This mandate was always the New Democratic Party’s to seize or abandon. They had risen to the top of polls by boldly opposing a draconian Conservative spying bill that the Liberals jointly supported. They crashed to third place by deserting that sort of vision.
. . . .
The NDP’s slide in the polls started the exact moment they promised to balance the budget – a right-wing austerity fixation that economists the world over reject as reckless . . . .
Canada’s electoral politics have been captured by an ideological consensus that has lowered our political expectations and diminished our ability to dream. Major governmental policy has been ceded to the market. But a vision to build a better economy through climate action – launched during the election by a coalition of artists and social movements in the Leap Manifesto – can unleash our imagination once again. A new leader of the New Democrats – whom party members must demand, if Mulcair refuses to step aside – should bring this sort of vision into the party.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2015/oct/22/trudeaus-b...