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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I guess he's too smart and not delusional enough for the NEW NDP.
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I wouldn't get too caught up on this development from the NDP. The NDP historically has viewed themselves and their role in politics more as the 'left-wing conscience' of the nation rather than a party that is constructed to challenge for power or to propose wholesale platforms that actually are grounded in reality.
That changed under Layton when they became more of a force on the national stage as he diluted their policies significantly to become more electable. The value proposition for party members was that they could do a lot for the country if they actually got elected and that was the trade-off for sacrificing the sharpest edges of their principles. Then Tom Mulcair basically moved their policies so far towards the center that they got outflanked on the left by the Liberals and they proceeded to get decimated in the election.
To the hardcore NDPers (which is most of them at the convention), it must feel like the last election proved that they probably can never govern while maintaining any semblance of the core ideology they believe in and if that's the case, they would rather advance policies that are more representative of their true beliefs.