Liberals, NDP, Canada

We've united the right now let's unite the left

John Ryan, a retired professor at the University of Winnipeg, has written a letter to all of the Liberal and NDP MPs. Ryan is urging them to consider having the two parties work together with a view of merging in the future to form the "Liberal Democratic Party". As a start, the two parties would agree to field only one candidate in each riding, to be followed by seriously merger discussions.

Ryans proposal is based upon the typical leftist notion that Canada as a nation will be finished if Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are allowed to govern. The Conservative Party is, in his words, "in many respects a chilling echo of the U.S.A.s Republican Party". Oh horrors--the next thing you know Canada will be taking a strong stand against Islamofascism.

Ignoring the doom and gloom scenario that, if left unchecked, Scary Stephen will turn Canada into "quasi-American states", Ryans proposals make a lot of sense.

If Harper plays his card right, the Conservatives could end up with a majority government after the next election. Although it seems like a big "if", a majority Conservative government might be hard to defeat because the so-called progressive vote will be split among the Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc and to a lesser extent, the Green Party. The left could end up where the pre-Conservative Party right was; too divided to ever gain power.

Ryan correctly points out that there will be some in the Liberal Party who are simply too right wing to agree to a merger with the NDP. They would simply go over to the Conservatives, much like Scott Brison, who crossed over to the Liberals. The thought of a merger between the Liberals and the NDP may appear laughable but hardly impossible at a time in the future.

It is no secret that the Liberals have hardly ever come up with any original major policy ideas. Throughout history most of the social programs, including the health care that defines the country, and that Canadians now take for granted were created not by the Liberals but by the NDP/CCF. The Liberals simply adopted them as their own after modifying those ideas to make them more palatable to the majority of Canadians who occupy the political mushy middle. And during the 1990s, after U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot discovered deficits, the Liberals then began taking policies from the Reform Party and Finance Minister Paul Martin attained fame as a right wing gutter of social spending.

Despite the fact that the Liberals lack vision and policy, the party does know how to seek, gain and hold power (albeit not without the odd setback). The New Democrats on the other hand; responsible for much of Canadas social policy, have never held power federally and their chances of doing so in the near future appear to be grim. The merger between the Liberals and the NDP seems to be a perfect fit.

And it is not as though John Ryans ideas are completely detached from any reality. During the 2004-06 minority government, the Liberals had no problem letting the NDP dictate policy as long as the New Democrats propped them up and kept the Natural Governing Party in power. And the fact that the NDP have difficulty getting their poll numbers up to 20 per cent did not prevent Jack Layton from bringing down a budget. And who can forget Paul Martins rallying cry during the last election campaign when he called on all "progressives" to vote Liberal in order to defeat the evil Conservatives? Although Martins actions might be viewed as the desperate act of a desperate man who was about to lose the office that was his birthright, he was not wrong about the similarities between his party and the NDP.

A merger between the Liberals and the NDP may seem to some to be completely unworkable. Its not something that could ever take place in the near future or before at least a few more elections. But many said that a merger between the flaming Red Tories and the right wing extremist members of the Reform/Canadian Alliance would never happen; yet it did. All it took was the right leadership and the right people like Belinda Stronach to get the parties to talk to each other.

Belinda Stronach? Isnt she a Liberal now? On second thought, a merger just might be in the cards.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Toronto Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: Columns 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 '01 '00 1999 Media 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 Toronto 2006 '05 '04