Canada’s federal calendar this week will be full of new beginnings.
A new Parliament, a new government, a new Prime Minister, a new Cabinet, 112 new MPs, five new Commons seats, a new Speaker, and a new King to read a new Speech from the Throne.
A time of change … hopefully!
Canadians re-elected the Liberals to power, but made their dissatisfaction with the past government, the past policies, the past record very clear.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has acknowledged the need for change, the need for the Liberals to better address Canadians; concerns about high income taxes, the hated carbon tax, rampant crime, revolving door Courts, jobs and the economy.
The Conservatives, believing Carney/Liberals borrowed heavily from their pre-election promises and the Conservative election platform, have vowed to fight to make those changes a reality.
After a caucus meeting Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Official Opposition “will be pushing measures to make Canada more affordable, safe, self-reliant and united”, the CBC reported.
“We’ve expanded our coalition to include union workers, young people, newcomers and others who had never voted before. They voted for hope, for a change” Poilievre said.
Union workers? Young people? Others who have never voted before?
Didn’t they used to be overwhelmingly NDPers?
Well, the April 28 election results showed not any more … or, at least, not this time.
The NDP, winning only seven Commons seats, was not only pushed out of third place by the Bloc Quebecois, which captured 22 seats; its leader, Jagmeet Singh, resigned after losing his own seat and the NDP even lost party status in Parliament.
Party status, which requires at least 12 seats in the Commons, brings with it several perks, including public funding for the leader’s office to operate, a research budget, participation on Commons committees and the right to ask at least one question each day during Question Period.
Reports declared this was the worst ever election result in 64 years for the NDP, which held 24 seats at dissolution.
And making it worse, the NDP’s share of the popular vote fell to 6.3% this election, from 17.8% in 2021.
I believe that’s not only bad for the NDP, it’s bad for Canada too.
With the Liberals holding 169 seats in the Commons and the Conservatives 144, the results reward the Bloc Quebecois, with 22 seats, a position of greater influence … and even power … when it comes to influencing legislation and even impacting government policies/approvals.
No doubt Quebec will benefit even more than they do already (as if they need it!) from this third place party position!
As for the NDP, right now, they’re still bickering internally over the process that was used to select their interim leader Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). (Read about that fight here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ndp-caucus-members-letter-interim-leader-don-davies/.)
Geez!!
The federal NDP has to get its act together!
They didn’t pay attention to the warnings I (and others) voiced on this blog in the months before the federal election about how the party was losing touch with middle class voters’ struggles and concerns.
“Perhaps it’s not just the Liberals who should be looking for a new leader and a new approach … as their only hope of resuscitating popular appeal? Strange, the federal implications of the BC provincial election are not getting the attention they should,” I wrote last November. (https://harveyoberfeld.ca/bc-provincial-losses-signal-trouble-ahead-for-federal-ndp/)
The federal NDP must rebuild.
First, they need to choose an electable leader.
It may excite armchair socialists to break a glass ceiling or two in choosing a replacement for Jagmeet Singh, but what’s the point if they know deep down that leader doesn’t have a hope of ever winning the hearts and minds … and votes … in Quebec, which holds 78 seats and other parts of Canada as well.
Second, the federal NDP should hearken to the messages I delivered so often to their BC counterparts: far too many voters believe the NDP has abandoned the working and middle classes, their struggles to find jobs, pay rent, buy groceries, manage ever-increasing taxes, get adequate health care for themselves and their families … and just stay safe from the criminals and crazies running amok everywhere, day and night.
It may be admirable, even laudable, to champion Canada as a leader in environmental change (and oppose mining, refineries, pipelines) or provide a home for hundreds of thousands Third World immigrants, almost unlimited numbers of refugees, prioritise spending on homelessness, services (and supplies) for hard drug users, and advocate on behalf of trans-gender issues or pontificate on world conflicts … but right now, Canadian taxpayers/voters have other priorities.
And the election results show beyond any doubt the vast majority of working and middle class voters don’t see the current NDP as the party the would make their lives better … or safer.
Time for the NDP to start focusing on the needs of the majority of Canadians, not the minorities … unless it wants to remain a fourth place election finisher … without even party status.
Harv Oberfeld
(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new posting on this blog.)
Maybe the NDP thought that electing a man who wants Khalistan to separate from India and who wears a turban was not only a bold and modern choice, but one that would ensure the votes of Sikhs in Canada. The results show that many Sikhs chose not to support the NDP but other parties. It’s clear that the NDP became far too radical and lost touch with ordinary voters.
Tommy Douglas, the founder of the NDP, was both a fiscal and social conservative. If he were alive today, I suspect he’d be appalled with the environmental extremism, the support for social engineering and the policies of more taxes, more spending and more government.
Under Jagmeet Singh, the NDP failed to distinguish itself sufficiently from the Liberals. When the NDP could have voted to overthrow Justin Trudeau, it didn’t do so because it feared a Conservative government and thus completely ignored the will of the Canadian people. The collapse of the NDP was undoubtedly one of the main reasons the Conservatives lost the last election. Other reasons include the pseudo-conservative Doug Ford, the CCP, the CBC and the Green Party, a party that chose not to run candidates in approximately 100 ridings.
The irony is that Canadians elected the person President Trump wanted to win. The Liberals did an excellent job of scaring voters, but the slogan “Elbows Up” was wrong. It should have been “Thumbs Up”. It’s clear to me that the American president doesn’t like Pierre Poilievre.
(Response: You’re touching on something I have also noticed … and may have had a negative unspoken impact with most voters (because no pollsters or media asked!) …and that is how silent/sensitive/sympathetic the Liberals, NDP and Greens were (and are) to Sikh, Islamist and First Nations militant groups/issues …even excessive actions. I believe it clearly comes down to numbers: these minorities now constitute a large potential voting block …so much so that even when they cause turmoil, intimidate opponents, violate Canadian traditional tolerance/values … these parties are very careful/gentle or silent in condemning them. Only the Conservatives have been quite unequivocal in speaking out/condemning them … and I agree with them on that. Ho)
If anyone thought that TACO Trump wanted Carney to win, think again because the TACO man probably hasn’t a clue about Canada, nor who’s who in Canadian politics. Most likely he could not pronounce the “Wee P’s” name (I just have a tough time spelling it, but American commentators and politcans can’t even pronounce it.)
Unlike Canadians, where 90% of the population live around 200 km from the border and the Canadian media report more American news than Canadian, Americans in general haven’t a clue about Canada and TACO Trump is equally clueless as all his world info comes from FOX news.
As the TACO man further isolates and degrades the once mighty USA, American general knowledge about Canada will continue to wither.
Basically the American ID cannot accept Canada because we are a hint of the mirror image of what the USA would have become, if not for the American revolution.
The NDP meanwhile continue merrily along pretending a near electoral wipe-out is no great deal. If I was in the NDP at this point of time I would be pressing the panic button, but no, it is business as usual, being inept and unable to deal with real problems and real problems are on the hoizon, such as the Country itself in the brave new world of TACO Trump land.
Let me ask a very simple question. Could Mark Carney have won without Donald Trump’s interference? The American president said that he was probably the best thing that ever happened to the Canadian PM, and in comments before the election on Truth Social, he said he looked forward to meeting with Mr. Carney after the election.
I understand that supporters of the Liberals don’t want to accept that their choice wasn’t as advertised, but the fact is that the American president’s decision to interfere gives him a significant amount of influence. He and the Canadian Prime Minister are business partners, and the American president was probably upset that Pierre Poilievre didn’t meet him before the election. Of course the American president should have understood that if Pierre Poilievre had done that, he would have been massacred by the Canadian media, but the American president is so so self-centred he probably doesn’t care.
The Liberals convinced voters that there was a crisis, but we kn0w that Mark Carney phoned President Trump during the campaign and told him that his comments were just rhetoric. In other words, it was simply done to win the election. According to recent reports, there could be a trade deal between Canada and the USA very soon. It appears that Ian Bremner, the CEO of Eurasia Group, was right when he said the comments during the campaign were merely to win the election.
You mention TACO Trump and what he is, is a good description and I will add to that. He’s so weak and really naive on the world stage when it comes to dealing with the bloodlusting tyrants especially Putin. He’s a clueless bumbling president that more than likely brings the tyrants to laughter at the naivety and stupidity of TACO man. They got a bonus when Trump became president. If there was a rating for the best useful tool to them, Trump would win.
The NDP can’t win an election for the foreseeable future anyways until they drop their extreme ideological leanings towards this campus activist group and that campus activist group, or take the care of my ideological needs and entitlements, wanting to tax the hell out of the average common person, their homes, and their everything to support those who think everything comes from a bottomless grab bag of entitlements. By kowtowing and bowing to this group and that group, like Trudeau did also, and just like the Biden darlings in the States were doing instead of once again I’ll state, not listening and serving the common economical and day to to day interests of the regular people and contributing working stiffs at their kitchen tables then down you go. And deservedly so.
Sure Singh peed off lots of people because he hung onto the withering coat tail threads of the Trudeaus circus but its the kitchen table visits that they didnt get to. The dental plan doesnt cut it alone. His campaign speeches even sounded to me more like a mesmerizing cult leader and band wagoneer banging out full on preposterous out of reach promises, that to me was outright bald faced lying, but with the ginned up crowd falling into his trance, why not go for it. All politicians do the campaign fibbing game, but this Singh guy was was an exception to the usual. I found his outlandish long list of promise to be a sign of desperation for an extra vote. I’ll just hope that Carney is going to remake the Liberal brand and repair the damage Trudeau caused and be a real leader that knows that the kitchen tables have the best seats in the house.
(Response: You encapsulate very well my exact point about how the federal NDP (BC too!) catered too much to activists/minorities … proposing more and more programs/payouts that cost billions … totally losing touch with the middle class, who have been squeezed so much, too many are barely living paycheque to paycheque …or even worse, going deeper and deeper into credit card debt. The NDP, federally and in BC, still needs a HUGE reality check! Ho)
Harvey we seem to be talking past each other. You said with a reality check the NDP could get back to third position even official opposition. I asked why you stopped there. Why not government? You replied that they don’t have the leader or policy etc. But that is because they haven’t yet done the reality check. If they do have that reality check you mentioned, why couldn’t they form government? Or are you suggesting that no matter what, the NDP will never be able to form government.
Let’s be clear. Or as you like to say Let’s Keep It Real. I, as a supporter of the NDP, do not think they will be anything more than a fourth, at best third party federally. Since 1993, the only times they were anything more than the 4th party behind the Bloc was in 2011 when the Quebec electorate decided to play some practical joke on the rest of Canada by electing 59 NDP MPs. Wasn’t Thomas Mulcair the first and only NDP MP out of Quebec before 2011. In 2015, they maintained third position but the joke was over and the NDP fell to 11 seats in Quebec and pretty much nothing since. And they remain the 4th party behind the Bloc.
This election was horrible for the NDP. They were too closely tied to the Liberals. Singh had worn out his welcome. And their policies did not resonate with the electorate. But that doesn’t mean they are dead. Provincially, the NDP are in power in BC and Manitoba and the Official Opposition in a few others. In provincial politics the NDP are more successful than Liberals around the country.
Without party status and the research/staff that goes with it, the NDP has to focus on just one or two clear issues where they believe the Liberals are failing. And they have to be issues that the public thinks are worth pursuing. For someone like me they just need to be relevant enough to have some influence. After all this is still a minority government. Nobody wants another election and the NDP would be foolish to make another deal with the Liberals, but it is not like they can’t do something even with just 7 voices.
(Response: Even IF the NDP gets back to the party it used to be, they still could likely not federally form government… otherwise why didn’t they??? Clearly even the “old” NDP didn’t have what it takes to win national elections in Canada. Opposition, yes; government, no … unless they change further , or the voters do. And the way the Conservative vote has grown, looks like working voters are moving right, not left federally…that’s why I say not in our lifetime.Keeping it real! Ho)
Count on the remaining NDP to suddenly become Liberals. They sold their souls to the devil at the expense of Canadians and deserve what they got. It would not surprise me if they suddenly got taken over by the Liberals since that party has become the NDP sort of in a greenish way but not in a “middle class” Canadian sort of way at all.
If not the Bloc is going to win big at the expense of the rest of Canada. All thanks to the gullibility of the voting public to not see the bigger picture. Wait for more taxes, more projects to benefit friends of the Liberals and more of the same in Parliament.
(Response: I really doubt the surviving seven NDP MPs will cross the floor to join the Liberal benches. But I do expect they’ll keep the Liberals in power while they try to rebuild their own party. The NDP right now does not have the leader, the money, the strength or even the unity to hit the election trail …and won’t ror quite some time. Ho)
I am trying to figure this out. In your response to me you said
“But it’s really the NDP that concerns: I think with a reality check, they could move back into third position …and one day in our lifetime, even official opposition again!”
Ignoring the “in our lifetime”, I am wondering why you limited the NDP to just the opposition. Why not government?
And in response to “Ijustdontknowanymore” you said you were worried that the Liberals would need to appease the Bloc to pass legislation. The Liberals are 3 short of a majority and the NDP have seven seats so at least for now no need to worry.
I guess I am wondering what you are expecting from the NDP. I have mentioned this before. I have voted NDP federally every time since the 1972 election except for the 1993, 1997, and 2000 elections when the NDP ran weak candidates in my riding and I voted Liberal hoping to keep the Reform/Alliance candidate from winning – to no avail.
Every time I voted NDP I did so hoping for a strong opposition member and maybe some influence in a minority government. Never once did I expect the NDP to win or become official opposition. In fact, as far as I am concerned the legacy of Jack Layton and the Orange Wave was a Conservative majority and despite being the Official Opposition what good did that get the NDP except an inflated expectation that they could actually win. For most of this campaign Singh kept up this pretense saying if we form government etc. At the end of the campaign he downgraded expectations saying that we need strong opposition.
The NDP were pretty irrelevant during the 90s. This was an unusual election. The NDP aren’t going away. But the expectations need to pulled back. They are not going to win or become official opposition without a complete collapse of either the Liberals or Conservatives. Do you see either of them disappearing?
(Response: Why not government? Because the title of this blog is Keeping it Real! To garner enough seats from coast to coast to coast to form government the NDP needs a REALISTIC leader, REALISTIC MPS and REALISTIC policies that will appeal to hard-working tax-paying working people … more than just environmental activists, druggie, homeless and poverty advocates, First Nations lobbyists and global socialist revolutionaries. Ho)
Well.
If anything.
Both leaders from the previous govt are gone gone gone.
4 years overdue.
So there’s that.
I’m just happy that the Liberal government didn’t reach majority status and that Poliviere is a strong and sound leader, leading a strong opposition. We need that especially after Canada was burned by Trudeau and a couple of his wacko bums before. He and Freeland especially shouldn’t be forgotten and let off so easy. Now she’s Transport and Internal Trade Minister. God what will she wreck now. And with so many others, what I see as being tax payer paid wasters and bums from the Trudeau elites club, we darn well better have a strong opposition and balance of power. I’m quite content having that good balance of power, even if it’s from Quebec, because they are still a part of our unique Canadian fabric.
As far as the NDP party is concerned, well, they did destroy themselves. They just couldn’t take their rose coloured glasses and blinders off to see and figure it out. It starts with the leader and they couldn’t have the guts to do what needed to be done. They deserve their demise. For awhile anyways.
(Response: I too am happy Carney/Libs did not get a majority. However, I do worry that, if the Conservatives do not play ball, the Libs will have to appease the Bloc to garner enough votes to pass legislation. That’s why I’d prefer the NDP to be the third party … if they can at least rebuild and concentrate on their traditional base … people who actually work, pay taxes and don’t just keep asking for others to support them! Ho)
I will say I think the NDP deserved better in the last election. The dental plan for low income families was all their idea. There was no thanks from the voters. I suspect a new leader might resuscitate them.
(Response: They should have replaced Jagmeet Singh a year earlier, as I urged them to do. The dental plan certainly is helping some people, but again it’s not enough when so many working and middle class families and seniors are struggling just to pay rent, buy groceries, pay taxes, pay Hydro, pay ICBC or transit fares, or don’t even feel safe going shopping or out for a walk. Ho)
The New Democratic Party – both provincial and federal – has been an enigma to me ever since my first vote back in 1972. At the time, W.A.C. Bennett was showing his age, much like Joe Biden today. He was slipping mentally and unwilling to ‘pass the torch’, so I voted for Dave Barrett.
Over the following years, believing strong ‘free enterprise’ was the key to the country’s prosperity, I’ve leaned right. I’ve voted Liberal a few times when the Conservative leader of the day needed the boot. I believe the federal NDP are so far left that if they ever won an election, the country would suffer serious harm. It seems I’m not alone in that view, as they’ve never formed a national government and likely never will.
This leads to a political game or farce that’s gone on for the past 70 years. The NDP leader makes lofty promises, knowing full well they’ll never have to deliver. They criticize the governing party, knowing they’ll never have to prove they could do better. Up until this year, they’ve always achieved official party status, which over the past decade alone, has earned them more than $10 million in federal election expense reimbursements. Many (most?) NDP MPs serve long enough to qualify for the golden pension – the most pay for least work, in the country.
The only apparent purpose of the federal NDP is to prop up whichever minority government emerged from the latest election, thereby enjoying the resulting power and ‘smoky back room’ perks from a grateful PM.
So the question is, do we really need them? Do we need a method of preventing frivolous political parties from running that have no hope of winning? Usually, they siphon votes away from parties that can win. In the last election, 4 out of 6 parties that ran had no chance of winning – none – and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Do we need them as a place to lodge protest votes if we don’t like the current cons or libs? Maybe there should be measurable requirements before another party can run, proving they have higher odds of actually winning. Maybe if there were no other real contenders, it might force the two parties who do have the wherewithal to win an election, to cooperate when one of them has a minority.
(Response: My introduction to the NDP as a political force came when I moved from Montreal to Saskatchewan to become a newspaper reporter. I saw/met/heard Tommy Douglas and Allan Blakeney and then in BC I encountered the provincial NDP, which championed working and middle class values, problems and then formed government in 1972. How different the NDP … provincially and federally … became! No longer the party of Barrett, Broadbent. Layton ir Horgan … taken over instead by far left extremists pushing minority radical activist agendas, municipally, provincially, federally. As BC and federal voters indicated in the polling booths, millions feel the NDP no longer represents their interests. Time for the party to get rid of the extremists (and anti-Semites) in their midst and get back to prioritizing working class concerns. Ho)
Not sure how my previous post had my name reduced to ‘st” but anyway…
I believe the conservative uptick was largely due to an “anything but liberal” mindset, as fallout from a reviled Trudeau.
Carney was reluctant to even run for the leadership, and it took tremendous pressure to get him to do so.
I think his initial position was one of “why should I subject myself and my family to such a dysfunctional life?” and I believe that is a common sentiment among the more intelligent and desirable individuals who might make good leaders.
Instead, we get the handsome drama teachers, right wing radicals and leftie dreamers foisted upon a gullible electorate. They are the only ones with egos larger than ethics.
Saying the conservatives need a charismatic leader, is short on substance. JT had charisma and the people fell for it.
So where do we find these quality leaders, or maybe more so, how do we educate the public to keep it real and demand better?
(Response: It came in as “st”, so I just left it that way. Readers of the blog will recall. I actually indicated I would vote for change… ie. Poilievre and the Conservatives in the election. However, I have to say that so far I have actually been impressed with Mark Carney: he does seem to have comfortably grasped the nature and style of the job very quickly, and he certainly has an ambitious agenda that would address many voters concerns if brought to fruition. As for Poilievre, I saw him on TV today and I could hardly believe it: he was still quoting the same old campaign slogans about Canadians living in homes on safe streets, etc., etc.. Geez! Right now, I think the voters got it right… a minority Liberal government, with the Tories as the Official Opposition, ready to challenge again if Carney fails to produce. While the NDP decides whether it can get its act together and become relevant again. Ho)
“It may be admirable, even laudable, to champion Canada as a leader in environmental change (and oppose mining, refineries, pipelines) or provide a home for hundreds of thousands Third World immigrants, almost unlimited numbers of refugees, prioritise spending on homelessness, services (and supplies) for hard drug users, and advocate on behalf of trans-gender issues or pontificate on world conflicts … but right now, Canadian taxpayers/voters have other priorities.”
+++
Bickering socialists and their delusional, unaffordable, tax payer funded agendas.
The NDP was a lapdog to the Minority Liberals for 4 long years.
They did nothing but support a very unpopular Trudeau govt and then immediately complained about the self same govt that they could have topped….4 years ago.
Having their cake and eating it too….comes to mind.
Thus…
They suffered the political version of a decapitation.
The deserved everything that came their way.
As for the Conservatives.
Too smug. Got lazy . Expected the polls to remain up while their cruised to victory
and were caught with their pants down when Trudeau walked out and Carney walked in.
A MONTH after Carney erased the Carbon Tax…. the Cons were still shouting “Carbon Tax Carney”…
Old news, childish, ridiculous, amateur hour.
The person in charge of the election campaign should have been fired, replaced and the message pivoted to Trudeaus’ legacy of financial, criminal, housing, socialist failures.
Why she has a job is unfathomable and she may drag Poilievre down with her.
(Response: I’m getting the impression Carney really understands how the Liberals would have lost the election to the Conservatives had it not been for Trump, because the Tories did hit the nerves on taxes, employment, crime etc. And since Trump will not be the issue in the next election, Carney seems focussed on addressing those bread and butter issues and less on those other issues Trudeau/Liberals/NDP gave so much attention. The NDP had better realize it too … and start keeping it real, or remain way out in left field! Ho)
An article in the National Post (June 1st)
The editorial arguing why the Conservative Party should keep their campaign Manager.
It’s a tough sell.
She was described as a bully, abrasive, demanding, and “my way or the highway”.
The comments after the article are 100% in favour of booting her out.
Get rid of her.
They had the election in the bag and squandered it.
Carney was everywhere talking, giving interviews, blogging.
Poilievre was nowhere, spouting “Carbon Tax Carney” whenever he deigned to grant an interview….a month after the Carbon Tax was gone.
Painful, amateurish, clown show that earned a loss..
A ridiculous rout that deserves heads to roll.
She will drag Poilievre down with her.
“However, the issue now for the NDP is why they were abandoned by so many of their previous supporters?”
That’s easy.
I live in Elizabeth May’s riding. I, like many, many of my senior neighbours and acquaintances who lined up for more than an hour at the largest ever advance poll voting, cast strategic ballots for the Liberals.
May won handily as expected because the too polite to do otherwise oldsters stayed on the Green path.
The proof in the pudding was the not so well-known Liberal candidate leap-frogging the hugely popular Conservative candidate, who in a less serious election might have knocked off May.
(Response: May also has a national presence/influence that many an ordinary MP would not have. Because of Trump, no doubt many traditional NDP voters opted for the Liberals …but the Conservative vote was also up, I believe because they pushed buttons on the basics: taxes, crime, jobs, house prices etc. That’s what the NDP must make their priority too if they want to recapture relevancy. H.o)
Maybe I am not expressing myself clearly. I am not disagreeing with you or DMJ on your analysis of the NDP. I am sure that they will do some reflecting on the outcome and come up with new policies or whatever that they think will help them win back some of the support they lost this time. Maybe they will heed your advice. We’ll see.
My point and I will be more specific by referring to this paragraph.
“It may be admirable, even laudable, to champion Canada as a leader in environmental change (and oppose mining, refineries, pipelines) or provide a home for hundreds of thousands Third World immigrants, almost unlimited numbers of refugees, prioritise spending on homelessness, services (and supplies) for hard drug users, and advocate on behalf of trans-gender issues or pontificate on world conflicts … but right now, Canadian taxpayers/voters have other priorities.”
You are criticizing the NDP for supporting those policies. Yet the Liberal government was responsible for putting those policies in place. And they won the election!!
Trudeau gets replaced. Carney drops the Carbon Tax. Trump threatens tariffs and all of a sudden Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives lose the massive majority that was there for the taking, and Poilievre, like Singh, loses his seat.
Do you have any advice for the Conservatives.
Federally, the NDP is a fourth party, third at best. Except for the one anomaly in 2011, they have never come close to being anything other than that.
During the election campaign it became clear that the minor parties were being squeezed out because the electorate decided that it w as a two party race. The drubbing of the NDP was not a surprise. But the failings of the Conservatives is surprising. Can they only win when the NDP is strong enough to split the vote?
(Response: The Liberals under Trudeau were not that far from the NDP in many areas … and, with a minority government, let’s keep it real, the NDP pushed hard on several of those issues mentioned. My advice for the Conservatives? A more charismatic leader would help … and, failing that, they should just keep up the pressure on taxes, housing, jobs, crime … and be prepared with viable alternatives should Carney/Liberals fall short. But it’s really the NDP that concerns: I think with a reality check, they could move back into third posit1on …and one day in our lifetime, even official opposition again! H.o)
In your blog post from November, you quoted 338 Canada who predicted that the Conservatives would win a huge majority with 217 seats. Instead they only got 144 seats and their leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat. Instead the Liberals who were predicted to win 59 seats trotted out a shiny new leader and the electorate decided that that was good enough to re-elect a party they had been itching to get rid of for at least two years.
The NDP along with the Block and Greens were squeezed by this fickle electorate who turned the election into a two party battle. Of course the NDP needs to do some reflection. But it was the Liberal party that benefited from the NDP’s dismal showing. The Liberals also championed environmental change and were the party responsible for the current immigration policy. The Liberals failed on the housing, crime, and drug problems that have upset Canadians. Why didn’t the Liberals suffer in the same way the NDP did? Why was the electorate so quick to embrace Carney?
The NDP suffered similarly all through the 90s. We will see what happens to them down the road. But the Conservative defeat and/or the Liberal resurgence are the bigger story here. I am still surprised at the outcome.
(Response: You are certainly correct about how the Liberals (thanks to Donald Trump) snatched victory from almost certain expected defeat. However, the issue now for the NDP is why they were abandoned by so many of their previous supporters? Their popular vote DROPPED 11.5%, while the Liberals were UP 11.1% and the Conservatives were also UP 7.6%. The NDP has to curb the influences of its affluent armchair social revolutionary elitists and get back to its union/working/middle class roots … and policies. H.o)
From what I can see, the NDP today is made up of a series of pressure groups, all having their own agenda and the providing a “product” for people to elect is nonexistent.
What the NDP needs to do, they will not do, simply because they fear offending anyone and in the end, offend everyone by doing nothing.
High taxes you say, well brace yourself because with the current international politcal environment, taxes will increase because they have to.
What the electorate is tired of is pandering by politicians, which lead to Trudeau’s downfall and the NDP’s pandering to niche pressure groups, such as first nations; the anti pipeline crowd; the free drugs crowd; and a host of others will get them nowehere with the electorate.
They need a politically incorrect firebrand like Charlie Angus, to retain any sort of credibility with the public.
The NDP, born in the Dirty Thirties and matured in the 70’s and u80’s is now a stale brand, whose members are equally stale as are their politcal platforms. Even the provincial arm of the NDP has morphed into a developer freindly (read big money) Vision Vancouver clone sort of party.
The NDP must reinvent themselves to gain any credibility, such as Carney hopefully will do to the Liberals and what the “Wee P” has failed to do with the Conservatives (Hint” Maple Maga’s are nor electable at this point in time).
Will anyone in the NDP listen? I doubt it as members still believe they are “higher purpose persons”, superior to the rest of the peons and because of this, the NDP will remain a fringe party of malcontents wanting a free ride.
(Response: I hope “Not Sure” reads your comments, because I believe you make exactly my point about how “ordinary” Canadians feel about today’s NDP. The NDP (and Trudeau too) developed a reputation of catering to environmental activists, Third World immigrants, refugees who bring their old world hates/violence with them, First Nations lobbyists, hard drug users and even severe recidivist criminals … while ignoring or squeezing more and more over-taxed working families (and seniors) to pay for all the others! The NDP can bury its head in the sand and remain irrelevant to most Canadians … or change, and maybe one day actually enjoy a chance at forming a national government. H.o)
“Wee P”? Why always so juvenile in your comments about a leader you don’t like????
why? Because its his blog. We may not like what is written on any blog by the person who has the blog and we are free to go elsewhere. If its not hate speech or out and out lies I’m fine with what various bloggers write, its their blog.
As to the Wee P. I usually just refer to him as PP. Some have had nick names for any number of politicians. Some are funny/some not so much.
Many of us don’t dislike PP because we don’t know him. What we dislike is his attitude, the way he attacks others, his platform, etc. The difference between Harper and PP is Harper was an adult, really, really disliked his policies but I liked him when he appeared in Murdoch, it was fun. Harper had his platform which I thought was terrible, but he conducted himself in a more mature manner and hence no nick name. If the Conservatives are ever going to win an election, they’re going to need another leader. The current acting Conservative leader is no better than PP, just in a different manner.e
LOL. You misread this one totally. I am responding to D.M. Johnson not Harvey. The only reason the Conservatives lost was because your guy (if we want to play your game known as the Circus Carnage) stole their platform and lied about Trump! Otherwise we would have had a different story. And add in the media playing up the lies and of course, Canadian sheeple voted the way they were told, fearful of Trump which was all lies) and not surprising the way things went. Canadians are so gullible and believe whatever they are told without ever thinking at all.
And if you do the PP& Wee P thing, of course that is juvenile and immature!
Actually, to tell the truth, I was going to vote for the “Wee P”, before Trump. I keep spelling his last name wrong, so there.
By the way, I never seen you decry the F*** Trudeau campaign waged by the Conservatives, which is telling.
So……you don’t like Pierre because you say he was like Trump. But then you voted for Carney because Trump endorsed him!!! Kind of explains why the immature juvenile attacks!!
@Marge – Oh my god.
I was going to vote Conservative to give the absolutely rotten Trudeau Liberal government out of office. I was uncomfortable doing so and i did not like the “Wee P’s” close alliances with the American MAGA Movement.
Then Trump and his annexation threats; Trudeau departure; and Carny’s assessment of the situation and response, was sort of a “flicker” of hope and i voted Liberal.
The election proved the “Wee P” and the Maple MAGA’s just could not respond for almost a month to Trumps threats.
So there you have it, the Conservatives, still running anti Trudeau ads a full month after his departure, told that they are a “yesterday’s” politcal party and like the NDP just cannot bend to new situations.
To be blunt, I voted for the lesser disappointment.