There is a lot of talk lately about the Liberal Party of Canada merging with the NDP. There must be something to the talks because of the strong denials issued by Liberal leader (in name only) Michael Ignatieff who called the idea of a merger “ridiculous”.
But the unrest in what used to be referred to as Canada’s Natural Governing Party is rampant. Warren Kinsella, a prominent Liberal backroom boy and John Mraza, former Liberal director of communications, have both sworn affidavits alleging that these discussions are in fact going on. What possesses people like Kinsella and Mraza to provide information under oath when they don’t have to will likely remain one of life’s little mysteries. But it is highly unlikely they would have sworn to facts under oath if there hadn’t been at least serious preliminary talks about uniting the left.
Denial is always a first step in merger talks. We all remember Peter MacKay who ran for the leadership of the PC party on the platform that, if elected, he would not merge his party with the Canadian Alliance. But about five minutes after gaining the leadership, he changed course and this led to the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada.
According to the revelations, the NDP would have to meet three conditions in order to merge with the Liberals to form a party that will probably be called the Liberal Democrats. The NDP would have to renounce socialism, accept Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff as leader of the new party and allow some former New Democrats such as Ed Broadbent and Roy Romanow to be involved.
One of these is likely to be a deal breaker. And no, it’s not renouncing socialism. That in itself is no big deal. The NDP could simply say, okay we’re not socialists, and continue with their current policies. They would simply deny they are socialists much like Barack Obama does. And when it comes to socialism or Marxist Leninists, Obama makes NDP leader Jack Layton look like a ditto head. No, the real deal breaker would be that the new party would have to have Michael Ignatieff as leader.
Ignatieff is the entire reason that there are merger talks in the first place. The party that prides itself with its tradition; the party of Laurier, Trudeau and Chretien, has now become the party of Martin, Dion and Ignatieff. Iggy may be a lot of things but a leader is not one of them. Often criticized for living in other countries most of his adult life, he often appears to have come from another planet.While his brilliance is often spoken about, he has no political street smarts, something that is essential to winning elections. While Stephen Harper has been a good prime minister, the Tories are getting to the stage where a lot of people think it’s time for a change. But the Iggy led Liberals are simply not an alternative. Harper has handed the opposition some good issues such as the refusal to release documents on the Afghan detainees and now the billion dollar boondoggle over the costs of the G8 and G20 summits. But the Liberals simply don’t know what to do with these issues. They spent more time demanding Helena Guergis’ resignation and then even more time sticking up for the beleaguered former minister than they did on issues that could get them somewhere. In the general scheme of things, Helena is simply not that important.
There are serious people who are considering a merger and former PM Jean Chretien is one of them. This is not surprising; if the parties merge, Chretien will go down in history as the last Liberal to lead a majority government. He can say that without him, the party fell apart and that’s pretty hard to argue with.
There are a couple of major problems with merging the two parties into one. There are a significant number of so called right wing Liberals who would never join with the NDP. And there is a chance that they will suddenly discover that Scary Stephen really isn’t all that scary and jump to the Conservatives. There is nowhere else for these blue Liberals to go. Another problem, perhaps the greatest one, is Liberal arrogance. Liberals are not Liberals because of policy ideas because the Liberals aren’t known for policy. They are Liberals because it makes them feel good inside to be a Liberal; a caring leftie without having the socialist label attached to it. Too many Liberals are so steeped in tradition that they will never give up the Liberal brand.
The merger talks will continue but the Liberals joining with the NDP will never likely happen. The Liberals need to dispense with thinking about winning the next election and concentrate on how to choose the next leader. In the meantime, the merger speculation is sure fun to watch. Let’s have another affidavit, Warren.
