Canada’s political landscape is changing dramatically. The global economic crisis has concretely shown to billions around the world that capitalism is incapable of providing what it promises. Capitalism’s illusion of giving everyone an equal opportunity and a chance at prosperity has now been shattered. What we see is that this is a system of an elite and powerful few who sit atop both the economy and levers of government. The massive bailouts given out to help the bankers and bosses recoup their losses show that governments are not neutral arbitrators between the classes. All levels of government have placed a burden of historic magnitude on working people and youth.
In Ontario, the crisis has been even more acute. For years, Ontarians have been demanding better health care, affordable education, public housing, improved transit, and more. The answer from Queen’s Park has always been, “There is no money.” In the midst of this crisis, however, the McGunity Liberal government has found tens of billions of dollars in bailouts and tax cuts for the banks and corporations! This corporate welfare has saddled the province with a $25-billion deficit—a deficit that will have to be paid by workers and young people.
Why should workers pay a single cent to subsidize a failed system that we have absolutely no control over? The time has come for someone to say enough is enough. In times of crisis, working people are pushed onto the political field, many of them for the first time. Often, this is through the NDP, the party that was built by Canada’s working class.
Up until now, there has been very little for activists to do within the NDP. Many young militants would join the party, looking to get active, and leave when they realized that there was little to get active in. During the crisis, this is when workers should be turning to the NDP for answers, but so far, this has not been the case. However, the newly elected leader of the Ontario NDP, Andrea Horwath, has promised a more activist party, and one that will openly defend jobs, fight against the anti-worker HST, and a party that will not “check its socialism at the door.”
It has been said that, “The wind moves the top of the trees first.” Throughout history, it has often been the youth that come to new political conclusions first. It is with this in mind that Fightback welcomes the launching of the Toronto Young New Democrats (TYND), a new NDP youth club that will give young militant workers the opportunity to get active and give the NDP a much-needed dose of activism.
A majority of Canadian workers view politics as a meaningless power struggle between “old men in suits,” and for the most part they have a point. However, to confront the coming attacks, it is necessary for workers and young people to begin to take control of their own interests. We must build an alternative to the insular careerism of parliament: a mass movement of working people. The youth are the first step in this movement. We welcome the building of a youth organization that fights in the day-to-day struggles of working people, one that will build a bridge from the problems of the streets and the workshops directly to the political field.
The TYND will strive to be these things. The bosses’ parties, the Liberals and the Tories, are directly connected to Bay Street and the interests of the corporations. The NDP is the organic party of the labour movement; it is our party. Let’s build the TYND and re-energize the NDP, as a fighting force against Dalton McGuinty and the right-wing!
