It's a good thing that at least Jack Layton's NDP is bringing the sweet smell of success to a distraught Vancouver. But the excited delegates at the weekend's convention may want to remember that not all such party gatherings have been joyous celebrations. Nor have they all been harmonious models of solidarity forever, as this one will surely will be.

Canadian politics has been reduced to a series of small battles in a static war as the parties jockey for position for the next federal election.

As the politicians skirmish in Question Period, it is as though they are operating inside a hermetically sealed bubble, where they almost entirely shut out the enormous changes that have been rocking the world since the onset of the global economic crash two years ago.

The NDP may well pull itself out of its self-created mess on the long-gun registry but not before using up a lot of good will across the country and a lot of political energy. It was a struggle that should not have been necessary. It leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth associated with support for this critical program. Instead of leading the fight to keep the registry, the NDP will be seen as having barely come through. Hardly a glorious day in the party's parliamentary history.

Question: How can the Alberta New Democratic Party get its fair share of the province's increasingly fragmented political pie? Answer: By recasting itself as the City Party of Alberta.

This is not to say that the NDP should actually start calling itself the CPA. But it should pay attention to urban issues like no other party. And no other party is likely to, given the lay of the political land in this particular province.

You'd think this would be pretty easy: As things stand, there's zero possibility of the NDP making gains in the rural parts of the province. That's just the way it is. Smoke all the banana peels you like, but that ain't gonna change. The NDP speaks mainly to urban concerns anyway.