This opera of an election will be over very soon. It has seemed like a long and tedious affair. The pundits have made their final forecasts. The newspapers have surprised nobody with their choices. The broadcast media are preparing for their big night. The voters can now have their say. And the closing plaintive song has been left for Andrea Horwath of the New Democrats.
The song will be one of farewell. Madame Butterfly’s sailor has sailed away without her. And the poor results of this election will bring about Andrea Horwath’s resignation. The lack of a clear platform, deserting the left, the poor performance and the contradictions in her support and non-support of the Liberals have done her in. There is little she can do but accept defeat with grace.
It is the final count of New Democrat seats in the Ontario Legislature that will really tell the story. Even the most severe analysis leaves the party with at least 12 seats. That appears to be worst case. If it is, the Liberals will have their majority.
The Ontario New Democrats can look at rebuilding. If they are honest, they will start their rebuilding from the very foundation of what a social democratic party should be in the 21st Century. It needs to be drop the socialist rhetoric emanating from the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Human progress is slow and frustrating but the more we can alleviate the concerns for human needs, the more we can accomplish in the long term. You have to do more than care, you have a responsibility to show why and how.
One of the ways social democrats can accomplish their objectives is by joining the Liberal Party. Liberals have needed their kind of input and a course correction for many years. Never forget Liberalism in Canada is built on reform. They are not the old Whigs, the country party of 19th Century England. The many progressives already working in the Liberal Party need help to ensure that the Liberal Party stays true to the rights and freedoms that Canadians enjoy.
But such a momentous step as joining the Liberals will take time. There will be the last hurrah from the Orange Wave next year and few New Democrats will want to admit that the federal party could end up an also ran in 2015. Federal New Democratic Leader Tom Mulcair will end the same way as Andrea Horwath if he tries to take the federal New Democrats to the confused middle ground. There is no room there for social democrats.
But first of all, the Liberals have to win this Ontario election—as well as keep their word once they are in a majority. There are more than a few progressive Liberals who will demand they live up to the reform cause.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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