Bill O'Conner wrote:
> Wojtek Sokolowski <swsokolowski at yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7668738.stm
>>
>> So it looks like the left got its ass kicked, after all. Liberals
>> lost 27 seats, NPD gained 8, and conservatives gained 19, which is a
>> net loss to the left. Does the current economic meltdown have any
>> effect on Canadian voters?
>>
>> Who is 'New Democrats" anyway? Politically, that is. Their website
>> is awfully vague - they look leftish, but more like Clinton 'new
>> Democrats", no? Wojtek
>
> Well, the NDP seems to be aligned with the Socialist International, who
> the Clinton Democrats would be more inclined to bomb, so they must be a
> little more to the left than that. :)
=============================================
The NDP is Canada's social democratic party, founded in the 30's as the
Commonwealth Cooperative Federation (CCF), with the aim of displacing the
Liberals as one of Canada's two major parties. However, it's national
support has mostly hovered in the 10%-20% range, although it has formed
several provincial governments, mostly in the western part of the country.
The Saskatchewan CCF government under Premier Tommy Douglas pioneered
medicare in Canada. Douglas was voted Canada's outstanding Canadian in a
national poll several years ago. (24's Kiefer Sutherland is his grandson,
BTW).
The NDP has the same type of leadership, social base (supporters of unions and reform movements) and political program as the other social democratic parties and the Democratic party in the US. NDP'ers identify with the DP in the US. The social democrats appear to be to the left of the Democrats because they don't govern the US Empire. But the NDP's Jack Layton, were he the US President, like other social democratic leaders, would preside over American foreign and domestic policy in much the same way as a Clinton or an Obama.