New Democrat platform is true to the party’s roots

The NDP has decided to go big or go home in the next Ontario election.

Tossing caution and centrist politics to the wind, party Leader Andrea Horwath this week unveiled an ambitious platform that offers billions of new dollars for social programs — and some tax hikes to pay for them.

It’s a bold, unabashedly progressive agenda the party hopes will vault it from opposition to government.

And considering Ontario’s current Alice-in-Wonderland political landscape, the NDP’s sharp shift to the left looks like a shrewd gamble.

Before the last provincial election in 2014, the NDP tried to woo voters with a moderate, even timid wish list that included a pledge to balance the books.

It was fiscally responsible but dishwater dull. And it failed, as Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals outflanked the NDP on the left and carved out a majority.

This time the NDP is doing things differently because Ontario politics are markedly different from four years ago.

More than anything else, the June 7 election is about whether or not Ontarians want change.

With 15 years of government — and more than a few scandals — behind them, the Liberals have passed their best-before date, at least according to what most voters are telling pollsters.

The Liberals have responded by jettisoning previous promises of balanced budgets and offering reams of costly new or enhanced social programs — often, lifted from the NDP’s playbook. So far, the plan’s not working.

But as a viable alternative, the Progressive Conservatives have as many holes as a slice of Swiss cheese.

Having seen their previous leader, Patrick Brown, cut down by sexual misconduct allegations and with one of their leading MPPs accusing the party of being filled with “rot,” the Tories chose the brash, unpredictable Doug Ford to take them into the next election.

Today, despite leading in many polls, they’re far from a certain bet to replace the Liberals.

So have Wynne and Ford opened the door to Horwath?

Perhaps. Voters who fervently want change might be wary of the changes Ford would bring.

Likewise, voters tempted by lavish Liberal promises but turned off by an increasingly stale government just might turn to the NDP. They look like the genuine social democrats.

Whether Horwath’s strategy succeeds or fails, the party deserves credit for giving voters a detailed plan and a viable choice that has meat, as well as bones.

Under an NDP government, there would be free dental care and pharmacare for everyone.

There would be more subsidized daycare, including free daycare for families earning less than $40,000 a year. There would be more money for post-secondary school students and public transit, as well.

And the new spending would be covered by new taxes for corporations and high-income earners — as well as deficits.

There are, of course, major questions to be answered.

Considering the Americans just cut corporate taxes, would raising them in Ontario discourage the investment our economy craves?

Will all the new spending on programs lure the province into a structural-deficit trap it can’t escape? Can we afford all the freebies in Horwath’s grab bag?

We’re eager to hear more from the NDP.

For now, we applaud them for giving voters serious issues to consider and for remaining true to their political principals.