Vol. 72/No. 44      November 10, 2008

The Conservatives called the election in the hopes of forming a majority government, but the deepening of the world financial crisis spoiled their attempt. During the election the government announced bailouts to Canada’s banks to the tune of Can$45 billion (Can$1=US 82 cents). More than 300,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing since 2002.

While the Conservatives increased their number of seats from 127 to 143, they fell short of the 155 required to form a majority in the 308-seat parliament. Voter participation fell to 59.1 percent, a historic low, and the vote for the Conservatives actually fell, even though their percentage increased.

The vote for the main bourgeois opposition party, the Liberals, fell even more and their number of seats dropped from 95 to 76. The New Democratic Party, a social democratic party that defends capitalism, saw its vote totals drop a small amount but picked up 7 more seats, rising to 37.

The Bloc Québécois, a bourgeois party that only runs in Quebec and advocates sovereignty, won two more seats but saw its vote total also decline. The Conservatives hoped to make gains in the province because they had presented a motion adopted by Parliament recognizing Quebec as a nation but saw their vote there decline even more. They were hurt by their cuts in subsidies to culture, which is a particularly sensitive question for the Quebecois, who are an oppressed nation within Canada.

The Green Party, a bourgeois party that tries to use environmental issues to win support, was the only party to increase its vote significantly but they won no seats.

The Communist League ran two candidates in the election in Montreal: Michel Dugré, in Rosemont-La Petite Patrie, and Joseph Young, in St. Laurent-St. Michel. In face of the financial crisis, the Communist League candidates explained that a socialist revolution is needed that will throw the billionaire families out of power and replace them with a workers and farmers government. They raised the need for a labor party based on a fighting union movement.

Their campaign built solidarity with workers resisting the growing attacks of the employers. They supported workers striking against the Queen Elizabeth hotel in downtown Montreal and at the Petro-Canada refinery in Montreal’s east end. Dugré and Young supported and helped build a march of more than 2,000 for abortion rights on September 28.

The Communist League candidates also protested an attack on the campaign of William Sloan, the Communist Party of Canada candidate in Westmount-Ville-Marie. His signs, which called for “Canada out of Afghanistan” and “End Canadian Support to Apartheid Israel,” were torn down by the city on September 28--29. In a letter to Mayor Karin Marks of Westmount, Dugré and Young said, “This action is a serious attack on freedom of expression. It violates the election law. We demand a public apology on the part of the City of Westmount and a commitment on its part that such actions will not be repeated.”  
 
 
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