Speaking to the members

Brian Masse's speech to the CAW may not have received the same attention that PMPM's did. But Hargrove's personal views aside (and even Hargrove still favoured voting NDP in any riding where the NDP wasn't supposedly out of the running), Masse leaves little doubt why the interests of working-class Canadians are best met by the NDP rather than the Libs:

I stood up in the House of Commons and voted to implement anti-scab legislation in federal jurisdiction...

And I watched every single Liberal Cabinet minister – including some of the ones who were in this hall yesterday – vote to kill that legislation.

I was proud to stand next to David Christopherson when he introduced a law to put pension payments at the front of the line if a company goes bankrupt.

And I was proud to join our NDP team in taking on Liberal Minister David Emerson when he said that measure was bad for business.

And I’m proud to be in Windsor – fighting to get our air cleaned up. Fighting pollution that is causing some of the highest cancer rates in Canada – in Windsor – the place Paul Martin calls home.

Ultimately, the word of Buzz Hargrove should play far less of a role in determining how CAW members vote than the parties' actions. And for the CAW as for so many others, there's no comparison between the NDP's focus on the interests of Canadians in general, and the Libs' determination to disproportionately benefit their friends and funding sources.