Battling Harper: The Left and the Canadian Election

Toronto — 11 October 2008 – A 10 Minute Production

As the Canadian federal election moves into its final days, the Canadian electorate is again demonstrating its historical volatility in voting. Yet, this is again occurring within the context of a very stable political system with extremely cramped ideological parameters. These parameters are noteworthy mainly for how successfully the political right has moved the centre of Canada’s politics and policy regime to the right and made neoliberalism an all-embracing political framework for all the poltical parties in ideology and certainly in practice.

Bryan Evans and Greg Albo here discuss some of the ways that the election, in the midst of financial crisis, has opened up space for critiques of neoliberalism, how the election has unfolded, and the openings for the Left after the election.

• Bullet No. 139: Harper’s Bunker: The State, Neoliberalism and the Election