11.08.2011 06:30 PM

NDP not ready for the big leagues

Understatements R Us.

39 Comments

  1. bigcitylib says:

    I don’t see a thing wrong with demanding that SC judges be bilingual.

    And if we as Ontarions have to choose one region over another when we vote federally, I would pick Quebec anytime over The West: decent cheese+Mitsou+Montreal vs. no cheese+ loudmouth cowboys in globe-plated ten gallon hats + Calgary with its one way streets + Ezra Levant.

    • TheSilentObserver says:

      I second this opinion. Quebec values are far closer to Ontario values than the West could ever hope to be. There are a few legitimate concerns about the NDP being transformed into a nationwide BQ, but I for one am not worrying quite yet. Wasn’t Mulcair not complaining that the party cannot facilitate Quebec properly following the Orange Crush, and if bqization (?) is a threat, would a non Quebecker, such as Peggy Nash, say, automatically be a better choice than Mulcair? As well, if this business about the NDP not being ready for the big leagues is just more residual sentiment from people who can’t get over the fact that the NDP is the new opposition? Because the Liberals have certainly blown big league status for the time being and that leaves the Conservatives the sole party worthy of the name and I for one am looking for an alternative government for 2015

      • Mike says:

        Are you guys fucking serious? Who the fuck do you think first passed universal health care and the legislation that the UN based its charter of human rights on? SK. Which province put in the first carbon tax. BC. It’s just those damn Albertans that tarnish the rest of the west.

        Mike
        Regina-Wascana
        Home of the Liberals best MP

        • The Doctor says:

          So what horrible things are Albertans currently doing to “tarnish the rest of the west”? Giving a right-wing government a solid majority?

          Oops, sorry, Saskatchewan just did that last night . . . 🙂

          • Lance says:

            Oh, good gravy. It is so cute how some people say that this government is “right wing” when all you have to do is look south of the border for something truly right wing. Are there such elements in the CPC that are like that. Well, sure. The government as a whole? Please.

        • TheSilentObserver says:

          I eat my words. Douglas was from an age before Lougheed, Klein, Campbell, Clark, Harper, Kenney, et al. and I regret glossing over the fact. Quebec was likewise once home to Duplessis and Levesque, though, naturally, they have since migrated well away from the positions of the first and arguably have begun to do so for that of the second, which shows that regional politics shift over time. I was referrering to the past several decades, certainly from well before my own birth, so sorry if that threw you

        • MJH says:

          Alberta is the only province with a carbon tax on industrial polluters. And is contributing billions to the have-not provinces in the east.

          • Pete says:

            Who do you think contributed to Alberta it was ramping up towards its current success. the same is true about SK and NFLD. We are a federation after all.

      • The Doctor says:

        Michael Bliss isn’t my favourite academic or anything close to it, but this dialogue does remind me of his “Old Canada” versus “New Canada” distinction, which does seem to have some validity, given the state of our current electoral map.

    • lance says:

      Except the residents of Ontario didn’t vote with their neighbour to the east. Ontario was so scared of an NDP/Liberal coalition they voted CPC to block Quebec.

      • TheSilentObserver says:

        which is, IMOHO, a mark on my home province. Clearly we have becom quite right on the federal level and it would take quite the climb to reverse that. That being said, It seems feasable that the same appealing factors that allowed Layton to exact the orange crush could flip at least urban/suburban ontario if his successor played their cards right. If you look at provincial politics, Ontario and Quebec have both elected Liberal governments for the better part of a decade after a period of conservatism and separatism respectively, whereas Alberta has been PC for four decades and the Sask Party, while still slightly new, has become very entrenched if yesterday’s election demonstrates anything

        • Pete says:

          It was only 15 years or so ago that the Libs owned Ontario federally. Things change and Harpo will not win a s many seNBats here in ther next election. The guns will be aimed right at him in the Ontario heartland.

      • Ted H says:

        Maybe now it can be said, without being castigated, now that we have moved on from the immediacy of Jack Layton’s passing, that one of his legacies, albeit not intentional, is a Conservative majority government.

    • The Doctor says:

      So do you actually WANT the LPC to not win seats in Western Canada, or do you just not care if the LPC doesn’t win any seats in Western Canada?

      And BTW did you have some awful, traumatic childhood incident that makes you loathe Calgarians? You’re a regular champion of national unity there.

      • TheSilentObserver says:

        Lance, this is a right wing government, the monstrosity that exists in the US is what I would classify as a conservative president with a Christian Nationalist congress. To quote Bill Maher, “Over the past thirty-five years, the democrats have moved to the right, and the right has moved into a mental hospital”

  2. bigcitylib says:

    *gold plated*. Oops. Shouldn’t write while in the throws of indignation.

  3. marta says:

    Never was and never will be.

  4. jon evan says:

    “I am so proud of my home province today.”
    http://ninthave.ca/front/2011/11/08/green-is-definitely-the-colour-in-saskatchewan/

    Me too (understatement)!
    I lived there under the NDP.
    We would drive to Edmonton and see the construction cranes, the incredible roads, the excitement. When we drove back to Saskatoon it was surreal…. not one construction crane, decrepit roads as soon as you crossed over the border, small town thinking like ‘we like it small and quiet: don’t want to be another Calgary’. NDP thinking like from a former premier: ‘the wee premier from the wee province with the wee budget! Wee thinking….. Yes.
    No wonder we left! But things are different now: big thinking… finally.

    When things go bad under the NDP they really go bad like in Greece. The socialist party in the NDP birthplace is in ruins. The federal NDP might take notice!

  5. Alex says:

    I don’t see how anyone can take this story seriously. This article is an opinion piece masquerading as a news story. There are many reasons to criticize the NDP,
    but just because William Johnson doesn’t like the Dippers doesn’t mean that they are not, to quote Warren, ready for the big leagues.

    According to the Wikipedia page on Johnson, he “was elected president of the lobby group Alliance Quebec in 1998, serving a controversial term until 2000. During that term, he refused to meet with government officials, held two small demonstrations against the Charter of the French Language, added clauses to the group’s constitution denouncing hypothetical declarations of independence by the Quebec government, and supported the election of members of the tiny Equality Party to the group’s board of directors.”

    With this history of political activism is anybody surprised that Johnson opposes the NDP’s Quebec-related policies? In fact, it would be shocking if Johnson had nice things to say about the NDP. But to then use his words as some definitive statement about the NDP’s capacity to govern the country is just lazy journalism.

    To use an analogy, this article is equivalent to the Sun quoting the president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as saying that Jean Chretien wasn’t ready for the big leagues because he didn’t get rid of the GST. But I am sure Warren wouldn’t agree with a story like that!

    • Warren says:

      Without Jack, they’re marginal. Sorry.

      • The Doctor says:

        I agree that Nycole Turmel is a lousy politician, and the federal NDP is going through some huge growing pains these days, because they’re essentially being forced for the first time ever to have to explain their positions on virtually every issue that comes up — as an official opposition is rightly expected to do. And for years, the NDP had the luxury, as a 3rd party, of sort of picking and choosing when it wanted to do or say something. Up until this most recent election, the NDP was the permanent armchair quarterback/professional second guesser of Canadian politics. The two “serious” parties would slug it out, and the NDP would promise everybody free cookies, and most people would smile and pat them on the head.

        Still Warren, I wouldn’t write the NDP’s obit until they’ve had their leadership race. Way too early to be throwing dirt on them. As has recently been pointed out in the press, their poll numbers have been holding up quite nicely.

      • Dan says:

        This is why the Liberal party keeps losing.

        Canadians generally like social democratic values: universal health care, generous pensions, progressive taxation, corporate interests secondary to public interests, sparing use of military, protection of minorities.

        But when the NDP points this out, the Liberal response isn’t to say what they believe in. It’s always “b-b-b-but they’re not even a real party!”.

        And then they wonder why people keep calling Liberals the party of entitlement.

        Keep digging guys. If this is the attitude, then you haven’t hit bottom yet.

        • The Doctor says:

          So aside from government employees, who is it in Canada who gets “generous pensions” as a result of government policy? I’d be fascinated to hear your answer. Because it sure ain’t me or anyone else I know.

          • Dan says:

            Depends on who we elect to government. Under the conservatives, no one but the wealthy.

          • The Doctor says:

            Dan, that’s a nonsensical answer. The only government pension plan I’m aware of is CPP and that applies to virtually everyone, regardless of income. The problem with it is, it sucks, it really doesn’t result in a living wage for a retiree. This has been the case through Liberal, PC and Conservative governments. The stripe of government has made no difference.

            Outside of Quebec, no provincial government that I’m aware of provides a universal pension or has ever done so.

            If a “rich” person gets a pension outside of CPP, it would be a private pension plan and in terms of entitlement to it, the government, and government policy, has nothing to do with it.

      • Lumipallo says:

        Without Jack, they’re marginal? Possibly.
        The Liberals without Jean, they’re marginal? Definitely.

      • Greg says:

        For a marginal party, they do seem to be polling constantly better than the other opposition parties. So, how should we categorize the federal Liberals?

  6. Sean says:

    I predict rampant, cut throat hooliganism before, during and after the NDP chooses a new leader. Liberals will have a great opportunity to fill the void in 2013.

  7. Jon Adams says:

    “This article is an opinion piece masquerading as a news story.”

    http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca

    Knock me over with a feather.

  8. Cam Prymak says:

    I think the underlying theme of the piece is really it’s a great time to be in the CPC.

    And he’s right.

    • Woody says:

      These days are good for the Canadian Conservative Youth Party Alliance.
      These days are good for us now.
      Days are good for the C.C.Y.P.A.
      These days are good for us now.

  9. Anne Peterson says:

    Are you telling me it was the social democratic movement in the US that gave rise to the greed that started all this. The banking deregulation, lest we forget. The US and Britain are going down the tube. And it all started with Reagan and Thatcher, those two old socialists.

  10. pcase says:

    This s laughable. I know Liberals aren’t used to it, but taking a dignified yet principled approach to opposing the government is refreshing and I believe will pay off 3 years down the road.

  11. pomojen says:

    I am really just questioning the whole “league” at this point. I vote while holding my nose every time.

    http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2011/11/07/retired-senator-murray%E2%80%99s-stinging-attack-on-%E2%80%98broken-parliamentary-political/28742

  12. TheSilentObserver says:

    to synthesize what Dan, The Doctor, and Lumipallo have been saying, have the Liberals not been increasingly marginal post-Chretien? Why are you willing to write off the opposition when they don’t have a leader, yet will gain one more than a year before the Liberals do? Is this not one of the most egregous examples of Liberal entitlement and the failure to comprehend the current political state of affairs? This is really so hypocritical that I feel a fool for having to say so. Since NDP bashing has become the favourite hobby of the libs since they’ve been opposition, it just goes to prove what my friend told me over the weekend, the Liberals are just red conservatives at the present time

  13. ken klempner says:

    As I have stated before…like the British Liberal party, without an idealogue, the LPC will disappear. The Liberal gang is gone; unless the NDP as they are behaving; don’t grasp this simple concept

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