thank you everyone thank [Applause] you Tom malare members of the federal caucus distinguished delegates brothers and sisters I feel privileged to be at a Podium that was occupied by Rachel notley when I heard her recite the extraordinary achievements of the first few months of government my mind went back to a campaign in Saskatchewan in the mid-50s when I was lucky enough to travel with Tommy Douglas as he recited the same kind of litany of achievements and I thought to myself what lovely historical continuity from Tommy’s days then to Rachel’s days now and how much the Democratic left has brought to the social and political culture of Canada I approached the podium in a bullant frame of mind in fact I’m in such good spirits that it’s positively indecent I uh I I realize of course that my demeanor is entirely out of whack after all we suffered a crush ing set back in the federal election I should be brooding sirly gloomy kinly all the symptoms of demoralizing defeat but I’m none of those things I’m truly insufferably buoyant and there are there are two reasons why first I’ve been through it all before when I was uh when I was provincial leader of the NDP in Ontario I led the party to three successive second or third place finishes I I’ve often said that my tenure of leader was marked by transcendental futility and with great respect by comparison Tom mare is a mere amateur [Applause] second the Liberals have already begun to fray that doesn’t mean the bloom is off the Justin Rose it will last for a while longer he’s a prime minister of amiable disposition and appearance sure he’s riding high in the pools today but that’s the most ephemeral thing in the world the Tex test comes on policy not Aesthetics and and predictably and predictably the Liberals are are already shuffling backwards into the precincts of igny where they so comfortably reside I must admit as I launch into my remarks that this is a difficult speech to make I’m not at all sure that I’ve gauged the atmosphere accurately I want to set out very selectively I say selectively because you can’t possibly cover everything number of issues where the approach the analys the policy of the NDP differs profoundly from that of the liberal government this isn’t a matter of some minute repositioning of the NDP to the left of the Liberals this is a matter of fundamentals we differ from the Liberals on so many issues in so many ways that there’s a world to conquer I don’t get this stuff about the blurring and meshing of the so-called Center left allow me then on your behalf to count some of the ways first feminism it’s a huge pleasure to have a prime minister who unselfconsciously calls himself a feminist and the clever use of the phrase It’s 2015 has now entered the Lexicon of political memorabilia but we have a message for the prime minister feminism is a vacant construct without a Child Care Program across Canada you don’t provide child care with a limited Financial transfer to individual families you provide child care as a matter of well-funded public policy with spaces for all who need them and trained Early Childhood Educators to staff them in terms of social policy in terms of social policy there’s arguably nothing more important for this country at this moment someone has to tell the prime minister of Canada that the use of feminism has a hypocritical ring when the women of Canada who play the central role in the raising of children are denied the child care to which they are entitled as of [Applause] right second electoral reform the Prime Minister has said at nauseum that we will never again fight a Canadian election based on the system of first pass the post Bravo Canadians in various opinion surveys have indicated a significant plurality in favor of change and the change everyone is talking about is proportional representation but there’s an ominous unprincipled Cloud emerging in the guarded cautious language employed by the Prime Minister it becomes clear ever so clear that there will be a variation on the present electoral process but the variation will protect and benefit the government you don’t need you don’t need prophetic Vision to know that we’re about to experience one of those brazenly cynical political moments the sonorous sounds of desirable change will mask the self-serving manipulation of desirable change it would appear that something called ranked ballots now has the inner track in the mind of the government and to use Ed broadbent’s evocative phrase it would be like the first pass the post system on steroids but it would be conveyed as qualitative change I could say how disappointing electoral reform is an issue whose Time Has Come proportional representation cries out for implementation but whom are we kidding do we really think that the government will relinquish the Cozy Asylum of political Advantage this is a fight we have to win it should consume our Collective [Applause] energies third Bill c-51 here’s the Nemesis if ever there was one this piece of hoked up anti-terror legislation so excessive in tone and content so contemptuous of civil liberties so effectively lacerated during the course of the election campaign is apparently sticking around largely in its present form to live another day our prime minister having promised significant changes to the bill is again subsiding into the shadows of incrementalism you see he didn’t mistakenly support the bill and then Scramble for Redemption by suggesting there would be amendments the Prime Minister truly and fundamentally agrees with the bill and will offer only the most cosmetic shifts in wording and Nuance you have to smile a grim tight lipped smile liberals never disappoint fourth healthc care here in lies one of the most distressing gaps in the budget there is no provision for a redesigned funding formula for healthcare into the future I remember all the way back to the charlot town Accord when another survey of Canadians attempting to identify our defining characteristic revealed overwhelmingly that it was Healthcare that’s what Canadians most cared about and I dare say the same sentiments would be expressed today it’s our issue from Tommy Douglas to Roy Romano it’s our issue we cannot allow it to be depreciated or trifled with modern sophisticated economies do not regard Health as a soft sector Public Health lies at the very heart of the international sustainable development goals goals meant to govern public policy for the next 15 years goals effectively ratified by every one of the 193 member states of the United Nations Canada of course included it is now finally understood worldwide that resources for health are the C quo of a civilized society and the foundation of economic growth we have so much ground yet to cover the liberal pledge for Home Care appears to have been abandoned and Universal pharmacare is nowhere to be seen those are progam programs that we must pursue as though life depended on it because in fact life does depend on it Fifth international trade agreements The Economist Joseph stiglets recently said that he’d met with Christia Freeland the liberal Minister for international trade at the world economic Forum in Davis Switzerland in January now just to provide the context setting stiglets aside for a moment the world economic forum is a gathering overwhelmingly of multinational corporate leadership with a sprinkling of politicians and Bill Gates types who engage in a protracted orgy of self- congratul about how about how they collectively save the world people who attend are not what you would call left of center stiglets is an anomaly he apparently pressed on Chris Freeland the negative consequences of signing the transpacific partnership and according to stiglets she seemed to understand poor Joseph how was he to know that he was taken down the transpacific path less than two weeks later the minister signed the TPP in New Zealand in the presence of 12 Pacific Rim Partners it was said to be ceremonial it is said that extensive consultations will take place across Canada before there’s a House of Commons vote is there anyone in this Hall who thinks the TPP won’t be formerly endorsed by the government of Canada of course it will the irony is that with both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders coming out against the TPP it may not even be embraced by the United States and rightly [Applause] so and rightly so the TPP as with so many other current international trade agreements results in the loss of jobs possible loss of 60,000 projected for Canada and the invest State dispute Provisions put at risk Canada’s autonomy as a democratic State Foreign corporations were they to claim unfair treatment can effectively bypass Canadian laws and seek compensation from an international tribunal and there is no appeal these are ridiculous Provisions the ugly quintessence of corporate capitalism [Applause] but that’s not all there is an even more pernicious aspect at work as I learned painfully over the years involved with HIV and AIDS one of the greatest benefits of these trade agreements is conferred on the brand named drug companies they negotiate and receive preferential patent privileges that undermine the manufacturer of equivalent generic drugs drugs for the pharmaceutical industry the trade agreements are a financial Bonanza for impoverished citizens of developing countries fighting communicable and non-communicable disease they can be and often are a disaster for countries like Canada they will inevitably mean an increase in prescription drug prices no government of Canada should lend itself to the knee-jerk signing of the TPP no government of Canada in this day and age should embrace the discordant siren song of free trade [Applause] sixth arms sales what in Heaven’s name possesses the liberal government to consummate the sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia it it reveals so much about this government so much that cries out for an aggressive political response the arm Sal shows an astonishing contempt for human rights not only has the government of Saudi Arabia recently been excoriated by the United Nations for the conduct of war in Yemen the wholesale and indiscriminate Slaughter of Civilian populations but it’s also a country where the beheadings of dissident Rivals The Madness of isil there is absolutely no guarantee that the weapons in question won’t be used at some point to assault the Shia minority within Saudi Arabia we’re talking about a regime whose hands are drenched in Blood and of course that’s not all the sale also directly contradicts sat Canadian policy we’re not supposed to be sending armaments to countries that have a quote persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens close quote Saudi Arabia is the embodiment of the meaning of the word violations and the government of Canada refuses to release release its so-called assessment of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia so much for the newly minted policy of transparency but perhaps what is most offensive and revealing in all of this is the proposition of stated by the foreign minister that the contract is sacran it can’t be broken we know that Stefan Deon is a nice fellow he must be privately writhing with the disingenuous Guff he is forced to discour we’re in the earliest stages of this sale and the saale is overseen by the government what do you mean you can’t break the contract what you mean is that you won’t break the contract and with the greatest [Applause] respect and with the and with the greatest respect that’s just nonsensical clap trap as is the proposition that if we pull out others will fill the Gap well let them what kind of Twisted logic is it that says we should cozy up to murderers because if we don’t others [Applause] will and I know you will agree with me on this because there’s an additional matter that I wish someone would put to the Prime Minister one day in question period what kind of feminism is it that sells weapons to a government steeped in misogyny [Applause] there is of course an elephant in the room between two and 3,000 jobs at General Dynamics in London Ontario I absolutely affirm the point we cannot be indifferent to the lives and Prospects of working people but if those jobs are crucial as they are and if the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia is odious as it is then a serious progressive government pulls out all the Ops to create 3,000 jobs in another manufacturing environment or another sector or using infrastructure funds in Southwestern Ontario whatever it takes it is not beyond our capacity we should never believe it is beyond our capacity to say no to the Saudis and yes to employment and while I’m on the issue of foreign policy let me address one other matter the budget was absolutely pathetic on the question of foreign aid the amount of increase for official development assistance over the next two years is a travesty it’s microscopic the Liberals are maintaining the same level of Aid as the Tories 0.24% of GDP putting us somewhere between 16th and 20th on the development assistance scale of the oecd countries it’s particularly outrageous when the target of 7% almost three times what we’re now giving was fashioned by the great iconic liberal himself Lester Pearson prime minister Trudeau has to understand that when your foreign aid is poultry and your commitment to Human Rights is suspect and your climate change policy is a charade and you run for the security Council you’re putting a successful run at risk he has to be put on [Applause] notice seventh and finally for those of you who felt I would go on unendurably and eternally seventh um all right I come to the last extended point I want to make climate change this is tough this is tough I acknowledge that I listened carefully to Premier notley but frankly around global warming there’s a rallying cry for the party because the position of the current prime minister is no position at all at the federal level at the federal level there is a serious vacuum of content and Leadership there is instead a superfluity of twaddle and rhetoric there are some provinces wrestling with the response to Global Warming as we saw a variety of policies that may or may not work but at least it shows a twitch of concern on the part of provincial jurisdictions compared to a federal government that presents The Stance of a limp bystander oh yes the prime minister went to Paris and shared in the celebratory jeree but the bitter truth about Paris that is so hard to acknowledge given the public relations frenzy is that it was a failure everything that was agreed on is voluntary every Target is voluntary every mode of reporting is voluntary there’s not a single mandatory requirement except to report every 5 years we don’t have five [Applause] years when you add up all the pledges all the targets submitted by every country at Paris there were 180 countries at Paris the world faces a terrifying temperature rise way above the 2° Centigrade that is contained in the Paris declaration and is supposed to keep the planet from self-immolation let alone the 1.5° Centigrade that is the aspirational Hope and where Canada is concerned our targets still reflect the bogus figures set by the Neanderthals who stalked our political landscape for the last 10 years I’m kept awake at night thinking of what our grandchildren will face I have some history here please forgive this brief detour back in June of 1988 at the request of then prime minister marun I chaired the first major International Conference on climate change it was an amazing assemblage of 300 politicians academics and scientists from across the planet held in Toronto opened by Gru Harland bruntland the prime minister of Norway who had just tabled her epic report our common future the product of the commission on environment and development she was followed by James Hansen of the Godard space Institute who had just completed testimony before a senate subcommittee in the United States making the point that June of 1988 was the hottest month on record the debate raged for several days raising all the issues with which every everyone in this Hall is familiar at the end of the conference a colleague and I were asked to draft a declaration to Faithfully reflect the sense of the proceedings this was our opening paragraph quote humanity is conducting an unintended uncontrolled globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war the Earth’s atmosphere is being changed at an unprecedented rate these changes represent a major threat to International Security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe we then set out a number of specific recommendations covering every facet of global warming recommendations that were still relevant at the time of the Kyoto Accord recommendations that are still relevant today it’s 28 years later the progress relative to the targets of 1988 is negligible I’ve taught climate change as part of a course on the Millennium development goals and then the sustainable development goals for 10 years at McMaster Mcgill and Ryerson universities I’m obsessed by the subject and for what it’s worth I believe that the world is headed for an apocalyptic event somewhere between 2030 and 2050 that is absolutely irreversible it will be one of those huc atory climatic convulsions the damage we’ve done to the planet and our refusal to confront that damage constitutes nothing less than a Monumental crime against [Applause] humanity [Applause] and and that’s why that’s why seems to me if I may be so bold that the leap Manifesto is a document worthy of discussion now I readily I readily admit to a conflict of interest Not only was I at the launch of the manifesto but I’m reasonably friendly with its authors nonetheless I’m taking my courage in my hands to address what has become a hot issue for this convention but I want to do it in a somewhat unorthodox way the leap Manifesto is a radical document of that there’s no dispute it contains propositions that cause profound offense in the oil patch it clearly causes distress to the premier of Alberta and I readily concede that amongst many social Democrats at this convention there are levels of intellectual consternation and skepticism but that I would argue shouldn’t dispatch the manifesto to obscurity I’m attracted to the idea that it could become a centerpiece of constituency debate over the next couple of years the kind of proposition that re-energizes and reanimates through the lens of a determinedly left-wing analysis a Social Democratic party that’s searching for renewed Vision I make no assumptions about the outcome two years hence I make no assumptions about what would be discarded and what would be endorsed I know only that the resolution on the floor indicates that leap in whole or in part can be rejected by writing associations and obviously by provinces an intense exchange of views on all of the issues raised in the manifesto can only be healthy what kind of a party are we that we would run from internal controversy when a when we seek a redefinition of who we are and where we’re headed Aboriginal rights Aboriginal rights the plague of inequality pipelines fossil fuels corporate taxation public transit the caring professions the list goes on it’s a potential compendium of public policy and at the heart of it lies a truth upon which the entire world agrees the transformation to a renewable economy it’s time to put to bed all the understandable but misplaced skepticism about the transition to Renewables most specifically wind and solar last year 2015 was the first year when the expenditure worldwide on renewable forms of energy exceeded expenditure on fossil fuels more it was the first year it was also the first first year when expenditures on Renewables by developing countries exceeded that of industrial Nations it’s amazing what’s underway just last Monday the lead editorial in the New York Times carried this headline quote a renewable energy boom close quote the editorial ended quote the falling cost of Renewables is a clear plus the prospect of keeping energy affordable while saving the planet should Inspire leaders to Bolder action note the words while saving the planet isn’t that what we should be fighting for as always it’s a matter of political will you want to transform the economy it can be done just settle on a crusade to develop the Renewables it’s not something that happens overnight but it can happen it’s happening in Germany it’s happening in Denmark it can happen in Canada I don’t depreciate or minimize the Herculean effort that’s required but it’s not beyond the capacity of human intelligence to pull it off and yet nothing absolutely nothing in the liberal budget would make you think that this federal government cares one wit about a transformation Alberta is of course our deeply troubling dilemma this province fears the further loss of jobs how could it be otherwise we all heard Premier notle today how could you not feel for the human predicament of this province even when there is is to be a transition let it be particularly thorough and careful and the planning must include through their unions the thousands of workers whose jobs and homes and families and lives are on the line we’re a socialist party for God’s sake no one can suffer the unceremonious loss of jobs [Applause] I say to my Trade union colleagues the workers must never pay a price but as everyone wrestles with these issues these inescapable issues that are visceral in every way there is an overriding truth the move to Renewables is the greatest job creation program on the planet Planet it is frankly and I say this with inordinate confidence the shift to Renewables is the Marshall Plan for employment and it should be embraced so simply let the leap be the entry point to one of the great philosophic and pragmatic debates that engages Democratic socialists in Canada okay let me not knock things through the wall I’m always Laden by ideological recollection at times like this I think back to my dad when he was NDP leader and his endless struggles with the Liberals in the 1970s the war measures act and wage and price control I think back to the middle of the 199s and the Craven brutality of the financial cutbacks that we haven’t yet fully recovered from like you I absolutely know what’s coming despite all the faler all of Sunny ways and sunny days I I I I recognize the painful defeat we suffered I recognize how tough it is as a Democratic Socialist in our context to integrate to harmonize the the competing and conflicting narratives I recognize the tension that will exist tomorrow morning in the vote on the leadership but I have to end as I again I’m irrepressibly filled with optimism just yesterday AI reminded me a phrase from the Pentagon a Target Rich environment when it comes to the Liberals we live in a Target Rich [Applause] environment there is so much to fire at and we fire at it from a determinedly leftwing analysis and we let the chips fall where they may there’s no reason to believe that Progressive and principled stands will consign us to the Wast spin of History indeed the politics of other countries the most fascinating be in the United States suggest a tremendous surge of support for those Like Bernie fighting inequality head on and when and when you when you consider the social movements in this country Idol no more occupy black lives matter there is a there is a ground swell there is a ground swell with which we can amalgamate to make our presence dramatically felt in the next campaign look you know what I hate I hate being a member of the geriatric class I hate being in my my dotage and over the hell this is almost certainly my last Harrah I’d love to be in the House of Commons or running for Parliament to stand shoulder toh shoulder with the NDP caucus hounding a government whose flimsy veneer of progressive politics will evaporate before the next election [Applause] some 60 years ago David Lewis in a lecture titled a socialist Tak stock wrote and I quote the modern Democratic Socialist should Proclaim his or her aims loudly and passionately the equality of men and women is the Socialist one word the moral struggle against Injustice and inequality is the Socialists duty to be a strong and powerful voice for common men and women against the abuse and oppression of the privileged minority is the Socialist function and to forge an Ever finer and higher standard of values and a richer pattern of life and behavior is the Socialist dream that was true 60 years ago it remains true today that’s why why we never give up thank you everyone