Sunday, March 25, 2012

Congratulations to Thomas Mulcair and to the New Democrats for deciding to become a serious political party

Congratulations are in order for Thomas Mulcair, the new leader of Canada's official opposition. Congratulations are also in order for Brian Topp and the the whole field of leadership candidates. Perhaps most of all, though, congratulations are due to the NDP, which has decided to put aside its history and become a serious political party.

I was half-hoping the Dippers would retreat to the politics of vanity and elect Topp. After all, the party includes many despicable nut jobs (led by Libby Davies), and in some ways it would have been nice to see these people lock themselves back in the dream room.

Indeed by voting for Topp on the final ballot, 43% of Dippers declared that they'd really prefer to look in the mirror and admire their politcal purity rather than try to effect any actual change in the nation.

On the other hand, though, it really is a good thing for the country to have three serious political parties, and in particular to have an Official Opposition that's a force to be reckoned with, rather than being the political equivalent of a fart joke.