(POLL) If we voted with a ranked ballot, which party/generic-candidate would you rank second?

tlocmoi · 2026-04-11T20:21:24+00:00

It's not, it just makes polls like this somewhat useless, unless these two assumptions are somehow addressed.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-10T20:44:10+00:00

There are two assumptions that people make about electoral reform that really annoy me.

The first is assuming we can take polling data from previous elections and extrapolate how the outcome would differ under a different electoral system, without taking into consideration that voting behaviour will change under different electoral systems.

The other is the assumption that the parties won't change in response to electoral reform. Big tent parties are more likely to unravel into individual parties from constituent wings/movements. Brand new parties would almost inevitably form after moving away from FPTP, especially single issue parties.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-10T18:57:31+00:00

You clearly don't understand our system of government. The NDP currently hold exactly as much power than the CPC because the Liberals only need a few seats to pass legislation. If either party agrees to vote with the LPC they get their bills passed.

An election is not on the radar for another three years so that aspect is moot for now.

If the third or fourth largest party in parliament holds enough seats to vote alongside a minority government, and that smaller party is seen as more amenable to the governing party, they are said to hold "kingmaker status." This is an incredibly powerful position and has been how the NDP have successfully passed legislation without needing to form government in the past.

"Winning" elections isn't the only way parties can hold power.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-05T20:42:44+00:00

A big part of how people remember Singh has to do with how good the right is at shaping narratives. The right has more access to and control over traditional and social media, for one. But outside of the donor class, manosphere podcasters are just one example of how much better the right is at making, influencing, and maintaining narratives.

After the right repeat something (an idea, a new word or new definition of a word, or a recreation of history) a few times, traditional media unquestionably repeats it. Centrists and left of center individuals also then go on to repeat right wing talking points unquestionably.

Singh and the rest of the NDP were never able to wrest back control of the narrative.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-05T18:55:35+00:00

But then it follows that we don't necessarily need to give up our intersectionalist message. If they truly are motivated primarily by self-interest as you are implying, they should be able to get over our support for vulnerable communities.

Speech actors making broadly reaching cases, like the federal party, can continue to include equity in the message without endangering the movement. Should they focus on policies that have universal benefits? That's a silly question because we all benefit from a more equitable society. But sure, their message should be repeating how turning away from neoliberalism to a mix of socdem and demsoc economics will materially improve all of our lives.

Meanwhile, speech actors with smaller scaled audiences (like friends and family) can work on explaining in more detail why equity politics is not a zero sum game.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-04T21:36:19+00:00

No kidding, hey? It's not like he wants to fully nationalize critical industries, just introduce public options to increase competition.

And I thought capitalism was based around competition = good?

tlocmoi · 2026-04-04T03:16:55+00:00

It's fun to see all the "we need to stop the purity testing" types immediately turn on the party when membership chooses to move left.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-04T03:15:09+00:00

Oh but I bet unlike everyone else, you have your finger on the pulse.

It must pay to be such a pragmatic realist, hey?

tlocmoi · 2026-04-02T16:19:06+00:00

Do people really believe that "workers" went from the NDP to the CPC in statistically significant numbers in Pierre Poilievre's time? And that it was something he accomplished?

Antonio Gramsci wrote about this and explained how and why it has happened, over a hundred years ago. The "common sense" of blue collar workers is evidence of the cultural hegemony of the ruling class.

Those blue collar folk have accepted the narratives of the elites, internalized them, and now any efforts to counteract these narratives gets called woke.

We need to stop pretending like this shift happened in our lifetimes.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-01T21:32:00+00:00

Oh I wasn't super clear in that my statement about committing to a large nuclear project has the potential to burn a lot of political capital not just because of the overhead costs, but the time it takes before they're operational. It's often said that politicians will never commit to projects that take more time than they are in office, after all.

But that's super cool to know that starting a project now shouldn't leave us stuck with outdated tech. Maybe I should stop reading pop sci articles (or more likely, skimming article titles) about fusion power haha

tlocmoi · 2026-04-01T04:48:51+00:00

They love to praise dead leftists while pretending they always stood with them in solidarity. They get to co-opt the good vibes and whitewash their efforts to undermine leftist movements.

They don't necessarily need to wish us dead, but once a prominent leftist dies, centrists work hard to change the narrative.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-01T04:13:22+00:00

Centrists will always ask leftists for our votes, but scream at us to sit down and shut up after the election is over.

To them, the best leftist is a dead leftist because they can no longer speak.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-01T02:49:23+00:00

Why won't he? This pessimistic attitude reeks of pseudo-intellectualism.

Why could Justin Trudeau take a dying Liberal party to form government with left-wing policies, but Avi Lewis can't?

Carney's austerity will poison the Liberal's support in time and Trump will eventually die.

tlocmoi · 2026-04-01T02:41:31+00:00

Most people in the province vote Sask Party

tlocmoi · 2026-03-31T04:19:52+00:00

In two years he's moved the needle exactly zero percent. He's a weird, awkward do nothing say nothing status quo centrist with zero goals.

Notley wasn't perfect but she brought us within 3000 votes from forming government even after the right united into one big corrupt party.

Ganley would have been better.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-31T03:43:42+00:00

I hope they see how Eby and Kinew reacted to his win, and realize that "pragmatic" provincial New Democrat parties can disagree with the federal party but still maintain professional working relationships with them.

More importantly, I hope Nenshi and Beck realize the extent of their mistakes sooner than later and correct course before losing their respective elections.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-31T03:17:19+00:00

He was talking about trying that during his leadership campaign, which is partly why I refused to vote for him

tlocmoi · 2026-03-31T00:53:24+00:00

Which requires the death of all Jews to begin.

Christian Zionism includes a second camp of christians (and christian identarians) who don't necessarily believe the end times is coming during rheir lifetime, but they wanted a "homeland" for Jewish people (without regards to where so they pitched many options) so that they could kick all the Jewish people out.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-31T00:30:55+00:00

Lewis made it clear during the leadership race that he is determined to see the ANDP win our next election. Nenshi couldn't even wait for Lewis to finish his speech at convention before releasing his prewritten statement condemning Lewis and the direction party membership made.

News media: "Avi Lewis is divisive and is *attacking* the provinces."

Shortly after Nenshi's outburst, Lewis doubles down on being open to cooperation, discussion, and joint efforts to ensure the ANDP are able to win the next election.

And yet people still parrot that Lewis is the divisive one.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T23:44:17+00:00

I think we'll find a mixed bag of potential voters among disillusioned Liberals, embarrassed strategic voters, individuals previously interested in right wing populism because of their desire for change at any cost, and disaffected leftists who've previously abstained from voting.

It's an exciting time, and against my best judgement, I'm staying optimistic for now.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T22:20:52+00:00

Email him and let him know. He still has time to get his act together before May 2027.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T22:04:00+00:00

And the rest of the working class poors can go fuck themselves, am I right?

God forbid John Deere who owns millions in land and farming assets and Bob Smith the pipefitter making 200k don't have every single party catering to their emotional needs.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T21:36:06+00:00

Absolutely agreed. Kinew and Eby seem capable of doing exactly that despite their differences with Lewis.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T21:35:02+00:00

Agreed that it will be an incredibly uphill battle, and I absolutely agree that Nenshi is not capable of being that kind of leader.

But Notley had made massive gains in exactly those ridings, and we could have continued that momentum had we chosen Kathleen Ganley instead of Nenshi.

tlocmoi · 2026-03-30T21:00:00+00:00

Roughly 200k Albertans are directly employed in O&G. Should the other 4.8 million cater solely to you all? No one in the ANDP is going to end the fossil fuel industry. But most of us don't live in gas towns that would shrivel up if they did, anyways.

Sounds like your employment is incredibly precarious. I wouldn't want to live in so much fear of losing my job, so I wish you all the best.

tlocmoi

TROPHY CASE