Revolutionary Moderation

Stop spinning, please



Libby Davies, Bear's current and new MP, was on the radio this morning. She was asked what happened to the NDP in Saskatchewan. She blah-blahed something about "Martin scare-tactics, strategic voting."



What? Saskatchewan went more Conservative than Alberta. If anything, it might be "punish Martin, strategic voting."



But if there's one day for a political party to take a sharp look in the mirror, the day after the election should be that day. The NDP spent this election talking about urban issues. The NDP didn't talk about BSE and didn't have very much to say about GMOs from the producer side. (Even though the lost NDP seats in Saskatchewan were urban, cities like Regina know which side their bread is buttered on.) Declarations about tearing up the Clarity Act hurt far more in Saskatchewan than in places like Toronto, where stuff like that might actually play.



Saskatchewan should be a coalmine canary for the New Democrats. Jack Layton proved over the course of this campaign that he understands a lot about big cities, and the party did reasonably well in Toronto and Vancouver. He needs to spend a lot of time and energy over the next couple of years figuring out something about all that empty-looking space in-between.