All this plus a few other issues: he holds left-liberal positions, not democratic socialist ones (hence is almost total lack of an economic platform featuring public ownership of key assets, resources, and infrastructure), and of course the absolute lack of defence and foreign policy. He’s used Palestine as an identity politics token rather than a serious issue (witness his failure to use his leverage with the government to force policy change) and failed on electoral reform (again, failed to use his leverage). I honestly don’t see what he’s offering. Signed, a democratic socialist who refuses to vote NDP this time.
The final nail in his political coffin should be his ass-backwards strategy for this campaign. Instead of leveraging all the good his party did supporting the Lib government and getting pharma and dental care in return, he's gone full frontal attack. He could have increased the NDP seat count and kept the Libs to a minority if he'd done this. He's needed to go for a long time.
This toxicity is one of the outcomes of party-centric voting systems (FPFP/SMP, DMP, MMP, etc) where the corporate party brands are always fighting against each other to get that X on the ballot.
If only the NDP and Greens hadn't been so opposed to ranked ballots (STV in single, multi-member or some mixed district magnitude) during the Electoral Reform committee and caused reform to be blocked. We need parliament to be able to work across caucus lines, and the current voting system (and what the NDP/Greens are proposing to replace it with) only maintains the toxic environment.
Let's hope April 29 brings us both Singh's resignation as well as Poilievre's. Oh wait, not the latter. If he loses this one, he will never win Parliament.....keep him in. Teddy Bear Ford will likely be able to pull in voters that Poilievre cannot.
Singh lost me forever with the Sad Shower TikTok. Always it seems to me more concerned with his image than getting shit done.
When I lived in BC I was of the opinion that we needed a true “labour” party (because the NDP was not that). I really don’t know what the NDP is any more.
Could it be that Singh is the symptom, rather than the cause? The NDP at the federal level appears to have lost its purpose. The various factions that make up the NDP can achieve their objectives through other parties that have a chance of winning power.
I don’t see any voices inside the NDP complaining that Singh is on the wrong track. Nor do I see any contenders waiting in the wings to take over from Singh. It feels to me as the end of the road. After this election they could be down to 5-10 seats, with no leader and no funds to campaign. And perhaps that is just fine in the current political climate.
The social democratic left has become the populist left. I want to see a true SD movement return for the 21st.
What would the ghost of Tommy Douglas tell us if he was alive today? When the NDP evolved from the CCF they were fighting for a vision or a progressive future: unionization, universal social services and Publically owned infastructure and companies.
Someone needs to counter the free-market anarchocapitalist rhetoric that underlines Poilievre's crap. It's not just Canada, this dilution of the progressove left has happened almost everywhere. You can't have a progressive vision today that isn't centered on the existential threat of climate change. We need a GreenNDP, because the seperation of labour and the environment is a loosing dichotomy.
First, don't count your chickens. Second, probably too harsh by half on Singh. I get your points but can't hate him as much as I hate PP. At least Singh is on the, er, right side of the fence. And on this side, politics should not be bloodsport.
One of the first NDP campaigns I worked in back in the 1980s had a very good candidate, who could have afforded better clothing, but chose to dress down and donate his salary to the needy because of his principles.
Of course, on the doorstep, we never heard the end of complaints that he looked shabby and couldn't be taken seriously. (And more than once, I was criticized for daring to have a beard - hard crowds!)
So had he worn a nice suit, would he have received more votes, or would people have denounced him a a class traitor?
I generally get value from reading your posts, but your snide and dismissive take on Jagmeet's suits is sickening. I can imagine the snark you'd have brought to bear if he'd shown up to the debate in a hard hat and orange vest instead.
Some New Democrats are lawyers, some are doctors, or farmers or miners or teachers or IT professionals or whatever. They wear the clothes of their position. It isn't just you, but the focus on his clothes among so many commentators is odious.
Jagmeet's ideology and platform is comical, that is true. (Don't blame me, I voted for Guy Caron.). But your insinuation that New Democrats aren't allowed to wear nice clothes is pretty clueless.
The social democratic left has become the populist left. I want to see a true SD movement return for the 21st.
What would the ghost of Tommy Douglas tell us if he was alive today? When the NDP evolved from the CCF they were fighting for a vision or a progressive future: unionization, universal social services and Publically owned infastructure and companies.
Someone needs to counter the free-market anarchocapitalist rhetoric that underlines Poilievre's crap. It's not just Canada, this dilution of the progressove left has happened almost everywhere. You can't have a progressive vision today that isn't centered on the existential threat of climate change. We need a GreenNDP, because the seperation of labour and the environment is a loosing dichotomy.
I am someone who should be attracted to NDP candidates because of some overlap of policy ideas, but the top-down hierarchical corporate culture of the NDP has always turned me off. I know they speak as if they are anti-corporate and about the grassroots, but my experience of the corporation has been that it reminded me of Amway (network marketing of someone else's product).
I find there are many candidates and members of parliament that I can respect and support, but that is unfortunately not where the power is currently in Canada. While the caucuses in parliament should be who is the party, including who decides their own leadership within the caucus, it is currently corporations operating outside of parliament that have most of the control.
Given their messaging on for-profit corporations, I’m surprised the NDP is so hierarchical. They should be trying to break up this centralized control and corporate messaging, and not be one of the most strict corporate brands.
All this plus a few other issues: he holds left-liberal positions, not democratic socialist ones (hence is almost total lack of an economic platform featuring public ownership of key assets, resources, and infrastructure), and of course the absolute lack of defence and foreign policy. He’s used Palestine as an identity politics token rather than a serious issue (witness his failure to use his leverage with the government to force policy change) and failed on electoral reform (again, failed to use his leverage). I honestly don’t see what he’s offering. Signed, a democratic socialist who refuses to vote NDP this time.
The final nail in his political coffin should be his ass-backwards strategy for this campaign. Instead of leveraging all the good his party did supporting the Lib government and getting pharma and dental care in return, he's gone full frontal attack. He could have increased the NDP seat count and kept the Libs to a minority if he'd done this. He's needed to go for a long time.
This toxicity is one of the outcomes of party-centric voting systems (FPFP/SMP, DMP, MMP, etc) where the corporate party brands are always fighting against each other to get that X on the ballot.
If only the NDP and Greens hadn't been so opposed to ranked ballots (STV in single, multi-member or some mixed district magnitude) during the Electoral Reform committee and caused reform to be blocked. We need parliament to be able to work across caucus lines, and the current voting system (and what the NDP/Greens are proposing to replace it with) only maintains the toxic environment.
Let's hope April 29 brings us both Singh's resignation as well as Poilievre's. Oh wait, not the latter. If he loses this one, he will never win Parliament.....keep him in. Teddy Bear Ford will likely be able to pull in voters that Poilievre cannot.
Assuming Poilievre wins his seat (not a given), he will have to resign as a leader if he does not achieve a plurality in the house.
The knives will be out for him and Byrne. In theory he could follow the Andrew Scheer career path, but I think he will be seen as too toxic for that.
Singh lost me forever with the Sad Shower TikTok. Always it seems to me more concerned with his image than getting shit done.
When I lived in BC I was of the opinion that we needed a true “labour” party (because the NDP was not that). I really don’t know what the NDP is any more.
Could it be that Singh is the symptom, rather than the cause? The NDP at the federal level appears to have lost its purpose. The various factions that make up the NDP can achieve their objectives through other parties that have a chance of winning power.
I don’t see any voices inside the NDP complaining that Singh is on the wrong track. Nor do I see any contenders waiting in the wings to take over from Singh. It feels to me as the end of the road. After this election they could be down to 5-10 seats, with no leader and no funds to campaign. And perhaps that is just fine in the current political climate.
The social democratic left has become the populist left. I want to see a true SD movement return for the 21st.
What would the ghost of Tommy Douglas tell us if he was alive today? When the NDP evolved from the CCF they were fighting for a vision or a progressive future: unionization, universal social services and Publically owned infastructure and companies.
Someone needs to counter the free-market anarchocapitalist rhetoric that underlines Poilievre's crap. It's not just Canada, this dilution of the progressove left has happened almost everywhere. You can't have a progressive vision today that isn't centered on the existential threat of climate change. We need a GreenNDP, because the seperation of labour and the environment is a loosing dichotomy.
First, don't count your chickens. Second, probably too harsh by half on Singh. I get your points but can't hate him as much as I hate PP. At least Singh is on the, er, right side of the fence. And on this side, politics should not be bloodsport.
Thing is the Jagmeet and Greets were epochal, serotonin-boosting efforts.
Dude is a hella motivator but he's just a poor politician.
I really do believe he's at his best when putting opponents on blast, but his alliance with LPC was disastrous.
Happy trails Jag, push Poilievre into the bushes on the way out.
One of the first NDP campaigns I worked in back in the 1980s had a very good candidate, who could have afforded better clothing, but chose to dress down and donate his salary to the needy because of his principles.
Of course, on the doorstep, we never heard the end of complaints that he looked shabby and couldn't be taken seriously. (And more than once, I was criticized for daring to have a beard - hard crowds!)
So had he worn a nice suit, would he have received more votes, or would people have denounced him a a class traitor?
I generally get value from reading your posts, but your snide and dismissive take on Jagmeet's suits is sickening. I can imagine the snark you'd have brought to bear if he'd shown up to the debate in a hard hat and orange vest instead.
Some New Democrats are lawyers, some are doctors, or farmers or miners or teachers or IT professionals or whatever. They wear the clothes of their position. It isn't just you, but the focus on his clothes among so many commentators is odious.
Jagmeet's ideology and platform is comical, that is true. (Don't blame me, I voted for Guy Caron.). But your insinuation that New Democrats aren't allowed to wear nice clothes is pretty clueless.
The social democratic left has become the populist left. I want to see a true SD movement return for the 21st.
What would the ghost of Tommy Douglas tell us if he was alive today? When the NDP evolved from the CCF they were fighting for a vision or a progressive future: unionization, universal social services and Publically owned infastructure and companies.
Someone needs to counter the free-market anarchocapitalist rhetoric that underlines Poilievre's crap. It's not just Canada, this dilution of the progressove left has happened almost everywhere. You can't have a progressive vision today that isn't centered on the existential threat of climate change. We need a GreenNDP, because the seperation of labour and the environment is a loosing dichotomy.
I am someone who should be attracted to NDP candidates because of some overlap of policy ideas, but the top-down hierarchical corporate culture of the NDP has always turned me off. I know they speak as if they are anti-corporate and about the grassroots, but my experience of the corporation has been that it reminded me of Amway (network marketing of someone else's product).
I find there are many candidates and members of parliament that I can respect and support, but that is unfortunately not where the power is currently in Canada. While the caucuses in parliament should be who is the party, including who decides their own leadership within the caucus, it is currently corporations operating outside of parliament that have most of the control.
https://www.davidgraham.ca/p/leadership-by-caucus
Given their messaging on for-profit corporations, I’m surprised the NDP is so hierarchical. They should be trying to break up this centralized control and corporate messaging, and not be one of the most strict corporate brands.
https://r.flora.ca/p/not-ndp
Fully agree. He's been a disaster from day 1.