Life on the Fringe: a look at some of the underdogs of Canadian politics
Calum McNeil
Issue date: 6/22/04 Section: Features
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Yet, thousands of Canadian men and women commit themselves to parties with little or no chance of conventional political success at the national level. So, why do they do it?
Since 1867 only two political parties have managed to form governments at the federal level in Canada - the Liberals and the Conservatives - and only one party - the NDP - has managed to offer a viable national alternative to this federal political duopoly.
To be successful in politics candidates have to learn the twin arts of compromise and pragmatism. For some politically-minded Canadians, however, political success is not measured merely by the number of seats won, but rather, by the degree to which they have succeeded in influencing national debate.
Perhaps the best example of a protest party struggling for recognition on the fringes of the federal political landscape is the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLP).
John Lang, public relations officer for the MLP, explains that his party emerged in 1970 because of what he terms "the failure of the Communist Party of Canada to fulfil its role as representatives of the working class."
While most mainstream media - and most Canadians - no longer consider or treat Marxism as a viable political alternative, Lang and his party remain convinced of the validity of their ideology.
He says his party is trying to build a base of support in this election "so we can organize people to make bigger breakthroughs [in future] elections."
The MLP is unquestionably the most radical and revolutionary of the smaller parties running in the current election; the party is not simply trying to influence political debate, it is advocating a complete restructuring of Canadian society.
"We are very different [from all other parties] in one sense," said Lang. "The other parties are making promises about [things like] increasing spending - the issue we are raising is that the political process needs to be changed to give the people more power over their own lives."
He argues that the mainstream political parties (the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc) are all working within the understanding that the claims of average Canadians on government - in the form of social programs like health care are the problem, and are simply presenting different variations built upon this assumption.
