NDP the 'true alternative' to the Conservatives, not interested in merger: Layton

[Newsjock]

Source: The Globe and Mail

Jack Layton says he’s not interested in discussing the prospect of a merger between the NDP and the Liberals, contending the election result shows his party is now the "true alternative" to the Conservatives.

In an interview broadcast on TVA’s Larocque Lapierre on Sunday, Mr. Layton said he’s not having any conversations around the notion the two parties will need to join forces to defeat the Conservatives.

Moreover, Mr. Layton said, the Liberals do not represent a genuine contrast to the Conservatives because the party helped Mr. Harper’s minority government stay afloat for more than two years and supported the extension of the mission in Afghanistan.

"I think we demonstrated that it is the NDP that is the true alternative now," Mr. Layton told political commentators Paul Larocque and Jean Lapierre. "And we will continue to work hard to show that it is us."

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ndp-the-true-alternative-to-the-conservatives-not-interested-in-merger-layton/article2014429/

[iandhr]

1. If they continue to split the vote

The cons will continue to win. I am no expert on Canadian politics but it seems that the Libs and the NDP splitting the vote only helps Harper. Hopefully if there is not a merger there can be pragmatic arrangement where they pick and choose which seats to contest so they are not dividing the vote.

[OswegoAtheist]

2. I disagree

Fears of vote-splitting has kept American politics a two-party choice for decades now; how's that working out? The Libs had a very weak leader in Ignatieff, who failed to capitalise on Harper's inherent weakness. Libs have been making governments within a three-party system for as long as there's been one, and this is just a bad cycle for them.

Oswego "Proudly voted for his NDP MP" Atheist

[iandhr]

3. Who is in line to be the next Liberal leader.

I am guessing they will bounce back if they get a competent leader.

[OswegoAtheist]

4. Aye, there's the rub...

No one person seems a clear-cut leader for the Grits. I think that they should do well enough if they can find someone who isn't terrible, saying as a Con majority government can do nothing but piss Canadians off (60% of whom did not want Harper as PM). I think that, in the end, Libs will gain from Con losses, and they'll be fluctuating back and forth for 1st and 2nd; NDP will stay strong in Ontario and Quebec, remaining always a close second (or a narrow third), and the problem of First Past the Post voting will be decided about the time that the sun expands, consuming Earth and most of the planets with it.

Oswego "which is to say, when the bees and roaches have their own parliaments" Atheist

[murphyj87]

5. Trudeau?

Although I can't claim to have much insight into the Conservative nor the Liberal mindset, except that my father's family are Liberals and my mother's family are Conservatives, if I were a Liberal I think I'd be looking at Justin Trudeau to maybe have his father's charisma, or at least more so than anyone else.

[HappyCynic]

9. To add to what you've said...

The Liberals will be forced to try to take votes from the Conservatives. The Conservatives have a majority so just going after the NDP is not particularly useful. They'll have to reduce the number of Conservative seats to have any real effect in the next election.

[applegrove]

10. Justin Trudeau is an MP from Montreal who has expressed interest

in the leadership. He is Pierre Elliot Trudeau & Margaret Trudeau's eldest son. People say he has his mother's looks and her brains (unfortunately). I hope the Liberals take some time and try and rebuilt at some core level. I think they would be better off with an interim leader when they do this.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Canada's Liberals seem to be reading the DLC playbook

If they continue to do so, they will continue to alienate their base.
I'm certain that a significant segment of Liberals will point the finger of blame at Layton and the NDP rather than doing some serious soul-searching about how they can return to their roots.

We've seen similar things occur in the officially two-party States. Please, Canada, learn from the mistakes of your southern neighbours.

[MisterP]

6. that's the DLC mantra: it's better to have 25 years of conservatism because of Dem collusion

than 2 or 4 years of conservatism because a leftie movement got too big for its britches and threw an election

[mahigan]

7. It's the party not the leader

The Libs have come to think of themselves as the natural ruling party of the country. They foolishly thought that all it would take after the last election was a new leader so they parachuted in an even bigger loser than Dion (who at least was able to win his own seat). They were wrong. The Liberals have the same problem as all centrist parties including the Democrats - they spend so much time triangulating and threading the needle between left and right trying not to offend anyone that they come across as having no principles, no policies and a platform that basically consists of "We're not as bad as those guys".

Voters are tired of parties that switch their policies constantly according to which way they think the wind is blowing at the moment It doesn't matter whether you like the NDP or the Cons - you know where they stand. Until the Liberal Party undergoes a complete renewal and actually stands for something again, they will remain in the doldrums. Justin Trudeau has already stated as much (although more diplomatically)along with a significant lack of interest in the leadership.

It doesn't matter what shade of lipstick you put on the pig - it's still a pig.

[socialist_n_TN]

11. This is what I believe about electoral politics

in addition to doubts about whether it really works for the majority of people. "It doesn't matter whether you like the NDP or the Cons - you know where they stand." No truer words were ever spoken.

In Canada as well as the USA and indeed worldwide, people have to make a choice as to whose side they're on, capital or the rest of us. Capitalism has shown it's true face all over the world. The system we have NOW, is what you'll get if you continue to vote for neocon and neolib policies. So if you like what's going on, vote neocon. If you want a different direction, vote for the ACTUAL different direction in parties like the NDP. Don't expect the DLC and the neolibs to change the DIRECTION. They'll just get you there in a more meandering and slower fashion.