The movement for cooperation between Canada's left-leaning parties is gaining momentum as the best chance to defeat the Conservatives -- themselves a product of a "Unite the Right" campaign.
A new petition from independent organization Leadnow has garnered over 13,000 signatures in support of cooperation between the NDP, Liberal and Green parties. The group’s aggressive new campaign, Cooperate for Canada, joins political voices like NDP leadership hopeful Nathan Cullen as part of a renewed push for strategic cooperation on the left. But according to Liberals like Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry, it’s not going to be an easy sell.
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What proponents like Cullen and Leadnow are advocating for is not a merger, but a cooperative strategy that could involve joint nominations to run candidates in a way that prevents another Conservative majority. While some NDP MPs are apparently willing to consider the idea, most Liberals say it’s not even on the table.
“There is absolutely no discussion about that,” said Fry.
“It was done once with the Liberals, and that was when Stephane Dion was the leader and we stepped aside to allow for the Green Party’s Elizabeth May to run in [her] riding. And we all thought it was a mistake later on, in hindsight.”
Fry says the main reason for the party’s regret came from disappointed Liberal supporters, who complained about being robbed of the chance to vote Liberal in the election. But for the increasing number of Canadians who support cooperation, setting aside party differences may be the only way to defeat the current Conservative government.
Leadnow co-founder Jamie Biggar says it all comes down to how our current electoral system operates.
“In the last election, we saw that over 60 per cent of Canadians voted for change. They voted for the NDP, Liberals and Greens or Bloc,” said Biggar, noting common frustrations with the resulting Conservative majority.
“There’s just this huge disconnect between what people voted for in the last election and the government that we ended up getting. And the reason for that is this first-past-the-post electoral system that we have.”
Democratic reform: a common goal?
Under the country’s current electoral system, the candidate with the most votes wins regardless of whether or not they’ve secured an absolute majority. Splitting the votes across opposing parties meant success for the present Conservative government, even though more Canadians voted against Prime Minister Stephen Harper than for him.
“From our perspective the question is, what do we do to make our democracy work better going forward? And we think that there’s no kind of easy solution to that, but we think that a practical pro-democracy strategy would be to have the NDP, Liberals and Greens agree to cooperate,” said Biggar.
So far, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is the only NDP leadership candidate who has raised the idea of strategic cooperation with other parties. In an interview with the Observer, he echoed Biggar’s opinions about the need for electoral reform.
“We need a one-time offer to get into government and change the voting system to some form of mixed-member proportional representation – something that says, 'When you vote, your vote will be reflected in the parliament',” he said.
Cullen’s suggestion is to have run-off elections before running campaigns in Conservative ridings, essentially to combine forces in those individual ridings and shut out Tory candidates.
“That's a very post-partisan, evolved kind of politics. It's hard for people steeped in partisanship to come to. You've got to ease them into the conversation. It's necessary because it guarantees a cooperative, progressive government,” Cullen said.
For Fry, however, this type of pre-election strategy is "undemocratic" and is almost like "fixing" the vote.
"We're talking about a democracy here, and there are registered and full parties sitting in this country. If you rig it, and fix it so that you get the desired result, that's not democracy," she said.
A critical time for Canadian politics
With the NDP set to elect a new leader, Biggar says it’s a critical time to get more voters on board with the idea of cooperation. This week, Leadnow is frantically trying to get the word out to supporters about the upcoming deadline of February 18—the last chance to register as members with the NDP and have the chance to vote in the leadership race.
The group will also be heavily involved in campaigning when it comes time for the Liberals to pick a leader. Biggar sees these in-party elections as a chance to establish electoral reform as a major citizen-driven issue, whether or not candidates like Cullen come out on top.
“No matter who wins these leadership races—on both sides—the larger the number of pro-cooperation members within the party, the more of a mandate whomever becomes leader will have to work on this issue,” said Biggar.
Electoral reform is one of Leadnow’s top priorities for long-term campaigning, and it’s something Biggar says they will be focused on over the course of the next three years. He explained that there was a big “bump” in interest last year after what many considered a disappointing election, but said the following months brought a bit of a lull.
“Now, from the crime bill to demonizing environmentalists, to just the incredible rhetoric coming out of the Harper government…a lot of Canadians are really saying we need to rethink what we’re doing here in our approach to politics to make sure that we can move past this kind of hyper-partisan demonizing politics towards a more post-partisan cooperative politics,” he said.
Biggar says he and his colleagues were “stunned” by the amount of support indicated by their recent survey, which asked their 80,000 members what they thought of a cooperative strategy between the NDP, Liberals and Greens. Out of almost 10,000 respondents, 95 per cent agreed with the proposal and over 72 per cent said they “strongly agreed”.
Of course, the survey was conducted within Lead Now’s limited audience of politically engaged citizens, most of whom are younger voters interested in the organization’s other campaigns (against things like the omnibus crime bill and the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline). More inclusive polls in the past revealed much less support for cooperation—a 2010 Harris Decima poll showed half of Canadians in favour of cooperation with no consensus on how it would work, while a similar poll in 2011 showed that a majority of voters rejected the idea of a Liberal-NDP merger.
SFU political science professor Patrick Smith says he’s not surprised that people are starting to warm to the idea of cooperation.
However, he disagrees with Biggar’s assertion that now is the time.
“It’s not necessarily a bad idea, but it’s not going to happen,” said Smith.
“I think in the majority of both parties, neither think that in the short term, this is in their best interest. It doesn’t mean that sometime this might not happen, but the majority vote in both parties would be, from my read, not only that it won’t happen but that it should not happen.”
Smith said significant ideological differences between Liberals and the NDP are the primary reason for internal arguments over cooperation. While he doesn’t see the strategy working out in time for the upcoming election in 2015, he doesn’t discount the possibility further down the line.
“If another election happens and Harper has another majority with 39 per cent of the vote, you would think that what is being posed might have more interest,” he said.
“But I don’t think we’re there yet. There’s a bit of a way to go before we get to that.”
To cooperate, or not to cooperate?
Here’s a list of other notable MPs who have come out with opinions on the subject:
Bob Rae, Liberal interim leader – Says a Liberal-NDP merger, is “not on the agenda”.
Elizabeth May, Green Party leader – Supports cooperation between Liberals, NDP + Greens.
Brian Topp, NDP leadership candidate and party president (on leave) – Has ruled out a merger, but previously said the party shouldn’t drop their “willingness to work with others”. Recently said he did not support Cullen’s cooperation proposal.
Thomas Mulcair, NDP leadership candidate – Said he does not support joint nominations.
Pat Martin, NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre – Supports cooperation, says parties’ “marriage” may be premature, but they should get a hotel room and “fool around a bit”. Made strategic cooperation with Liberals a condition of his support for a leadership candidate.
Justin Trudeau, Liberal MP for Papineau, QC – Not convinced a merger is the right path, but says he’s “open” to discussion.
Denis Coderre, Liberal MP for Bourassa, QC – Says uniting the parties would be a “valid discussion”.