“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,” observed Samuel Johnson, a great wit of the 18th Century. If you doubt the truth of this aphorism, consider the coverage of the greatest news story of the 21st
Continue readingTag: New Democrats
The Canadian Progressive: New NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh battles racism in Canadian politics with love
Jagmeet Singh, a martial artist, Sikh lawyer, and newly-elected leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP), uses love to challenge racism, Islamophobia and white supremacy in Canadian politics and society. The post New NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh battles racism in Canadian politics with love appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Corky Evans: How You can help save the ALR in 5 min
This call from Corky to help save our farmland is one to be heeded. Originally posted in the Commonsense Canadian it is followed by a Damien Gillis piece with Harold Steves, a Richmond councillor and Read more…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Stephen Lewis blasts Justin Trudeau in keynote NDP Convention speech
Former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis sharply criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on key Canadian policy issues during an electrifying address to the New Democrats’ 2016 convention in Edmonton.
The post Stephen Lewis blasts Justin Trudeau in key…
Alberta Politics: Let sleeping overdogs lie: Nothing to see here folks, just move along, please!
PHOTOS: We’re closed. But not for long, OK? Don’t get antsy if your comments don’t appear immediately. Read Daveberta.ca. Below: If you wondered what was going on in Alberta, now you know. “There’s nothing to see here folks, just move along
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Jack Layton: “Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done”
With opinion polls and the corporate media already declaring Justin Trudeau the winner of the 2015 federal election, the late Jack Layton would tell Thomas Mulcair and the New Democrats: “Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.” The post Jack Layton: “Don’t let them tell you it can’t be
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media. The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media.
The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of voters have said in opinion polls that by far the biggest issue for them is to have either the NDP or Liberals emerge as the party that can soundly defeat Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.
During the fourth week of the campaign, it looked like the NDP might be the chosen party. They were at 33.9 per cent in the polls. The Conservatives were at 28.4 per cent, and the Liberals 27.9.
It looked like the NDP might jump to, say, 36 or 38 per cent in the polls and become the party to stop Harper. But it didn’t happen. Instead, the NDP fell back a little.
The NDP might be suffering because of Mulcair’s misguided promise to balance the budget. This is not playing well with Canadians who question how the NDP is going to both balance the budget and pay for all the promises they’ve made. Meanwhile, many progressives who believe the government should borrow to stimulate the economy – as Trudeau promised to do – are upset with the NDP for adopting an overly-cautious position.
If you believe Monday’s opinion polls, the NDP was at 31 per cent, and the Liberals and Conservatives tied at 30 per cent.
This week the NDP faces two big hurdles. On Wednesday, Mulcair will release figures showing how the party would pay for its election promises. And on Thursday he will join the other two leaders in a televised debate on the economy. If Mulcair survives the attacks he will face during Thursday’s debate, the NDP should still be in the race.
Harper hopes ‘dirty tricks’ let him win
Some analysts have written off Harper – largely because they thought the Conservatives took a big hit during the frantic Syrian refugee acrimony. But in Monday’s Nanos Research poll, the Conservatives were back to 30 per cent.
As in past elections, Harper hopes to benefit from a couple of new “dirty tricks”:
- When the Conservatives oversaw the rejigging of ridings and the addition of new seats for Parliament, they rigged the system in their favour. The Globe and Mail analysis of Elections Canada data shows that if everyone who voted in the 2011 election cast their ballots for the same political parties in 2015, the Conservatives would pick up 22 of the 30 seats that are being added in a riding redistribution. NDP would pick up six ridings and the Liberals two.
- The big sleeper in the campaign that could mean victory for the Conservatives depends on whether hundreds-of-thousands of people who favour the NDP or the Liberals can manage to vote. According to the Council of Canadians, the so-called Fair Elections Act makes it more difficult for at least 770,000 people to vote.
There are other factors favouring the Conservatives. A huge percentage of people who say they will vote Conservative do so. But a lot of people recorded in the polls as favouring the other parties end up not voting.
Secondly, the right wing reacted gleefully when the government announced a phoney surplus for last year of about $1-billion. That’s a surplus of $1-billion on a budget of $290-billion.They created the surplus out of thin air by grabbing funds from the unemployment insurance fund and other financial tricks.
Harper’s prayer is for the NDP and Liberals to stay tied in the polls so he can sneak back into power with just a few more seats than either of the two.
Will strategic voting work this time?
Conservative opponents believe they have a powerful weapon in their back pocket: strategic voting. Unions and public interest groups used strategic voting to help defeat Tim Hudac’s Progressive Conservatives in last year’s Ontario election and, including the work of small groups, there will be a much larger effort to unseat Harper.
But can the anti-Harper campaign really do the job? There are a few problems that must be overcome.
First of all, there are two anti-Harper camps. One group consists of strong NDP loyalists who dislike the Liberals just about as much or more than they hate the Conservatives. The other group is supporting either NDP or Liberal candidates in different ridings.
Given that just about everyone agrees that Harper is the Public Enemy Number One, the two camps should avoid feuding that could reduce the chances of defeating the Conservatives.
Strategic campaigning got off to a bad start when Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and an NDP loyalist, blasted Leadnow’s approach of electing either New Democrats or Liberals in 72 ridings where the Conservatives are believed to be vulnerable.
Unfortunately, Moist supports the NDP over the interests of the country: an analysis of the 72 target ridings shows that Leadnow will be supporting Liberals only in ridings where the NDP has no chance of winning.
Campaign truce urgently needed
The two sides need to have a truce concerning their campaigns. In fact, they should figure out where there are any strategic ridings where New Democrats oppose Liberals and decide how to resolve the issue. Given the importance of stopping Harper, perhaps they could support the same candidates in a handful of ridings.
More needs to be done. With only five weeks left in the campaign, there’s practically no cooperation among the more than a dozen large and small groups working to elect either New Democrats or Liberals. Some groups have the impression that the Elections Act prohibit them from co-operating, but this does not appear to be the case as the Act concerns itself only with advertising.
For the New Democrats, if Mulcair performs reasonably well and does not “out his foot in it”, strategic voting could bring the party a minority victory.
Groups need to co-operate to make sure that local polling is carried out in all ridings where Harper is vulnerable. Results must be shared and made public a few days before the advance polling dates, which run from October 9 to 12.
Groups also should co-operate to publish a list of the target ridings indicating which candidate has the best chance of defeating the Conservative. Just publishing information on their own websites will not be enough to inform the hundreds-of-thousands of potential voters.
If either, or both, of the NDP voting campaign and the strategic voting campaign are successful, the Harper government will fall on October 19. If the NDP wins, Mulcair has promised to launch a process to introduce proportional representation. PR could bring us the kind of democracy we deserve and, thankfully, the end of strategic voting.
Voting guidelines and, if you want to,
you can vote now.
A Different Point of View....: Can Mulcair work a miracle and gain unlikely victory?
From the very start, the main issue in the federal election race has been as obvious as the beard on Tom Mulcair’s face, but it’s been largely ignored by mainstream media. The big time journalists are rushing from the leaders’ pre-planned news conferences day after day, but the majority of
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Jack Layton would be proud of Canadians’ growing hunger for change
Canadians’ ever-increasing hunger for changer from the dictatorial Stephen Harper regime would make the late NDP leader Jack Layton proud. The post Jack Layton would be proud of Canadians’ growing hunger for change appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: To All You Dippers Who Claim the Greens are Right-Wing
Relax. You’re just going through a bout of separation anxiety for deserting your post and abandoning the Left. You want to be Latter Day Liberals, you’ve gotta suck it up and learn to get over these pangs of conscience. It’s all part of the process of becoming the very thing
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Federal NDP ahead of Conservatives and Liberals in new poll
A new poll suggests that Canadians are embracing the orange wave and seriously considering electing Canada’s first ever federal NDP government. The post Federal NDP ahead of Conservatives and Liberals in new poll appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who leads Canada’s progressives?
Canadian media are a lazy bunch. They follow the paths of least resistance and false assumptions. Take this past week when some supposed progressives were gathered at the Broadbent Institute in Ottawa for its Progress Summit. The one question that was never answered was ‘Who were the Liberal Progressives at
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s Ace in the Hole for Election Victory in 2015? – Thomas Mulcair
Coming from anyone but Murray Dobbin, this might have New Democrats up in arms, howling with indignation. The decidedly progressive journalist, contributor to The Tyee and Rabble, diagnoses just what the Mulcair NDP could be about to inflict on Canada – the end of our progressive hopes. Unless something changes, come
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: They’ve Already Shown You Their True Colours. And You’ll Vote for Them, Why?
My party has only one voice in Parliament but it’s a voice against which all the rest are to be measured and, when you do that, you get to see them clearly for what they are, their true colours. In today’s Toronto Star, columnist Tom Walkom calls out Mulcair and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could Greece Become the Salvation of Western Democracy?
Greece is revered as the nation that gave mankind democracy. Could it now become the nation that restored democracy to mankind? Around the world, democracy has taken a pounding from the fist of neoliberalism. Market fundamentalism and democracy are simply incompatible over time. Neoliberalism promotes illiberal democracy, ultimately leading to
Continue readingIn This Corner: Winners and losers on byelection night
Now that the mini-referendum for Jim Prentice is over, let’s study the entrails (disgusting image, I know) to discern the winners and losers of the night. WINNER: The PCs and Jim Prentice The other parties will find all sorts of good things to say about how they fared, but this
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s Sellout Canada-China FIPA Deal Dismays Canadians
Canadian civil society organizations, activists, political parties and First Nations react with dismay to the news that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had quietly ratified of sellout Canada-China FIPA trade deal. The post Harper’s Sellout Canada-China FIPA Deal Dismays Canadians appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s abuse of Challenger jets, government resources unacceptable
by: Obert Madondo | April 2, 2014 The Conservatives’ abuse of the Challenger jets and other government resources might end soon if the New Democrats are successful with their latest motion. On Tuesday, the NDP tabled an opposition day motion in the House of Commons that would limit the use of the jests
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Ontario’s by-elections: potentially a perfectly acceptable result for Premier Kathleen Wynne
Ontario Conservative Tim Hudak’s Vandal horde sacks Rome Upon Lake Ontario, the media narrative for last Thursday’s Ontario by-elections that was sensibly ignored by the province’s voters. Below, Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne. Was she taking a page from the Book of Alison Redford, also below? One can read too
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