Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
It's disconcerting and interesting at the same time that you have two reasonably sized liberal parties, Liberal and NDP. Is there a concern that the division could allow the conservatives an advantage?
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The Liberal Party of Canada is not "liberal" in the sense that you might think it is. It is very centrist. In Canadian terms centrist is "socially liberal" and "fiscally conservative".
The NDP is much further to the left than just about anything you can imagine in the US. Which, to the rest of the world, means they are just left of centre.
The Conservatives were once two parties. The Progressive Conservatives and the Reform (later Alliance) Party. The PCs were once (in Canadian terms) just to the right of centre. They held office, with prime minister Brian Mulroney, during much of the Regan years. The PC party never really recovered.
The Reform Party was both fiscally and socially conservative. It was a fringe party (largely made of Western ideologues) that wanted "change". They were very popular in the west and managed to only win one or two seats East of Manitoba.
Thanks to a push to "unite the right" the two parties joined to form The Conservative Party. From what I can see, the progressive part of the progressive conservatives was excised both in name and spirit from the party. It is, more or less, The Reform Party with a few more members and an ability to win seats in the East (mostly thanks to the Liberal Party being massively corrupt and, in many ridings, unelectable).
Add to the mix, Quebec and it's Party of separation The Bloc Quebecquois and you have the makings of minority governments.