6 December 2008 | Supplement

DUMP HARPER
Mobilize to push for real change

This is an incredibly exciting moment. It shows how quickly an economic crisis can create a political crisis that can potentially sweep away the Tories. The argument that low voter turnout during the last election was due to apathy has been turned around, with people mobilizing from coast to coast to ditch Harper. People now feel they can make a difference.

» Keep up the pressure for real change
What we do in the next seven weeks is critical. The economic crisis that created this political crisis is not going away. In fact, it continues to get worse. On December 5, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy lost a staggering 71,000 jobs in November—the worst loss in 26 years. Harper has no solution, and won’t deliver a budget until nearly two months from now.

» Are the Liberals a progressive alternative?
Anger at Harper’s Tories and their arrogant response to the economic crisis has generated much support for a Liberal-NDP Coalition, even if its future is not clear. This focus on the Tories has benefitted the Liberals, on the premise that they are a progressive alternative. But a quick look at past and present Liberal records calls that logic into question.

» Harper—you can run, but you can’t hide
The anger over the economic crisis has Harper’s Conservatives on the run. Instead of facing a vote in the House of Commons, they’ve shut down Parliament, and will spend the next seven weeks trying to convince us that they have a plan for the economy. Expect all kinds of concessions in the January budget, as the Tories attempt to pull the plug on any support for a Coalition government.