CBC has informed me that there are "secret talks" going on between the Liberal Party and the NDP. I would take this with a grain of salt, but still it is a possibility. The Liberals want to merge thanks to their dismal public opinion numbers at about 25%, and apparently our continued "failure" to form government has forced us to hold discussions. This new party supposedly called the "Liberal Democrats" would be the sole opponent of the Conservatives.
As a New Democrat, I nearly shit my pants after I read this. The NDP is committed to social democracy, and merging with the Liberals, a bunch of centrists who flip-flop over issues every other day goes against everything Tommy Douglas stood for. This defeats the purpose of our whole existence. Our predecessor the CCF grew from Liberal and Conservative resistance during the Winnipeg General Strike. They didn't care for us, so we formed are own party. We then grew to become the NDP because the Liberals, still too concerned with business rather than people, didn't care for everyday Canadians.
The worst part of this though is that if this is true, it is not only destroying the NDP's and the Liberals history, but we are admitting defeat. If we merge, we are admitting to Canadians that social democracy is unachievable in this country. That is simply not true. We must continue to spread the message to every Canadian from the Pacific Northwest to the north, to the Atlantic seaboard.
To end I would like everyone to know that I would rather be a member of a party that doesn't win elections but has stayed true its roots, then a party that wins plenty of elections but has no soul. I know I'm not alone when I say that too.
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