2005 deja vu. I remember sitting in Ujjal Dosanjh's (Paul Martin's health minister, for those without long memories), when the NDP leader at the time who shall not be named personally pulled the plug on that minority government when every person in Ottawa knew it would result in a Tory win and the scrapping of two major social programs brought in by that Liberal government within a year of Harper winning. Which is exactly what happened. And for all the trouble (and setting Canada back by 15 years), the NDP only gained 11 seats on a 1.8% swing and remained the third opposition party. Short-term political thinking will be the death of us all. Or some.
I think this analysis is spot on. I do not think the NDP has good options. They will always the third largest party at best and if they are too successful at the expense of the LPC they can legitimately be accused of jeopardizing the policies that they really care about.
So what to do? I think the only option is to state clearly that they are going for left of centre coalition government. Scrap the supply agreement, they need to provide ministers, be an active participant in the decision making. That would give voters something to vote for.
Now, it may help that I grew up in a European country where coalition governments were the norm. In Canada I understand that this is still a seen as something that does not work or less desirable, but why would you be prepared to do a supply agreement when you can actually have a seat at the table. Assuming you want a seat at the table.
There is one element in the article that I disagree with, I don’t think that the NDP has a leadership issue. NDP’s dilemma does not depend on the leader.
Check out that recent piece in The Breech. Seems the NDP has evolved and is now being run by a tight clique of corporate lobbyists who shuffle back and forth between lobbying gigs and running election campaigns. It has become part of a political culture where bending government to serve a particular vested interest has become the norm. These insiders have turned the NDP away from its working class roots and have embraced neoliberal corporate market fundamentalism. In a nutshell their strategy is to replace the Liberal Party. So there you have. Canada’s political culture is now dominated by three mainstream parties with little difference between them, all vying for a piece of the Big Tent vote.
There are several things wrong with this article. For instance, the Liberals, whether federally or in Ontario, are not a left wing party. They are a centrist party. They tend to go for the middle class (public servants) and the educated upper classes (Bay Street) for votes. They tack left on social issues and right on economic issues. For example, during the time the Liberals were in power in Ontario (2003 - 2018) the average price of a house in Toronto went from just under $300k to almost $800k. Who benefitted from that? As we have seen with the Federal Liberals in 2003, and their provincial Ontario cousins in 2008, they will not hesitate to make tough decisions on the backs of ordinary workers if they think it is necessary.. At the federal level, the NDP have the problem that they will never win in a three party system. Where the NDP win power provincially, they usually only have to compete with a centre right or right wing party. Sure, there are anomalies, but in Ontario the NDP have won once, and haven't been able to repeat. When people here got tired of the Liberals, they voted PC. The other problem the federal NDP have is their leader. He comes across as a dilettante. Mulcair was a competent and credible leader, but apparently that wasn't good enough. I think deep down, many Dippers don't want to actually win, because then they might have to compromise their ideological purity. To be successful in politics, one must be pragmatic. A party that wants to be the conscience of parliament will always be an also ran.
2005 deja vu. I remember sitting in Ujjal Dosanjh's (Paul Martin's health minister, for those without long memories), when the NDP leader at the time who shall not be named personally pulled the plug on that minority government when every person in Ottawa knew it would result in a Tory win and the scrapping of two major social programs brought in by that Liberal government within a year of Harper winning. Which is exactly what happened. And for all the trouble (and setting Canada back by 15 years), the NDP only gained 11 seats on a 1.8% swing and remained the third opposition party. Short-term political thinking will be the death of us all. Or some.
holy hell ! Are you really back unfuckwithable ?
Never left. Been in the government for the past several years.
I think this analysis is spot on. I do not think the NDP has good options. They will always the third largest party at best and if they are too successful at the expense of the LPC they can legitimately be accused of jeopardizing the policies that they really care about.
So what to do? I think the only option is to state clearly that they are going for left of centre coalition government. Scrap the supply agreement, they need to provide ministers, be an active participant in the decision making. That would give voters something to vote for.
Now, it may help that I grew up in a European country where coalition governments were the norm. In Canada I understand that this is still a seen as something that does not work or less desirable, but why would you be prepared to do a supply agreement when you can actually have a seat at the table. Assuming you want a seat at the table.
There is one element in the article that I disagree with, I don’t think that the NDP has a leadership issue. NDP’s dilemma does not depend on the leader.
Check out that recent piece in The Breech. Seems the NDP has evolved and is now being run by a tight clique of corporate lobbyists who shuffle back and forth between lobbying gigs and running election campaigns. It has become part of a political culture where bending government to serve a particular vested interest has become the norm. These insiders have turned the NDP away from its working class roots and have embraced neoliberal corporate market fundamentalism. In a nutshell their strategy is to replace the Liberal Party. So there you have. Canada’s political culture is now dominated by three mainstream parties with little difference between them, all vying for a piece of the Big Tent vote.
‘little difference’ ?
Really great piece ,thanks .
There are several things wrong with this article. For instance, the Liberals, whether federally or in Ontario, are not a left wing party. They are a centrist party. They tend to go for the middle class (public servants) and the educated upper classes (Bay Street) for votes. They tack left on social issues and right on economic issues. For example, during the time the Liberals were in power in Ontario (2003 - 2018) the average price of a house in Toronto went from just under $300k to almost $800k. Who benefitted from that? As we have seen with the Federal Liberals in 2003, and their provincial Ontario cousins in 2008, they will not hesitate to make tough decisions on the backs of ordinary workers if they think it is necessary.. At the federal level, the NDP have the problem that they will never win in a three party system. Where the NDP win power provincially, they usually only have to compete with a centre right or right wing party. Sure, there are anomalies, but in Ontario the NDP have won once, and haven't been able to repeat. When people here got tired of the Liberals, they voted PC. The other problem the federal NDP have is their leader. He comes across as a dilettante. Mulcair was a competent and credible leader, but apparently that wasn't good enough. I think deep down, many Dippers don't want to actually win, because then they might have to compromise their ideological purity. To be successful in politics, one must be pragmatic. A party that wants to be the conscience of parliament will always be an also ran.
Reality Sucks.. Jagmeet needs to migrate to Civic Public Service.. or write a book ..
No hard feelings.. Will be remembered well, his Party too.. for thumb in the dike
when Canada needed that desperately .. & that ain’t ‘nothin to sneer at !’
No other Journalist working at your level, Evan .. aside from Michael Harris
Climenhaga, DaveBerta .. & a few others.. like Norm Farrell in BC