Big scary NDPer's

LPCER reaction to secret merger talks has been the first time in a long while that I have seen LPC bloggers actually unite. I don't think they like the idea. I am not taking it personally but I do feel like Bruce over at Canuck Attitude in his post about being a big scary faggot.

Is the NDP really that scary? Come on guys. The Liberals have passed some country building legislation over the years and most of it came about in minority governments when they co-operated with the NDP.

Not sure if many of you have read your history books but if you had you would have known that the CCF was dang close to forming the government near the end of the second world war. They were demanding old age pensions, 40 hour work week, days off work, unemployment insurance. The PM then, Mackenzie King decided that too win and keep the horrid red menace from office, he had to adopt these items for his own agenda. He did that and he won the next election.

Then we have CPP and medicare brought in under the minority government of Mr. Pearson. Again it was the NDP hammering away at the Liberal armour that saw to the success of these efforts. As a Liberal, you get to claim you did it, and you did, it just took someone to keep pushing you till you were on the brink of falling.

I like to point out that the scary NDP in BC managed to get the loggers, mill owners and workers along with the anti loggers, environmentalists and first nations together at the same table to talk about the use of the land and the trees on it. It was not very pretty at times but in the end they came to agreement. In fact this was possible in some way because many of these people were also members of the NDP.

Some of the best governments in this country have succeeded because they are willing to work in parliament. Those minority governments did actually work with other parties. We can all be proud of some of those achievements. It does however take effort to make it work.

Paul Martin managed to get support by working with the NDP. His budget was actually the result of including the NDP in discussions and making changes that addressed NDP concerns. Martin forgot all about co-operating when he brought in his last budget. He felt he could win, rolled the dice betting the NDP would either support the Libs and or that he would win the election.

The result is successive Harper minorities. Harper doesn't play well with others. He has learned that he doesn't have too. After all the Liberals are no threat, they poll consistently well below the Conservatives. Harper simply puts a poison pill into legislation and we get very conservative laws and budgets passed, budgets that should have been soundly defeated.

The past Liberal governments have in fact played well with the opposition in times when the country needed them too. The Martin government decided to take their toys away, ignoring the possibility that they might not have them for long.

Dion was on the right track, he did it for Canada. To end the Harper government using the tools at hand. Some pretty smart Libs supported this effort along the way. Unfortunately the leadership battle was still playing out and Iggy's folks bulled forward and seized the leaders chair.

As too the NDP being scary, its ironic that Bob Rae in recent polling would do better that Iggy. I have no doubt about that, he was after all a big scary NDPer.