Terahertz

Humanism vs. the Liberal Party

Next on the block is the Liberal Party of Canada. Referred to (by themselves) as the "natural ruling party of Canada".

So what are there policies and how do they fit with an ideal humanist policy?

• The Green Shift

This is Stephane Dion's key point of his election campaign. They correctly recognize the need for action on global climate change, and suggest the carbon tax as the response (similar to the Green Party). I don't think I need to address this again, and here the Liberals get the humanist stamp of approval.

• Fuel the economy

Here the Liberals use the record of the Chretien-era when the then Liberal majority led Canada through a very prosperous run. Relying on evidence is good, although it is arguable that the Liberals had coincidental good times world-wide whereas Harper has had to deal with an American downturn, which greatly affects the Canadian economy. Unfortunately there's not much meat in this policy so I'm not sure whether it's in line with the humanist ideals.

• Finally the last bit of their campaign is Dion is not Harper.

I don't think I can give the thumbs up here. This is half a smear campaign, and half a reaction to Conservative smears. The focus is on Dion, not the people he should aim to help as prime minister.

And as far as I can tell from the Liberal website, that's all they have for policy. A good secular humanistic party would be open and honest about its entire policy, and would have a full policy.

I'm not trying to imply the Liberals are dishonest here, I just don't have much to go on other than a lot of information on Stephane Dion.

What policy the Liberals do have up (The Green Shift and a bit on the economy) is good, but without more (which may be yet to come), I cannot endorse the Liberals as a secular humanist party. I don't even know if I can compare the Liberals to the Greens (who did have their entire policy available) as the more humanistic party (remember, the Greens were good on the environment, but also were anti-scientific with respect to nuclear energy and GMOs).

Hopefully the next couple parties have more meat to them.