New Democratic Party leader Edward Broadbent’s barely disguised glee at the Liberal Party’s woes leading up to this general election are understandable. But when he solemnly declares that Canada might be better off with a 2-party system — a conservative party and his own — one questions the man’s faculties.
Many have observed in the past that our best governments are often those that have been in a minority position. They can’t steamroll legislation through Parliament but have to take into consideration the opposition parties’ views. In fact, whatever impact the NDP has had on our Canadian way of life has come from holding the balance of power during a period of minority government. Such minority governments would no longer be possible under a 2-party system.
But what is hardest to fathom is Broadbent’s rationale for endorsing a 2-party system. An opponent of the free trade agreement based largely on his fears that it would erode our Canadian way of life in favor of the American, holds up the example of the United States’ political system as one on which we should model our system here in Canada. Is this the same man whose nationalism is usually little more than anti-Americanism?
The NDP leader’s most persuasive argument for dispatching his political enemies in the Liberal Party to oblivion is that democracy in the United States — the great enemy of the NDP’s vision of Canada — runs on a 2-party system.
When the NDP holds up the American system as a role model for Canadians, it makes one sit up and take notice.
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