When the Ontario PCs
captured the provincial election of 1995, their platform was encapsulated
in the suggestive slogan "The Common Sense Revolution".
A combination of anti-bureaucratic populism and economic neo-conservatism,
it had been cobbled together in the early Nineties by a klatch of
aggressive young backroom boys (and one girl) connected to the Tory
leader, Mike Harris. To the surprise of some, and chagrin of many,
the newly elected Conservative government proceeded to implement
its "revolution" of program cutbacks, tax reductions and
intra-governmental restructuring. Both the breakneck speed of implementation
and a ham-handed insensitivity toward democratic process accounted
for some of the widespread public opposition to the Harris government's
reforms. More to the point, however, was the accumulating impact
of the legislated changes themselves.
Taken together the new
policies were beginning to alter the fundamental nature of the Ontario
political economy. Ruth Cohen's edited collection of articles and
speeches is entitled "Alien Invasion" because in her opinion,
and that of many other Ontarians, the stridently neo-conservative
tone of the Common Sense Revolution put it outside the boundaries
of the province's traditional political culture. Regardless of their
political stripe — and Ontario had experienced governments
of NDP, Liberal and PC affiliation in the 15 years leading up to
1995 — all Ontario administrations had subscribed to the view
that the state could and would play a positive role in the lives
of its citizens. As part of this vision, a mixed economy combining
both private and public enterprise was widely seen as the Ontario
norm. Political change, when it came, would be evolutionary and
incremental, and preceded by meaningful consultation with all major
interest groups. Not for nothing was the party which had ruled Ontario
for most of the 20th century, and continuously from 1942-1985, named
Progressive Conservative. The dialectic dialogue implicit in that
apparent oxymoron of a title told the observer all one needed to
know about Ontario's political traditions.
Opponents of the Harris
government drew comfort from the fact that Bob Rae's New Democrats,
and David Petersons's Liberals, had both been turfed out by the
voters after five years in office. To their shock and dismay, the
Ontario PCs rose from the ashes of controversy, and won a new majority
in 1999. Masters of media "spin", and rolling in donated
dough, the Harris team waged a clever campaign that exploited the
divisions in the opposition ranks to turn 40 percent of the popular
vote into 60 percent of the seats. Now they had four more years
to entrench themselves and their ideas. Thoroughly alarmed, the
forces opposed to the Common Sense Revolution feared for the very
survival of their kinder, gentler vision of Ontario. This book is
one result of that renewed resolve to drive the "alien invaders"
out of the province, once and for all.
The editor of this collection
is a retired teacher and activist in the Ontario Secondary School
Teachers' Federation. The OSSTF was among the most prominent of
a wide range of organized interest groups arrayed against the Harris
PCs. For two weeks in the fall of 1997, they and the other teacher
unions shut down the province's elementary and secondary schools
in an historic walkout protesting against Bill 160, a law that drastically
revamped public education in Ontario. Characteristically, the PC
government stood firm and talked tough till it got its way, but
the victory may have been pyrrhic. Subsequent polling revealed that
the tide of public opinion began to turn against the Harris regime
partway through the strike and, notwithstanding the miraculous but
temporary PC comeback during the 1999 election campaign, they were
never as strong with the public again.
Some of the items in
this edited collection are real gems. The detailed transcript of
the rookie Education Minister, John Snobelen, spouting his convoluted
and sophomoric ideas of transformational change, is alone worth
the price of this book. He seriously counselled the creation of
an invented crisis in the field of education, all the better to
guarantee the success of his radical restructuring plans. Another
prize is the transcript of a speech by Ian Angell, a British academic,
delivered sometime in the Nineties to the Association of Manufacturers
and Exporters of Canada. Angell painted a vivid picture of the "Brave
New World" of global capitalism with more than the usual candor.
"Those lucky enough to be in work will have to work harder,
for more hours each week, for less pay, in less secure jobs,"
he declared. "And they had damn well better be grateful."
In contrast to lowly labour, the "Alphas" would be in
global seventh heaven. "We are free to exploit workers,"
he continued. "Management can finally get its revenge and kill
off those damn trade unions" (p. 174).
Not all of the thirty-plus items achieve this level of interest.
There are newspaper articles, pundit columns, investigative features,
even internet items, all loosely united by their connection either
to the aims and record of the Harris government, or to the broader
theory of global capitalism. Unfortunately, the editing is sloppy
in places, both in terms of undetected "typos," and by
the fact that many articles are both undated and unsourced. These
are quibbles, however, for anyone eager to find the materials from
which to build a coherent critique of the neo-con mantras of free
enterprise, free markets, and no free lunch. Susan George's "A
Short History of Neo-Liberalism" (pp.184-193), and David C.
Korten's "The Global Economy: Can It Be Fixed?" (206-216)
are particularly insightful. For those eager to translate words
into actions, Jane Kelsey's "Tips On How to Oppose Corporate
Rule" (pp.217-221) provides a plethora of practical pointers
for potential opponents of the New Right.
Although the title of
this volume fingers the Harris PC government in Ontario as the villain,
the articles in the second half of the book make it clear that the
real adversary is a connected set of neo-liberal ideas articulated
by a global network of influential and affluent disciples. It will
not be stopped by a mere election defeat.