NDP's Quebec strategy getting noticed in the media

Next week will tell us if that continues to be the case. Next week the Liberals will be put to the test; will they prop up the Conservatives or will they side with the NDP and BQ and bring down the Conservative government?

I'm beginning to think that the Liberals have discovered that it's in their partisan interest to always oppose Harper. The worst the Conservatives could do with a majority is weaken Canada's social programs and adopt even more neo-con foreign policy. I think the Liberals are willing to trade the weakening of Canada's social programs and foreign policy in exchange for the strengthening of their partisan position vis a vis the Conservatives by constantly opposing the Harper agenda. The Tweedldee-Tweedledum nature of Canada's political facade requires the Liberals and Conservatives to always publicly oppose each other. I think the Liberals are about to return to that role.

I think the only party in Ottawa that truly dreads a Conservative majority is the NDP because they are the ones who are most against the weakening of Canada's national social programs and foreign policy. They're the ones who least want Canada to enter Tea Party Land.

Replace Harper with Ignatieff (I know, won't happen) and it would still be true. It's what the government does, or doesn't do, that cause shift in sovereignty support, not change of government.

Getting back to the topic of this thread...

Boom Boom, as a Quebec resident, do you feel the quality of the NDP candidates thus far can make a difference in the outcomes of some contests?

I was thinking about an answer to a few comments on this thread but Rue Frontenac's Marco Fortier latest column is a must read to gauge a very common mindset in my neck of the woods:

«Le Canada et le Québec ressemblent à un vieux couple qui fait chambre à part. Ils se croisent dans le corridor et partagent un repas de temps en temps, mais n’ont surtout pas envie d’une nouvelle lune de miel. Les élections fédérales imminentes, qui tiennent le Canada en haleine depuis des semaines, passent à peu près inaperçues chez nous. Les Québécois écoutent le bruit en provenance d’Ottawa et se disent : Who cares?»

Fortier stresses 3 main points:

1. Duceppe and the Bloc québécois have proven in the last 2 decades their effectiveness at relaying the Quebec government agenda in Ottawa, whether the government is federalist or sovereigntist.
2. The main federal parties (Liberal and conservative) are discredited and francophone Quebecers have long lost their appetite for the construction of the Canadian nation. 
3. Most people like Jack Layton but the NDP has no tradition here and no program to make a breakthrough in Quebec. 

So, the unhappy couple will go on, with no group therapy or divorce on the horizon. 

The NDP made a historic change of direction in 2006 when the convention adopted the Sherbrooke Declaration - a minimum condition for having credibility in Québec for the first time in its history. Unfortunately, it has never mentioned it since.

ETA: I should mitigate that last statement. Of course some NDP candidates in Québec have highlighted it from time to time. It helped Tom Mulcair win his byelection in 2007, most notably. But the party in ROC would like to pretend it doesn't exist, which inevitably hurts it here.

To be fair, Pierre Ducasse was involved in drafting it, and his website is still one of the few places where you can actually find the full text. But you're still right, Boom Boom, in that the party seemed to feel it had gone too far and needed to backtrack. Certainly the Declaration was diametrically opposed to Jack's about-face on the Clarity Act during the 2005-6 election campaign.

These days I don't even hear the BQ talking much about Quebec's place (or lack thereof) in Canada. All i know is that they want federal money for a hockey arena. I'm not sure why the NDP should be held to a higher standard and be expected to campaign across Canada about arcane constitutional refoms that no one gives a shit about.

No one said they should be campaigning about it across Canada. What they absolutely must do, however, is give someone the impression that they believe it.

The BQ has nothing to prove to Quebeckers in terms of putting their interests first. The NDP has a much more difficult fence to straddle, and it's a lot later out of the starting gate.

You may be right Unionist in terms of who rightfully has more to prove.

As far as the optics go of voter choice goes, there is a category of people who because of sovereignty issues will never move from the Bloc, so they are not attainable or reachable for the NDP.

Then there is another much bigger slice for whom sovereignty is important, but just one among many issues that matter, and the priorities change. And among those people, I rather doubt that it matters right now that the NDP is not talking up the Sherbrooke declaration or its content.

I'll make you an offer: I won't expect that (I never did, in fact). And you won't expect a huge NDP breakthrough in Québec. Deal?

I'll also mention this. Policy papers which are dusted off only to prove that we're taking the "right" position, but never put into practice, don't fool some of the people even some of the time. The NDP needs some creative ideas about how asymmetrical federalism should really work in practice. And that doesn't mean giving all provinces more powers.

I don't recall Duceppe demanding that the Clarity Act be repealed as a condition to support the coalition in 2008 - so i guess he doesn't give a hoot about the issue anymore either.

Both these comments reveal the depth of incomprehension that risks killing the NDP's hopes in Québec. Tom Mulcair (forget about his stand on Israel for the moment) would cringe if you said anything like this in his riding.

Let me explain something to you. Duceppe is thrilled about the Clarity Act. It's more ammunition to prove that Canada will never recognize Québec's inalienable rights, and so separation is the only viable option. The Bloc, and indeed the nation of Québec, do not recognize the Clarity Act. We will never be bound by the Clarity Act. We have the right to self-determination, and it isn't subject to someone else (like, say, your) permission or blessing as to the quality of the question or the size of the majority.

If you haven't already heard this truth over the past decade or so, let me be the one to deliver the news to you.

The Clarity Act doesn't hurt the Bloc. It can only hurt the NDP, if it is ever stupid enough to retreat from the Sherbrooke Declaration and go back to Layton's pandering stand of January 2006, when he was more focused on Ontario votes than Québec ones.

Now you're getting warmer. Make sure Jack hears that, loud and clear.

Bingo! got it!

Now, go back to where I said that the NDP, if it wants to really consolidate and gain strength in Québec, should (among other things) come up with some creative ideas about how asymmetrical federalism, with a pro-worker, pro-people, pro-social democratic bias, can work to the benefit of Quebeckers.

Duceppe doesn't need to talk about it.  They already own the issue.

Hey Stockholm. Please answer my question. Quit arguing your point. I've already agreed with you. I've told you what I think the NDP should be putting forward (not "constitutional issues"). What do you think they should be doing?