A liberal interpretation of Liberalism

Here's a copy of the commentary I read to begin the June 19 show:

Do any of you identify with a political party? Do any of you care whether you do or don’t?

I do. In fact, I’m going through a political equivalent of an identity crisis.

I’m going to tell you a little about that, at the risk of offending Liberals, Tories and New Democrats – and boring people who don’t care about party politics at all.

Throughout the 90s I was quite discouraged. Though not a card-carrying member, I’m a natural Liberal, but didn’t like Jean Chretien and never thought Frank McKenna was a Liberal at all. He was quite right-wing, actually - aggressively pro-business, and a social conservative who fought hard to keep Henry Morgentaler from setting up an abortion clinic in New Brunswick.

I was heartened when Paul Martin and Shawn Graham came along. But then Martin got clobbered by the Gomery inquiry, and we ended up with our very own George Bush in Stephen Harper. And then the Graham Liberals took a hard right turn when they took office.

They’re now energy hub boosters that pay scant attention to the environment. And social conservatives too. Last year, several Liberal cabinet ministers joined an anti-abortion rally on the streets of Fredericton.

You hear a lot of Saint John Liberals grumbling about the party, especially in wake of the debate on closing the university and the decision to scrap early immersion in French.

Some of those formerly loyal Liberals are mad enough, it seems, to vote Tory – even though the party has no leader, no clear policy alternatives to the Liberals, and are allied with the Harper Conservatives.

Here’s where my identity crisis comes in. I have voted Tory in the past because I supported local candidates. But I held my nose when I did it, and don’t think I could do so again. I voted NDP when there were standout candidates like Elizabeth Weir to vote for, but in general the party just isn’t relevant here right now.

What I really want is for the Liberals to liberal again – Trudeau Liberal, Martin Liberal, Louis Robichaud Liberal.

I just don’t know if that’s going to happen any time soon, at least not here in New Brunswick. Their latest policy proposal is straight out of right-wing Alberta - a tax reform program that would include a flat tax that would favour high-income earners, and significantly reduced taxes on big corporations.

On the show tonight, we’ll talk about the flat tax with a policy analyst from Alberta, the only province in Canada with a flat tax system.

Also on the program tonight: Mike Parker examines legislation that would give police the ability to crack down on suspected drug dealers. And UNB introduces a summer film series to be held at the New Brunswick Museum uptown.

But first up: Pop Goes the City - an 80s music festival for Saint John.

Here this episode online at: serrcitysj.mypodcast.com