NDP and Liberal Coalition

[On Guard for Thee]

The Liberal Party is floundering, and it's not all Justin Trudeau's fault! There are systemic problems that have led to declining memberships and funding, and Justin has to make the best of what he's got.

The latest tracking polls indicate little has changed: the Cons are stuck at 31% (Harper has no hope in hell of keeping a majority government), while the Libs and NDP moved up slightly. The total seat projections show Harper holding on to a lead over the NDP by 10 seats (likely goodbye Harper Gov as well). Unless the Saudi's announce that their oil wells have run dry, and tarsands crud can be sold for $100 to $150 a barrel again, his plan of running as the "sound economic manager" will crash and burn as layoffs really take their toll out on the oilpatch.

Some of the pundits who were doing the most talking yesterday were predicting that the Liberals are going to have a hard time holding on to what they've got, and it may boil down to a two party race between the NDP and the Conservatives. Though, without a complete collapse of the Liberals, they would still have some sort of role in government, as it's unlikely that either Conservatives or NDP will form a majority government.

Off the topic of NDP/Liberal coalitions for a moment, I want to say that in the interests of democracy, there should be as many party leaders included in upcoming candidate debates as possible. So why should the Green Party or the Bloc be shut out? There should have a consistent standard for which parties are worthy to appear/and which are not. This will have a major determining factor for smaller parties like the Green Party or the Bloc have any potential to improve their numbers. First-past-the-post voting systems automatically skew in favour of old line existing parties, so why should the debate organizers be allowed to winnow the process down to three main parties? Eventually, they'll have us down to their desired goal of two big business-friendly parties....just like they have in the US!

I would not be against having all parties at the table for the debates. Of course the MO would have to be well controlled so it didn't devolve into a Fox news episode. But I'm sure that could be done. I am looking fwd to the debates as I suspect Mulcair will shine as he usually does in QP if you ever watch it. I also have a feeling that JT may preparing to put on a good show as well. He may show he's not as "not ready" as the tacky CPC ads try to make out. I am also waiting to hear more details about platform from both parties. Harper seems to be flailing so far as when he made his announcement this am he talked about the importance of balancing budgets. Has he completely forgotten his own record on that score, or just trying to work some sort of subterfuge he hopes we won't get? Looking at the real world right now, I don't actually care who replaces Harper, as long as he's replaced, or at least reduced to the slimmest of minorities.

[WIP]

I would not be against having all parties at the table for the debates. Of course the MO would have to be well controlled so it didn't devolve into a Fox news episode. But I'm sure that could be done. I am looking fwd to the debates as I suspect Mulcair will shine as he usually does in QP if you ever watch it. I also have a feeling that JT may preparing to put on a good show as well. He may show he's not as "not ready" as the tacky CPC ads try to make out. I am also waiting to hear more details about platform from both parties. Harper seems to be flailing so far as when he made his announcement this am he talked about the importance of balancing budgets. Has he completely forgotten his own record on that score, or just trying to work some sort of subterfuge he hopes we won't get? Looking at the real world right now, I don't actually care who replaces Harper, as long as he's replaced, or at least reduced to the slimmest of minorities.

Mulcair may shine....if he shows up for the debates! Latest story from the Post tells us Conservatives say Harper isn't going to debate, and Mulcair is declaring if Harper doesn't show up, then he's not going to either....and that will likely kill the debates entirely! There should be a formal system set up that is consistent through every election, and I think it should be mandatory that qualifying party leaders appear on the debate stage, and not try to play games with the process.

The Liberals and the NDP have long tended to cooperate when necessary, and make all the political shifts necessary to try to turn the federal system into a two party contest....like the USA. In Ontario, we haven't forgotten yet that when the Liberals gave a half-hearted effort to honour a campaign promise of a referendum on proportional representation, the Tories and the NDP both worked quietly as possible trying to kill it through a widespread disinformation campaign. If any of the Big Three have their way, they'll find a way to winnow the process down to two parties, and have something similar to the duopoly government they have south of the border!

Edited August 3, 2015 by WIP

[SpankyMcFarland]

FPTP only works in a two party contest. Beyond that, it delivers ridiculously distorted results.