Can’t agree! Muclair and Singh moved so far to center they destroyed the party. Not just my words, the party removed all reference to socialism from the party constitution.
It was a strategy that made a half-assed amount of sense during the years where the Liberals were struggling. Canadians (particularly Ontario) seems to like their politics roughly center. So if you want to supplant the Liberals as the main party representing the Left, you can’t be too far left. Same thing happens to the Conservatives. Every time they drift too far right to appease the Alberta crowd, they start losing the Ontario suburbs.
Plus, “socialism” is still a bad word for most of the older population. You can get rid of the word, change none of the policies, and that will be enough to keep the “socialism bad” crowd happy.
I can’t disagree with your overview of why it happened, except with policy it’s not just removing scary words. And really the shift started under Layton, I should be accurate. Tbf he did almost win with that strategy. Fuck cancer.
Can’t agree! Muclair and Singh moved so far to center they destroyed the party. Not just my words, the party removed all reference to socialism from the party constitution.
It was a strategy that made a half-assed amount of sense during the years where the Liberals were struggling. Canadians (particularly Ontario) seems to like their politics roughly center. So if you want to supplant the Liberals as the main party representing the Left, you can’t be too far left. Same thing happens to the Conservatives. Every time they drift too far right to appease the Alberta crowd, they start losing the Ontario suburbs.
Plus, “socialism” is still a bad word for most of the older population. You can get rid of the word, change none of the policies, and that will be enough to keep the “socialism bad” crowd happy.
This is how the Overton window shifts right. Socialists need to be louder and more visible than ever.
I can’t disagree with your overview of why it happened, except with policy it’s not just removing scary words. And really the shift started under Layton, I should be accurate. Tbf he did almost win with that strategy. Fuck cancer.