by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
December 7, 2004
With slogans of "Workers of the world--Relax!!!" and "alarm clocks kill dreams", the Work Less Party is set to field at least three candidates in the next British Columbia election. It should come as no surprise that a political party that advocates working less should first take hold in B.C., the Canadian equivalent of La-La land that is often referred to as British California.
The major plank of the WL (perhaps they should be called "willies") is to bring in a 4-day, 32 hour work week. The party wants to go back to the heady days of the 1950s when robotics were all the rage and people were looking forward to the time when machines took over and the population would have more leisure time. But as the Work Less Party points out, those days never came. We are now all working more while real incomes have declined since the days when a carefree Beaver Cleaver romped happily through the streets of Mayfield.
But not all of the Work Less Party’s policies are from the 1950s. according to the party’s platform, it is all this work that is responsible for pollution and the destruction of the planet. Working also leads to social decay and too much competition. The WL wants to replace competition with co-operation (where have we heard that before?). Other policies include a greater participation in the arts, as if that is even possible, as well as a tax on luxury goods that pollute. That last policy is a downer--who wants more time off from work if they can’t afford a pollution-causing SUV to drive around in?
This party may have what no other Canadian political party has--credibility. On the party’s website (www.worklessparty.org), a picture of one of their nominated candidates, Tom Walker, is featured. although pictures can be deceptive it is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words and this guy looks like he has never worked hard a day in his life. Unlike the Conservative Party of Canada which has a bunch of wannabe liberals in it, and the NDP that is made up of a bunch of old geezers like Ed Broadbent and alexa McDonough that are not the most "democratic" and are definitely not "new", the WLP may actually be able to live up to its name.
Come to think of it, the Work Less Party should run federally. Despite the fact that there is a commonly held perception that politicians are lazy and don’t do enough to earn what is in reality a modest salary, the opposite is true. Most of the problems that we encounter in this country results from politicians and elected representatives doing too much, not doing too little. If the WL Party had been in power in the mid-90s, adscam would never have happened. Politicians and bureaucrats spent thousands of hours in order to reward Quebec advertising agencies for doing nothing other than making political donations. a Work Less government would never have found the time to get involved in something like that.
and where would Judy Sgro be now if she had been the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in a Work Less government? Well, she would have been getting her hair done instead of directing her Ihor to go to her campaign office and strip bars to ensure that men throughout this great country will never suffer from a shortage of Romanian strippers.
and WL supporters will never have to worry about such things as tax on luxury goods or turning the country into a true collective state (as if it isn’t already). as long as there are at least one or two opposition members in Parliament, passing legislation will become too time consuming and the government won’t expend any energy on passing legislation and all that other stuff that requires work.
although the party’s website shows how people can sign up for membership, they do not seem to be asking for campaign workers or volunteers. That’s just as well--it would be way too much work.