04.22.2013 07:02 AM

In today’s Hill Times: is the federal NDP doomed?

Quote:

“There’s very little vote that I can see that will bleed from Harper to Trudeau. But, from Mulcair to Trudeau, there will be plenty of voters shifting allegiance. The Dippers need to do a lot more than remove the word ‘socialism’ from their constitution,” Mr. Kinsella told The Hill Times in an email, referring the NDP’s policy convention at which delegates voted to rewrite the party constitution’s preamble to remove reference to socialism and add references to social democracy instead. 

“The notion that the NDP will ever form a government, now, is a joke.  If that’s what NDP spinners are saying, they need to get their heads read.  They’re in trouble,” said Mr. Kinsella.

16 Comments

  1. The Conservatives got a majority last time because of people who shifted from Liberal to Conservative. They can shift back (and probably already have). There are a lot for right-wing voters who will probably shift from Conservative to Liberal as they grow tired of the government.

    There are lots of left-wing voters who always voted Liberal because they didn’t think they NDP can win. Now that they can, that will change.

    “The notion that the NDP will ever form a government, now, is a joke.” Said like a true Liberal spinner. You seem to be in full control of your mental facilities.

  2. Patrice Boivin says:

    Part of the problem it seems to me is this catering to the middle — all the parties are pretending they represent the “middle” (whatever that is, probably pollster-speak). So now all parties are pretending they are aiming for the same direction. And when they produce platforms and make (ideological?) promises, no one really counts on them to follow through, because when the next poll comes out they will do what the pollsters tell them they ought to do to avoid taking a dive.

    As a voter I don’t really where to turn anymore, I don’t believe what I hear in the media because I am aware that they distort facts and I don’t trust public figures like I used to when I was younger (and foolish). Oh and I don’t believe that most people are rational or of good character either, which adds to the confusion.

  3. Matt says:

    The NDP ‘Orange Crush’ was always a fallacy to start with. The numbers were great, but Quebec was a mirage. It did make it’s ground on the back of a leader who could connect and as sad as it is that Jack is gone the NDP chose the opposite in an angry man. The fact is we are a great country and a truly unlikely story. It’s time to be positive about who we are. I’m tired of being told that ‘everyone’ is the reason we are failing. We aren’t… Breaking news, we should be proud of ourselves.

  4. Kelly says:

    Until we institute proportional representation it’s all phony. Harper doesn’t have a majority. Neither did Chretien or Trudeau or anyone else in the last 50 years except Mulroney once.

    A system of preferential voting is second best and at least has the virtue of getting closer but the new math one has to do to make sense of the current lie in office would have even boggled Einstein. Preferential voting is at least easy to understand.

    Sadly much of our political commentary and evolving mythology (for example that the West is uniformly “Conservative”) is based on a series of phony electoral results.

    If we had an election tomorrow via PR 75% of the political analysis of the last 20 would be incomprehensible and revealed for the fiction that it is. And everyone could vote for the party they really want to support.

  5. doris says:

    I strongly disagree with this post but doubt if it would see the light of day on WK comment page but here goes. It is to WK’s advantage to see the NDP disappear, implode or just look silly as then the only alternative would be a bunch of opportunistic right-wing centrists who gain power and then remain indistinguishable from the Harpercons in their attitudes to social policy and economics. For example there is no free trade agreement that is not good for Canada when there obviously are, no tax that shouldn’t be cut and certainly no criticism of the corporate sector sitting on bags of cash whhile arguing for the lowering of labour standards and minimum wages.

    The NDP is the only party to be different from the established centre-right – obviously a damned good target for WK and his band of libs

    • Warren says:

      Won’t you look like an idiot when you meet my girlfriend, and her political views.

    • Kelly says:

      Doris, the reason I can’t support the NDP anymore is that they can’t believe anyone of good will could ever disagree with them. We live in a pluralistic society — it’s one of the things that DEFINES the country and multiculturalism as developed by the Liberal party is a policy that expresses that. I don’t think the NDP likes any diversity of opinion. They’ve become the ShadowCons (TM) — I prefer to support a reality based party.

  6. Breandán Rowan says:

    The Bitter Truth

    According to each political party, last week was a good success. Mulcair believed he upstaged Trudeau. Harper believed he took the wind out of Mulcair’s sails and hit Trudeau hard twice; first with the attack ad and then over Trudeau’s comments about the terrorist attacks in Boston. Team Trudeau thinks the attack ad backfired and will have no effect. Everyone every side is right pleased with their performance (would you like a side of denial with that confirmation bias sir?)

    The bitter truth is, we are very much in a Mexican war of attrition with each faction dug into its respective positions. A recent brisk question period exchange is instructive: Mulcair lobbed out a series of questions about the temporary foreign worker program, asking, “there are 1.4-million unemployed Canadians. Can the Prime Minister tell them what skills are required to work at Tim Hortons that Canadians don’t have?’’

    This seemingly strong line of attack was quickly dampened when the Prime Minister held up letters from eight NDP MPs asking for approval for more temporary foreign workers in their ridings. It has also been discovered the newly minted Liberal leader Trudeau had sent letters petitioning for temporaries.

    I say boycott Tim Horton’s – reject the gulag economy – do the overweight masses a favour and raise the cost of donuts. Boycott Harper, Trudeau, and Mulcair. Let your heart be filled with blind rage that these buffoons want to liquidate the Canadian Nation.

  7. JB Blauq says:

    “Right Wing Centrist”

    At last, I know where I fit in the political spectrum.

    Or maybe I’m a left-wing libertarian.

    so confusing..

    • Jon Adams says:

      That’s just what people like you on the extreme center would like to pass off to Canadians.

      [/dickweedtalkradiohost]

  8. Merrill Smith says:

    I have voted NDP at least as often as I’ve voted Liberal, but as long as the Dippers hold to the notion that a simple majority is enough to break up my country, they will never again get my vote.

    • Luke says:

      Agreed. That is a huge weakness of theirs in my mind as well. Doesn’t matter to me if they “move the centre” to the NDP if their Quebec separation policy remains what it currently is. I think there is every potential for the allegiance with the pseudo-separatists to fall apart and leave the NDP in a terrible position somewhere between Liberal-lite and a dilute Bloc.

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