Quote:
Originally Posted by llama64
I laugh my ass off whenever people start talking about the "lefties" in the Liberal party. Soon as the Liberals get categorized as a "leftist" leaning party, I know the person speaking has little to no grasp of Canadian politics. The Liberals (note the capitalization) are a party built to govern. Their platform is whatever garners them the most votes come election time. Social programs are ripped from the pages of the NDP while fiscal policy are adapted from the Conservatives (PC, Reform). In the end, a Liberal majority government constitutes the amalgamation of all the political parties ideas into one framework. This is why Canada keeps voting for them.
However, they need to be booted from office every now and then to clean out the upper levels and refresh their membership. We are in that cycle now. Once the Liberals gain a competent leader who knows more words then just "green" and "kyoto", they will retake a majority.
This is just how Canada works and I don't think there are any signs that it's changing anytime soon. I'm just hoping Harper can carry through on his promises to solidify an election time frame and reform the senate before the window passes.
This all said, the somewhat stable minority government we have going right now seems pretty effective to me. I kinda like it.
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You are right and wrong at the same time. The Liberals are the epitomy of the "median vote" grabber. They tend to stalk out that "person" and cater to them. However, the Liberal party itself runs the gamut in ideology, and the leadership convention really hit that home.
There are essentially five families of Liberals in Canada:
-Nationalist Liberals: These are the flagwavers whose social and economic platform really have no discernable point on the spectrum... its simply whatever is "in the best interest" of national pride, even if its at the expense of economics or international relations. These people are often considered the Left leaners since many nationalistic policies tend to be leftist in nature.
-Catholic Liberals: These are the descendants of the old style political traditions, mostly centered in Ontario and Quebec. They are socially right of centre, but economically moderate, and were the Liberals who voted with the Conservatives during the SSM saga. These people are Liberals and not Conservative primarily due to the old school mentality (Conservative = English = Protestant v. Liberal = French = Catholic) which is increasingly irrelevant.
-Socialist Liberals: Similar to the Nationalist Liberals, these are ones that people mainly refer to when they talk about left-leaning Liberals. These are the ones who are both leftist in economic and social values. For whatever reason, be it a question of relevance, strategic voting or disdain for Jack Layton, they do not support the NDP.
-Moderate Liberals: This is the biggest group, obviously. Made up of Blue Liberals and Moderates... they tend to be centrist in everything, with a slight tinge to the right economically and left socially.
-Power Liberals: These are the people who are Liberals cause they are the "Governing party", and tend to have no discernable position on the political spectrum. These are the ring leaders and the ones who hold the party together, since they have to appeal to everyone, since the median voter is not always dead centre... depending on the prevailing opinion or prevalent issue, the median voter could be several steps left or right of centre.