The Liberals need to Win the Next Election in a Landslide

As an avowed liberal this statement could be dismissed as partisanship on my part but I am in earnest.

Although I generally support the Liberals I do know that for our system of government to be effective the governing party needs to be challenged by an effective opposition. It is the only way to guarantee that the governing party will remain honest, competent and that it will continue to work for the greater good. Unfortunately, that has not been the reality for quite some time and it has really been lacking since 2015. In reality the current federal government has been governing virtually unchallenged, despite being a minority government for over two years. And to any Dippers reading this and saying the NDP "forced" the government to develop and implement all of the COVID economic support measures you are flat wrong. There might be some evidence to support the idea that the NDP convinced the government to sweeten the CERB pot but that is about it. The rest all came from the government and the public service that supports it and no amount of historical revisionism will change that fact.

The ineffectiveness of the Conservatives is so glaringly apparent that they had to resort to supporting an antigovernment protest that was organized and dominated by white-supremists and neo-Nazis. Every prominent member of the CPC caucus, including the current and maybe future leadership of the Party, expressed support for them even when it became apparent leading up to Saturday just where the protests were heading. So when they went where they were expected and had the added bonus of them desecrating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the War Memorial and the statue of Terry Fox these same Conservatives had to play down their support and look to their cheerleaders in the media to try to redirect people from those events. Crucially however, these Conservatives and their media cheerleaders did not condemn, or disavow the protesters, instead making mealy mouth statements about "bad apples" amongst the protesters.

If you are a Conservative supporter or a member of the Party I really have to ask if the current leadership and party establishment, which condoned the protesters weekend behavior, really represents your values? I know that for many Conservative supporters it does not because I personally know more than a few Conservative supporters who have expressed their concerns. So what are you going to do about it?

I would suggest you do what the Liberals did. From 2006 until 2015 the Liberals did not have an answer for Stephen Harper and in 2011 they were humiliated. That humiliation turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it finally allowed the Party to toss the old Liberal establishment over the side and enter the 21st Century with new leadership and purpose. The result is they came roaring back and they have dominated the Federal political scene for over seven years. The same thing has to happen in the Conservative Party. The old establishment is ideologically bankrupt, without any principles or a unifying ethos. It may stumble into power at some point in the future but if it does it will be like the conservative governments of Ontario and Alberta, so ideological that they would probably not survive another election. For the long-term success of the conservative movement in this country that movement needs to be taken back from the ideologues. Reasonable conservatives, and there are many out there, need to reassert themselves into Canadian politics. 

The best way to do that is for the CPC to be humiliated in the next election. It needs to be reduced to less than 100 seats, although less than 75 seats would be ideal. Such a humiliation would destroy the current Conservative establishment and provide an opportunity for reasonable conservatives to reassert themselves. There is no guarantee that they would be successful but I can tell you now that reasonable conservatives will never again come out on top as long as the current Conservative establishment holds sway.

Something similar has to happen to the NDP. Their current leadership is useless. It is interesting that the path that took them to being the Official Opposition began when they were reduced to non-party status in 1993. It took hard work and dedication by the NDP to rebuild itself and its brand to the point where they displaced the Liberals as the Opposition. It was quite an achievement but they have lost their way since then and again, I believe, only something really dramatic will motivate them to alter their current useless path. If the NDP were reduced to 10-15 seats it would probably be good for them in the medium to long term.

The Bloc and the PPC can just go away. They serve no useful purpose.

Of course, none of this is going to happen. All of the parties will stumble along on their current paths for the foreseeable future and we can only pray that our government will continue to have the internal discipline to remain honest and competent without an effective opposition.