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There are 3 major national parties, the Harper conservatives on the right which are a neo-con corporatist party equivalent to your republican party. And supposedly on the left are the liberals who are somewhat equivalent to your dems, a neo-liberal corporatist party; and then a bit farther to the left is the NDP.
The liberals retained power for much of Canada's history, until recently when Finance Minister Paul Martin (aka Mr Dithers) held a coup and deposed long time PM Jean Chretien, also a right leaning corporatist who referred to Canadian citizens as "consumers". The martin coup brought the party even further to the right but the kerfuffle, various scandals and Martin himself didn't resonate with the public. The Harper cons took advantage of it with constant attack ads which they continue to this day. Anyhow, Mr Dithers got the boot shortly after and in a surprise move, Stéphane Dion was chosen to lead the party. He may have been good but never had a chance. The knives came out for him immediately, both from outside the party (Harper) and inside the party (Michael Ignatieff supporters). He was quickly deposed and after another leadership convention, Michael Ignatieff won the leadership of the Liberal party. Ignatieff is also failing to win hearts and minds. He is a university professor who spent years teaching in the US and came back to Canada to run for PM. People don't quite trust him and he has definitely not been able to capture many hearts and minds. So thats the liberals in a nutshell.
As for the NDP, they serve to split the vote on the left. Jack Layton the leader is quite uneven although I prefer him to the rest. He's talked a good talk but he's made some deals with the devil too. There are enough corporatists around that his party will never lead although they have held a lot of power in the minority gov't. Once the NDP and the libs actually made a coalition agreement and were set to take power from harper but he pulled a parliamentary maneuver and outsmarted them.
The past few elections people have voted strategically to ensure that the harper conservatives don't wind up with a majority. People who never would vote NDP or liberal hold their nose and vote for the one who has the best chance of winning over the conservative candidate. It has worked. Harper and much of his party is hard line religious nut corporatists. But unfortunately liberals are much the same minus the religious nut thing. And I think people just can't get a read on Ignatieff. There was another man who ran for leadership when Dion was elected, Gerard Kennedy who very nearly won. I know someone who has worked with him, He came from running the biggest food bank in the country and decided that the only way to change the system is from the inside. I hope that when Iggy is inevitably shown the door that Gerard takes it, he will change Canadian politics.
Thats my take on Canadian politics, of course there is a lot more to it than that and of course a million other opinions.
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