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INTERVIEW WITH MIGUEL FIGUEROA: "THE LIBERALS ARE NO DEFENDERS OF MEDICARE"
(This article is from the May 16-31/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
People's Voice recently interviewed Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada, about recent political and economic developments in the country.
People's Voice: Could you comment on the political situation in the country generally in this pre-election period?
Miguel Figueroa: Certainly. But let me begin with a few words about the economy which, as always, impacts on the political dynamic.
The domestic economy is still fairly buoyant, with sustained growth in GDP and low inflation. Even unemployment has crept down to around 7 per cent, from the double-digit level maintained through most of the '90s.
Of course, the official unemployment figures are grossly misleading. If you factor in the hundreds of thousands of workers - women and older workers, and young people - who have been driven from the labour market, and part-time, underemployed workers, then real unemployment still stands above 10%.
Nor do these economic indices tell us anything about the loss of high-wage jobs due to de-industrialization, or the radical skewing of income and wealth. Recent studies have proven what working people already know: that the corporate elite have benefitted most from the current boom phase of the capitalist cycle, at the expense of middle-income and low-wage workers, and those on fixed incomes, whose real living standards have stagnated or declined over the past two decades.
PV: Still, there is no denying that the economy has been improving...
Figueroa: Yes, the economic picture has improved somewhat, but at a terrible cost - principally in terms of the erosion of the public sector. Health care and education immediately come to mind, but countless other vital services and programs have been systematically gutted or privatized, such as pensions, social assistance, environmental protection measures and standards, etc.
All of these programs comprise the "social wage" of Canadian workers. For decades, these services were more or less free and universally available. But now they must be paid for through user fees, private insurance premiums, private pension plans, rising tuition, and so on.
In fact, the corporate attack on the public sector and the social wage is nothing but a thinly-disguised means of lowering the real living standards for working people, and transferring wealth to the corporations and the rich.
What's more, the current economic "boom" is far more feeble and artificial than many people suspect, since it is based on rampant financial speculation, inflated stock market values, and increased borrowing, not genuine growth in production and social assets. For instance, figures show that personal and corporate debt levels are rising four times faster than incomes.
The continued growth in the U.S. economy - to which Canada is inextricably tied - is also being maintained through its increased pillage of wealth and resources from the "third World" countries and its rival imperialist blocs, Japan and the European Union. But the events in Seattle and Washington, and in countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, show that opposition to this imperialist plunder is intensifying.
Most economists agree that this speculative, artificially-based "boom" has nearly exhausted itself. The latest available figures already show a decline in Canada's GDP. We don't know exactly when the bubble will burst, but a sharp downturn is clearly approaching. This is reflected in, among other things, the extremely high levels of "excess" capacity, soaring debt levels, and growing volatility on stock and financial markets, especially in the high-tech "dot.com" sector.
PV: The ruling Liberals have been quick to take credit for the current "boom" and lower unemployment. They'll no doubt try to make this the centrepiece of their re-election bid.
Figueroa: Certainly. But they know that another cyclical crisis is approaching. That's why they are anxious for an early election, possibly this fall but definitely by next spring. Chretien and the Liberals also want to take advantage of divisions within the right-wing opposition bloc.
On the other hand, the Liberals are aware of growing public dissatisfaction toward their pro-corporate policies. Working people have every right to be angry as hell at this government, for several reasons.
The devastating policies pursued by the Chretien government over the past two terms are now impacting on the vast majority of the working class and people. The elimination and privatization of services, the erosion of labour and democratic rights, degradation of the environment, Ottawa's increasing subservience to virtually every dictate from Washington and from international finance capital in general - all these are arousing broad indignation.
The Liberals are desperately attempting to deflect responsibility for all this, but only with partial success.
Take the crisis in public health care, for instance. The Liberals are trying to place the blame for the current crisis on the backs of the provinces. Without doubt, the assault on Medicare is being led by the Tory Klein government in Alberta, with its Bill 11 to legalize private hospitals, and the right-wing Harris government in Ontario.
But for the federal Liberals to pose as the great "defenders" of Medicare is preposterous. This is the government which systematically cut billions in federal funding over the past seven years, and is now refusing to act against Klein's Bill 11. We're seeing an elaborate shell game. All of the big business parties are colluding in the corporate-sponsored drive to introduce "two-tiered" health care, at the same time trying to blame each other for the demise of the universal, non-profit system. But the Canadian people are not so easily fooled.
PV: So how do you explain the fact that the Liberals are still riding high in the polls?
Figueroa: Simple, really. They enjoy continued support by default, because Canadians see no viable, acceptable alternative at the moment.
The right-wing opposition camp is still divided. Preston Manning and the Reform Party hierarchy, with the support of powerful corporate interests, have reconstituted that party as the "Canadian Alliance" in a bid to reunite the Conservative and Reform forces in a new political vehicle.
The launch of the new "Alliance" party got off to a rocky start when Frank Klees withdrew from the leadership race after exposing that powerful back-room forces wanted him to run only to wean small "c" conservatives away from the PC party, especially in Ontario. This "revelation" confirmed what many have long understood: that Reform/Alliance was never a populist, "grassroots" party, but rather one controlled by powerful reactionary and pro-corporate interests.
It is now clear that powerful sections of big business are lining up behind this new "Alliance" hybrid to ensure a single right-wing alternative to the ruling Liberals. This struggle for hegemony with the right-wing camp is not yet over however, and may not be concluded before Chretien calls an election.
The irony of the current situation lies in the fact that while the more extreme right-wing, neoliberal forces appear on the verge of reuniting their ranks, the mass appeal of their reactionary policies is in sharp decline among the Canadian people as a whole.
PV: What about the New Democrats?
Figueroa: The drift of the NDP leadership increasingly to the right has rendered that party virtually indistinguishable from the Liberals. The federal caucus recently adopted a variation on Tony Blair's "third way" line, a policy and ideological orientation which essentially negates traditional social democracy in favour of neoliberalism "with a human face." The NDP also alienated many supporters when it initially supported Canada's involvement in NATO's dirty imperialist war against Yugoslavia, and when the caucus backed Chretien's chauvinist "clarity" legislation directed against Quebec's right of self-determination.
The anti-labour and neoliberal policies of NDP provincial governments have added to the internal crisis within their party. First, Bob Rae's "social contract" in Ontario, then the Romanow government's breaking of strikes by electrical workers and nurses in Saskatchewan, and most recently the similar actions taken against school support workers in B.C. - all of these actions have sharply divided the NDP from its mass base in the labour and people's movements.
PV: What are the prospects for the Communist Party in the coming elections?
Figueroa: In today's conditions, there are improving possibilities for our Party, and for other smaller progressive parties. Recent polls have shown that a growing, though still small, percentage of Canadians are looking to the smaller parties for genuine alternative policies.
Our Party has launched a public campaign to bring our "People's Alternative" to capitalist globalization to the attention of broader circles of workers and progressive Canadians, especially those active in labour and democratic struggles. Our views are getting a better reception, among a much wider audience, than they have for many years.
"Cold war," anti-communist prejudices are receding, and our Party and its policies are winning many new supporters, especially among young people. This provides an important opening for our Party, one which we should not squander.
The CPC is primarily an "activist" party. We direct most of our day-to-day energies in the extra-parliamentary struggles of our class. But we must also make maximum use of elections to present our positions and alternatives to working people.
Of course, the undemocratic electoral system continues to pose a major obstacle to participation by small parties like ours. But our court challenge to the Elections Act has already resulted in the $1,000 candidate deposit now becoming fully refundable. This will make it much easier for us to field 50 candidates across Canada, and win back our official registration as a federal party.
Running fifty or more candidates would be a massive undertaking. But it would also bring great benefits to our movement, both in terms of political influence and credibility, and in new members and supporters. The Central Committee will be discussing the question of our electoral tactic with all Party clubs and organizations in the months ahead.
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