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Two opposition parties without a leader. Trudeau must be loving this!
 
If I had to select the next NDP leader it would be Charlie Angus. He has a sharp tongue and disheveled demeanor that is very Corbyn/Sanders-esque. He's a musician, has urban roots, and an activist background, and has gained a large profile with his work advocating for the First Nations.

 
I feel sorry for the NDP. Both federally and provincially, the Liberals have moved left to take over the NDP's traditional space.
The NDP now is just a more honest version of the Liberals and that quality does not seem to be that important for those on the left.
 
I definitely feel that the NDP has to reinvent themselves. They moved too far from the center and did not inspire voters. The party’s moment has likely come and gone which has become a moment that was never as big as it seemed.
 
NDP needs to go back to the left. They lost a lot of support from the labour groups that always supported the NDP. A lot of union workers voted liberal in the last election.

And Mulcair couldn't connect with young voters like the way Layton and Trudeau did
 
With the exception of the 'balanced budget' question, I would argue the Federal NDP platform was as 'left' or further 'left' than the Liberal one.

I read them both.

The NDP promised universal pharmacare, a major new social program, as well as Quebec-style universal daycare. That's 2 social programs.

More or less, the Liberals promised none.

They regigged an existing child benefit and put some new money into it; and they promised to tinker w/Parental Leave.

***

The above isn't a partisan comment.

Its an observation.

I would suggest, however, that it is factually correct.

I also happen to think promising a balanced budget (before the further decline in oil prices) was a reasonable move to assure centrist voters that they weren't going to steer the country over
a fiscal cliff.

***

As it happens, I think the Liberals certainly had the more relatable leader.

They also had the good fortune, if one can call it that, of a crumbling economy in AB and NFLD that suddenly made deficit spending seem more reasonable.

They also did a better job of 'targeting' their audience...........I believe Marijuana among other issues, helped them crack new votes.

The Trudeau name itself, invokes positive memories for many older voters outside AB.

Finally, they ran a much better campaign.

The escalator ad was a big winner.

***

Back to the NDP

I'm not sure there is a clear strategy to be had here, assuming government is the goal.

Sure, a more relatable leader, though I'm not sure Mulcair couldn't have grown on that front..........I'd be more concerned for them that I just don't
see a hot prospect who will surely do better on the horizon.......yet.

On policy, how much further left can you go, if the goal is 'differentiation' w/the current Liberals?

Tough call.

Also, what will the fiscal situation be like in the next election? People may have grown deficit weary.

I think the NDP to be relevant will have to make very strategic points of differentiation; and will have to learn to market those points better.

They will also have to poke holes in the Liberal narrative.

Does the child benefit need to go to couples with $180,000 in income?

How much more generous could the program be if it were cut-off at $125,000 in household income?

Or could you use the savings to deliver pharmacare?

If so, run a commercial point out that if you need home-based chemo, there's a good chance your provincial health plan won't cover it for you.

Or you can vote for Pharmacare?

Just a thought.
 
I don't think that the NDP's problems in the last election had anything to do with the party moving to the centre, although there are factions within the NDP that benefit from this narrative. Federally, voters tend to be centrist. Although there is some debate over this, Jack Layton was arguably the leader who moved the NDP towards the centre, not Mulcair, and Layton led the party to its greatest electoral success ever. In my humble opinion, for what it's worth, this is why the NDP failed so spectacularly in 2015 - a crappy campaign, a castrated leader and a fixation with Trudeau.
 
NDP needs to go back to the left. They lost a lot of support from the labour groups that always supported the NDP. A lot of union workers voted liberal in the last election.

And Mulcair couldn't connect with young voters like the way Layton and Trudeau did
Click to expand...

I suspect the majority of public and private sector union members in Canada voted NDP, but it most certainly dropped from 2011.

I notice a huge disconnect between the NDP base and the NDP party establishment.

Every NDPer I know is unabashedly left wing - most support the Leap Manifesto, BDS Movement, Black Lives Matter and bold anti-poverty measures. As dispirited as they are, none of the them have automatically become Liberal supporters, especially given Trudeau's strong cabinet connections to Bay Street, his push for the TPP, and the Saudi Arms deal.
 
mjl08 said:
[...] Every NDPer I know is unabashedly left wing - most support the Leap Manifesto, BDS Movement, Black Lives Matter and bold anti-poverty measures. As dispirited as they are, none of the them have automatically become Liberal supporters, especially given Trudeau's strong cabinet connections to Bay Street, his push for the TPP, and the Saudi Arms deal.
Click to expand...

That's my experience as well. None of the NDPers I know voted Liberal last time around. If anything, many of my NDP friends seemed to be in a state of panic the week before the election and were all signing up for get-out-the-vote efforts. The entreaties on Facebook in support of people like Jennifer Hollett, Paul Dewar, Peggy Nash, etc. reached a fever pitch.

But the NDP base is not enough to win elections. As we saw, it's not even enough to hold onto downtown Toronto ridings. The base needs to convince Canadians of its views, and it failed.

But the base, and/or factions of it, can dictate the future of the party. Watch what's happening with Labour in the U.K.
 
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