on the primary policy topic of the last year – COVID – which is overwhelmingly occupying voters’ thoughts. And, while non-ideological, it should also address the need to restore some kind of fiscal restraint post-pandemic.

Provided he has all bases covered off in his platform – as a shield to ward off accusations of not being ready to govern – he has an opportunity to carve out an attractive niche for himself as being smarter and better on pandemic response – and here, not having been the one in government through 2020 can be an advantage. With hindsight helping out, a smart platform would include planks on program changes that more fully or accurately address the needs of our ailing sectors. It would speak to better and more agile response should a future pandemic require similar social and economic clampdowns. It would also address the sleeper issues of 2020: food security, pharma security, critical supply chains, and need to rebuild domestic manufacturing – previously offshored – in key strategic areas.

This brings us to the third imperative: smart and constructive opposition. His work on COVID response should not just be platform planning, but day-to-day parliamentary activity. As leader of the Opposition, he has a built-in profile advantage in scrutinizing and challenging the weakest points in the government’s COVID response. He will have the biggest soap box to criticize the government on its middling (arguably, mediocre) performance on vaccines. The federal government is potentially exposed on two fronts: meaningful volumes of vaccine supply will hit our shores months later than in the countries against which Canadians habitually compare themselves. At the same time, the international community is increasingly criticizing countries like Canada for having over-ordered vaccine – by orders of magnitude – while less developed countries will continue to wait in the queue. So, in short, our vaccine story is potentially that of both laggard and glutton.

But leveraging the government’s weaknesses on COVID will require delicateness and calm. The public tolerance for “politicization” of a pandemic will be rice-paper thin. Patients, health care practitioners, business-owners and hard-hit sectors all have legitimate grievances. If the Conservative leader can rein in the rhetoric of some of his more aggressive caucus communicators, issue a decree against hyperbole, and focus attention on the weak links in a manner more evocative of prosecutorial cross-examination, then he could impress the public audience that the inherently adversarial forum of Parliament is capable of delivering for the public good without the theatre that would be manifestly inappropriate to the times.

The coming year will be extraordinary. It will not be business as usual. Everything will be either COVID or election – and the two are linked. The Tories’ new leader knows he needs to focus smartly, moderately and carefully on these twin defining themes of 2021. If he does so carefully, actively stewards his brand, presents a careful platform and avoids the trap of excessive rhetoric, he just may emerge as the prime minister of Canada before the year is out.

Yaroslav Baran is Managing Principal (Ottawa & Federal) with the Earnscliffe Strategy Group. He is a parliamentary proceduralist and a former chief strategic communications advisor through multiple Conservative national campaigns.

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THE NDP IN NEXT PARLIAMENT
by Ian Waddell, QC

What policies should NDP focus on in year ahead? What are the political advantages or challenges my party faces?

Before I even attempt an answer let me offer an insight into the thinking of a federal NDP member and voter. “The base” as they now call it. Yes “federal” because provincially, especially here in British Columbia where I live, the NDP focuses on winning government and thus tempers its policies to win elections (result, centre-left). Federally the NDP thrives on policy. They have a record of advancing what at the time were thought of as radical policies which eventually became law. (usually implemented by Liberal governments) Examples would be medicare, old age pensions, unemployment insurance, a government oil company, and others.

Modern Canada is facing a number of issues. Here’s two. First is the growing gap between the rich and the rest. The other is climate change. So, what are the new policies to tackle these issues. The biggest could be a guaranteed annual income for every Canadian. Canadians were introduced to the idea through the CERB grants experience. Jagmeet Singh as leader showed himself as a good debater in the last election campaign. I expect a spring election this year. Singh should present a thought out version of a guaranteed annual income covering all Canadians as a priority.

The other issue, probably the big election issue if the Liberals and the Greens have their way, is climate change. Here too the NDP has an important and even distinct voice, {disclosure I was Environment and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister in B.C.} The NDP acknowledges that we, like the world, are transitioning away from carbon fueled economy. But, we never forget the late Jack Layton’s words that nobody should be left behind. We agree with other parties on climate change on the need for environmental justice and economic justice but we add a third “justice”. Call it social justice. Working people have to be helped through the transition as, for example, the oil industry changes. Some of the policies on transitioning from coal advocated by Previous NDP Premier of Alberta, Rachel Notley, deserve a look.

Finally, health care has always been an NDP strong point. So, look for the NDP to talk about dentalcare and pharmacare to round out a march to full medicare.

There are political advantages here to as these policies are popular. But also some can be tough sells. The danger for the NDP in an election campaign is some of their supporters slip to the Liberals to stop a feared for Conservative government, seeing a return to Harper era policies or others go Green seeing a more “radical” environment policy. But, with a platform built on new ideas and focusing on justice that won’t leave working people behind the federal NPD can retain their base and even add to it.

Ian Waddell Q.C. was an M.P for Vancouver Kingsway and Port Moody/Coquitlam, an urban and then a suburban riding, for 15 years and later Minister of Tourism, Small Business and Culture, Environment and Intergovernmental Affairs in the NDP Government of British Columbia.

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THE GREEN PARTY

Covid and Beyond: Where Do We Go From Here?
by Nira Dookeran

Say good riddance to 2020. No need to elaborate here. We’ve all been battered and bruised with the news coverage of the devastating losses, human and economic, for almost a year now. I can’t bear to recount it in detail here.

I cannot believe that there is a single Canadian who has not begun 2021 with a paradoxical mixture of fear that, on the one hand, the toll of the coronavirus will continue and even worsen into this new year, and, on the other hand, a heartfelt hope and deep longing that the new year will bring something really new, that we can move forward into relief, healing, and transformation.

I joined the Green Party of Canada in 2014. The straw that broke this camel’s back was the issue of food – the way we grow it, process it, market it, distribute it, and dispose of it. The more I learned about the systems of industrial agriculture, mono-crops, chemicalized food production, genetically-modified foods, and the whole sorry global mess of how we now feed and supposedly nourish ourselves, our children, our families in these systematically unhealthy, poisoned, unsustainable, and market-driven ways made me long for a fundamentally different way of living on this planet. When I turned to the vision and policies of the Green Party, I found a vision and a plan of action that came closer than anything I saw anywhere else to what I knew in my heart and soul to be the way we are supposed to live on the planet. In harmony, in co-operation with Mother Earth. (Or “the planet’s carrying capacity”, if “Mother Earth” is too poetic for you.) Not in blatant, violent, stupid disregard for Nature’s inherent integrity, generosity, creative vitality, and fragility.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the coronavirus. Watch everything fall apart. In my own personal life, one article of faith that has kept me going through many a crisis (aka critical turning point) is that breakdown must often come before breakthrough. Well, we’ve broken down. That’s pretty clear. The human and economic toll of the coronavirus crisis is both devastating and yet to be reckoned in its entirety.

So, at the risk of appearing too simple to you, in my view, the breakthrough, the reset, the paradigm shift, the transformation, the “just recovery”, whatever you choose to call it, must begin with a fundamental re-ordering of our priorities, namely:

1. Look after the people
2. Look after the planet
3. Recreate an economy that serves #1 and #2.

#1 could also be called “social justice”. #2 could also be called “ecological wisdom”.
#3 could also be called “sustainability”, or “non-violence”. Or both.

It so happens that these are 4 of the 6 core global Green values, and our Green Party vision and policies are built on the solid foundation of these
I cannot believe that there is a single Canadian who did not breathe a huge sigh of relief to core values. The Green Party of Canada is the only major Canadian political party that is committed to global partnership and political action founded on the six fundamental guiding principles of:

• Ecological wisdom
• Social justice
• Participatory democracy
• Nonviolence
• Sustainability
• Respect for diversity

To unpack a little of what I mean by these 3 priorities:

1 LOOK AFTER THE PEOPLE:

This includes many things, but the ones that come to mind most obviously and urgently in the light of the effects of the pandemic are: Health care and a universal basic income (UBI) (also referred to as a guaranteed liveable income or GLI).

First, regarding health, we need to protect and expand health care services for all Canadians. It is a public good and a basic human right, not a personal privilege. Our long-term care homes should never be run on for-profit business models. Some have suggested that we bring seniors’ care and the creation and management of long-term care facilities under the National Health Care Act so that we can establish and monitor national standards of care. In addition, we need a national universal Pharmacare program. Third, we need to continue to create, expand, and improve mental health services. Finally,, we need to publicly fund our own not-for-profit medical research facilities that can develop and produce the vaccines and drugs that Canadians need, at a price that makes them accessible to all. The selloff of Connaught Labs in Toronto to French multinational Sanofi Pasteur and Montreal’s Frappier lab to British multinational GlaxoSmithKline in the 1980’s under Brian Mulroney’s program of privatization “relieved us” of the very R & D labs that could have helped us develop, produce, and distribute our own Covid-19 vaccines now. In the words of Linda McQuaig (Toronto Star, March, 2020), “If the foolishness of cutting funding for public health care wasn’t already abundantly clear, the coronavirus has driven it home with a sledgehammer”.

Second, regarding the economic devastation wrought by the virus, we’ve seen the government introduce the CERB, among other emergency economic relief measures, and then scramble to plug the holes of all the groups of workers that they’ve missed, including contract workers, part-time workers, temporary foreign workers, students and seniors in need and others who didn’t qualify for CERB. What we’ve seen is a hodge-podge of fixes being announced on an almost daily basis. Under this piecemeal approach, it’s guaranteed that many Canadians will, and have, fallen through the cracks. Don’t get me wrong. In this crisis, the government has done the right thing. Help people survive. But, looking to the future, we need to make structural changes so this does not happen again. Instead of plugging holes one-by-one, we need to create a comprehensive Guaranteed Liveable Income (GLI) that would provide every Canadian with a basic revenue source, ensuring that people can cover the basic expenses of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and health care. Such a system could be simpler and therefore less expensive to administer. The Covid-19 crisis has led other countries, such as Spain, to announce a plan to introduce a UBI during the pandemic, with the intention that it would become a permanent safety net for the most economically vulnerable once the pandemic is over. While responding to the crisis at hand, we need to be exploring models of GLI and determine what would work best in our Canadian context. And put it in place BEFORE the next emergency or structural upheaval.

2. LOOK AFTER THE PLANET:

As we move from crisis into recovery, we must keep climate action and environmental protection at the heart of our program. Among other goals, such as cutting 60% of our carbon emissions by 2030 and protecting water, arable land, biodiversity, etc., we need to lead the way in transitioning to a green economy, powered by investments in clean energy technologies from electric vehicles and the infrastructure necessary to support them, to continued investment in clean, effective, affordable public transportation, from cancelling the Trans Mountain pipeline to increasing investment in solar, wind, geothermal, and other sources of renewable, sustainable energy. These priorities haven’t changed with Covid. What has changed is the clear evidence that our government can make broad,, sweeping, timely, and fundamental change when the political will is there. So, once, we’re out of the acute emergency of this pandemic, let’s get on with it. The planet’s melting.

3. REBUILD AN ECONOMY THAT SERVES #1 AND #2

‘Economy” and “ecology” have the same Greek root: “eco”. “Eco” means “home” or “household”. Economics refers to household management – the responsible care and sustenance of its members. Ecology is the study of our collective home or household, planet Earth. On a finite planet, the strategies of ever-expanding resource extraction, non-renewable and polluting energy sources, and unlimited consumerism have brought us to a crisis and a dead end.
We are now experiencing the undeniable consequences of a growth economy out of sync with nature and people – climate emergency, mass extinctions, the plastic waste crisis, the growing gap between rich and poor, an unravelling social safety net, widespread anxiety and depression, to name only a few.
The alternative to the current unnatural and violent economy is a green economy, by which we mean that the only viable and sustainable economic policy must flow out of fair and responsible social and environmental policy. Put the horse in front of the cart. Put first things first.

That’s the opportunity we have now. To recreate an economy that puts people and planet first. Green policy has always been built on this basic premise. Now, with the breakdown of so many sectors of our current economic system, we have a chance to rebuild something new that serves all life on the planet. From tax reform, a just transition plan for oil, gas and coal sector workers, a guaranteed liveable income for all Canadians, and economic indicators that define and measure “wellbeing” rather than merely “GDP” as the sign of economic health, prosperity, and progress, the “post-Covid recovery plan” is what has always been and remains the core of the Green Party’s vision. Greens don’t need to re-think our policies in light of Covid. We just need the opportunity to operationalize the sustainable policies we’ve promoted right from the start.

So, what are the strengths of the Green Party at this moment in time?

-we have a real recovery plan, we’ve had it for a few decades now
-we have a dynamic new leader and growing membership (by 50% in 2020)
-Covid has revealed to many Canadians that our present system is more broken than they realized, and the need for transformation is clear to many more
-the massive wake-up call of Covid has mobilized Canada’s government and institutions in a way that makes it abundantly clear to all that, where there is political will, there is a way. If we can mobilize like this in response to Covid, then we can mobilize in response to the climate emergency, social justice issues (such as truth and reconciliation, racism, homelessness, poverty), and other pressing threats to our personal and planetary balance and wellbeing.

What are our challenges?

-we need to inspire and unite Canadians with a shared vision of how much better our world can be post-Covid, we need to get our message of hope and transformation out far and wide, and prove to Canadians that the future does not have to look like the past, that the way forward HAS to be a NEW way, and that Greens are the leaders who will continue to DO POLITICS DIFFERENTLY, because we have gone way past the usefulness of hyper-partisan, competitive gamesmanship in politics. We need collaborators, creative problem-solvers, non-violent conflict resolvers, Canadians from all walks of life to come together now to create the country we all can live in with dignity, peace, and the basic necessities of life.
-our greatest challenge is organizing and mobilizing our modest resources as the 4th major political party in the country to demonstrate to Canadians that, post-Covid, WE CAN chart a course to economic recovery that is rooted in social justice, reconciliation, climate action, and the core guiding principles of the Global Greens Charter.

Now is the moment. We are at a crucial crossroads. We must choose and act wisely. The future cannot look like the past. The world we’ve seen unravelling for the last 10 months is not a world that we can, or should, be trying to return to. Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall, and we should not be wasting time trying to put him back together again. We have to start over, rethink this equation, and rebuild on more solid, sustainable, long-term foundations. And those foundations must be the strengths and needs of ALL our people, and the astonishing abundance and yet very real limits of our beautiful planet Earth.

I’ll end with another maxim that helps me to navigate in times of great crisis and disorientation in my personal life:

“The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless we fail to make the turn.”

May we have the vision, the courage, and the fortitude to make the turns, the adaptations, the transformations, that are required of us now and in the days ahead. And may we understand that we must all be united in one common purpose. And that must be a just and fair Canada, sustainable and prosperous, for us all.

(Nira Dookeran, member, Green Party of Canada and Green Party of Ontario.)