Canada PoliticsThomas Mulcair and his high taxing star candidate, Linda McQuaig
You have to wonder if Thomas Mulcair is secretly hoping that his New Democrats don't win the pending byelection in Toronto Centre.
Linda McQuaig, the NDP candidate in that riding is high profile and media savvy. But she's also a throwback to the old CCF and the socialist roots of the party.
She believes in high taxes: According to the National Post, McQuaig supports a marginal tax rate of 60 per cent for incomes above $300,000, and 70 per cent for those who earn more than $2.5 million.
While there's certainly an electoral 'market' for those types of policies, it's not the platform that Mulcair wants to sell anymore.
[ Related: Tough times ahead for Thomas Mulcair and the NDP ]
Mulcair has moved the party to the centre of the political spectrum since taking over the leadership in 2012. In April of this year, he successfully pushed for the party to remove the word 'socialism' from the preamble of its constitution.
He's not totally against oil pipelines — he's championed an east-west trans national pipeline.
And, he's against raising taxes for the rich. On Sunday, according to the Canadian Press, the NDP leader said that he supports a rise in corporate taxes but not personal taxes and that he expects McQuaig to be a team player.
But will she be a team player or just an unneeded distraction for the NDP who are struggling in the opinion polls?
[ Related: NDP MP used donations from unions to pay off debt from law suit ]
In a recent interview with The Political Boullion, McQuaig gave Canadians a hint of the type of MP she would be should she win the election.
Here are some of her quotes from that interview.
"I certainly didn’t get into politics to kind of modify my voice. Or cease to be outspoken on issues. You know, that would be counterproductive.
At the same time, I would say that I understand that if you enter politics it’s a different process than being a writer. You belong to a party and you make decisions collectively within that party on what the stance is going to be. And I accept that as part of the democratic process.
One of the things I look forward to is to be a strong and effective voice within that NDP caucus. Advocating those progressive positions that I’ve long done publicly."
And here's her comment about the party moving towards the centre of the political spectrum.
"The party I’ve joined is the only party that’s taking a progressive stance on issues that are important in the public domain.
From its stance on protecting public programs, on taxation, on a whole range of issues like rebuilding the employment insurance program, rebuilding the affordable housing program, fighting poverty. On all those issues, the NDP is clearly the most progressive party. And that’s the party that I feel comfortable with.
And I think, more broadly, what we have to do in society is move the debate. Essentially in the past 30 years our society has been so dominated by this extreme right-wing set of economic policies, Thatcherism or Reaganism, whatever you want to call it. The whole policy debate has shifted rightward. And its been a terrible, terrible development.
I think the Thatcher, Reagan neoliberal solutions for the past 30 years have been an absolute disaster. It’s led to increased inequality, social breakdown, and the really unfair results for the vast majority of people, as money just goes strictly to the top. I want to fight to reverse that trend, and to restore social democratic values that were much more prominent and widely accepted in early post-war Canada."
While New Democrat strategists won't come out and say it, Mulcair has pushed the party towards to the centre of the political spectrum.
A McQuaig victory might just pull them back to the left.
(Photo courtesy of Facebook)
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