Nearly a century ago, Tommy Douglas told the people of Saskatchewan “you can lock up a man or a mouse, but you can’t lock up an idea”.

What were those ideas that Douglas spoke of?

Encouraging innovation, supporting competitive enterprise, working together for a better tomorrow.

Douglas’ CCF Government won in a landslide in 1944, bringing in the first social democratic Government in Canada. This Government went on to balance budgets for 17 years to create the fiscal capacity for our universal healthcare system, it attracted private investment and encouraged innovation by creating tax incentives with tax cuts in key industries, and it used new Crown Corporations to deliver returns to the people of Saskatchewan and deliver a social safety net that pulled everyone ahead.

From Blakeney building Saskatchewan’s resource wealth and protecting it from foreign interests and a predatory federal Government, to Roy Romanow pioneering a fiscal consensus that ended Canada’s debt crisis in the 1990’s, delivering record rates of economic growth, and the Doer Government in Manitoba doing all the same, while Lorne Calvert’s Government cut taxes and saw record levels of employment growth and investment, the CCF and the NDP have served Canada better than any political party ever has.

But let’s really back this up with evidence. Other parties might try to tell Canadians that they’ve got the best plan, the best vision, the best strategy and record to deliver.

The numbers don’t lie.

NDP Government’s balanced their budgets 40% of the time, while Conservatives managed 33% and Liberals 23%.

Deficits under NDP Government’s averaged 0.5% of GDP, while Tories ran with 1.1% and Liberals with 1.3%.

The NDP matched the Tories with 24% average Debt-GDP ratios, while the Liberals had 35%, and Conservatives increased their Debt-GDP ratios faster than both other parties.

As proof of who is more efficient in their spending, the NDP, who have delivered more social supports and better quality healthcare and education, spent the least as a percentage of the economy, spending 21.6% to the Tories 22.2% and Liberals at 24.6%.

Are the NDP big taxers, like some Conservatives would claim? Nope. The NDP taxed the same as Conservatives, 21% of the economy, while Liberals taxed 23.4%.

And it’s not just on finances that the NDP comes top.

Unemployment averages 7% under the NDP, 9.7% under Conservatives, and 10.8% under Liberals.

Real Wage Growth, or purchasing power, rose at 0.89% annually under the NDP on average, while the Tories managed 0.66% and the Liberals 0.63%.

GDP growth and Job growth are admittedly similar across Parties, with 1.1% job growth and 2.3% GDP growth.

Some might say that New Democrats are bad for business, but even this is untrue!

The NDP increased nominal corporate profits by 8.7% per year, while the Tories did 7.8% and Liberals 7.6%.

But let’s adjust that for inflation. Real corporate profit growth…the NDP still comes top with 6.2%, the Liberals come second with 5.1%, and Tories last with 4.4%.

Now, you might be tempted to say “well some parties have been in power during booms or recessions more often”. Thats not the case, the Liberals, Conservatives, and New Democrats were in power 61-62% of the time during booms, governing during recessions 38-39% of the time.

On every fiscal and economic indicator, the NDP delivers better.

We’ve set out to rebuild a New Democracy in Canada, and we’ve done so just how Douglas started out a century ago. We’re building a Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, one that works for everyone.

Join our team, and make a difference across Canada.