The policy Guy
‘A Quebecer who was with Jack from the beginning’
It’s certainly debatable whether his policy proposals are right for Canada, but you can’t deny that Guy Caron has a strong record of determination.
In 2004, the young economist decided to run for the NDP for the first time. This was in Rimouski, Que., one of many places in the province where New Democrats had long been invisible. In its entire history, from before the socialist Canadian Commonwealth Federation transformed into the modern New Democratic Party under Tommy Douglas in 1961, the political formation had never established a solid presence in the francophone province.
By the time Caron decided to run, the party was actually less popular in his riding than the yogi-transcendentalist Natural Law Party, and the rookie candidate was soundly defeated.
Then he ran and lost again in 2006. And in 2008.
He finally tasted victory in 2011, when the NDP broke through to Quebecers under le bon Jack Layton in its historic Orange Wave that brought 59 New Democrat MPs to Ottawa from the province. He was then one of the few New Democrats to actually increase his share of the vote in 2015, when the party’s Quebec stronghold crumbled under the Liberal party and its new prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Since joining the race for NDP leader, the father of two kids — an 8-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy — has made his status as the only Quebec MP a key part of his pitch.
He has also put out detailed proposals for revamping the economy, including his marquee plan to introduce a basic income to bring all Canadians to the poverty line.
He wants to raise the federal corporate tax rate to19 per cent from15 per cent. He would also create new taxes for financial institutions, bank executives and the wealthiest 10 per cent of Canadians.
Much of this new money would go to infrastructure: Caron has earmarked $90 billion over 10 years — on top of the $125 billion already pledged by Trudeau and his Conservative predecessor — for green energy projects, high-speed rail, public transit and building retrofits, and more.
In short, Caron argues his policy pre- scription is meant to support workers in the 21st-century economy and address what he calls the two biggest challenges of the era: income inequality and climate change.
“I feel that the vision that I have needed to be in the race,” Caron said this week.
That vision has gained him some highprofile backers, like former leader Alexa McDonough, who described him as the “perfect foil to Justin Trudeau’s buzzword and photo-op-reliant approach to politics.”
Scott Duvall, an MP from Hamilton, was the first member of caucus to get behind Caron; he endorsed his run in the waning weeks of the campaign. And it’s mainly because he finds Caron’s argument on Quebec the most convincing.
“We’ve got four great candidates running, but I really feel to go forward, we need more seats in Quebec, and I think Guy is the guy that can bring that together,” he said.
Caron, meanwhile, said he’s already obtained a sort of victory in the campaign. When it started, he felt he was barely known in the national NDP. During the final official candidates’ debate, he put it this way: “These days, I don’t hear ‘Who’s that guy?’ quite so much. Instead, more and more people are saying, ‘Hey . . . I like this Guy.’ ”
Get it? Guy?