King of Kensington
Senior Member
Justin Trudeau? Seriously?
Why not? He's already far older than Joe Clark was when he became leader of the opposition. And almost as old as Stephen Harper was when he became leader of the opposition.Justin Trudeau? Seriously?
Why not? He's already far older than Joe Clark was when he became leader of the opposition. And almost as old as Stephen Harper was when he became leader of the opposition.
You deal with the cards life gave you - good and bad. I have no problem with Trudeau using his name to give his career a boost. If he's a dud it'll show soon enough, if not already.Because if his name wasn't Trudeau no one would be paying any attention to him.
I disagree. I think the left does indeed have to merge before we can defeat the right wing Conservative party. The right has merged. The left vote is not perpetually split. Each poll says that Canada is more liberal and left-wing, yet Harper could very well get a strong majority with just 39/40% of the vote. Now if the NDP and Liberals join, their vote would be 56%, a true majority and if they merged we would reduce the Tories down to opposition status.
I disagree. I think the left does indeed have to merge before we can defeat the right wing Conservative party. The right has merged. The left vote is not perpetually split. Each poll says that Canada is more liberal and left-wing, yet Harper could very well get a strong majority with just 39/40% of the vote. Now if the NDP and Liberals join, their vote would be 56%, a true majority and if they merged we would reduce the Tories down to opposition status.
I think Harper winning a majority this time around will force the Liberals to re-think and do some hard-thinking about how to bring forth a new Liberal vision for the country. Merging with the NDP would be their best best for success in the future.
Shouldn't we be trying for more/better representation than having to resort to American style left-right poltiics? The answer isn't to merge the left, in the same way the answer never should have been to merge the right. We should be striving to ensure that a broad range of views and perspectives are heard and represented in parliament and the only way to achieve that is through electoral reform. It's bad enough that our current system forces a "dumbing down" of politics. We deserve better.
America doesn't have a left wing party. It is a centre-right vs right debate in the US since the Congressional Progressive Caucus doesn't have say in legislation that ends up passing on even when Democrats are in power; however, the "Tea Party" caucus of the Republicans gets to shape policy in profound ways before they submit legislation.
In Canada right now it is a left, centre-left, and a right debate with a Conservative party that has a few old centre-right PC candidates still in the mix. The Conservatives have been pushed to the right with Harper and his reform/alliance background.
+1
Unfortunately, Brandon's experience comes from the US, where he's only familiar with the ascerbic politics of the republic and not with parliamentary democracy (though Harper is increasingly threatening the latter tradition).
I disagree. I think the left does indeed have to merge before we can defeat the right wing Conservative party. The right has merged. The left vote is not perpetually split. Each poll says that Canada is more liberal and left-wing, yet Harper could very well get a strong majority with just 39/40% of the vote. Now if the NDP and Liberals join, their vote would be 56%, a true majority and if they merged we would reduce the Tories down to opposition status.
I think Harper winning a majority this time around will force the Liberals to re-think and do some hard-thinking about how to bring forth a new Liberal vision for the country. Merging with the NDP would be their best best for success in the future.