On 8th February, the voters of York South-Weston delivered a humiliating blow to the pro-capitalist government of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. The NDP candidate, Paul Ferreira, defeated the Liberal candidate in the by-election by 43.3% to 41.4%, a stark contrast to the 2003 election where the Liberals captured 61.6% of the vote. York South-Weston was supposed to be a Liberal “safe riding”, yet it is also an inner city zone where the average household income is the second lowest in Ontario. It is full of low-income working families that have long been neglected by the ruling class that exploits their labour.

The determining factor in this race was the NDP’s stance raising the minimum wage in Ontario and the fighting the MPP pay hike. The minute the NDP proposed a modest reform that would raise the wages of over one million Ontarians, they scored an electoral upset. Workers took note when the NDP voted against the motion by MPPs to give themselves a 31% pay raise just before Christmas. The class divide between Queen’s Park and the interests of the working poor was made even more apparent by the united opposition of McGuinty’s Liberals and John Tory’s Conservatives against raising the minimum wage in Ontario to $10/hr. The Ontario Federation of Labour launched the $10 minimum wage campaign with the endorsement of the NDP. The NDP campaign successfully contrasted the MPPs’ pay increase and the stagnant minimum wage. Marxists have been arguing for years that a leftward turn would lead to victory at the ballot box, while the right wing of the NDP has tried to appease a non-existent middle ground. Here, we have seen that the minute the NDP takes up even one small reform, backed up by a campaign of the wider labour movement, that this is the recipe for victory.

This slight leftwards trend in NDP tactics and policy is a good start but it must be pushed much further. If the party is to have a future, it must adopt similar left policies to gain a working-class base of low wage earners, women, youth, and immigrants. The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela points the way in this regard. The Bolivarian movement gained support by instituting social programmes and redistributing wealth to the poor. Hugo Chávez beat his opponent in the presidential race with a crushing 63% of the vote on 3rd December 2006. The movement increased its support by turning to the left. Canada is a different country from Venezuela but there are still many linkages that can be made. The experience of the Venezuelan Revolution is a clear refutation of the established wisdom within many NDP circles that the party can only survive by staying near the mushy middle and urging Liberals to “lend us your vote.”

After all, the largest constituency in Canada is the mass of workers, poor, immigrants, youth, and women who do not vote because they feel that no party represents them or presents any improvements in their lives. Through the minimum wage campaign, the NDP has begun to tap into public discontent amongst the marginalized. Just imagine what could be done if the NDP presented a consistent socialist program: it could very well take power at the forefront of a movement of workers and poor. Working people across Ontario are ready and willing to ditch McGuinty this coming October. What we need is an NDP leadership that will stop dithering and push for free education, reduction of the working week, the removal of anti-union laws, and the nationalization of industries that lay off workers. The NDP must adopt this platform, not just because it is right, but because it will lead to victory.

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