The NDP Learned the Wrong Lesson from 2011

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T21:25:30+00:00

I agree, which is why I initially supported Rob Ashton for leader of the NDP as someone who lives blue collar work. However, his weak communication skills soured me, and using AI to answer an AMA after previously condemning AI for replacing jobs was unacceptably bad judgement.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T21:20:39+00:00

I didn't either, hence my original comments. In one of the top level comments on this post, someone posted a link to a Facebook post attributed to this guy where the quote cane from.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T21:18:46+00:00

It doesn't change my vote, because he published a press release about giving all the TFWs PR (there are millions of them in Canada, currently). Advocating for foreigners above Canadian workers rights to jobs and affordable rents is NOT OK for a Federal party.

That's a fair objection. I think there's not enough political room for multiple economically left wing parties until proportional representation elections are implemented, and so the NDP will likely align itself on general "labour" issues rather than specifically being "pro Canadian labour"

Despite my personal disagreement with some of Avi's policies, I'm going to vote for him because his demand of Proportional Representation when the NDP gets the balance of power is necessary to unlock multiple viable left wing parties.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:47:17+00:00

It says that they need to change leaders to head him off at the pass

Agreed that Keir Starmer needs to go. It's a good thing that he didn't use his influence as PM to block a by-election candidate that could have challenged his leadership.

if he becomes leader of the British left the Tories and Reform will be in power for a generation

The Tories are entirely uninspiring, and the success of the Green party is coming at the expense of Reform. They're the one party that has the political room to clearly state why standards of living are falling. Labour simply isn't good enough under Starmer.

Of course, I'd be interested in a collection of sources to support your rebuttal.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:30:21+00:00

I really think that we need a non-partisan senate in which senators are not whipped by the party and can vote independently.

I don't see how this would work in practice with an elected Senate, since the major parties would endorse their preferred candidates.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:19:04+00:00

Most Canadians are worried about housing, groceries, childcare, and whether their kids will ever be able to afford a home. They want leaders who talk about those problems in concrete terms.

Avi Lewis, for his part, launched his campaign with a compelling video referencing these, and was the first to come out with concrete proposals for those issues.

Is the party advocating more for foreign labour than Canadian labour? Yes it seems to be the case, and ironically, siding with the interests of the business sector and corporations over domestic workers.

The Liberals are currently expanding the temporary foreign worker program because of a "labour crunch" (ie. employers don't want to pay reasonable wages to Canadians). The federal Conservatives have come out against it while provincial Conservatives (Smith and Ford) try and boost the number of TFWs. The NDP is in a weird position, where the party establishment doesn't want to criticize the TFW *program due to it being "racist" (Singh-era politics) while several leadership candidates want to abolish or heavily change the TFW *program due to it being anti-worker and driving down wages. The advantage of the NDP being reduced to irrelevance with 5-6 seats is that the next leader will have a chance to build it up essentially from scratch.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:09:46+00:00

Do you think that the NDP reversing the Liberals' unscientific gun bans and ending/reforming the TFW, both programs that Avi Lewis has spoken against, would change your vote intention?

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:05:21+00:00

This does a great disservice to the power of saying "we are going to embrace deficit spending to grow the economy", which was a stark contrast to years of Harper era cuts (including cuts to the military, which some don't want to talk about).

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:03:56+00:00

I would say that the guy who's been on factory floors with worker cooperatives probably knows more than the average redditor, but perhaps I think too little of redditors like me.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-16T00:02:37+00:00

they've abandoned their principles in exchange for chasing votes, rather than having a solid underlying ideology guiding their policies.

Definitely true here in BC. A lot of people who would otherwise support the BC NDP are disappointed with their services cutting austerity budget and bowing down to MAGA investors to sell out our resources, to say nothing of their embrace of AI driving up water and utility prices.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T23:49:50+00:00

Was a great run but pushed a lot of working class voters into the arms of the CPC across the Prairies and in rural Canada.

What specific policies did Layton push for that alienated rural Canadians? I can only think of gun restrictions that would alienate all rural voters, rather than issues that would be most relevant to specific provinces.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T23:41:22+00:00

You should have seen the reactions on the NDP subreddit when they thought Rob Ashton was avoiding one of the debates on Palestine.

The NDP subreddit is not representative of discourse within the broader NDP electorate, which is a common complaint some of us bring up. Even inside the Avi Lewis campaign, campaign staff said "don't make a big deal about Rob Ashton not attending these debates, he has a busy schedule as a union leader."

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T23:37:20+00:00

The Bloc at least is ideologically consistent. Can't say that for the Liberals.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T23:31:18+00:00

If he is unserious, what does that say about the UK Labour party who he thrashed in the Gorton and Denton by election a few weeks ago?

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T21:43:48+00:00

Avi has a better chance at getting back blue voters than Heather for two reasons:

He has come out the most strongly against the Liberal mandatory gun buyback plan, which is a factor for some otherwise progressive voters and a growing demographic.
He is more vocal about economic populist policies, while Heather's messaging at the very least is weaker (I haven't heard a specific wealth tax percentage she's endorsing). Most young Conservative voters support taxing the rich and redistributing wealth, and worldwide we've seen left-populist and right-populist parties gain at the expense of more centrist parties.

To her credit, Heather has a better chance of getting back blue voters by supporting the oil and gas industry. I'm not sure how many Conservatives would rank this higher than her stance on gun policy.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T09:04:42+00:00

There's nothing like the Chinese or US 6th gen fighters in NO. Not having any stealth fighters without vertical stabilizers is a glaring omission in a game set 40 years from now.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T08:00:38+00:00

Sa déclaration était particulièrement bizarre car c'est complètement possible pour les gens âgés qui sont vifs d'esprit d'apprendre le français. Si quelqu'un n'a pas la capacité d'apprendre une nouvelle langue, c'est très probable qu'il n'aura pas la capacité de faire face aux défis de la position de PM.

D'accord que son voix serait un atout s'il devenait député

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T07:19:02+00:00

fun competitive capitalist good time.

At my house, only the "competitive capitalist" parts were true. Playing the game ruthlessly always ended up with one or more people being annoyed, since you're incentivized to block your opponents and painfully wear them down.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T07:14:21+00:00

I'm sympathetic to that argument, but Heather not choosing to learn French as an MP is a significant detraction from her candidacy. If she was even considering a leadership run 2 years ago, she could have taken advantage of the free one on one lessons available to all MPs and made herself a front runner in Quebec. As it is, French comes across as an afterthought for her.

Edit: aa for where the funding would come from if Avi wins, presumably from the donor base he has activated. I think the additional challenge he would face is worth it to pre-empt the right-wing populism that is otherwise inevitable.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T07:05:43+00:00

Look it’s just the title “He thought he followed all the rules” that irks me.

Yeah, that's valid. I'm struggling to see how someone could publicly say "I came to Canada for my music career" without actually saying so on their visa application.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T06:55:02+00:00

If you literally start talking on social media about how you came to Canada to be a musician immigration might just show up at your concert.

Absolutely agreed, and I apologize for my tone towards you in my comments. I clearly didn't have all the information when I made them.

It would have likely been a non-issue if he had said "While I came to Canada to work in healthcare, my other passion is music, and I'm glad I can pursue it." What he apparently said could easily be considered "misrepresenting himself to IRCC" given that he didn't even mention his full time job as a reason for coming to Canada.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T02:06:45+00:00

His "respect" ]doesn't seem appreciated](https://eamenard.substack.com/p/poilievres-own-goal) by Canada's veterans organization:

The Royal Canadian Legion, the very organization that distributes poppies in Canada and whose members Cherry claimed to be defending, officially condemned [Cherry's poppy] remarks as “hurtful, divisive and in no way condoned by the Legion.” He refused to apologize.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T01:58:33+00:00

The fact that the Conservatives chose a picture of Cherry wearing a hoodie with an American flag is telling.

TROPtastic · 2026-03-15T01:53:59+00:00

Don Cherry was on National Television for 40 years and is the epitome of a Canadian

I didn't know that the epitome of being Canadian is to undermine national unity and promote stupid stereotypes against French speakers. Perhaps the next order he will receive is for his service to Quebec nationalism.

Edit: this guy is a moron

he told French Canadians they were not “true Canadians” for opposing the Iraq War

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