I’ve mused on this before, but I’m more and more convinced of it.
The collapse of the Liberals as viable provincial parties across most of Canada has sucked the talent out of the federal NDP. It’s an unusual situation where the place to be if you’re an ambitious progressive politician or staffer is provincial politics. It’s a reversal of the typical situation, but the Federal NDP is really the backwater of the party. And it shows.
Anyone with the ambition, connections, and experience to push out Singh has the political muscle to lead a provincial NDP party, with much better chances of being Premier than they’d have at being PM.
And the NDP hasn’t been on the rise long enough to develop the sort of deep bench that sees a pool of potential candidates kicking the tires on leadership challenges at any given moment.
So Singh stumbles on, because the people with the influence to do anything about it have spent the last couple years invested in BC and Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba and Ontario provincial battles.
As someone who was on the inside federally and provincially for 20+ years I can attest to this. The last time there was a serious brain trust amongst the federal NDP at a staff level was when Mulcair was leader. They has steller economic minds in Ottawa and abroad doing serious, deep thinking about how a social democratic party should present itself (2015 budget deficit decision aside, which I understand was Mulcair's alone against the advice of his team).
The significance of the bench strength of the NDP across BC, Alberta, and Manitoba is significant. I'm not convinced it's there in Ontario, but we'll see.
I’m not convinced it’s there (yet) in Ontario either. But if you’re an ambitious person weighing potential roles, would you rather hitch yourself to the current ONDP or the Federal NDP? Which one is more likely to lead to a serious position with real influence, whether elected or staff?
Best case scenario for the NDP right now is a few heavy hitters from the various provincial wings get tired of being undermined by the federal arm and coordinate a takeover
While the idea of a strong third party has appeal, this party has lost its way, not knowing when to pick a lane. The evidence was clear when they voted against the environment. When the Liberals are putting forth serious housing policy, the NDP should be showing support, actually helping to solve the problem. Ganging up on Trudeau is obviously popular but not helpful in these circumstances.
I agree, the NDP leadership is self serving, ineffective, and unserious.
Singh is not only unserious, he also just not very smart. And on top of that he surrounded himself with people that equally unsmart.
If I were advising Singh, I would recommend him to take credit for everything the Liberal government does. Housing incentives, the NDP made the Liberals do it. Not going fully austere, claim credit for it. Basically make the point that if it would not be for the NDP, the Liberals would be CPC-lite.
None of this is true, but it does not matter. Criticizing a government that you could sent home instantly is infinitely worse.
Federally the NDP certainly appear like actors going through the motions to get well paid, private healthcare, and an indexed pension. but who and where are the party stalwarts and power brokers who you would think give a shit about stuff like this? i'm guessing they just don't give two shits anymore either because they are old cranks or it's the legalization of weed
I’ve mused on this before, but I’m more and more convinced of it.
The collapse of the Liberals as viable provincial parties across most of Canada has sucked the talent out of the federal NDP. It’s an unusual situation where the place to be if you’re an ambitious progressive politician or staffer is provincial politics. It’s a reversal of the typical situation, but the Federal NDP is really the backwater of the party. And it shows.
Anyone with the ambition, connections, and experience to push out Singh has the political muscle to lead a provincial NDP party, with much better chances of being Premier than they’d have at being PM.
And the NDP hasn’t been on the rise long enough to develop the sort of deep bench that sees a pool of potential candidates kicking the tires on leadership challenges at any given moment.
So Singh stumbles on, because the people with the influence to do anything about it have spent the last couple years invested in BC and Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba and Ontario provincial battles.
As someone who was on the inside federally and provincially for 20+ years I can attest to this. The last time there was a serious brain trust amongst the federal NDP at a staff level was when Mulcair was leader. They has steller economic minds in Ottawa and abroad doing serious, deep thinking about how a social democratic party should present itself (2015 budget deficit decision aside, which I understand was Mulcair's alone against the advice of his team).
The significance of the bench strength of the NDP across BC, Alberta, and Manitoba is significant. I'm not convinced it's there in Ontario, but we'll see.
I’m not convinced it’s there (yet) in Ontario either. But if you’re an ambitious person weighing potential roles, would you rather hitch yourself to the current ONDP or the Federal NDP? Which one is more likely to lead to a serious position with real influence, whether elected or staff?
Best case scenario for the NDP right now is a few heavy hitters from the various provincial wings get tired of being undermined by the federal arm and coordinate a takeover
While the idea of a strong third party has appeal, this party has lost its way, not knowing when to pick a lane. The evidence was clear when they voted against the environment. When the Liberals are putting forth serious housing policy, the NDP should be showing support, actually helping to solve the problem. Ganging up on Trudeau is obviously popular but not helpful in these circumstances.
I agree, the NDP leadership is self serving, ineffective, and unserious.
Singh is not only unserious, he also just not very smart. And on top of that he surrounded himself with people that equally unsmart.
If I were advising Singh, I would recommend him to take credit for everything the Liberal government does. Housing incentives, the NDP made the Liberals do it. Not going fully austere, claim credit for it. Basically make the point that if it would not be for the NDP, the Liberals would be CPC-lite.
None of this is true, but it does not matter. Criticizing a government that you could sent home instantly is infinitely worse.
Federally the NDP certainly appear like actors going through the motions to get well paid, private healthcare, and an indexed pension. but who and where are the party stalwarts and power brokers who you would think give a shit about stuff like this? i'm guessing they just don't give two shits anymore either because they are old cranks or it's the legalization of weed