The arrival of Mark Carney at the head of the government cannot mask the meteoric progression of the Conservative Party, which has captured a large vote of protest from all social circles. Neither can she obscure the collapse of the progressive electorate, largely absorbed by the Liberals, leaving the NDP almost bloodless.
The fear strategy, focused on the threat of a return of Trumpism, has only worked in part. Admittedly, it made it possible to relaunch a liberal party in decline, but it was not enough to guarantee a parliamentary majority. Mark Carney will now have to govern without majority, forced to negotiate both with his right and with his left. Meanwhile, half of the country resisted this strategy of fear, and consolidated the Conservative Party – a party which, far from distant from Donald Trump, seems to share several visions.
The gap between the two major parties does not exceed 400,000 votes. The fact that social dissatisfaction was directed towards the conservative party, rather than the NDP, is a deeply worrying signal. This election seems to have been decided between those who voted liberal out of fear, and those who voted conservative by anger. But an essential question remains: where was the vote of hope?
None of the two major parties proposed a truly transformative vision of the country. Both opted for a conservative approach, in the absence of a clear horizon of change: a more open, fairer, more inclusive, more human, more ecological and more intelligent Canada. The NPD and the Green Party, on the other hand, could not build an autonomous and punchy discourse, capable of questioning the dominant narration – a narration which, even in its most “moderate” version, remains shaped by an ever more influenced political center.
However, certain courageous gestures must be greet. Jagmeet Singh was one of the few political leaders to have described as a genocide what is happening in Gaza, and openly support the mobilizations in favor of Palestine. This gesture will remain memories. This is perhaps where the seed of a renewed NDP resides: more daring, more coherent, and more connected to people excluded from the current political system.
Because we do not transform society by imitating the gestures and the language of the center – a center which, in capitalist societies, almost always leans to the right. It is transformed by expanding the boundaries of the debate, integrating those that this center has historically left out. It is only on this condition that a real political space carrying hope will be able to emerge.
-Manuel Tapial
Member of the Board of Directors of Palestine will live
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