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Richard Ziegler, Reclaiming the Canadian Left.

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Richard Ziegler, Reclaiming the Canadian Left (Ottawa: Baico Publishing Consultants 2007)

IN RECLAIMING the Canadian Left, Richard Ziegler excoriates the Canadian Left (defined broadly) for failing to put the goal of economic equality at the centre of its political agenda. ]-he book is heavy on denunciation and lacks the analytical subtlety that would be needed to capture the imagination and sympathies of even a thin slice of Left-wing activists and intellectuals. Nevertheless there is a moral imperative at the heart of Ziegler's argument that deserves more than a second thought.

The book's premise is that "the Canadian left has renounced even any semblance of economic equality as an objective." (6) In Ziegler's view it is not good enough to advocate for programs that would reduce economic inequality; rather a Left that is true to its political heritage must privilege a more-or-less pure vision of economic equality. The bulk of Reclaiming the Canadian Left addresses this question: "How is it that the Canadian left, formerly concerned with substantially reducing economic differences, has arrived at a point where it is largely indifferent to or even supportive of immense inequalities?" (8-9)

Richard Ziegler begins his answer to this question by pointing to four generic features of the political and ideological landscape of contemporary...

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