Progressive Liberals alarmed as federal leadership contenders tilt right

[Joe Shlabotnik]

"With one lonely exception, the top tier of contenders for the Liberal helm has veered sharply to the right, much to the private consternation of some of the stalwarts of the party’s once-influential left wing. “All I’m hearing is we’re going down the Reagan/Thatcher slipstream,” despairs one prominent veteran Liberal. “I don’t believe that the way you’re going to offer an alternative [to the Harper Conservatives] is to be a pseudo-Tory.”"

"Many Liberals and pundits had assumed Justin Trudeau, the prohibitive favourite, would represent the progressive wing of the party – assumptions based not so much on his relatively thin policy pronouncements as on his youth, mop of curly hair, penchant for wearing jeans and the legacy of his late father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau."

"Montreal MP Marc Garneau, Canada’s first astronaut, has called for wide open competition in the telecommunications sector. And he’s lamented government interference in free markets when it comes to encouraging innovation. “Instead of more government handouts, let’s eliminate all capital gains tax on investment in Canadian start-ups,” he told a Toronto business audience in a recent speech larded with conservative catchphrases. “A government official should not be making the decision where to invest. It’s the experts – you – the innovators themselves that know best.”"

"Former Toronto MP Martha Hall Findlay touts her experience as a businesswoman and has called for an end to supply management of dairy products. With her campaign based in Calgary, she’s strongly supported Alberta’s oilsands and two proposed pipelines to carry oilsands bitumen to ports on British Columbia’s coast."

"so far only Vancouver MP Joyce Murray has staked out turf on the left. She’s an ardent environmentalist, favours a carbon tax, opposes pipelines through B.C. and supports full legalization of marijuana. She also advocates co-operation with the NDP and Greens in the next election in ridings where a united progressive front could defeat the Conservatives."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/progressive-liberals-alarmed-as-federal-leadership-contenders-tilt-right/article6528575/

[blkmusclmachine]

1. It's starting in Canada.

Bipartisanship.

[CHIMO]

2. But

Progressives, or others, must be quietly smiling. Will we have two parties fighting it out on the right? With an intelligent third party hammering away at the governing party?

[Ken Burch]

3. Uh...the Liberals AREN'T an intelligent third party.

And the NDP wouldn't be fighting it out with Harper on the right.

[CHIMO]

4. Wow

Some can really screw things up!

[Ken Burch]

5. What's screwed up is pretending that the Liberals will be the main alternative to Harper

in the next election. The NDP are the official opposition now and are holding onto their support. They will NOT be reduced to third-party status, and there's no good reason for any anti-Harper voter to want them to be...especially since the Liberals are now massively to the right of Pierre Trudeau and therefore no longer have a reason to exist.

It would be worthless to go from Harper to just back to the Chretien/Martin era...or perhaps even further to the right of that.

The NDP is the only worthwhile choice in the next federal election, if you actually WANT Harper out. Getting Harper out but keeping his economic and military policies(as Justin or The Astronaut will both do)is a meaningless change.

[CHIMO]

6. I

Recommend a re-read of my post. Assumptions get people tied up in knots!