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Federal NDP fading in importance, popularity

The federal NDP is starting to diminish.
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Federal NDP fading in importance, popularity

The 2019 federal election is now history. The result is a minority federal Liberal government. The federal Liberals won 43 out of 78 seats or 55 per cent of the seats in Quebec and won 79 out of 121 seats in Ontario or 65 per cent of the seats. The Canadian federal elections always favour eastern Canada because of the total federal electoral ridings in Ontario and Quebec. There are 25 electoral ridings in the City of Toronto with a total area of 630 kilometres in comparison to one electoral riding in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding with a total area of 4,729 kilometres. The difference in total population is not a factor.

The federal NDP is starting to diminish. Why? In the 2011 federal election, the federal NDP became the official opposition party in the Canadian parliament, with 103 elected MPs. In the 2015 federal election, the NDP once again became the third party in parliament electing 44 MPs. In the 2019 federal election, the NDP became the fourth party in parliament electing 24 MPs. A potential cause for this diminishing seat count, could be the fact of past provincial NDP governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.

The NDP elected 11 MPs in B.C. and the other six provinces elected a total of 13 NDP MPs, and the three provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia not electing one NDP MP. At one time, the federal NDP won all the electoral ridings on Vancouver Island. Since then the federal Green party has taken some of the NDP popularity away. Why? In the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, the NDP have finished in fourth place behind the elected Green party MP. The Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding, once a major NDP stronghold, has now changed over to electing a Green party MP, and the NDP finishing in third place in the elections. Makes no difference, if an NDP or a Green MP is elected. Cannot get anything accomplished because of low number of elected MP seats.

The NDP has lost all of its popularity it had in Quebec. Why? In 2011, the NDP won 59 seats, in 2015, 16 seats, and in 2019, one seat. Provincially, B.C. is the only province with an NDP minority provincial government. It seems that the B.C. NDP are at odds with the federal NDP. Why? Where was B.C. NDP premier John Horgan when federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was campaigning in B.C. and as well, other B.C. NDP provincial MLAs? They kept their distance away from the federal NDP campaign. The reason for this could be is Singh is totally against LNG, and Horgan is totally for LNG.

The news media are now saying regardless of the federal NDP losing 20 seats since the 2015 federal election, and finishing in fourth place in the 2019 election, they will still be going to hold the balance of power. Not necessarily true. Why? The federal conservatives gained 22 more seats from the 2015 election and the Quebec Bloc party gained 22 more seats from the 2015 election; these two political parties do not want another federal election, which translates into that the federal Conservatives and federal Bloc could support the Liberal minority government on most issues, which would leave the federal NDP in humble with them trying to get the minority Liberals to proceed and implement some of their campaign promises.

Trudeau lives in Quebec, and all he has to do is cater to the Bloc party and his minority government will last the full term until the next federal election in 2023. The federal government under Trudeau is so far in debt, that the items wanted by the NDP are far too costly presently and would only increase the debt total further. Presently the federal debt is in the billions, which presently amounts to $18,000 per taxpayer. One thing for sure is that the Kinder Morgan pipeline will proceed with no problems, as the opposition Conservatives want to see the pipeline built. In the past three federal elections, this is the worst performance on the part of the federal NDP.

Looks like a federal NDP leadership review will be in the works. As of 2017, the federal NDP was in the hole for $3.1 million. Just recently the federal NDP mortgaged their number one asset, the Jack Layton building for $12 million needed to fight the 2019 federal election campaign.

Locally the taxpayers in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford electoral riding have given Alistair MacGregor a early Xmas present. That present is that he knows he will now qualify for a basic MP pension as he will now serve another term of office. If Alistair was to run again in the 2023 election and lost, he would not care, as he would receive his MP pension. A win-win scenario for Alistair MacGregor and absolutely nothing in return to the taxpayers, in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding. Unbelievable!

Joe Sawchuk

Duncan