03.24.2012 08:26 PM

The NDP’s mistake

They got to where they are because of a guy who was populist and human and kind.

They’ve now elected a guy who is the polar opposite, on all fronts.

Good luck, New Democrats. You’ll need it.

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(illustration by Joseph a.)

38 Comments

  1. Mulletaur says:

    I’m thinking that your hopes for cooperation/merger with the Dippers have just been dashed, at least for the next electoral cycle, and probably for the next two.

  2. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    I find his speech making(at least in English) almost as if by rote……..dont see much inspiration or passion there to get young people to vote……..not that this most self-absorbed generation gives a rats ass regardless….

  3. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    CBC pundits panned speech……”a lecture in civics”, one stated……..le Mal Thomas?….lol

  4. Bill says:

    Mulcair’s speech was terrible, no charisma or connection to anyone.
    The Bloc will back for sure now, however with time this might an opportunity for the libs to get back into Quebec.

  5. Skinny Dipper says:

    I congratulate Thomas Mulcair on his leadership campaign victory.

    • Jan says:

      I thought only the Cons would start right in on the attack. Bob Rae wrote a very nice congratulatory letter by the way.

  6. David_M says:

    Well at least Bob Rae can stop being prime defacto opposition spokesman starting Monday am and let Mulcair and the NDP sink or swim.
    The Liberal party will also be able to focus on thier own leadership void.
    Ha! bet Harper calls a snap election.

  7. kre8tv says:

    I suppose it’s fitting that since politics in this country has become so thoroughly poisonous that all three parties should be lead by thoroughly unlikeable people.

  8. Michael says:

    You would have thought he could have spoken without notes.

  9. hatem says:

    It is funny how things turn out, Liberals led by NDPer and NDP led by Liberal.

  10. T PAUL says:

    He just got interviewed on Mansbridge. Sounded very personable and intelligent. He is articulate and a formidable debater. He has ruled out any deal with the Liberals, “we will move the center to us”.

  11. AP says:

    Nice to see that the NDP managed to elect a leader who is angrier than Stephen Harper. Well done.

  12. Marc-André Chiasson says:

    A grit now leads the NDP, a dipper leads the LPC, a social democratic leads the Greens, and the reincarnation of Duplessis and l’Union nationale leads the CPC. C’est le monde à l’envers.

  13. Trevor says:

    I just read that NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has ruled out co-operating with Liberals in the next election or merging the parties after securing his victory to succeed Jack Layton at the helm of the New Democrats. How disappointing. We can
    look forward to a second Conservative majority in 2015, unless the NDP and Liberals put their egos aside and learn to
    cooperate. The vote splitting between progressives needs to stop. The only other thing we can hope for is that the next Liberal leader is young, energetic, charismatic, kind, honest, decent, compassionate, populist, telegenic and photogenic; who is armed with progressive socio-economic policies headed into the next 2015 election.

    What do you believe is the best way for Canadians to get rid of the Harper Conservatives in 2015, Warren?

    • DJ says:

      Governments run their course. Canadians will eventually want to throw the Conservatives out and will turn to one of the other parties. Stephen Harper has just been very lucky. Remember how the Chretien/Martin Liberals seemed invincible. That didn’t turn out to be true, did it? I think we’re giving Harper way too much credit. His time will come and the Conservatives will have quite the time trying to replace him.

      • Philip says:

        Very well put. Nothing in politics is inevitable. While Harper may well win another majority in 2015, it certainly isn’t a fait accompli. The Conservatives had a tough enough time getting their 2011 majority. It could be pointed out that absent the nation wide voter suppression, the electoral fraud in at least one riding and the years of tax payer funded pre-writ attack ads, we would be looking at another Conservative minority government. And a Prime Minister Harper wondering who was going to stick the first knife in him. That is still a plausible 2015 scenario.

  14. MCBellecourt says:

    Some Liberals wanted a merger. I didn’t agree to a full-on merger because the last thing we need is a two-party clusterfuck like they have in the US. Cullen’s idea was far more palatable because no party would have had to compromise its core ideals nor its base. We’ve already seen honourable conservatives shoved out of the centre-right and look what we ended up with. Extremism is never good from either side.

    I am also convinced that we need a new voting system, like proportional representation. Right now, at least two thirds of people in this country are taxed without representation, and that is just unacceptable.

    A third thing, too. Mulcair’s speech was nearly 75% French, and I think a lot of convention attendees were a little put out by that. Quite franky, it pissed me off. That kind of crap does not indicate a willingness for inclusiveness.

  15. SF Thomas, Ottawa says:

    The most likely scenario for the 2015 election to oust Harper as I see it right now relies on regional voting and a potential coalition government with the Liberals and NDP. The current NDP plan seems to depend mainly on keeping their Quebec seats and then building on the middle class voters in Ontario, particularly in the urban and suburban areas. However Mulcair and the NDP could very well fail to appeal enough to Ontario voters, Ontario still isn’t fertile ground for the NDP at this point. If the Liberals can fill the gap for whatever segment of the population is tired of the Conservatives, particularly with a government obsessed with resource extraction and exports in western Canada, while giving Ontario and central Canada the shaft (I state this both as a reality for where the Cons economic priorities are and possible public sentiment a few years from now). In that scenario the Liberals could win back a good chunk of Ontario, the Conservatives are at best reduced to a minority and then the Liberals and NDP can hopefully have enough seats combined to form a coalition government.

    The reason why I state this is because since neither side wants to engage in a merger or pre-election cooperation deal like Cullen suggested, this really seems to be the only potential scenario under which it would work and the Cons would be ousted. The Liberals still appear to have a much better chance to win more seats in Ontario than the NDP do against the Conservatives. If the NDP support jumped up a bit in this province it would likely still hit a wall with some of the more stubborn Liberal base support and would simply lead to vote splitting allowing the Conservatives to win more seats, even if the Conservative support dropped a bit.

  16. Arthur Cramer says:

    Really Warren, is that the best you have?

    And to all you Libs, Rae was never the Official Oppostion Leader, but with the MSM in you back pockets, you have been able to sell it. Well sorry, you guys are still done.

    Man you guys are conceited.

    • frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

      No Mr. Rae wasnt, but he and his small caucus performed as if they were……the conundrum , from Mr. Kinsella’s latest column, is how the NDP are able to keep their numbers up……Personally, I think the “Jack effect” is still affecting peoples opinions in this country…..
      I doubt if Mr. Mulcair will be able to maintain the goodwill…..I suspect the man doesnt suffer fools gladly…..

  17. Arthur Cramer says:

    Trevor, I’ll answer for Warren, vote NDP. Simple.

  18. CanadianObserver says:

    When did the Greens have a coup and replace Elizabeth?

  19. Greg says:

    I guess we’ll see how good a politician he is in the coming days. The choices he makes over the next few weeks will determine the rest of his tenure as leader. Good luck Tom. Don’t screw it up.

  20. Nancy Cole says:

    I am not sure Thomas Mulcair is a mistake. I would have preferred Nathan Cullen but what impressed me is they do not have in fighting in public barring what Ed Broadbent did they have learned from all the liberal mistakes do not dis fellow politicians like the liberal party did. Beginning with the Paul Martin/ Jean Chretien feud. Now the attacks on Bob Rae. The other parties are just laughing all the way to the bank. Until the in fighting stops there will never ever be another liberal government at the federal level. I believe it is ok to not like everything the leader does but to go on TV and tear them apart is not the way to ever form a government. Solidarity is the key to a governing party. The liberals have lost sight of that. I believe the liberals have destroyed themselves. When you are fighting amongst yourselves, then the enemy can just come in the middle and voila you are now reduced to third party status. The back stabbing must stop.

    • Pat says:

      I agree completely, the Liberal party members should be watching and learning from the NDP on how to support each other for the good of the party. I say this as a person who has always voted Liberal.

    • Pat says:

      I agree completely, the Liberal party members should be watching and learning from the NDP on how to support each other for the good of the party. The Liberal party infighting must stop. I say this as a person who has always voted Liberal.

    • SF Thomas, Ottawa says:

      Contrary to what you mentioned I haven’t seen almost any major signs of infighting around Rae recently. There are some dissenters and there will eventually be the issue of if he does get to run for permanent leadership or not, but for the most part it has actually been pretty mute recently.

  21. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    Loved this bit from CBC’s Greg Weston:
    “At the pivotal moment a freshly crowned Thomas Mulcair needed to ignite his party faithful and wow the Canadian masses, the NDP’s great hope for power delivered a convoluted victory speech with all the passion of phoning for a cab.

    As Mulcair’s second oratorical flop in as many days sucked the energy from the Toronto convention hall Saturday night, it is a safe bet the loudest applause for the speech was from federal Liberals across the land”

    Hopefully shades of things to come?……

    The article does, however, go on to mention how Mr. Mulcair is a huge threat to the Liberal Party……

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