Jack Layton’s NDP are showing growing momentum in the fight against Harper.Layton’s decisive leadership has made his party the most effective opposition to Harper – extracting concessions from the government, just like they did from the Martin minority government, while offering principled opposition to Harper. Reporter Rob Russo provided some evidence of the NDP’s increased stature, from the parliamentary press gallery’s perspective on CBC’s “Politics” on Friday:
“We have a much more vigorous NDP this last week -- the last couple of weeks actually. They did some very smart things the week before this one in terms of bargaining with the government on some speedy passage of legislation the government wanted through. They said ‘sure we'll do that if you give us the $100 million on social spending that was supposed to be spent a couple of budgets ago’ and they won that. And they're showing that they can be effective in opposition and you heard it over and over again this week: ‘These guys rolled over. We're going to be scoring points for you’.”
Secondly, the party reported yet another successful third quarter of fundraising. In line with this, Layton announced this weekend that the NDP plans to fight Harper with its biggest campaign ever – up to the maximum that parties can spend in an election. So, for the first time in history, the NDP will be matching Harper dollar for dollar, leaflet for leaflet, and ad for ad.
This announcement came as the NDP is in Winnipeg meeting with officials from Gary Doer’s very popular third term government.
The message of all this is tough to miss: both inside and outside the Commons, the NDP is out to become Stephen Harper’s greatest threat.
8 comments:
Standing up for Canadians, and against the Harper Conservatives. Keep going!
Far from being Stephen Harper's greatest threat the NDP is actually Stephen Harper's greatest asset. A vote for the NDP is a vote for Harper.
R&P said: "A vote for the NDP is a vote for Harper"
It’s pretty galling for Liberal supporter to peddle this idiotic garbage while Stephen Harper gets his way on scrapping Kyoto, keeping Canada in Afghanistan and making huge corporate tax cuts instead of investing in child care and universal drug coverage, thanks entirely to Stephane Dion.
Dion is the leader of the artificial opposition. How long will it be before Liberals decide what it is they believe in?
Hey, don't take my word for it. Susan Delacourt wrote the following in the Toronto Star today:
"James Laxer, a long-time New Democrat and one-time leadership candidate for the party, wrote last year in Walrus magazine about the NDP's strategic decision in 2006 to focus all its energies, in league with Conservatives, on crushing Liberals.
Jamey Heath, former communications adviser to Layton and author of the 2006 book Dead Centre, has also long made the argument that Liberals are the true adversaries of the NDP and that's where the strategy should be focused, even if it does mean working with the Conservatives."
James Laxer hasn't been a New Democrat in 30 years. It's like asking David Emerson what he thinks about the Liberal Party.
As for Jamey Heath, the message of his book is that the NDP is a better vehicle for progressive people simply because the Liberal Party has demonstrated repeatedly that they only want power, not change.
Delacourt's article is absurd. Does anyone actually think Harper is trying to take a dive for the NDP in Guelph -- a riding where the CPC came 2nd in 2006? Get real.
But if anyone knows what Harper is up to it would be his new coalition-partner Stephane Dion.
How long will it be before Liberals decide what it is they believe in?
Blogging Horse said..."James Laxer hasn't been a New Democrat in 30 years. It's like asking David Emerson what he thinks about the Liberal Party"...
well actually Laxers comments etc are just as valid as yours(perhaps even more so since he guy actually was privy to insider experience).But anyway what Laxer "was writing about at the time was about the flawed and ridiculous tactic of strategic voting etc.In in that i agree at the time the NDP should have distanced it self from such nonsense.The NDP should be constantly reminding Canadians that in reality there is no real difference between the Libs and cons,while forcefully and constantly articulating what the NDP stands for.Trying to play the Cons against the Libs is just a dumb "tactic".
Still doubt that the NDP and the Conservatives are working hand-in-glove? Here's further proof of the coalition:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071105/harper_senate_071105/20071105?hub=TopStories
Thanks, R&P - this is more proof that the NDP is the effective opposition in Ottawa.
It is a longstanding policy of the NDP that the Senate should be abolished. Harper appears to have wisely decided that it's an idea whose day has come.
Just so you know, that's what opposition parties are supposed to do: get their ideas on the agenda, not roll over and have the government get it's way like Liberals have of late.
So, the Liberal conspiracy theory isn't too worrying if it now says that 30 NDP MPs are tugging Harper around by is nose. Progressive Canadians - including Liberal supporters - would be pretty pleased by this.
The real question is will the Dion Liberals finally join the rest of us in the 21st Century and support abolishing the Senate, or are they too wedded to the $80 million a year patronage pork-house that is the Senate?
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