No matter where you stand on that peskily limiting left/right political spectrum, it was tough not to like Jack. During the last election the NDP was still that obscure leftist party to Liberals, with ideas that scared the hell out of Conservatives, but their cane-wielding, mustache-sporting leader somehow made the orange campaign boards seem friendlier than the blue or red ones. Now, as the 41st Parliament gets the job done, Jack’s party is far from obscure (them being the Official Opposition and all), and their ideas still really scare the hell out of Conservatives. It seems like Canada’s flagship socially democratic party has finally grown up, but this coming-of-age period has come at a cost: Jack’s party has no Jack left.
What now? is the question for Canada’s so-called progressive forces. Even as our finance minister joins other economy-doctors in France to remedy this stubborn recession, and as the big beast below us starts the first rumbles of another election, those on the left of the proverbial centre in Canada are asking, “Dude, where’s our party?” The tragic death of the man who kept his team cohesive has opened up doors for the non-Harper parties, but their leaders are not quite sure if they should walk through them.
From the outside, this parliament looks like a would-be smoothie of unappetizing ingredients going into the blender. Both the Liberals and the NDP are currently guided by interim leaders. And, while the latter party is doing some much-needed post-Jack soul searching, the former is in a straight-up identity crisis. Toss in some small but fierce ideological differences and big personalities fighting for the scraps of leadership, and you’ve got a downright mess. The proposal that the two parties unite to clobber the blue crew, keep ing them tucked safely away within the borders of Alberta, seems a long shot at best.
No wonder the unified Conservatives are gloating every which way. ‘Progressive forces’ is a gross overstatement; ‘confused-public-service-people-who-probably-agree-on-universal-healthcare-and-disliking-Harper-but-that-might-be-it’ fits better. In a horrible reverse to the current American situation, Canada’s conservatives are edging forward grand visions of their own while the liberals squabble over what’s what.
So now what? Ideas are coming from everywhere, but what most centre-and-left politicians have forgotten is the approach of a man who’s passing away was the catalyst for the current dilemma. Jack would not have shown the wild-eyed scrambling that his colleagues are exhibiting now. And he certainly wouldn’t be power-mongering when trying to tackle the NDP-Liberal merger problem. For him it was always about the greater cause. One gets the feeling that if a leader more capable than him had arrived, he would have stepped aside, smiling. He would not have expected the center-left to agree on everything, but he would not have stooped to the petty levels of confusion and piece-of-pie-grabbing we see now. Of all the questions Canada’s non-conservatives should ask themselves during this time, What Would Jack Do? should be on top of the list.
