The NDP once again holds the fate of Canada in its hands. The Bloc Québécois announced its intention this week to join forces with the Conservatives in seeking the toppling of the Trudeau government.
As such, it is only with the support of the NDP’s 25-member caucus that the minority Liberal government continues to cling to power.
This is somewhat awkward for the NDP, which made a big deal in September of severing its official ties to the Trudeau government, and denouncing the Liberals as corrupt corporatists destroying the country. Nevertheless, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced his intention this week to continue propping up the Trudeau government whenever asked.
In Dear Diary, the National Post satirically re-imagines a week in the life of a newsmaker. This week, Tristin Hopper takes a journey inside the thoughts of the New Democratic Party.
Monday
Canadian politics are cursed to be dominated by two parties who have been corrupted since the very moment of Confederation. One, the ideological descendent of monarchist plutocrats. The other, a relic of Whiggish Protestantism. Their slogans are different, but their core values are the same: An entrenched elite dominating a placid underclass.
But we are the solemn inheritors of a third way. A way begun in the strife of the Winnipeg General Strike, and forged in the depths of the Great Depression. We were conceived by the common people, and it is the common wisdom that we serve.
I feel the ghosts of William Wilberforce, Eugene Debs and our own Tommy Douglas guiding all that we do here. And in their sacral gaze, I know that it is our solemn duty to prop up a government we hate while constantly whining about it.
Tuesday
Would we do things differently if Canada’s course was ours alone to set? Of course. If the New Democratic Party were to finally helm this Dominion, we would swiftly enter a paradise of price controls.
But, alas, we live in a democracy. The people are fickle, venal, easily distracted, and they fail to see the righteousness of our message. As such, our most noble option given the circumstances is to prop up a government we hate while constantly whining about it.
Wednesday
Few political organizations oversee such an uneasy coalition. Our heart is rooted in the working class, while our head belongs to halls of academia. Two groups that, on the surface, have very little in common. The shop steward and the women’s studies post-grad. The longshoreman and the trans activist. The Lucky drinker and the Kombucha drinker.
It is this duality that keeps us grounded. Only in dichotomous struggle can the best path forward be illuminated. And at this moment, it is clear that the true course of righteousness is to prop up a government we hate while constantly whining about it.
Thursday
Our party has not been bashful in outlining its preferred side in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. Now there are scattered voices within our ranks who say this contradicts with our other core beliefs, such as our longstanding support for LGBTQ+ rights.
On one side of the conflict is a sovereign country, Israel, whose protection of sexual minority rights is very similar to our own. On the other side — our favourite side — is a coalition of various Iran-backed Islamist groups who see homosexuality as a sin punishable by death.
I admittedly have no answers for how to square those two. But I do know that we should prop up a government we hate while constantly whining about it.
Friday
What is our ultimate vision of Canada? That’s simple; we seek a nation where prosperity, peace and dignity is known to all. You may argue that this is also the vision of our ideological rivals; that they similarly seek pluralism and egalitarianism, albeit by different means.
But if we believe that our means are better, it is because we see ourselves as uncorrupted by power. Our vision is pure; it has not been diminished by compromise or perverted by the lust for control. We can see the future, and it tells us to prop up a government we hate while constantly whining about it.