Election 2019: Thinking Bigger, Demanding Better
The pollster Nik Nanos claimed in June that climate change would be “one of the defining battle grounds” this election. “More important than jobs, more important than health care, more important than immigration.” In July, Abacus Data put climate change in third spot behind health care and cost of living, the latter an important issue (with the environment) for the two-thirds of voters from the millennial and gen-X cohorts. If the polls are right, and those public attitudes hold, parties may be judged not on their ability to manage the economy, but on their plans to transform it.
As we did in 2015, this special election issue of the Monitor presents some big, transformative ideas for democratizing, de-carbonizing and de-colonizing our economy, alongside expert assessments of the current government’s record and critical takedowns of right-wing propaganda—about immigration, equalization and deficits in particular—distracting voters from the real issues. As CCPA economist Sheila Block puts it, “a debate [this election] about who can spend less in government is the last thing we need.”
Here’s a sample of what you’ll find in the issue:
- Own it! The democratic socialist debate we should be having this election, by Alex Hemingway (also appears in the Policy Note blog).
- The home stretch for national pharmacare, by Melanie Benard.
- Border guards without boundaries: Tim McSorley on why we need a watchdog for the CBSA.
- Moving beyond “to vote or not to vote.” Ashley Courchene revisits the perennial debate about the Indigenous vote.
- Equalization as political theatre, by Ricardo Acuña.
- A Green New Deal for Canada? Molly McCracken interviews Avi Lewis about its radical potential.
- Fake news? Truth abhors a vacuum. Cynthia Khoo asks why politicians blame everyone but themselves.
- A math lesson on disarming anti-immigrant rhetoric, by Ricardo Tranjan.
- It’s 2015 all over again. Or is that 2004? Richard Nimijean considers the parallels.
- Why does Canada champion abortion rights abroad but tolerate poor access at home? Sarah Kennell thinks we can do better.
- How public procurement can spur inclusive economic development, by Declan Ingham.
- What’s a Black lawyer to do? Anthony Morgan’s new Monitor column, Colour-coded Justice.
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Cover illustration by Amy Thompson.
