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Canada needs Nathan Cullen to help defeat Harper

If NDP voters are truly serious about taking down Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, they should take a good, hard look at BC’s sole leadership candidate, Nathan Cullen.

No doubt lumped in with the other “radicals” by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, Cullen has based his campaign on what many see as a radical idea: cooperating with the Liberal party to eliminate the possibility of another Tory majority.

While he may be the only leadership hopeful putting this idea forward, he’s certainly not alone in thinking it’s a necessity. With NDP members set to vote on a leader this week, experts and politicos are coming out of the woodwork to show their support for Cullen and his plan. Even Liberal MPs like Justin Trudeau have indicated they’re starting to warm to the idea of cooperation.

In Ottawa’s Hill Times, veteran pollster and political analyst Frank Graves explained why he believes there’s so much at stake in this leadership race.

“The more I look at the political landscape and why it’s so dramatically different today than it was five years ago, the more I’m convinced that neither the NDP nor the Liberals are going to be able to safely, or within any margin of confidence, replace this government as long as they remain competitive separate parties.”

- Frank Graves, The Hill Times, Mar. 19, 2012

A poll released March 5 by Forum Research revealed that 60 per cent of NDP voters support joint nomination meetings between the parties, and 59 per cent of Liberal voters agreed. Add these figures to the unprecedented response to Leadnow’s online “Cooperate for Canada” campaign—garnering over 16,000 signatures on a petition—and you’ve got a pretty clear message. Canadians want to see change, and they believe working together may be the only way to get there.

That’s why the Vancouver Observer is standing by Nathan Cullen in Saturday’s historic NDP leadership convention. He’s the one who’s really putting everything on the line for an NDP victory in the next election.

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