"The signs are everywhere, but none more telling than the rapid collapse of Canada’s multiparty system into a two-party contest. One red. One blue. Everything else is being pushed to the margins—culturally and electorally."
this makes me more sad than nearly anything else I read lately. everyone I know in Canada has said this to me :(
I know I harp on this, but we need to go beyond culture to critical policy reform.
A huge one for me is the need for Canadian parties to stop having US-Presidential style leadership conventions. Canada does not use a Presidential system, but a Westminster Parliamentary system. Party caucus leadership needs to be decided by caucus and be accountable to caucus at all times.
Canadian political parties, Canadian media, and Canadian voters acting as if we have a US Presidential system is making Canada into the USA, such that it won't even need to be taken over.
None of the parties that had seats in the previous parliament have any plans to fix this problem, and the NDP and GPC have pretty much written themselves off from being relevant by promoting policies that double-down on the problems rather than seeking solutions.
Anyone in the public sphere who is not "unmarked", i.e., who is easily Othered, is especially subject to this preemptive sanitization & smoothing. That's a feature not a bug. But we in Canada are now seeing the veil being pulled away as our neighbours to the south are, and the pretense that the interests of anyone other than the powerbrokers at the imperial core are considered in a representational democracy is crumbling
Interesting. But I feel like claiming to be a multi-party country in a "first-by-the-post" system is a little dishonest. Nations that implement multi-party strategy successfully are proportional representation systems.
That being said, i don't think it's necessarily absorption of American values. It's a panic mode after decades of aligning ourselves with America in terms of trade, partnerships and alliances. It's a fear of conflict in a fragile political ecosystem where complacency and "let's all get along" were normalized for a very long time because there was nothing to fight for.
I also think that the rise of fascism in America pushed liberals further to the left - and NDP's identity crisis lies in not knowing where to find themselves on the leftist spectrum anymore.
So… let’s be very clear. Avi Lewis is running for the NDP in Vancouver Centre. His views on Palestine are very , very clear. This article does not mention this, hence it turns into what I would call a smear of the NDP. We have an election on now. If you want to support someone who fights against genocide and is a REAL alternative to the other parties, write about him!!!
"The signs are everywhere, but none more telling than the rapid collapse of Canada’s multiparty system into a two-party contest. One red. One blue. Everything else is being pushed to the margins—culturally and electorally."
this makes me more sad than nearly anything else I read lately. everyone I know in Canada has said this to me :(
I know I harp on this, but we need to go beyond culture to critical policy reform.
A huge one for me is the need for Canadian parties to stop having US-Presidential style leadership conventions. Canada does not use a Presidential system, but a Westminster Parliamentary system. Party caucus leadership needs to be decided by caucus and be accountable to caucus at all times.
Canadian political parties, Canadian media, and Canadian voters acting as if we have a US Presidential system is making Canada into the USA, such that it won't even need to be taken over.
https://r.flora.ca/p/lets-work-to-fix-parliamentary-flaws
None of the parties that had seats in the previous parliament have any plans to fix this problem, and the NDP and GPC have pretty much written themselves off from being relevant by promoting policies that double-down on the problems rather than seeking solutions.
Anyone in the public sphere who is not "unmarked", i.e., who is easily Othered, is especially subject to this preemptive sanitization & smoothing. That's a feature not a bug. But we in Canada are now seeing the veil being pulled away as our neighbours to the south are, and the pretense that the interests of anyone other than the powerbrokers at the imperial core are considered in a representational democracy is crumbling
Interesting. But I feel like claiming to be a multi-party country in a "first-by-the-post" system is a little dishonest. Nations that implement multi-party strategy successfully are proportional representation systems.
That being said, i don't think it's necessarily absorption of American values. It's a panic mode after decades of aligning ourselves with America in terms of trade, partnerships and alliances. It's a fear of conflict in a fragile political ecosystem where complacency and "let's all get along" were normalized for a very long time because there was nothing to fight for.
I also think that the rise of fascism in America pushed liberals further to the left - and NDP's identity crisis lies in not knowing where to find themselves on the leftist spectrum anymore.
So… let’s be very clear. Avi Lewis is running for the NDP in Vancouver Centre. His views on Palestine are very , very clear. This article does not mention this, hence it turns into what I would call a smear of the NDP. We have an election on now. If you want to support someone who fights against genocide and is a REAL alternative to the other parties, write about him!!!
Let's be very clear, you're the one smearing. Here's our interview with Avi: https://youtu.be/DroWWCVrDMY?si=RfHb7CbzA4FWXPM0