— Musings —05.12.2018 08:23 AM
You’d almost think it was a two-party race, in fact
Son 2 and me drove all over multiple Ontario ridings in past few days. If the sign war is any indication, a big blue wave is coming – with lots of orange showing up in some surprising places. Red almost non-existent. #ONpoli #ONDP #ONPC #OLP
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) May 12, 2018
Warren,
You’re so lucky to be able to have your ear to the ground. It’s all about turnout and whether progressives will have both the same focus and dedication as conservatives. If they don’t, it will be landslide time for Ford. However, the lack of red is perhaps a good indication that strategic voting may be the deciding factor. I hope so.
I’m in Scarborough-Centre.
Granted I haven’t been throughout the whole riding, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of signs up yet. What signs there are, I’d say there are more Liberal signs, followed by the NDP and the OPC are starting to pop up over the last couple days.
From a few polls that also had seat projections, Scarborough-Centre was one of the few in the 416 the Liberals are expected to hold.
TBH, I kind of feel happy for Dippers.
I remember after the 2015 federal election, the future looked as bleak as death for the NDP and I was one of the vocal people very pessimistic about their prospects as a party in Canada.
They were losing governments, seats and support from coast-to-coast. They were (and still are) facing an identity crisis with no sense of direction out of their excursion into the political wilderness. And worst of all, they had no case to exist in a world where the Liberal party is so dominant.
But maybe there is hope for these guys.
If the NDP can form a formidable – and I mean by more than just two or three seats – Opposition in Ontario, it could serve as a seed of optimism for New Democrats.
How exactly?
I firmly believe that the only path to relevancy for New Democrats in Canada’s political landscape is through provincial legislatures.
With a BC NDP government, a potential Ontario NDP Opposition, and a survivable AB NDP government, New Democrats have a shot at positioning themselves as a more localized and plausible alternative to centre-right parties.
This means cutting the umbilical cord between provincial and federal wings of the NDP. There is no reason why they should be the only major party that doesn’t provide their provincial counterparts freedom to work out their own policies within the parameters of a social-democratic identity.
There still is a lot of “if” in my theory and all of this could mean shit-all if the New Democrats can’t get real about what it means to govern. Still, this is a much better place to be than barely more competitive than the Green Party.
Here in Oakville-North Burlington not an orange sign to be seen. Lots of blue and lots of red. The difference between the blue and red, the blue signs are in front of houses and the red signs are on public property. As this is a new riding without an incumbent, I am not sure if team Orange or team Green have even chosen someone to run.
Whitby is a contrast of blue and orange. Long a safe PC seat, it’s somewhat surprising to see all the NDP signs in the downtown core. Brooklin as always is a sea of PC signs. The only Liberal signs I see are roadside, whose candidate I’ve never heard of.
That being said, there are allegations in Ottawa-Orléans that the blue signs are going up on properties that have not requested them…