When the time is right?

The nice part about making predictions without specifying a time frame is that you will always be right - it is just a matter of time?  Even if it never happens - it's just a matter of time.

So it is with the eventual merger of the NDP and Liberals.  Political pundits and columnists have been predicting for 10 years that the Liberals and the NDP will eventually merge.  Now they include the Green Party into that merger.  Will it ever happen?  I am not sure.  But I do know that talks must be held - if not nationally, then at the local level.

Local level talks are the best place for discussions because that is where the rubber hits the road and egos are tempered more than at the national levels.

The federal riding of Nepean Carleton is a good place to start.  In the 2008 elections the best candidate, by far, was Lori Gadzala of the Green Party.  She came third.  Phil Brown of the NDP was fourth but still put on a great show.  Ed Mahfouz was the Liberal candidate,- and his campaign was almost painful. The winner on the night was Perfect PP, a sad excuse for an MP.  Even with a meltdown in the Liberal vote, though, PP's vote share only rose 1% versus 2006.  Voters stayed away from PP in droves and I wager that with a better Liberal candidate, the fight would have been closer.  I wonder what would have been the result if Lori Gadzala had run as a Liberal?  Or maybe as a Green-Liberal-Democratic candidate?  Would she have won?  Would she be in the House right now talking about the environment?

The platform of the Green Party was a very good one.  However, the Greens have been painted, mostly by the Cons and the NDP as a one-issue party - the environment.  It is unfair but true.  On the other hand the NDP is also painted as a one-issue party - their issue is social programs.

The Liberals are painted as soft on crime - tell that to the critics of Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act - "Just watch me!"  They opposed the War in Iraq.  They returned the country's budget from deficit to surplus.  They proposed ways to turn around the sickening environment.  They found ways to help the poor, the Aboriginals, the immigrants, the unionists, the hourly workers, the sick, the arts and other ignored segments of our population.

The Liberal party is a natural home for Greens and NDPers.  You can change the name of the party but the core values remain.  And those values are shared by the centre and the left.

While you are mulling over the idea of a merger, think about this also - you could send PP back to school in Alberta, to boot.