(5)
Americans living in Greater Toronto must use their Canadian experience to raise expectations south of the border, says presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
By telling their friends and relatives about things like universal health care and compassionate leave they can "help raise expectations in the American people," said Nader, a long-time consumer advocate and four-time U.S. presidential candidate.
"Here in Canada you have medicare, health insurance for all. ... We've got 50 million (people) who do not have health insurance and another 50 million that are grossly underinsured," he told reporters in Toronto yesterday at the Design Exchange before his evening campaign event.
Nader, 74, once wrote a book on Canadian achievements called Canada Firsts and has long been a fan of his northern neighbour, but his trip here now is more than tourism. He's trying to connect with – and secure the votes of – the approximately 700,000 Americans who live in Canada.
Both the Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat candidate Barack Obama are too close to corporate interests and aren't standing up for ordinary Americans, said Nader, who is running as an independent.
The need to cut back on the "bloated" military budget and put that money toward social programs and public works is one of the many issues that "corporate Democrat" Obama isn't raising, Nader said.
In 2004, Nader won just 0.3 per cent of the vote as an independent.
His campaign says he's poised to do better this time around.
But there are still many angry Democrats who feel Nader pulled votes away from Al Gore in 2000 and handed the White House to Republican George W. Bush.
"It's not my concern," he said, when asked if there was a chance he could pull votes away from Obama, thereby helping McCain.
"We all have an equal right to run."
He also pointed to polls that, he said, show when he's in the mix, Obama does better than McCain. His candidacy gives the Hillary Clinton supporters who can't bring themselves to vote for Obama somewhere to lodge their protest vote other than with McCain, Nader said.
