Israel The Dilemmas of Growth

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NEW POLITICS?
The events of Toronto clearly show that resistance to neo-liberal policies is high and increasing. However, what remains unclear is the capacity of labour and community groups to propose alternatives. Historically, the political party associated with labour was the centre-left New Democratic Party (NDP), which never held office in Ottawa but was elected in several provinces including Ontario in the early 1990s. But currently, the NDP is at a loss. Its social base is angry about what it perceived as a lack of focus and an inability to confront neo-liberalism when they are in public office. Secondly, the NDP has been unable to come up with innovative proposals concerning the crisis of national unity which has erupted once again since the 1995 Quebec referendum, which came close to breaking the country apart. Quebec's national aspirations have never been incorporated in the political culture of the NDP (nor for that matter in the more radical factions of the Canadian left). In return, Quebec nationalism which started from a left populist perspective has evolved towards the right, aiming at persuading the US that a break-up of Canada could be beneficial to Washington.