The Cream Separator

Below is an excellent anecdote first stated by Tommy Douglas in 1944 on his analysis of the capitalist economic system and its failures. The story is relevant to this day and is the basis of NDP policies supporting state intervention. Hope you enjoy it!

"I used to visit farm homes, particularly around meal time, and if I got around dinner time of course, everybody was busy. They were unhitching the horses. They were pumping the water. They were milking the cows. They were pitching down the hay and the oat sheaves. Somebody else was out gathering the eggs. Somebody else was feeding the pigs and the chickens. Everybody had something to do. Even the youngsters were given a job doing something, for instance gathering the eggs or feeding the chickens. And here I was, right off the city streets. I didn't know what to do, and I said "give me something to do." Well, nobody was going to trust this city boy with milking a good cow. They gave me the one job that anybody could do. They gave me the job of turning the handle of the cream separator.

Any of you ever turned the handle on the cream separator? Well it's quite an experience. I got to be quite good at it. I got to the place where I could tell you how many verse of "Onward Christian Soldiers" it takes to put a pan of milk through this thing. And as I was turning the handle and they were pouring in the milk, and I could see the cream come out and the one spout and the skim milk coming out of the other spout, one day it finally penetrated my thick Scotch head that this cream separator is exactly like our economic system.

Here are the primary producers, the farmers and the fishermen and the loggers. They are pouring in the milk. And here are the workers, whether they work on the railroad or go down to the mines or sail ships or work in a store or a bank, or teach school, clerk in the store, work in a hospital. They are the people whose services make the economy go round, and they're turning the handle. So here you have it: primary producer puts in the milk; people who work with hand and brain turn the handle.

And then I thought, but there's another fellow here somewhere. There's a fellow who owns this cream separator. And he's sitting on a stool with the cream spout in his mouth. And the primary producer and the worker take turns on the skim milk spout. And they don't like skim milk. Nobody likes skim milk. And they blame it on each other, and the worker says, "If those farmers and fishermen, you know would work a little harder, well I wouldn't be drinking this skim milk." And the fishermen and the farmer say, "If those workers didn't demand a forty hour week, and didn't want such high wages, I wouldn't have to live on this blue milk." But you know, they're both wrong.

The farmers and the fishermen have produced so much we don't know what to do with it... we've got surpluses of foodstuffs. And the workers, they've produced so well that today nearly a million of them are unemployed. The fault is not with the worker. It is not with the primary producer. The fault is with this machine. The machine was built to give skim milk to the worker and the primary producer, and to give cream to the corporate elite. As a matter of fact, it doesn't always do that because every once in a while this little fellow sitting on the stool with the cream spout in his mouth gets indigestion. And he says, "Boys, stop this machine. We got a recession!" Hey says to the worker, "You're laid off, you can go on unemployment insurance, and after that on welfare." And he says to the farmers and the fishermen, "You know, we don't need your stuff. Take it back home." And then he sits for a while, indigestion gets better, burps a couple of times, says, "Alright boys, start the machine. Happy days are here again. Cream for me and skim milk for both of you."

Now what the democratic socialist party has been saying to Canadians for a long time is that the time has come in this land of ours for the worker and the primary producer to get their hands on the regulator of the machine so that begins to produce homogenized milk in which everybody'll get a little cream."

It's War!

Well, not literally - but figuratively. Seriously though, chances are that if you are on Vancouver Island you've seen a lovely (sarcasm alert) plant bloom lately with the sun finally emerging from beyond the clouds with our late spring. Don't get your hopes up, I'm talking about scotch broom. It's not a lovely feature of Greater Victoria, and it carpets our scenery.

But scotch broom doesn't just sting our retinas, it also leaves huge holes in our wallets. Every year, the weed costs millions of dollars to farmers and the lumber industry. As we all know, a hit to the governments finances, is a hit to our finances. Yet despite this, scotch broom has only gotten heckled. Nearly no action has been taken to combat this invasion. Mill Hill had massive problems with the plant and after years of patience, the problem is now subsiding thanks to a volunteer organized program.

It's cases like this where government action is needed. Hiring seasonal workers through the city to remove invasive plant species would be a huge benefit for the entire community. It would cost far less than simply procrastinating over the issue and beautify public lands. The program would not be short lived however, as seeds can remain dormant for up to a decade. Thus, this would be a watch-and-see initiative, reliant on community input to report any new or untouched patches. But the problem goes beyond the spectrum of just scotch broom.

Other invasive plant species including English Ivy and the Himalayan blackberry also draw us back. The solution lies within a long-term approach involving a by-law prohibiting invasive species such as scotch broom, English Ivy or the Himalayan blackberry on private property. Then it's a matter of hiring seasonal workers paid at living wage through the city to remove invasive species on public property over an extended period. Then, barring any incredible unforeseen variable, with patience and cooperation among other communities, Langford would solve this problem.

Ontario '11: A Preview

Barring any other snap elections being called this year (cough, British Columbia, cough) Ontario will join Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Yukon and Newfoundland & Labrador in the long list of provinces holding provincial elections in 2011. Ontario looks like a humdinger too. Who even says humdinger anymore? Anyway, Dalton McGuinty of the Liberals is seeking a third term in office, but it looks like the people won't have it.

In a manner similar to British Columbia (but less dramatic of course), after the Liberals announced the HST their polling numbers began to drop dramatically. The new PC leader, Tim Hudak picked up this enthusiasm for his party. Today, there is a seven point spread between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives. After holding a lead in the polls since August, it appears Tim Hudak will win the provincial election this October on a theme of change similar to Mike Harris' Common Sense Revolution in 1995. That is smaller government, lower taxes and libertarianism whenever possible.

The NDP also seems to be floating above their 2007 results. In some cases, up to 22% of support. Following the immensely successful federal election, most political analysts agree that the Ontario NDP is poised to make some gains this cycle. The Greens meanwhile, after over a decade of increasing their share of the popular vote, appear to be losing support.

Things look grim for the Liberals in Ontario. A Progressive Conservative majority is now within reach, but with the decline of centre at the provincial level, we can remain hopeful that social democracy will rise up. In the words of Jack Layton, "Together we can do this!"

Canada '11: The Results

The Conservatives finally won their coveted majority by stealing a vast majority of seats in the Greater Toronto Area from the Liberals. Outside of the GTA, there were very few gains for the governing party of Canada. In fact, they lost nearly half of their seats in Quebec all of which fell victim to the NDP Orange Wave, or as it should be known now, the Orange Crush. Break out the pop ladies and gentlemen! The national results are as follows:

Conservative Party of Canada - 166 seats (+23) with 40% of the vote
New Democratic Party - 103 seats (+66) with 31% of the vote
Liberal Party of Canada - 34 seats (-43) with 19% of the vote
Bloc Quebecois - 4 seats (-44) with 6% of the vote
Green Party of Canada - 1 seat (+1) with 4% of the vote

The results tonight mark the first time the NDP has ever formed the official opposition, and the first time sinking of the Liberals to third place. This is a huge step towards the establish of a two-party system with the Conservatives and Liberals. Michael Ignatieff even lost his own seat, and I wouldn't expect him to be party leader much longer. Gilles Duceppe, who also lost his seat has resigned as leader of the Bloc Quebecois, after receiving its worst election result ever. Its result of four seats, bars it from party status in the House of Commons. Interestingly, the Green Party won their first seat ever in Saanich - Gulf Islands despite their support eroding to half of its 2008 base.

Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca also fell victim to the Orange Crush with Randall Garrison of the NDP elected MP with a margin of 406 votes over Conservative Troy DeSouza. This marks two successful campaigns, and as much as I hate Conservative majority governments, I don't know if I can handle another campaign as sign coordinator, at least initially.

The results before us tonight are incredible. Like most, I have yet to realize the true potential of our party and our message in the future. So many have converted to our cause, so many have been enlightened, the NDP could by the next election form the government. But until then, we will stick to our values and see Jack Layton as leader of the Official Opposition fighting for us each and everyday. Damn were good!