The ‘far-left’ Liberal Party of New Brunswick

Someday, I will die from astonishment. I obsessively replay the words in my head. They were spoken by Daniel Allain, MLA, who resigned from Blaine Higgs’ cabinet in early March. He recently asserted, without irony, that the Liberal Party is leaning to the “far left.” (Acadie Nouvelle, March 2, 2024.)

Really? The “far left”? He calls them as he sees them. But are we missing something?

The Liberal Party of New Brunswick, a clientelist political formation of the extreme centre, has apparently seen the light! If so, it would radically align itself with working people, for instance, by requiring that the value generated by their direct or indirect labour finally translate into major wage increases, and pass anti-inflationary measures to ensure that wily corporations cannot profit by raising prices. Pay equity between men and women would finally be instituted. The Liberals would consider nationalizing at least one financial institution in order to guarantee credit to serve the real interests of communities rather than greed. Their program would also call for taking major industries into public hands, such as the oil refinery in Saint John and the fuel distribution network owned by the Irving conglomerate. The burning of fossil fuels has made them grow scarce and has led to an ecological crisis. The state, its hand on the spigot, would finally be able to ration their distribution according to social needs and not to feed the growth of an unsustainable consumerism. Ecosocialist intellectuals in the party, in consideration of future needs, would institute progressive pricing in their economic plans, with an initial base amount being easily affordable, but rising in price gradually to prevent over-consumption.

These businesses, already merged under the ownership of a single family, would be ripe for the picking. Their market value potentially matches the taxes they have avoided paying for the past fifty years, since most of their assets were relocated on paper to Bermuda. Once in power, a far-left Liberal government would immediately assign a team of experts to launch an inquiry into the issue. It would be a first in the history of New Brunswick. To know for certain the extent of its losses, the government would use its authority to demand that the Irving family of companies and other multinationals open their accounting books to show how their offshore entities drain the wealth of this province and artificially transfer it to tax havens.

Obviously, it would not be Stalinism; aspects of the liberal tradition would persist, but they would be guided by the general interest. In the field of forestry, the big lumber corporations would be dissolved and public lands reserved for small private producers and other regional operations. The revenues would remain and circulate locally, to the benefit of communities. The public wealth embodied in our forests would be preserved as we put a stop to the destructive practice of clear-cutting. The people who both live and work in the forest would cut selectively. They would know which trees to harvest for the good of the whole forest, to allow it to regenerate instead of destroying it. Finally, this far-left government would institute wide-ranging educational reforms focused on citizenship, reading, deliberation and the common good. Universities would be tuition-free, since the whole population benefits when a person acquires the skills of an engineer, botanist, historian or childcare worker.

But let’s give Daniel Allain his due. The former minister surely did not intend to evoke such radical thinking, of which he himself is most likely incapable. He was referring to strictly societal issues, such as sexual orientation and the existential self-determination of young people in schools. By speaking out, he told us a lot; namely, that partisan politics has been reduced to debates over social mores. Apart from very marginal measures, it has abandoned the most important social questions: labour, capitalism, social justice, tax fairness, and class conflict. This is because the ideology of big business reigns supreme on all points.

Alain Deneault is a Professor of Philosophy at Université de Moncton, Shippagan Campus. This op-ed originally appeared in L’Acadie Nouvelle, March 26, 2024.