Crucially, the book perceptively roots the origins of the Strike in the systematic dispossession and genocide of the Indigenous peoples who called these lands home. Capital’s dominance of the city and its environs would have been impossible without it. Along this line, the book does well to connect the events in Winnipeg to working-class protest across Canada and the globe.

It must be put clearly that class conflict is a reality in this country, too; that the economic elite have never supported the CCF-NDP, and they never will; and that we’ll be branded as class-warriors and socialists no matter what our policies, however ambitious or modest. We need to embrace the image we have, and not be ashamed of it.

The left in Canada needs to centre politics of the many over the few, even if that makes enemies among the people unlikely to support them in the first place. Mouseland may well just be a fable, but it is nonetheless instructive, and can be used in part to illustrate a class consciousness among the masses of people in this country, matching that class solidarity which has never dissipated among the wealthy and well-connected.

Ultimately, we have no real sense of how Bernier’s plan will unfold. History tells us that the vast majority of political parties in Canada fail due to our first-past-the-post system. Indeed, only three federal parties have official party status right now; two with roots back to Confederation and one with roots in the Great Depression. But don’t count Mad Max out. If politics has taught us anything over the past few years, it’s that the impossible is a lot more likely than we’ve previously thought.

If we are to build a just society, we require a just economy. And while that must include better social programs financed through redistributive taxation, the democratic socialist project is not encompassed by social programs alone; it must concern itself with the democratization of the economy. And while this shouldn’t be done solely through state ownership, public control will nonetheless be a central plank.

The business backlash to the minimum wage increase has sparked a desire to broadly organize those in low-wage, precarious work, and to reform legislation so as to make that process more feasible. And while the developing news around UNIFOR’s disaffiliation from the Canadian Labour Congress could stymie the collaborate efforts of local activists to push back against the bosses, there is hope that a new era of organization might be just beginning.

The fight for Net Neutrality is but the first salvo in a longer battle over the age-old debates about democracy. Capitalists and their ideological brethren have lined up to fight NN as a barrier towards their profit-making enterprise, and socialists can make the case that if capitalism means antagonism to the very concept that manifests a free internet, perhaps the owners of private industry shouldn’t be trusted with other important aspects of our daily lives.

It’s been about a month since Jagmeet Singh became the leader of the Federal New Democratic Party on the back of an emphatic—if unexpected—first ballot triumph. Because Singh doesn’t yet have a federal seat, he has been devoting time outside of Parliament, while former leadership competitor Guy Caron is spearheading the NDP’s efforts inside the House of Commons.

We have to trust that those people and many others—regardless of the result—can be engaged with a democratic socialist platform based on equality, fairness, and freedom for all Canadians. But if the narrative is that these Singh supporters are seen as little more than ‘ethnic interlopers’ into the party, who could blame them if they don’t feel welcome?

This list and its rationale is my personal opinion and should be taken as such. Nevertheless, it is my hope that this helps participants shore up their list, even if they disagree with my ultimate interpretation. Any of the four hopefuls will make a great leader, and will have three people willing to help them implement their vision for a just Canada.