Editorial Zounds] An NDP government in Ottawa

There’s been a lot of talk lately, impelled by a good deal of media exposure and of course by somewhat astonishing by-election victories, about the possibility of a New Democratic Party government at Ottawa, under the leadership of Edward (Ed) Broadbent.

Certainly the party has been in the ascendancy under Mr Broadbent’s leadership. He enjoys a level of personal popularity in the country which has considerably outstripped that of the leader of the reigning Conservatives, Brian Mulroney, and Liberal opposition leader John Turner.

Even the possibility of a federal, socialist NDP government (a prospect we seriously doubt will ever actually happen) would, of course, be a source of concern to the mining industry in Canada. Any government with a socialist bent would be anathema to the industry.

Not that it’s expected the NDP in power would revert to such outdated policies as nationalization of resource industries. But in other areas, particularly in the party’s probable “soak the rich” approach to taxation, there would be, we think, a very real danger of negating the present tax system, which continues even under Mr Wilson’s tax reform, to provide generous incentives to invest, in the mining industry, as in others.

Then too, there are such other considerations as that while the mining industry has been hammering at the necessity of cutting an already huge federal deficit, Mr Broadbent has been espousing expansion of social programs, a move which would be sure to add to the problem should the NDP be in a position to implement it.

While, on the other hand, you might expect a lot of fairly radical rhetoric in stated NDP policies, there would be definite limitations, should the party gain power at Ottawa, on what could be actually implemented. That at least is the view of George Miller, president of the Mining Association of Canada, who says the normal restraints on government would at least save the country and the industry from NDP policy excesses.

We would simply have to hope, Mr Miller says, that an in-power NDP would be businesslike in its approach to mining industry matters. There have in fact been examples of this, particularly in the Yukon. Late last year, for instance, in a front- page story, The Northern Miner acknowledged the positive role the NDP government in the territory had been playing in mineral exploration and development.

Even in Manitoba, where W. K. Newman, manager of the Mining Association of Manitoba, says the NDP government is not always completely on track with the industry’s thinking, channels are being kept open and the government is consulting with the industry, although as Mr Newman says, problem areas do exist, including a disturbing growth in the provincial debt, and a budget which he says “hit the industry pretty hard.”

Traditionally, you might expect there would be more problems should the NDP ever win out at Ottawa, just as there were some disastrous times when the NDP under Dave Barrett held sway in B.C. in the 1970s. Meantime, though, there could be another two years anyway before another federal election, and we frankly doubt the present ballooning of the NDP is going to prove to be much more than a little hot media air.