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Pro-Israel lobby group has no credibility to lecture NDP on racism
With a month to go before the NDP convention, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has twice attacked Palestine solidarity and members of the left of the party. In a recent Twitter threat, CIJA promoted the idea that Svend Robinson and Libby Davies are “anti-Semitic” for sponsoring a resolution against the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism.
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The NDP must be a party of workers, not small business
Recently, the NDP’s official Twitter account put up a post suggesting that “small businesses are the backbone of our economy.” And while one tweet’s importance should not be overstated, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said the same thing recently, and it is representative of a problem that is central to the NDP and its failure to put forward a coherent message rooted in the class conflict and social relations that define Canada.
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Trudeau Liberals block NDP pharmacare plan in the middle of a pandemic
Liberal members of Parliament will tell you that they truly support pharmacare, but that they just don’t like the way the NDP is going about it. But, as Christo Aivalis explains, the reality is far clearer. Like with the wealth tax, the Liberals see a popular policy that their own base supports, but it is one which clashes with their core neoliberal ideology. In the end, allegiance to the latter is what matters.
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Remembering Ed Finn
Ed’s accomplishments were many and significant: reporter, principled newspaper editor, first provincial NDP leader in Canada, ghost writer of the English-Canadian left, and, especially, a person of unimpeachable integrity and principle. And that is the most important thing: while all of us at the CCPA marveled at his abilities and prodigious productivity, what marked us most was his kindness, patience, honesty, and integrity.
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Jagmeet Singh was right to call for Trump’s impeachment
Jagmeet Singh is the only Canadian federal leader who took a stand in favour of US President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Despite criticisms from Liberals and Conservatives that it was inappropriate for a Canadian politician to question a president’s legitimacy—or that such actions endangered the Canadian economy—Singh has been proven unequivocally correct by the passage of recent history.
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Let’s put democracy back in the NDP
The upcoming virtual convention in April 2021 provides an opportunity to expand the NDP’s internal democracy and affirm the active voice that members have in steering the party. For too long, the NDP has allowed a small circle of party insiders to wield undue influence over party policy and subvert the will of its membership, while actively working against attempts to strengthen internal party democracy.
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Beyond the New Democratic Party
In charting a course forward, amid the pandemic and beyond, socialists must use their energy strategically. Transforming the New Democratic Party, for many, might simply prove to be too costly or too pointless to manage in a time of great upheaval and even greater opportunity. With so many trains leaving the station, is the NDP’s the right one to jump on?
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Why isn’t the NDP questioning the largest military procurement in Canadian history?
Amidst growing criticism, NDP Defence Critic Randall Garrison has said nothing regarding the runaway costs of the Canadian Surface Combatant project, the secrecy surrounding it, or the offensive weaponry set to be equipped on the warships. What is the point of having a defence critic if they are unwilling to question or challenge the largest military procurement in Canadian history?
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Why socialists should join the ONDP now
Many leftists believe that social movement organizing is more important than electoral politics. But the labour movement needs a labour party in government, and socialists ignore the need to gain power at our own peril. It seems to me that our best chance of avoiding the disappointment of 2018 is to join the ONDP now and team up with other socialists within the party struggling to push it to the left.
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Right-wing populism and the realignment of working class politics in Canada
We can expect the Conservative Party to wrap itself in the Canadian flag and fire-up the culture wars. The hotter it gets, the better, for Erin O’Toole. To respond to this political challenge, now more than ever, those on the left need to find ways to bridge the politics of recognition and redistribution—and to re-engage with working class communities.