Past Recommendations, Present Decisions

Gabriel Yiu, 20.1.2006 Global Chinese Press

I have been providing media commentary on current affairs since 1995.  In almost every election from then on, I have given my analysis and recommendation to my listeners and readers.  Here are my election recommendations in the past ten years, for the record.

Provincial election 1996. I urged voters to support the B.C. Liberal Party, because I saw a great many problems in the way NDP Premier Glen Clark governed the province.  Clark was re-elected, but at a terrible cost, for it led to the devastating defeat of his party in the following election.

Federal election 1997.  I recommended that my listeners vote for the Reform Party, mainly because I could not accept a party that worked to separate the country, Bloc Quebecois, taking up the mantle of Official Opposition.

Federal election 2000. Even though I was very dissatisfied with our arrogant and authoritarian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, I equally distrusted the capability of the leader of the Canadian Alliance, Stockwell Day.  Day was the rising star in that election and won a historic 80,000 votes in B.C.  Prior to the voting day, I openly stated that I simply could not make a choice between those two leaders and I was not making any recommendation at all.  After the election, some of the most senior CA MPs, extremely dissatisfied with Day’s incompetence, left the caucus and formed a new block in the House.

Provincial election 2001. In view of the great fall of the NDP, I vehemently discussed the important role of opposition in the legislature and urged the public to consider voting for the NDP.  The election resulted in merely 2 NDP seats left in the House.

Federal election 2004. I was not involved with the media that year and did not offer any suggestions.

Provincial election 2005. Greatly discontented with the B.C. Liberals’ extreme right-wing government (the lack of opposition being a major cause), I joined the NDP and ran for office. I was not a commentator, but my position in that election was very clear.

In this federal election, 2006, I recommend voting for the NDP.

The Liberals have been governing for 13 years. They are a party that has lost its way, and they offer no new ideas.  They have lost sight of ideals that can run and sustain this country.  They are merely fighting to cling to power.  The Liberals’ corruption must be punished; otherwise, that kind of malpractice will spread across the country.

Prime Minister Martin often boasts of his great achievement in abolishing the federal deficit.  But the negative aspects of this “great achievement” should not be overlooked.  In order to balance his budget, Martin drastically cut government spending and grabbed the surplus from the Unemployment/Employment Insurance Fund and put it into the treasury.  With the drop of interest rate, the interest payment on the $600 billion national debt also decreased significantly.  As Romanow’s report has indicated, funding shortage is one of the major causes of the decline of our public health system.  Our cities have been facing a great many problems which could also be traced to the lack of government funding.  As for the UI/EI fund, the Liberal government’s continuous effort to tighten legibility requirements has created an enormous surplus of $48 billion.  This fund belongs to the working people. Instead of reducing the premium or increasing support for the unemployed workers, Martin simply seized it.

The Conservative Party’s recent surge of support has little to do with Stephen Harper’s leadership; it is merely an expression of people’s dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party.  As the Official Opposition in the last parliament, the Conservatives had a dismal record.  Harper’s slips of the tongue often diverted public attention from the Liberals’ problems.  In the areas of monitory the government, new ideas and policy offerings, the Conservatives are way behind NDP, a party with merely one-fifth of the seats of the Official Opposition.

The Conservatives managed to release new party policies in their campaign almost continuously.  These policies may be able to reflect the party’s beliefs and philosophy, but similar policies have been proven a failure in the previous Conservative government in Ontario.  There was a good reason why Mike Harris’ “Common Sense Revolution” was used in the Liberals’ political advertisement to attack Conservatives.

In the 308-seat parliament, the NDP occupies merely 19 seats.  Under the leadership of Jack Layton, the NDP played a significant role in the last parliament.  It exercised its muscle in pounding on the Liberals’ sponsorship corruption.  The recent RCMP’s investigation on the Income Trust leak was also exposed by the NDP.

The Liberals proudly talk about their child care program, but their 1993 promise could only have materialized due to the pressure of the NDP last year.  Likewise, it was the NDP who forced the Liberal government to cancel generous tax cuts to large corporations and invest the money on advanced education, city building, public transit and social housing.  Early in this campaign, the premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, credited Jack Layton with being the only federal leader with a genuine stand on protecting public health care.

Canada has been governed by the Liberal Party and by the Conservative Party, and they both have intimate, intricate connections with large corporations.  Prior to 1993, the Conservatives had no less corruption nor fewer scandals than today’s Liberals.  The NDP is the only party with the mandate to defend the interests of the working people and fight for social justice.  The Chinese head tax is a good example. The NDP helped to initiate the redress movement in 1984. Although political faces have been changing throughout these years, the party’s position is firm and consistent. It has rightly earned applause from the public.