Reply #1: Right On

[CHIMO]

The future of the NDP

The NDP staggers from election to election, becoming less relevant each time. Why? Because, I suggest, it has become less associated with the ideas that appealed to its base from the beginning, and less successful at selling them to the electorate at large.

A rare example of showing creative leadership to make the most of the political opportunity was shown by all three opposition leaders, including Layton. Just weeks after the 2008 election, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled an incredibly inept economic update that essentially denied the existence of the financial and economic crisis that Canadians could see unfolding around them. Layton, Stephane Dion and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe seized the opportunity and proposed a coalition government involving all three parties that would seriously address the coming recession. In fact, the CAW had proposed this very idea way back in 2004, after the Liberals' minority victory. We argued it made sense for progressives from all three parties -- Liberals, NDP and Bloc -- to work co-operatively to advance progressive policies. Unfortunately, Governor-General Michaelle Jean gave Flaherty and Harper a second chance by proroguing parliament, and the coalition didn't last. But the basic idea of building bridges across party lines to promote ideas of common interest is valid, and is practised regularly in other multi-party democracies. Layton, Dion and Duceppe were on the right track.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2465951&p=1#ixzz0dIc0pnda