That’s a really interesting PoV. I feel as if I’ve been grappling with the same quandary but landed differently.
The NDP is broken. I say this as a lifelong supporter who strongly believes their stated values and goals represent mine.
That said, the current version of the NDP is not viable or working in my opinion. Their actions do not match their words.
I’m resolved to vote Liberal (in a riding where it matters) and then immediately begin to support the federal NDP party to be ready for the next election. Time to get my hands dirty.
It really grossed me out when they voted to remove the word “socialism” from all of their official documentation and party constitution. I haven’t been able to see them the same since.
I have hope they’ll go in a new direction after Jagmeet but I don’t know if the party will ever be like how it was. Really seems like the sun has set for the NDP after Jack Layton. Also every fucking email asks me for $20 that I don’t have without offering updates on the actual campaign or ways to get involved; just fundraising emails with no info.
They really lack any kind of fighting spirit at the national level and in Ontario (don’t know about other provinces, sorry). This isn’t even really about Jagmeet but the leaders of the party at the convention level; their decisions make the party look like a kicked dog that’s too scared to take up space.
We need confidence, we need socialist ideas, we need some fucking energy and not the corporate veneer that the NDP thinks will give them the legitimacy they want so bad. Only actual displays of concrete leadership will give them that.
I feel very similarly.
I was incredibly put-off when they accepted to not raise the issue of electoral reform as a requirement to sign the agreement with the Liberals - who themselves ran on electoral reform (at least in part).
I’ve received a single email from the NDP this election season - announcing their new t-shirt designs.
The liberal rep - part of the crew responsible for ousting Trudeau, came to my door.
:(
This is my plan as well. Vote to hold the line and then start pushing left.
I would really like a country where the two parties are NDP and Green, and then they cooperate to get rid of FTTP once and for all.
Can’t see a route to that yet, so holding the line is what we’ve got this time around.
Do you think things have been going well the last 10 years, and that people are generally better off?
I’m just curious what people expect with Carney, given his entire cabinet is the same do people expect him to govern entirely by himself in a dictatorial fashion?
It’s a fair question.
Carney is a Center-right corporate kleptocracy bureaucrat. I have no love for the gentlemen. He’s the 1%.
His primary opponent however is owned by the far right and will likely govern even more dictatorially at a time when that’s particularly dangerous. He will sell out healthcare, social safety nets, and the environment in a way that puts Harper to shame.
As I see it, the choice is picking stability, crappy as it is, or selling out the most vulnerable among us for a chance at change.
It’s not a great choice - but it’s what we have. Wishing for something else won’t make it so. The NDP won’t rise from the ashes in the next ten days.
So my vow is to swallow a bitter pill and get involved - be the change I want to see.
In the meantime I believe we need (and have) a unified front against fascism and rampant fear/hatred.
Have the vulnerable been helped at all by the Liberals. Looking at some stats their rent essentially doubled, which I think most peoples rents are definitely their single biggest cost.
So I’m curious how you tangle with that issue, given the Liberals are buying mortgage bonds, extending amortizations, and doing all they can to push up home values for investors. Is it just the logic that Pierre is lying and would do the same?
I agree that the liberal record in housing is terrible, but looking at the conservative proposed policies I believe they will only make things worse. It’s like it is designed to sound good but enrich investors.
Forcing municipals to rezone by withholding federal funding if they don’t, and tying immigration to housing completions sounds bad?
Can I ask what your criticism is of it?
Those will help a bit and sound good, but will take decades to bring down costs, if at all.
They also do nothing to prevent investors from buying up all of the land. My main criticism against it vs the liberal plan is that they have no restrictions on the tax reduction on ALL sales of homes.
This is a good benefit for individuals, but a massive benefit to investors. Why they wouldn’t limit it to only primary residences boggles my mind.
He liberals limit it to first time home buyers which has its own problems (prevents downsizing for seniors etc), but it is much better than the cons plan.
I should also say that I believe the only way out of the housing crisis is significant tax reform, specifically a revenue neutral land tax that is very heavy based on what the owner could get by renting the land, but gets equally distributed back to the people.
I do agree that only quick fix to bring down prices is stopping immigration. With 15% youth unemployment in Toronto its still called racist for saying so however. But I see your point that a GST rebate for investors is very silly.
Of course continuing near the current immigration level still requires rezoning all over Canada. I still think that’s the best plan, as it is the only thing to deal with the land shortage. BC had done it, as has much of Alberta, because they are actual progressives, but we need to force the likes of Ford and Chow.
Ranked ballots solve this problem completely.
I want mixed-member plurality (MMP)
We should have the single transferable vote.
The fact that people can’t agree on which alternative to FPTP is the preferred option is a signifigant contributing factor to why Trudeau abandoned his attempt to change the electoral system.
And why it’ll be so hard to get any future politicians to take on the effort, even if they do agree that change needs to happen.
That’s why we have citizens assemblies but too many corrupt mps who fall under the conservatives and liberals voted against establishing having one.
It’s a random sample of the population who reviews over the course of 4 months which electoral system is the best for our democracy before making a recommendation.
This avoids the politics since politicians can’t come to an agreement on which system is best.
STV is just a type of ranked ballot though, it’s not a separate method.
Working in consultation with data scientists and election statisticians, I’m sure a government could easily determine which methods would meet all of the criteria necessary to ensure a fair and free election. The problem is with calling a referendum in order to implement it, which I don’t think is actually required.
It literally cannot get worse than FPTP. I am okay with basically any voting method except FPTP and MMP (it’s just FPTP with party list seat linkage).
