The NDP talking points are out and the new buzzwords are “Progressive” and “Neo-Conservative” (Two new solitudes – Part 2, Trail Times July 3).
Surprise, surprise. The NDP sees itself as “progressive” and believes that government has a role in our economic, social and environmental lives.
That’s not any different from other political parties except for one major lapse.
The NDP never fully explains how it will pay for “investing more in education and training, providing affordable housing, childcare and pensions, increasing personal and community health, increasing the numbers in a productive workforce, reducing health care expenses and making business more competitive.”
One the one hand the NDP talks about increasing the numbers in a productive workforce and making business more competitive while on the other, it wants to cripple the oil sands industry and deny Alberta a pipeline to get its oil to new Asian markets.
Many of the oil sands workers come from all over Canada, including Atamanenko’s riding and Thomas Mulcair’s Quebec province.
There’s a whole French-speaking contingent up there in the oil sands patch. These oil sands workers put food on the table in their home communities and provide a future for their children’s education.
But not to worry. When the NDP kills the oil sands jobs, both Mulcair and Atamanenko will find good paying jobs in their home communities for all the displaced workers.
Sure, they will, they’re “progressive” after all. And when they can’t find them jobs, they’ll put them on government pogey. That’s the NDP “progressive” way.
Rose CalderonTrail