We need thicker skins NDP

I am still getting over the huge success of our party in this election.  My first thought was that the NDP did great but if you take Quebec out we just got by.  That's wrong however.  We increased our seat count and if we are to look at the big cities in Canada, we have the big ones.  Downtown Toronto is ours, Vancouver and Montreal.  Throw in Halifax and St. John's and it is time to party.

We have strong bases in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Maritimes and now Quebec. That's a darn good start to forming a national government.  We have four years to show Canadians that we have the stuff, the people and can be the governing party.

That said, its important to understand we will screw up from time to time.  Its bound to happen. To go with our self-made screw-ups will be media created issues that show the bias inherent in Canada's conservative press.  We can not however spend all of our time responding to the agenda of others.

Its also important to understand that the Liberal party would like to see us fail in many ways.  They have a big job to do and it won't be easy if we act and look competent.  Our job is not to make it any easier.  Talk about merging is way too early if it is ever entertained.  We received a fair amount of support from people that previously voted Liberal and if we can grow without a merger, all the better.

The Green party deserves to celebrate for obvious reasons.  They elected their first MP.  That election was in fact the result of NDP and Liberal supporters in her riding lending the Greens a vote to defeat Gary Lunn and to some degree, the idea that having a green party MP will benefit all of us.

The work ahead will be hard.  We will be scrutinized from all angles, right or wrong, the media and our political opponents have their sites set on us.  Best to grow a thick skin and pick our battles, be quick to admit our screw-ups, and move on.  We have earned the right to be here, lets remember the goal is government, not official opposition.  To be government we have to grow.