Montreal Gazette - Federal New Democrats future could use a bit more Bernie Sanders ...
27 Mar 2017
Excerpt:
“I’d like to see a bit more Bernie Sanders in the NDP,” McDonald said, referring to the Vermont senator known for railing against economic inequality and taking on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
“We (in the NDP) have a few economists from labour and organizations like the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. That’s it. And you know what? This is where the war is taking place right now. We need to reclaim that field.”
Peter Julian, MP for New Westminster—Burnaby in British Columbia since 2004, said the Liberals’ recently announced federal budget was a “Seinfeld budget,” referring to the popular sitcom.
“It was a budget about nothing. Nothing about housing, nothing about child care.”
It’s time for the NDP to speak to its socially progressive organizations and put forth more daring policies, such as his pledge to create 250,000 affordable housing units nationwide, and eliminate tuition fees for post-secondary education and tax havens for the wealthy, he said.
Candidate Niki Ashton, the MP for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, said the NDP should take the last elections as a teaching moment.
“We have a lot to learn about being proud of who we are as a leftwing party, as a progressive party. That is the way to build a brighter future for the NDP,” especially important in an era when rates of inequality are growing ever wider, she said.
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20170327/281535110821882