The NDP is looking to last month's Australian election for a strategy to topple Harper in the next election expected in the spring.The NDP has already announced they will run the biggest campaign in its history, matching the Conservatives dollar for dollar.
And today, the electronic pages of The Hill Times quote Layton's communications head saying that they are headed down-under to talk to Australian PM Kevin Rudd's election team:
" . . . we know that there's a tremendous amount of willingness on the part of the Australian Labour Party to work with the NDP to show us, to teach us from what they learned from their most recent elections," said Brad Lavigne, director of communications and research to NDP caucus in an interview with The Hill Times last week."
This makes sense, of course, as Harper turned to the former Howard government for tid-bits on their 2006 election win.
Look for an eerie symmetry in the election results.
10 comments:
Yes but once Petter Garrett finds out the NDP does not stand against asbestos mining he will take them out back to the out back and give them a good stomping.
What is Jack going to learn from Kevin Rudd?
1) A marriage is between a man and a woman. Gay and lesbians can be wed by civil partnerships.
2) A target of 20 per cent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 is effective to combat climate change, subject to an economic assessment done by a East Asian scholar.
3) No mention of future logging at Clayoquot Sound as long as you don't discuss the possible construction of the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill in Tasmania.
This makes Stephane Dion more of a social democrat than you can ever imagine. Enjoy losing Official Party Status the next time around.
If Stephane Dion thinks cutting taxes for banks and oil companies faster than Stephen Harper is progressive he's got a lot more than his miserable record of rolling over to keep the Conservatives in power to worry about.
BTW: Over a quarter of the current Liberal caucus voted for your first rap against Rudd. But that's just one reason why the Liberals are such a poor voice for progressives.
As I said in a blogpost, I am willing to swallow these tax cuts to defeat Harper. It may take time to convince you that higher corporate taxes are not a detriment to social equality. There are other ways to enhance social equality such as expanding government programs etc.
Looking from the inside, Dion is constrained in his position as party leader. He needs the help of other progressives such as Elizabeth May and others who are joining the Liberals. Since you are unwilling to hop on board, I guess we will have to see whether your flirtation with the right wing policies of Kevin Rudd will work for you.
One more thing, Rudd promised one thing to Aussie voters. The preservation of collective bargaining in the workplace. I guess this is one thing we Canadians can rely on the NDP for, to the detriment of progressives who supports social enterprise and community development.
In fact, through
He needs the help of other progressives such as Elizabeth May, really, and May, isn't she running to protect the good name of the progressive party of Canada, and old buddy, Mulroney? I remember her posting that, but hey, liberals are not progressive, no matter how much they campaign on that. One just has to look at the Liberal record in power.
Let's see, under Chretin and Martin, they were responsibly for the biggest shut down and off loading of social programs, and now I hear from poster liberals here, that we can provide more social programs (the ones chopped and diced)to provide the safety net for more corporate welfare.
it's a strange world!
Weirdly, I agree with Mushroom on this. Sure, learning from Rudd's strategy is good. But Australia's Labour party is more like Liberals than Dippers. We wouldn't want to emulate their policy.
Ugh. I smell "Third Way."
Lord of Wealth: the NDP does stand against asbestos mining here.
gee, even the Supreme Court has upheld the right of workers to bargain freely with their employers. Who knew that allowing people to have a democratic voice in the workplace was such a terrible thing? Or maybe just a bad thing in your books, mushroom.
"right of workers to bargain freely with their employers"
Small technicality. This is something which is supported in most democratic countries. Same as the right to join an independent trade union.
I had suggested the preservation of COLLECTIVE bargaining in the workplace. In Australia, the main issue of the last election was WorkChoices, not Kyoto as many of my fellow Liberal bloggers would like to say. My critique of Rudd's environmental policy confirms this.
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