Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 17, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus saturday free press a h q May 1997 f i o the Mushy Middle classic Canadian liberalism based on consensus the free press is publishing a series of articles examining the state of politics in the free press columnist Frances rus sell explores the meaning of Liberal ism As the 20th Century draws to a next University of Winnipeg political scientist Allen Mills takes a look at the new a Liberal is a Liberal is a except in opposition when he sounds like a new this was former nip Leader de Broadbent acid definition of Canadas governing party in june sir Wilfrid Canadas first and greatest quebecois prime min understandably had a More charitable i am one of those who think that always and everywhere in human things there Are abuses to be new horizons to be opened and new forces to be the principle of Liberal ism is inherent in the very essence of our in that desire of Hap piness with which we Are born into the which pursues us through and which is never completely gratified on this Side of the we dream of Good but never realize the our Means Are limited but our nature is per Fec Tible and we have the infinite for our like conservatism and Means different things at different times in different if this is True about political philos it is even More valid for the political parties that carry these As human they Are in a constant state of classical liberalism has More to do with modern conservatism than traditional conservatism there is no such thing As Laurier from Pickersgill and Trudeau Liberal views Frances Russell there Are Only said former British prime minister and neoconservative progenitor mar Garet eighteenth Century philosophers like Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke the originators of liberalism fundamentally they believed in the innate goodness and perfectibility of humanity and saw society As a corrupting As part of the rebellion against Feudal order and the divine right of classical liberalism was Radical and progressive in its its tenets shaped and still dominate american in Britain and 18thcentury liberalism or whig ism was by the Equality and fraternity ideals of the French revolution and subsequently by the socialist philosophy that arose to counter the excesses of 19thcentury individual self inter particularly the Era of robber Baron what emerged was a blended liberalism that mar ried classical liberalism stress on the Paramountcy of individual Liberty and human rights with the recognition that government and collective action Are often required to promote equity and ensure that human rights and liberties Are Avail Able to All and not merely to a Fortu Nate Canadian very much in this can be seen As a the emphasis is on the search for social at other the predominance is Given to individual the ideological contradiction that lies at the heart of modern Liberal ism is what infuriates the liberals foes on the right and at the same its very opportunism and malleability lie at the heart of its phenomenal political its near Hegemony Over Federal Power in Canada this not Only is the Mushy Middle where most canadians but the Lack of an ideological Anchor has Given the liberals another Adan enabling them to act As Bro kers in a nation which is defined far More by regional and linguistic ten Sions than by ideological political scientist Gad in his analysis of party politics in had this to say about the Liberal party it claims to be based on no particular but on it is not against any particular group it is for the idea that there is any real conflict Between groups is Dis missed and the very terms right and left Are Jack pickers who served under three Liberal prime minis put it this Way the terms right and left belong to those who regard politics As a class the Liberal View is that True political Progress is marked the reconciliation of classes and the promotion of the general interest above All the partic ular Pickersgill description of Mackenzie Kings Brand of Liberal ism is a Good summation of the party under prime minister Jean although not of it under Pierre he believed that nothing was so Likely to set Back a Good cause As Prema Ture continues Horowitz the Centre party recoils from the fight for controversial measures it loves to implement a thus it was that during the Long period of economic Boom from the end of the second world War until the open Oil crisis of the the liberals Rode on the coattails of the legislating their social reforms one by one As they gained majority support among the general and thus it has been once returned to Power in 1993 on a plat form of centrist the Liber als readily turned away from that platform once the sudden electoral Success of their new goad on the of we will need More Cash Axworthy above is still the Leader of the Liberal party near dormant left Chretien on the Campaign Trail with Aline is described As a consensus seeker in the manner of former Liberal prime minister Mackenzie the Reform convinced them that the Paramount consensus of the 1990s was fiscal conservatism and the need to tame government deficits and foreign affairs minister Lloyd still the Leader of the party near dormant left now describes the governments painful War against the deficit As a matter of National once we looked at the books when we came to we realized the increasing deficit was becoming a sovereignty management we tried not to Cut but to retool finance minister Paul Martin has stated that the government did what it did not to please the International Bond but to be in a position to Tell the International Bond traders to go to although Axworthy is Long gone from the human resources a lengthy interview with him about How he defines Liberal ism in the 1990s is hardly under Way before he reverts to a passionate defence of his stillborn social services most of his proposals have been he he says taken the new child tax family working income supplement and changes to pensions form the foun Dation for a guaranteed annual of we will need More he brushes aside criticism that the liberals billion in cuts to higher education and Wel fare have violated Basic Liberal the compounding reductions brought in by the Mulroney tories would have meant Federal Cash in the system would have dried up at the turn of the we have ensured that the Cash Compo nent will never go below Bil he that Chretien flexible federalism All but rules out another major share Cost National social program like medicare and the no abandoned Canada assistance As a left Wing he insists he is not dismayed by the party is adopting another he that of bypassing the provinces to deliver Grants to individual he believes this has the unique advantage of respecting the constitutional division of Powers and removing a perennial irritant Between Ottawa and Quebec administrations of both federalist and Sov Erie Antist persuasions while at the same time allowing the National government to play a direct role in Peoples the liberals that the idea of these kinds of known As will win them favour with the Centre left in this constituency sees dem Grants As a potent threat to the entire institution of a Dagger pointed at the heart of tax supported Public they fear that As Ottawa withdraws its Cash from provincial Public these institutions will disappear and be turned Over to the for profit we Are not new Axworthy the advantage we have is that we Are a he believes that provincial electorates will hold their governments accountable to safeguard Public compassion is not measured by a commitment to old Man Tobas Veteran Cabinet minister if we get a we can canadians have its not the neither is it old fashioned Tough economic management has Given us a half of it will go into restoring Home half will go toward tax cuts geared first to those most in the Mushy a harking Back to Laurier abuses to be a recall of Mackenzie Kings waiting for Consen following rather than leading Public classic Canadian lib Frances Russell comments on politics for the free ;