or more specifically:
Beside the cretin-like complicity of the current crop of so-called Liberal party members wearing the varnish off their privileged chairs in Canada's House of Parliament, no other single entity bears more responsibility for what has come to pass in Canada than the New Democrats.
Really? They have never been in power--but don't let Parliamentary procedures and LPC dominance stop a good thrashing...by a guy with "poster of Tommy Douglas pinned on my wall". LOL
Moving right along....
I expect little of you and yours, Jack. You remind of the Toronto Maple Laughs, and all those other unfulfilled ambitions vexing our nation - do you think it "yours" too? - but still I implore you to heroic, if doomed, effort.
ROLF...oh so the Maple Leafs not winning a Stanley Cup is an unfulfilled ambition 'vexing our nation'.
Very discplined socialist here -- rooting around in professional sports for national perspective on politics and missing the part about how a symbol of a hockey team managed to become our nation's flag should have given some pause for thought that 'the whoring' goes way back in the political system of Canada and the NDP have simply not been very successful at it.
Mr. Cook the 'dream' died long ago -- to be precise December 2, 1989, when the Party decided that a former Provincial Premier from the west with money, base and name recognition was passed over for an unknown social worker from the Yukon simply because she was a woman, basically and she would be sympathetic to the various 'housekeeping' issues of government union members.
Keep in mind this is a party that is still in awe of a former provincial premier from the west whose posters hang on the walls of their supporters. In 1989, the party wanted a fresh new start. They got one and ended up with 9 seats, then 14, then who cares -- their done.
The only parachute they left themselves was some vague 'marketing' effort suggesting they are 'more liberal than the Liberals', more purging of internal dissent and a last ditch effort to get some traction in an increasingly narrow political market.
This is a party that still hasn't figure out internally that age-old concept of 'one person, one vote' at their conventions. So long as a handful of unions still hold veto power, it is pointless to bother with even participating especially if you are involved in some of the post-cold war issues that the NDP have patently ignored like the environment and the anti-globalization movement. Why? Because unions hate the environment (costs members' job) and have little problem with corporate globalization in principle as they see it as an opportunity to organize them and spread the 'gospel' of American Gomperism.
The Party of Social Conscience simply collected pay cheques during this period of massive cutbacks to the social programmes of this country by a rightwing Finance Minister that followed rigourously the a Third World plan for debt reduction regardless of the consequences -- apparantly all was well even up till 2001, when another failed 'identity candidate' called Alexa ran largely unopposed for their party.
That's what the NDP is...trashing them for their lack of support of progressive causes is ridiculous--they have had any for decades.
So why Chris Cook is shocked when he lived through the party's chastizing of Robinson for going to Palestine and talking to Arafat, who knows? Why mention all this now, Chris, and why let the Liberals off the hook? Rather than you, Chris, assuming there are all these Progressive issues and the NDP (for some undeclared reason) should be championing them anymore than the Liberals, who knows?
It is a party of principles; it's just it's principles don't match up with the priorities of Canadians.