Last night’s NDP victory in Alberta changes the discussion a little to the place at which there is a real discussion of NDP in positions of leadership. Not that many years ago, the NDP was either ignored federally or viewed as promoting ideas that were maybe good, but in the end not tenable for one reason or another. The Liberals and the Conservatives were the grownups at the table, and the NDP were just a phase you grow out of after you got your first real job. Or something. Jack Layton took a big step to changing that by making the NDP the official opposition and Tom Mulcair has by many accounts, and certainly in my opinion, performed very well as opposition leader. I think last night’s victory in the safest place in the country for Conservatives moves the discussion a step further. If Albertans can view the NDP as a governing party, then why can’t it happen federally?
Seriously, why not?
Mulcair has proven to be a fierce opponent of the Conservatives and has presented himself and the party as a whole as a real alternative. Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have still not really gotten their feet under them and in my (biased) opinion still look like they don’t really believe in anything. I wouldn’t be so bold at this stage to predict a national orange wave, but it is now within the range of the possible.
I would not have said that before last night, but I do now.
My thoughts are that the federal Liberals might well turn out to be the real losers in the long run after last night. Well, along with Jim Prentice and his merry, bumbling band, of course.
Blevkog 