Happy May Day, the day of the worker just about everywhere in the world except North America.
Once upon a time, Canadians used to think of the New Democratic Party as the party of the workers. Not so much anymore, though, as the results of Monday’s election powerfully illustrate.
The Conservative Party of Canada has worked hard for months to persuade Canadian voters that they were the party of workers, and spent a lot of time cooking up three-word rhyming slogans to drive home the point. I’m not knocking that, by the way. It nearly worked.
Now, I don’t believe for a moment that the party of Pierre Poilievre would have done anything to alleviate the grave problems of the rising living costs, unaffordable housing, and good quality jobs in Canada. Under Mr. Poilievre the Conservatives have become MAGA Trumpers to the core. As in the United States, they would have made things worse.
But credit where credit is due, they talked about it. They acknowledged the actual problems that Canadians are worrying about around their kitchen tables and in their workplaces.
Granular crunching of the election results is yet to come, but it’s very hard to believe that the NDP collapse on Monday wasn’t driven by the fact the party had so little to say about these core issues for most of the eight years it was led by Jagmeet Singh.
As the CBC pointed out on E-Day Plus 2, it was Conservatives not Liberals who captured supposedly safe NDP seats in blue collar ridings like Windsor West in southern Ontario and Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg. “The collapse of the NDP was also on full display in ridings where the Liberals held their seats,” the reporter also observed. “In Halifax, for example, the NDP have won or placed second in the riding since 2004, but trailed in third after Monday’s election.”
Hey! Maybe the NDP would have done better if they’d talked more about the very real issues that were driving working Canadians nuts instead of leaving that to the Cons! D’ya think?
Instead, Mr. Singh had other priorities – important issues as well, in many cases, but not the ones that could have saved the NDP’s bacon in 2025.
Well, what’s done is done. Mr. Singh is moving on. The NDP has a long road ahead of it to rebuild if it is ever again to become the political force it was for a spell in the early 21st Century.
If it wants to reverse its slide to total irrelevance, it’s going to have to find a leader who connects with Canadians better than Mr. Singh ever did, and has better political judgment about skating to where the puck is going to be, not where he or she wishes it was.
In light of that, let’s have a frank talk about the Alberta NDP.
Alberta New Democrats, who came close to forming the provincial government under Rachel Notley for a second time in May 2023, will open their three-day convention at the Edmonton Convention Centre Friday morning.
Naheed Nenshi, the former Calgary mayor who was overwhelmingly chosen by NDP members in June 2024 with great hopes about the future, will address the convention at 11 a.m. on Saturday. He will face a leadership review vote immediately after his speech, at noon, which doesn’t sound like an approach intended to encourage a thoughtful response, but that’s what the agenda says.
Surely I can’t be the only NDP supporter with the feeling that, just like Mr. Singh, Mr. Nenshi is failing to connect with the Albertans whose votes are going to be needed to defeat the United Conservative Party in 2027, or whenever Danielle Smith decides to call an election?
Mr. Nenshi has had many opportunities to take on Ms. Smith and his response has been weirdly passive. There are lots of social media videos, but I don’t get the feeling Mr. Nenshi’s professorial lectures have homed in on the issues that matter the most to the working Albertans whose votes the provincial NDP requires to push it over the top.
Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan made this point in his unsuccessful leadership campaign last year before dropping out. In light of Monday’s facts on the ground, though, New Democrats need to admit Mr. McGowan was onto something.
Ms. Notley was criticized after the 2023 election for attacking Ms. Smith too much and not setting out policies that would appeal to voters enough. That may or may not have been fair, but Mr. Nenshi seems to have gone too far in the other direction.
The theme of the convention? “Better is possible.” Sorry, but that’s just never going to be followed a cry of “to the barricades!”
I’m hearing that many of the Albertans who signed NDP memberships last year to vote for Mr. Nenshi, boosting membership to about 85,000, aren’t sticking around. When the party tries to get them to re-up, a lot aren’t interested. I’ve heard membership has fallen to about 17,000, maybe lower.
The UCP bragged yesterday it raised triple the donations that the NDP did in the first quarter. You don’t have to believe every word they say to be concerned that there is enough truth to this to make it dangerous. And a lot of that money is coming from engaged individual donors.
Yesterday, moreover, the government introduced legislation to open the spigots of corporate cash.
Assailing Premier Smith for her increasingly open separatism is a step in the right direction by the NDP. It’s time not to be shy about pointing out who she really is. I’m not sure, though, that daring her to call a referendum right now is the right move. Be careful what you wish for.
Regardless, the NDP can’t win if it won’t take the bull by the horns and address the issues that Monday’s federal vote proved matter to working voters and their families.
It’s not too late to avoid a disaster like the one Mr. Singh’s federal NDP suffered Monday night, but just ignoring the fact that the NDP isn’t connecting with a lot of Alberta voters on key issues isn’t going to help.
We’ve just watched what happens when a party fails to face up to a problem in a timely fashion.
This deserves to be a topic of discussion this weekend.
Nenshi needs to either step up his game or leave. He is too passive, too accommodating, too soft. Gil McGowan is someone who is willing to roll up his sleeves and work the trenches of discourse to rally a movement. A movement is what it will take to unseat the UCP. No Alberta movement, then expect the UCP to win the next election. UCP members and their supporters are all dangerous animals. They are born and bred to tear people apart. The NDP have proven time after time that they are incapable of being anything other than soft and fuzzy and when I say fuzzy I mean being borderline discombobulated. Nay, the UCP and their base will eat Nenshi for lunch no matter his qualifications – in fact his qualifications, while impressive, will be used against him and the average Albertan will buy into the line (promoted by the media, bought ads, and UCP supporters) that education is for the elite only, educators are devil spawn, secular and a threat, and that the UCP are the real people. Nenshi has clearly demonstrated that he cannot muster the collective rage in this province to rally the people who are living (in awe, fear and amusement) with a corrupt, authoritarian government. The UCP are, perhaps have already, turned Alberta into a full blown MAGA state. Living in Alberta is a horrid embarrassment! NDP are being eradicated by their own stupidity and the world-wide movement of the destruction of democracies. Roy Scranton wrote a book in 2018 entitled We’re Doomed, Now What? Prophetic much? “Nothing to see here folks!” Said the conservative to the people of the world, as everything billions of people hold dear burns to the ground. Really. What can the NDP actually do?
Goethe was right: First, Naheed Nenshi has to have a seat in the Legislature. Danielle Smith isn’t allowing that to happen, because there is no by-election to get him a seat he is entitled to have. Second, the media keeps on catering to Danielle Smith and the UCP. The media would not take the UCP to account for their wrongdoings, and this is why the NDP lost in 2023. People have to stop blaming the NDP for this.
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
I can’t imagine why any working person, especially anyone connected to real unions, would believe Pierre Poilievre will do anything to benefit them.(The CLAC is not really a union with the intention of bettering the working and safety conditions and benefits of its members, in my view.) It seems to me that Mr. Poilievre has gone as far as supporting right-to-work type legislation, and I think that he voted against a bill limiting replacement workers during strikes etc.. In addition, he says that dental care, pharma care, and school lunches are too expensive. Yet, these are exactly the kinds of programs that will benefit workers.
Interestingly, when I talked with volunteers for our NDP MLA, they said that voters don’t want to hear from political parties between elections. I find this surprising. In any event, I think that Mr. Nenshi should work on getting into the news with his opinions, policies etc. as much as possible. Unfortunately, the press doesn’t have much interest in giving the NDP positive press.
Christine, because nobody else is talking to them. Plenty are sneering at them as being ignorant, but check out twitter or tiktok and practically every leftist, including intelligent ones, snark at them as a prelude to lecturing them on how many things they’re wrong about rather than (and lordy I hate to say this) the cons who at least tell them they have valid reasons for their economic concerns. And they do. Even if they express that in less gracious terms.
Problem is, the cons aren’t offering any viable solutions and never will.
Academics and professionals and politicians don’t have to talk like street-wise wobblies–they just have to stop being condescending and admit that we’re in deep trouble. Then speak plainly about some solutions.
It’s not a lot to ask for and it would go a long way to easing some tension and improving the dialogue.
Tell them how little it costs in their taxes for dental guarantees. If it’s a hundred dollars a year–they’re well aware that getting one dental exam costs a lot more than that. *Explain* what they’re paying and what they’ll get for it. Fifty dollars in tax reduction doesn’t come anywhere near meeting that cost if they need it.
That’s how you get through to them and nobody’s bothering to tell them that.
So true. In the recent election, all three parties rallied around tax breaks for the middle class and middle class hopefuls. I’ve heard it said the real class struggle now is between public sector workers and low wage gig workers, the people who uber your $29 hamburger.
As for Nenshi, the consensus is he gave a very passionate speech on youth trans rights not long ago. Does he think he’s going to get votes for that.
Politics is a blood sport. The UCP know treat it like it like a blood sport while the NDP are choc-a-bloc full of dreamy eyed romantics. If this was a sports reference, we are throwing the Junior Varsity out on the field to play Pros.
Regarding the federal election results, I wonder if anyone amongst the Liberals, NDP or Greens are thinking, “gee, maybe we should merge and never lose another election”. It makes too much sense so probably not.
Jaundiced, the NDP have no viable platform. They haven’t since before Mulcair.
If you’re gonna go left–GO LEFT. Full steam ahead. Show a vision of a brighter future. You might seem radical today, but you won’t, tomorrow. Remember when it was radical to want to legalize pot? Or gay marriage? Or co-op housing? Or even {{{gasp}}}universal healthcare? All these happened in my lifetime.
You might be the opposition today, pushing that agenda and tomorrow seem like you’re a dinosaur for mentioning it.
There is what I will call the Poilievre approach to politics, relentlessly attacking the government to try defeat them, which hasn’t seemed to have worked yet. It seems to make for a fairly successful opposition, but as PMs sometimes say in jest when they welcome new opposition leaders, they wish for them to have a long time in that job.
While Poilievre will likely get to keep his job as opposition leader longer, even though he lost his job as MP, even some Federal Conservatives are wondering if, after four consecutive losses, a change in approach is needed.
Nenshi has taken almost the opposite less aggressive approach to being opposition leader. I feel the old political saying that governments defeat themselves is still true. Had Poilievre not been as relentless and effective, the Liberals might not have changed leaders and changed course somewhat. Lest we forget, the Alberta UCP also did a fairly late switch in leaders that also worked. Notley was very effective against Kenney, but unfortunately less so against Smith who despite her obvious shortcomings was an effective communicator who projected confidence in her ideas.
There are more than a few examples of opposition leaders who do not seem to be effective being underestimated and winning. The guy they started calling yesterday’s man went on to be Canada’s PM for a decade or so after.
I don’t know if this sort of approach will work this time, but it has for others in the past, so perhaps it will again.
Alberta residents have been propagandized for 30 years that WE did not piss the oil booms away. “We” believe Ottawa took them through equalization payments. Never mind that the royalties Alberta no longer collects from fossil fuel production have nothing to do with equalization. Notley choked on this issue and almost everything thing else that matters to the long term viability of Alberta. So what is the NDP’s plan?
During the recent election campaign, I saw a meme on Facebook with a caption that said “Think of the most vulnerable person you know, and vote accordingly.” I found that none of the platforms offered hope to the most vulnerable person I know – a homeless young man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Without ongoing mental health support, he treats his illness with meth. He says it quiets the voices.
People who are drawn to the NDP have lived in hope for the past 50 years that someday we will get a scrappy leader who doesn’t back down from a fight. When a politician shows those qualities during a campaign and get elected, out hopes are raised. Sadly, when it comes time to be reelected, they become focused on whether they can make it through the campaign without offending anyone. Where is the NDP’s outcry over the UCP stealing the $200 offered by the federal government to disabled Albertans? Where is the outcry over Danielle Smith’s street sweeping plan, otherwise known as the Compassionate Care Act?
The “mainstream media” doesn’t often report on Naheed Nenshi, and they didn’t really report on Jagmeet Singh. They do report on Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith. Maybe the reason is that both PP and DS can be counted on for outrageous sound bites almost daily. The NDP can be counted on for reasoned arguments, which may be both accurate and compassionate, but are not really newsworthy.
Good points, GMG. Charlie Angus was a firebrand and sadly, he’s leaving.
Jagmeet started out that way and I dunno what happened–but I think the party ate him.
Yes, I agree with this analysis. I stil believe Mr. Nenshi should be on the road to every rural burg in Alberta shaking hands with and greeting every last human being. Time is a combustible resource and not replaceable. Altogether the ANDP seems moribund and flaccid since Rachel retired.
Rachel did retire she tired. Tired of a what Alberta has become. I have no idea how to change that. Seems to be a generational shift. All said, most Albertans frighten me, but I live with my feet on the ground of rural Alberta not aloft in a downtown condo. Maybe the air is different up there?
The way to change it, and yer all gonna hate this is…
New media.
Reach out to the younger generations. This has been the strong suit of the cons and repugnants for *decades* and that is how they built up this huge onslaught of malignant online crocodiles, bots and supporters who shout down everyone who disagrees with them and bully them off of social media.
All this has been supported by major corporate donors and corporate media such as Fox News then ineffectually fought back by *other* corporate news such as MSNBC who all lie, spin and bullsh*t at an astounding rate with parroted talking points.
As Anonymous so valiantly said, “Take up space”.
Don’t let them bully you off. And if you can’t manage that–then at least, even if you’ve heard the same podcasters on the left, say the same things a thousand times or it’s a subject you can’t stomach without weeping–put them on in the background or leave a playlist running when you’re not home to increase their algorithm numbers. Throw on a quick comment if you can. Block all social media that spews hate thus cutting their ability to impact the numbers by using your space.
When you’re up to it, talk to those that agree with *some* of what you’re saying (like improving healthcare) even if they are ardent right-wingers. Find the wedge of alienation and offer alternative solutions. Ask questions.
This is far from hopeless. I’ve seen and been a minuscule part of a lot of change in my lifetime.
We’re on the right side of history and all we’re trying to do is push it along a little.
Where have you heard that membership has dropped by 60,000?
Chris: From within the party. I believe the report is credible, and it may even be worse than that. If someone comes forward and credibly shows that I am wrong, though, I will certainly report it. DJC
Albertans believe healthcare privatization IS the answer. They also think pivoting to private/ charter schools will protect their local school AND keep their children safe from crime. They believe the best solution to the affordability crisis is to facilitate private business. Where would you rather work as a nurse, an underfunded, understaffed emergency room that has to take everyone, or a private clinic with predictable hours and healthier, sane patients? Or as a teacher? Are you more effective teaching 35 kids, 6-7 with severe physical or mental challenges, half EAL or 17 healthy, wealthy students?
The NDP is stuck on collective bargaining, pooling our resources, collective benefits. That’s cheaper in the long run but guess what’s cheaper still? NOT going to the dentist. NOT paying into a benefit plan. NOT paying for a daycare.
The carbon tax? Sure, you got your money back, after you installed your solar panels, heat pump, insulated your basement, bought your EV. Wonder why it wasn’t popular. Evoking 20th century activism stirs the cockles of the hearts of lovely, earnest, open-minded United Church ladies and Heather McPherson supporters (love you Charlie Angus) but meets with skepticism, disdain, bitterness and indifference from the kids we raised. No, Grandpa, we don’t remember the mines. Yes, Grandpa we would like a mine job, now that you wrecked the environment anyway.
No, Albertans are split into two types of conservative. One type made out great during the boom years. I include many public sector workers in this. They had decent salaries and are now retiring with a gold-plated pension and a good RRSP. They want to keep their money. They want to be able to pass it to their own kids. These people reminisce about the good old PC’s, the Honourable so-and-so-white guy-with-a-pot-belly.
Then there are those who will NEVER have it. Gig workers. Contractors. Meat packers. Retail workers. Service industry employees. Childcare workers. Servers. Tech workers. Conservatives tapped into the very, very real insecurity, the zeitgeist that educated, progressive elites just don’t get. Conservatives are just cashing in on the investment they’ve been working on for decades- the investment into creating fear, disintegration of community, and the distrust of the other.
Danielle Smith will soon get tossed out. But her replacement will be even less pretty.
You might wanna respond that the government deliberately underfunded the healthcare system with the tax dollars they already collected but they never send back the refund 😉
Maybe if we could drop the refusal to use the term “working class” or at least “working people”? That might go a long way. The housing crisis isn’t that (upper)-middle class can’t afford a house in the suburbs anymore. The crisis is that working people can’t pay the rent. The homelessness crisis is a consequence of the housing crisis.
It is very difficult for Nenshi to raise his profile and oppose the UCP agenda if he does not have a seat in the legislature. It is incredibly disingenuous for the Premier not to call a by-election. She is doing this for only one reason and that is to keep his profile down. Nenshi can only make so many Facebook videos which I find to be quite well done.
You asked for data on the election. I did some rough work on this yesterday.
Note that my riding was re-districted between 2021 and 2025, and this has led to some interesting results. (BTW, this change was something I was and still am in favour of, as it seemed odd to be part of Edmonton where I was an hours drive away. In no way do I consider this to be gerrymandering, just recognizing change).
Result was total votes cast dropped by 20,000, as we are all rural now.
All three of the candidates lost total votes. The Liberal party candidate moved from third place to second place but total votes were down by about 1,000.
The NDP vote lost 12,000 total votes (!), that were now in Edmonton, but I don’t know if votes increased for them in the city as a result.
The incumbent conservative lost 300 votes in total. But with the re-districting that moved him from 55% of the popular vote in 2021 to just shy of 75% (!) of the popular vote.
All it does is indicate the rural/municipal divide.
The NDP has been going down the hole about cultural relativism for decades, now. It didn’t start with Singh but it needs to end with him. I’m all for justice for everyone which granted, does not exist but that has to *start* somewhere and that start is about wealth inequality.
“It’s the economy, stupid”
Small businesses (including farms) are the economic backbone of a society and we’ve let them be chewed up and spit out by corporate conglomerates. Put an end to it. Stop subsidizing foreign corporations like Amazon to come here so they can door dash at the whiff of union organizing, taking taxpayer’s money, with them.
Next is resources. When they are owned and controlled by a democratic government the benefits are enormous for all citizens. A government that controls resource extraction and sales has a powerful tool to buttress a country against any financial aggressors and pay for a host of social programs including housing and small business initiatives.
The NDP hasn’t had a decent housing program for decades, either. Housing is top of the list for half the population. While the cons and libs focus on home *ownership*, the average working class person just wants to live in a decent place free from the fear of renoviction, skyrocketing rents and shockingly bad maintenance (yes I know that’s a municipal problem but a federal housing plan using council-style housing could cut down on this problem without overloading the municipalities )–and rent that doesn’t cost 50% or more of their gross income. As well, social housing stock and co-ops can cut rental prices in an area as well as provide a myriad of social benefits so the working class is not disenfranchised from improving their economic futures. Maybe then, the prices of buying houses will *slowly* go down, instead of causing a panic as well as those in rent-geared-to-income will be in a better position to save up for down-payments.
Turf out all foreign financiers presently buying housing stock. Make it illegal to own Canadian real estate unless the owner is Canadian. Same with developers. Any commercial land can only be *leased* to any foreign companies doing business, here.
Stopping and reversing healthcare privatization. ‘Nuff said.
Provide permissive, low-cost capital for co-op small businesses where the producers of the goods are also the profiteers from their own labour.
Redistribute wealth through a fair tax system and shutting down all loopholes. If a company offshores their income (I’m looking at YOU Loblaws: with your fax machine in the Cayman Islands that you bragged about in your pamphlet to new stock buyers) they are no longer welcome to do business here. Play fair or get out. Or better yet, be taxed at the rate the Revenue Service *thinks* you have–unless you can prove you aren’t. We do that to deadbeat parents, why not to deadbeat corporations?
I know that’s TLDR but I’ve been studying and fighting for some of these changes for many decades and looked around the world and talked to those living with better models such as those in Nordic countries.
We could do better. We could be better. The bones are here. Sadly, the head is greedy and it’s infecting the whole body.
I hope the provincial NDP are listening. They need to understand that you don’t win a battle with a narcissist by being passive and playing nice.
Some NDP supporters in Alberta cancelled their memberships to join the federal Liberals during the leadership race. Those memberships are valid for three years. Alberta NDP members automatically become members of the federal NDP, and the federal Liberals don’t allow membership in any other federal party. Now that the federal NDP has imploded, it would be a good time for the automatic federal memberships to end. This might be the only way to encourage federal Liberals in Alberta to rejoin the provincial NDP without forfeiting their federal Liberal memberships. This would also address the not-uncommon fact that Albertans do vote NDP provincially and for another party federally.
However, the big issue now is addressing the considerable number of under-35 males who voted Conservative in the federal election. Outreach and a new focus is needed. What was it that Gil McGowan said about Tim’s, not Starbucks?
The difficulty facing any progressive party proposing programs or changes that would tangibly benefit the working class in an attempt to arrest the endless march further into the neoliberalist dystopia, is that they would be hammered by multiple sources. The corporate owned media, conservative parties, and all the right wing think tanks will scream at any attempt by a progressive party to enable programs that would actually benefit the working class. The default position is thus to make grandiose promises and offer vague solutions (via slogans), without committing to any changes that would deliver measurable benefits. The obvious source of funding is the wealthy and large corporations, but any party even raising that topic risks its very existence.
Look at what happened to the baby step of increasing Capital gains taxes on amounts in excess of $250K/yr. While it would impact less than 5% of all taxpayers, we saw the concerted (and long lasting) effort to demonize this proposal, and one of Carney’s first acts as PM was to cancel that small step. Related, it is tough to tell someone that they are poor and that they are not, and never will be, impacted by the higher rate. Basic math shows that low income earners do not pay much income tax, but they are continually sold on the idea of lower income taxes, with much success based on the voting patterns DJC spoke to.
As John Steinbeck said many years ago and still applies today, socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
As one of the 58,000 who signed up but who didn’t renew, I signed up hoping for something to change in Alberta politics but the party went from spent leader to invisible leader. I’m not looking for progressive idealism, just compassion and competence will do fine, but it’s hard to become animated to pay up when the party and leader aren’t in the public view.
Every single day Marlaina lies. The NDP need to point this out just as often. Remember the UCP lies constantly because they know it works. The NDP need to be just as forceful and consistent in calling out each and every lie by rebutting the lies with the facts. It’s a lot more work than posting a few things on social media, but if the NDP want to stand a chance of being elected they need to up their game. A lot.
Public Servant: The media is responsible for not taking the UCP and Danielle Smith to task for all that they do wrong. Postmedia is especially good at that. Also, if Naheed Nenshi is denied a seat in the Legislature, how else can the UCP and Danielle Smith be held to account?
i’m not an ndp type but my local mla is. she’s responsive, accessible, experienced outside of government, a very decent person. i have donated to her campaign and could be persuaded to eventually join the ndp and expand support; but not while that membership entangles me with the federal party. doing something to eliminate that connection would be a good start this weekend.
I’m not sure how “I’m not an NDP type” and “could be persuaded eventually to join the NDP” work together. It sounds like you like your MLA and are happy to vote for her. That’s great. But that doesn’t mean the party that is not “your type” has to change.
Not sure what people expect Nenshi to do, actually.
He’s been travelling the province since elected. Holding pressers often (though he gets little coverage as he has no seat right now).
He’s started a movement against “separatist Smith” along with a website, petition etc.
The problem is we’re so Americanized, we don’t even know the definition of working class because the union workers shrugged it off like an old coat when they saw themselves as “Middle Class”.
This is simple. If someone else is signing your paycheque and your job rests on their whims…YOU ARE WORKING CLASS no matter how much you earn or what colour collar, if one at all, you wear to work.
Unless you are an academic, professional class such as self-employed doctor, business owner, banker, CEO or someone who juggles money in the stock market YOU ARE WORKING CLASS.
There’s nothing embarrassing about this. It’s a badge of honour. When COVID hit, it was the working class making deliveries, cooking food, nurses tucking in the sick, hospital-employed doctors, bank tellers, programmers working at home, etc etc that kept the world moving along. It was clear just how useless the *not* working class were at contributing to the greater good of society.
Too bad we didn’t take that to heart.
The Alberta NDP seems to be stuck in the same loop as the Saskatchewan NDP. Strong enough to be the only credible political alternative to the ruling Conservative parties in their provinces, but not strong enough to defeat them in an election. I’m looking forward to conversing with fellow delegates this weekend about how to break out of this loop.
John Kolkman: It begins with the media who will start taking the UCP and Danielle Smith to task for what they are doing wrong, and it also involves Naheed Nenshi being given a seat in the Alberta Legislature. Had the media taken the UCP and Danielle Smith to task for their lies and big scandals, the NDP would be in power, once again.
To be very open I must say that I even forgot Nenshi is our NDP leader.
I believe the only other disappointment as big as this was Michael Ignatieff.
Me too! I am Neil Reimer, Grant Notley ND. I do not know where my party went? You say they are meeting this weekend?
“A long road ahead” indeed. A long reign for Daffy Smith?
TENET:
This is gonna sound completely off-base but hear me out a sec. I used to play an online MMORPG that has huge battles and I’d always play with tiny guerilla groups that would fight much larger opponents, as a sidecar to larger groups who won the big battles.
The worst thing that could happen to us was *winning*.
Because then there was an expectation that our little group, built for being the opposition, not the main warband–could be #1 in the ranks. This started internal warfare that gutted our little band from those who liked our fun and creative democratic little group to those who wanted against those who wanted to be serious contenders with all the military structure that required. It blew apart.
THAT is what went pear-shaped with the NDP. Jack Layton took them within a beard’s-hair of the Prime Minister’s office. Then we got stuck with Mulcair and that guy was a walking disaster.
Winning Ontario was a disaster, not because Bob Rae was ineffectual but because he did not have enough seasoned benchers to take the field. He was the best *opposition* I’d ever seen because he never required a huge group of experienced politicians to administer the province.
The NDP doesn’t have the amount of seasoned politicians to take power right now. They never have. They need to build up their roster for a decade or so then shoot for winning and meanwhile build up their opposition status so they have enough seasoned politicians to take power.
Frankly, I need them as the official opposition in a minority more than I need them as the ruling party. That’s not a dis–it’s a respectable goal.
When Mr. Nenshi was Mayor of Calgary he was almost every where, talking to the press, members of the public, every one wanted to talk to him and he was out there. Then he became the leader of the NDP and its like he disappeared. They guy won best mayor in the world and press wanted to talk to him, on t.v., print media, etc. Now no one wants to or he is avoiding the press. Don’t know what he is waiting for, but it is really about time he started to act like a party leader or move along.
Thought Singh was a decent leader and a nice person. Some times over the decades the press just ignores the NDP and there isn’t much which can be done about that. It may have been that Mr. Singh ran out of steam or the load was too much. A decent human being.
People are so dumb sometimes. What made people think the Conservatives were ever going to do anything for the working class and folks if you work for an employer, you are working class regardless how much money you make. Can’t recall Conservatives ever passing legislation which would have helped most Canadians have an easier life. I do know the Liberals with the support of the NDP have passed legislation which improved the lives of Canadians. The Conservatives had a lot of t.v. ads and we heard PP wax on about this and that and how only he could save the world or whatever but really, he was part of Harper’s cabinet and I don;’t recall them doing much of anything for any body except those who had Swiss bank accounts and were outed. Result, they were required to re pay what they owed but that was it. If I’m late filing my income tax its hello, here is the fine for being late and here is the interest you owe. Don’t recall Conservatives ever passing social leg. but I do remember how Harper and his gang went after Veterans who fought back to get what they deserved/owed. If Canadians vote for the Conservatives in the future they;ll get the reminder some of them need. in the mean time the Conservatives may attack the other parties for all sorts of “failures” but they haven’t done much of anything for any body in Canada that I can recall.
Who will lead the federal NDP in the future? Who knows. Perhaps Ms. Notley would like to give it a try, but our most successful leader in recent times was Jack Layton. Now if there is a duplicate of him out there, lets hope the party finds him.
In the meantime I’d wish some of the msm would can it and stop giving their version of advise to P.M. Carney. They spent most of the election crapping all over him and the Liberals, NDP, Bloc. The National Post was the worst of them. I’m still trying to figure out how PP lost the election after all the help they gave him. It was like they were his ad company.
eaf:
This is why there’s something “off” about the NDP right now. They seem to be eating their leaders.
It’s the job of whoever is in power to stand back and be quiet because they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by getting out there. It’s their position, to lose.
For their opponent (NDP, in this case) it’s their job to be out there, loud and proud, Twitter trolls be damned. BTW, I can’t imagine the amount of death threats and threats to their families they take in on a daily basis on Twitter but social media, podcasts, etc must be done if they want to be heard because the mainstream news is not going to give them much air time. And THAT is where the younger voters, are.
Politics has turned into a game of being (mis) managed by “consultants”–fools whose only use has been to lose elections. Because if they actually won any–they wouldn’t be “advising” a losing party. On a podcast or long-form interview, “being managed” comes across as unauthentic which is why Kamala was so absolute sh*t at anything off-the-cuff. She stammered and sounded like a drunken wine mom as she fumbled to say something inoffensive.
Trump, on the other hand, bonkers as he is–at least came across as your charming, crankpot neighbour just blathering away over a beer.
Layton had the quality of authenticity even though underneath it, he was a pretty calculating dude. Mulcair–didn’t. How the NDP wound up with that charisma vacuum in power was a mystery.
The NDP leader doesn’t have to be the brains of the ship (Layton wasn’t brilliant) they have to be *likeable* and listen to policy wonks while not letting that affect the way they put that information, across. Their job is to put forward their platform (another problem with the NDP), know it and sell it to sway potential voters without sounding disingenuous.
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
I would like to add to the many good comments. It is essential to get rid of the tax benefits given to real estate investment trusts (REITS) in 1993. REITS don’t pay tax as long as they distribute 90% of their profits as unit holders. The unit holders then pay tax on the distributions. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the tax paid by unit holders totals less than the corporate tax that the REITs would have paid if the REITs, which are corporations, had been taxed on the profits.
It is the business model of REITs to raise rents as high as possible and to extract money from renters for every extra – parking, storage areas etc.. They keep repairs and maintenance costs to a minimum, which reduces their expenditures. They view housing as a profit centre, but not as a public good.
REITs have interests in various aspects of housing investment, in ownership, in building management etc.. Buying up existing housing or building it is of interest to them. The result is the concentration of ownership of rental buildings in fewer and fewer hands. REITs in the U S buy and rent out single family homes as well as units in multi-family buildings. I have been unable to determine if REITs in Canada buy single family homes or if they they buy and rent out only multi-family buildings.
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
I see your point about parties other than the CPC failing to talk with unions and their members. At the same time, wouldn’t it be sensible for union leaders to press the Liberals and the NDP on their plans to improve social programs such as extending dental care, child care etc.. And maybe reversing some of the Harper policies in federally regulated workplaces. These include workers in workplaces regulated by the federal government even though some of the workers are employed by private industry. The issue of housing is also important. I think that the main issue is making housing affordable. As I mention in my post about REITs, the tax advantages that REITs recieve and the business model of REITs are likely to result in higher rents. Also, some of the policies of the federal government, as well as CMHC policy with respect to lower mortgage interest rates for corporations in some circumstances have to be modified to make home ownership possible for ordinary people. I am not a financial expert, but I like to read about this sort of thing.
Also, I would have thought that Pierre Poilievre’s stated anti-union views would be on the minds of union leaders, but it appears that union leaders are not taking this into consideration when supporting the CPC.
Five (5) federal ridings in Alberta had over 80% of the vote go to the Conservative candidate: I live in one of them. Dozens more had Conservative super-majorities of over two-thirds of the vote. Next door in Saskatchewan, two seats had over 80% Conservative super-majorities.
Outside of these two provinces, the Cons could only muster 37.5% of the popular vote and 97 seats in the Rest of Canada, while the Liberals got 46.4% and 166 seats.
I think what happened to the NDP is that Poilièvre and the CPC were so repellent to those voters with even a modicum of progressivism in the Rest of Canada, that they held their noses and voted Liberal to keep PP from forming a government. You have to wonder how this election might have shaken out had the CPC not elected such a d!ck for their leader in 2022 … to quote normally conservative-leaning journalist Bob Fife on CBC’s Power & Politics” just a few days ago.
On the other hand, what does this result say about a Conservative Party base that was all, like, “yes, we know he’s a d!ck, & that’s exactly what we want!”
With all of this happening, the NDP was just squeezed out.