Last year, diminished and demoralized Liberals were so desperate for a saviour that they abandoned all pretence to being a democratic political party. Michael Ignatieff was appointed their leader without a prior vote of the membership.
From such a start, in such a party, little could be expected quickly. Now, however, this summer’s parliamentary recess affords Mr. Ignatieff the best, if not the last, opportunity to rally the support of his troops. Certainly he will be greatly pressured to fill the vacuum of federal Liberal politics by making strong policy declarations. He should not do so yet.
It is true that, with a Parliament of minorities, an election platform may be suddenly needed. If he has one written, Mr. Ignatieff should keep it securely in his back pocket, for emergency use only. Further policy development is an open business for the party as a whole, not to be pre-empted from above. Its present membership will be invigorated, greatly needed new members will be attracted only if they feel wanted, not as mechanics in a political machine, but as contributors to the shaping of future government policies.
If Mr. Ignatieff short-circuits the process by his own decisions, he will not lead but repress his party’s revival.
This is not a prescription for passivity. Liberal leadership today is not about fixing policies. It is about affirming purposes. Many of those are common to the national parties, but one has chiefly distinguished successful Liberal government from the Conservative alternative. It is egalitarianism. When a convention last adopted comprehensive policy statements, it declared with particular force that the Liberal Party “will continue to fight for a still closer equality of opportunity and well-being.”
In that spirit, Canada was transformed, 40 and more years ago, by programs that suited the times. The world has since changed fast. The Liberal Party has not had new ideas. The consequence is that our society has become, in some important respects, more unequal.
That trend will be reversed only by the collective will of a reinvigorated party. If Mr. Ignatieff has the stomach and the ability to lead such a party, he will not use this summer to issue his own policy pronouncements. He will ask the party membership specific questions that challenge interest and engagement in how to reassert liberal purposes in programs that will work now. Discussion notes accompanying the questions would be the most productive kind of party literature to come from Ottawa.
One example: Forty-five years ago, a Liberal government introduced CAP,
Again, in the process of sorting out federal-provincial relations in the postwar period, Ottawa abandoned its estate tax. We have since been almost unique among developed countries in not taxing inheritances. Should we do so, and if so how and on what scale?
A third example: Does the chaos in immigration call for fundamental change? We now admit people as permanent residents, whether or not they choose to become citizens. Should the residency status instead be limited to three years, while you either seek and qualify for citizenship, or leave? And should we make citizenship matter more, by requiring that, in order to use a Canadian passport while living in another country, you must pay Canadian income taxes (subject, of course, to sharing arrangements with countries that are not tax havens)?
If there were only a few such topics, selected in Ottawa, critics would credibly dismiss the question format as a disguise for what the leader intends. That allegation will carry no weight, however, if the questions are diverse in origin and range over many policy fields.
What their discussion does for votes in the next election will depend largely on how much time there is, but it is not the main issue. Canadian politics are in miserable health. They will be changed, the Liberal Party will be rejuvenated, only when there is widespread discussion of constructive reforms. To initiate it is the true leadership that can be given now.
Tom Kent served as principal assistant to prime minister Lester Pearson.
