Martin and Harper, evil twins of corporate power

Martin says he is the peace candidate, while Harper is the war candidate.

"If Stephen Harper had been prime minister last year, Canada would have gone to war in Iraq" he reminds voters at every possible opportunity.

While meeting with Bush in Washington, he used the occasion to say Canada was right to stay out of the war.

So we have to ask Martin, if this was the case, if Harper’s pro-war stance is a threat to working people, then why did Martin appoint pro-Iraq war David Pratt as his new defence minister? Why did his first budget as PM include major new spending initiatives for the armed forces?

Martin is trying to cultivate an "anti-war label", while at the same time offering the Americans help on three fronts crucial to their militarism.

First, he is keeping in place the Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan, troops that are freeing up Americans to leave for Iraq.

Second, Martin says Canada can play a role in rebuilding Iraq. But the rebuilding cannot even begin until the foreign troops leave. This is elementary. Any "rebuilding" that occurs under the umbrella of foreign occupation can only have the effect of strengthening that occupation. Martin cannot both oppose the war, and give support to the US occupiers.

Third, it is very clear that if Martin can secure a majority in the election, that he will jump to sign onto the US Star Wars program. The Globe and Mail reported April 29 that "the Martin government has agreed to sign on to an aerospace early warning system for North America, smoothing the path for almost certain participation in the US missile defence shield."

As the Iraq debacle worsens, Star Wars will become even more important to the US military’s future plans. Increasingly, the US empire is showing all the signs of "imperial over-reach" — having over-extended itself far beyond the capacity of either its economy or its public to support. At a certain point, this over-extension of US military might will rebound into the US into a new kind of "Fortress America" approach. Star Wars — literally building a wall of missiles around the continent — is a central component of such an approach. Martin cannot be a "peace" candidate if he gives a little finger to this very dangerous, very expensive nonsense.

Martin says that Harper is a threat to public health care.

But Martin is completely implicated in the cuts to health care, as the finance minister who presided over the cuts. In the last issue of Socialist Worker we provided statistics that showed the savage nature of Martin’s cuts in the health care sector.

Martin will warn us that Stephen Harper is socially conservative.

Can Martin spell "Dennis Mills"? Martin is backing Mills in his attempt to prevent NDP leader Jack Layton from winning a seat in parliament.

And Mills needs no lessons from Stephen Harper in social conservatism.

He is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage in a way that is indistinguishable from the most bigotted members of the Tory party.

On September 16 last year, when the House of Commons narrowly defeated a motion which would have defined marriage as being exclusive to heterosexual couples, 53 members of the Liberal caucus voted for this bigotry, while 18 (including Dennis Mills) failed to show up. The motion was only defeated by five votes.

Martin and Harper are evil twins, leaders of two corporate-backed parties that are equally dangerous to Canadian working people.

We should have no qualms about voting to kick the Liberals out, and casting a vote for the NDP, the only party that is based on the union movement and not on the corporations.

That is not the end of politics, of course. We have long experience in the limitations of the NDP in office. The limitations of the NDP were clearly exposed May 3, when BC NDP leader Carole James welcomed the sell-out of the general strike in BC.

We need to vote with our class and try to elect as many NDP members of parliament as possible.

But the day after the election, we need to ensure that we continue to build the movements on the street and the organization of the working class.

Only there will real gains be won for working people in Canada.

That is where a renewed socialist movement will be built in this country.