Hargrove vs. Layton – Round 3?
The Hill Times is reporting that all is not well with Canada’s New Democrats.
Hargrove says: “Jack as a leader has developed a hell of a profile for himself, but I don’t believe he’s developed a profile for the party on the issues that are critical to Canadian families.”
Now, I don’t always agree with Buzz. But this time, I have to agree (with the statement above). In fact, I more or less said the exact same thing 10 days ago.
Seriously. The NDP website is the best party website out there (and it pains me to say that). (I was just with a bunch of web designers yesterday who agreed that “orange” is the new “green”, and had to snicker a bit when I thought of the political implications.)
Unfortunately (or, fortunately for some), they really don’t have anything useful to say. It’s completely, 100% irrelevant. The kids like the website design, but the message sounds stupid.
Is this entirely Jack’s fault? Not so much. But the NDP could’ve turned a corner if they picked a leader who could reform the party and policy a bit (like Bill Blaikie or Lorne Nystrom), rather than trying so hard to reform the image of the old message to make it more hip for the kids.
As a libertarian Conservative, it doesn’t matter too much to me. But for democracy and the greater Canadian political debate, Jack Layton’s leadership has contributed very little.
The Reactionary Left
It’s time to for the NDP to try contributing something constructive to Canadian political discourse, instead of the typical reactionary drivel they’ve been dishing up for the last few years.
I know many of their supporters are reasonable, intelligent people, with constructive ideas, but the leadership continues to dish out nonsense.
Here’s a few examples:
The Problem: Somebody gets shot during gang violence crossfire in Surrey or Toronto.
The Left’s Solution: Take hunter’s rifles away.
The Problem: Canadian soldiers die serving their country, defending Afghan people from the Taliban. The same Taliban that would sooner burn a school-aged girl than see her go to school.
The Left’s Solution: Peace talks with the Taliban.
The Problem: A recession takes hold after the longest bull market in a generation.
The Left’s Solution: Protectionism, higher taxes, and a new national holiday in February. Honestly.
These are serious problems that deserve serious solutions.
Does anybody take Jack Layton and the NDP seriously anymore?
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