I've been finding it hard lately to come up with topics I want to blog about, which explains why I haven't written in almost a month, but I figure the election results require some commentary.
I don't want to take anything away from the accomplishment of Jack Layton and his NDP party, because we witnessed an impressive piece of history on Monday night, however as the expression goes, it is all for not.
Layton became the official opposition which means he gets access to extra resources, however he still has absolutely no power or influence. With Stephen Harper getting a majority government, the opposition has no power, so those 103 seats the NDP have in the House of Commons are impressive, but do not mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
I feel bad for them too, because without an opportunity to show what they can do, they will lose their momentum. We will not have another election for 4, possibly even 5 years and by that time the NDP will be back to their "normal" status. They had 60 seats in Quebec, they will not repeat that effort, especially since the Parti Quebecois (a separatist party) is supposed to take Provincial power again soon, therefore the separatist movement may return, much to the dismay of the 3 major Canadian federal parties. So basically what I'm saying is that Jack Layton's 100+ seats are going to be wasted. He needed a Conservative minority in order to have any influence and be able to continue to build his momentum. But his momentum is what caused the Conservative majority.
I often said throughout the election that the NDP is surging by stealing voters from the Liberal Party. It is too big of an ideological shift to go from voting Conservative in one election to voting NDP in another, therefore people who usually voted Liberal, myself included, voted NDP. This split in the "left-wing" vote allowed the Conservatives to pick up many seats in Ontario, which helped win them the election.
The Liberals and NDP can stay their separate ways, or they can join forces. The Conservatives are a conglomerate of several right-wing parties and perhaps the Liberals and NDP should do the same sort of thing. The Liberal Democrats has a decent ring to it. However if the NDP make the mistake of thinking they can sustain this popularity on a go forward basis then they are mistaken, and it will lead to the resurgence of the Liberals. Politics works in cycles, and once we are out of this economic downturn people will not be jumping all over the Conservative bandwagon, and the Liberals, possibly under the leadership of Justin Trudeau will regain stature. I predict by 2020 the Liberals will lead the Government of Canada.
So great accomplishment Jack Layton, it really was. But its also a great shame that it probably won't last, and I am sincere in saying that.
