...There has never been a time, in any past federal election, in which the CCF or the NDP ever decided not to actually try to gain seats or not to try to do well enough to form a government.
Alexa McDonough's "keep the Liberals honest" strategy in 1997 and 2001 was not a "we won't fight to win" vow, it was simply a recognition that, in those years, the NDP was too weak to be able to make many gains. McDonough didn't see the continuation of Liberal Party rule as a greater good, and there was no possibility in either campaign of the more right-wing party actually winning.
J.S. Woodsworth, M.J. Coldwell, Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent and even the doomed Audrey McLaughlin in the "perfect storm" election of 1993 all fought to win. That is the only way a political party can ever fight an election. It's the only way any party ever does fight an election.
The NDP didn't cause the Conservative minority victory in 2006. As has been repeatedly proven, the no-confidence motion(which did nothing but move the election up by one month)would have passed by two votes even if the NDP had voted against. And moving the election up by one month didn't cause the Liberal defeat at the polls. The Liberals caused that by being a terrible government for eleven years. If Kelowna and the child care plan were such magically wonderful things, the Liberals would have been able to get re-elected simply by promising to approve them as soon as they were re-elected.
Stephen Harper did not get a majority in 2011 because of the Orange Crush. Harper was going to get 39% no matter what. At 39%, his party was certain to win a majority. Even if the NDP had done what Liberal apologists here demanded and said "in the name of 'the greater good', we won't try to gain seats this time-and we'll never try to gain seats until Harper is out of power", Harper was STILL certain to gain a majority because the Liberals had the worst leader in their history and no party anywhere ever gained seats with a terrible leader.
The NDP was never wrong to try to gain seats and win government. NDP gains never caused any of Harper's victories, and the Liberals were never, ever simply entitled to be the only alternative to the Conservatives as a party of government.
The arrogant bovine manure needs to stop, already.