The dream is dead. Long live the dream.
For more than 30 years, Nova Scotia New Democrats have enjoyed the
ultimately unsatisfying luxury of pointing to smug,
don’t-blame-me-I-voted-NDP stickers tattooed on their foreheads while
the province lurched from one profligate Tory farce to the next corrupt
Liberal tragedy and then back again. And again. And again.
No more. What had once been just a passion, an unattainable dream, a
lost cause and a moral-victory movement is now the party in power—a
true majority government, in fact, with all the possibilities and
perils that that entails.
At one level, of course, Darrell Dexter’s new NDP administration
won’t have to do much more than simply be modestly competent and mostly
honest to shine up far better than the last sorry lot.
But is that really all we voted for?
What did we, in reality, actually vote for? Well, for change, of
course. But, if we are to be honest with ourselves, it was really less
in favour of some specific change and much more generally against
Rodney MacDonald. But it was more than just that. This time, finally,
we also cast our ballots against the generations of
say-one-thing-do-another, party-first, Tweedledum/Tweedledee,
Liberal/Conservative administrations that Rodney MacDonald’s current
Tory administration had simply come to personify.
That’s why Stephen McNeil’s Liberals—despite a very respectable
campaign that, in another election season, might have made his party
seem like the logical alternative to a tired government in
power—failed to more than marginally improve their numbers in the
legislature.
Darrell Dexter—familiar, hard-working, energetic, smart in a
down-home, common-sense, unthreatening way but also, and importantly,
unsullied if untested in the ways of government—and his New
Democratic Party came to represent real change, but not radical
change.
The question for us now though is what does the election of an NDP
government really mean for the future of our province?
During the campaign, Dexter created a Houdini-like room-with-no-exit
for himself, promising that his party would not only undertake a number
of significant, and costly, initiatives—from keeping all rural
hospital emergency rooms open to eliminating the HST on
electricity—but also balance next year’s budget. And do it despite
the ongoing impact of the global economic crisis, and contrary to the
conventional wisdom that we must spend our way out of this recession,
and even regardless of what an audit might say about the true state of
the province’s finances.
Most observers doubt Dexter can deliver all he’s promised—at least
not without increasing taxes or reducing services. Or both. Neither of
which would be palatable. Or in keeping with the party’s promises to
the almost one of every two of us who voted NDP Tuesday.
Which means?…
All governments must learn to compromise. And adapt. Over the years,
New Democrats have held firmly, almost obstinately, to the comforting
assumption that, if given the opportunity, they would do government
differently. They would be more open and accountable; they would not
say one thing and then turn around and do another. They would… they
would.
Well, now they have that chance they sought.
They are, it is true, inheriting a mess that was not of their own
making. And they will be attempting to manage an economy that is
largely beyond this province’s power to manage during times that seem
perilously beyond any government’s power to control, or even
influence.
But this is exactly what they asked for. And now they have it. And
so do we.
My boyhood best friend—a lifelong Liberal whose party roots drill
down through the generations—emailed me Monday, enclosing a photo of
his front lawn. There, plunked in the middle, was a first-ever NDP
sign. It was a leap of faith, he admitted. “Here’s hoping for a leader
who can lead and inspire and a government that can govern and manage,”
he wrote. “Is that too much to wish for?”
We shall see.
What are your hopes for the NDPers? Email stephenk@thecoast.ca.
Related Stories
Darrell Dexter on the campaign trail: photo essay
NDP government: Real change for a change?
NDP victory: Don’t eat the rich
Who got the meat?
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2009.
what do you do now,sit back and wait to see if they can get the mess of rob me straightened out .
And what exactly is ‘the mess’ we are in ?
Massive unemployment ?
Rapidly declining population ? Plummeting real estate prices ? Businesses folding at an unprecedented rate ?
Rampant disease and death on the streets ?
Please enlighten us, because most people I talked to talked about Rodney philandering, the ATV purchase, Ernie Fage and the fact the NDP no longer looked like the Alexa/Jack type of NDP but more like a John Hamm Tory – just as portrayed in the cartoon. Darrell never mentioned the poor, never mentioned increasing welfare rates, never mentioned addictions, never mentioned the evil VLTs. Just the usual middle class nostrums.
The voters just pined for a return of John Hamm and with Darrell and his blue website and blue backdrop on Tuesday night that is what they got. Bland is good, boring is good.
Darrell said he is a ‘conservative progressive’ which translated into simple English means ‘slow Tory’. I can live with that. Can you ?
At a time when we should be thinking of ways to reduce our dependance on oil and our overall energy usage, Dexter, in an election-night interview, gave only one concrete example of what he intended do as soon as possible: take the HST off heating oil. Right, that’ll help!
Throwing bones to the dogs is easy. Thinking about the future is a lot harder.
My hopes?
1. That Dexter can provide fair and good governance for ALL of us during tough times, disproving by example Tory propaganda that his government is economically inept and controlled by unions.
2. That Dexter can pick the best possible people for the first NDP ministry, not just those with most clout within the party.
3. That this first crop of rookie ministers can be put through a crash course in what being the Minister for [insert dept here] entails, as opposed to just criticizing the incumbent (which is all they know). I hope they can maybe get help from experienced and sympathetic experts from the Doer NDP govt. in Manitoba. I do NOT want to see our MLAs make dumb ‘amateur hour’ mistakes those made early in the Rae govt.
4. That a Deputy Minister can be installed for each ministry who has the lateral thinking skills, the knowledge and the experience to run it well, and is is professional enough to put personal party preference below supporting their rookie NDP Minister, even if they may seem naive at times.
5. That a plan can be devised to begin the re-structuring the way we manage public health care so it can be financially sustainable, innovative and more patient-centric (e.g. wait times), and transparent. This must include consultation with the medical, mental-health and nursing professions, and the private sector (PPP facilities?) but once decided, it has to be evident to all players that Dexter is DETERMINED to implement it.
6. That the previously HRM-centric NDP can now genuinely reach out to rural NS and begin a 2 way discussion on what can *realistically* be done to arrest its decline in income and living standards.
7. That he can initiate public discussion on how to reform the electoral system in NS, both in terms of how we vote (my preference is Australian Preferential voting over PR) and how we fund political parties (he’s already promised to end corp. and union donations).
8. That his govt. can engage young people in helping determine the future directions our Province takes, and can devise ways to attract well paid work to NS so most can live and work here.
There are other things, but I reckon that’s just about enough for the first 4 years…
robo wrote:
“Throwing bones to the dogs is easy. Thinking about the future is a lot harder.”
But implementing it is even harder.
I think the object isn’t to encourage people to use more heating oil as much as it is to help those on low incomes to stay warm as oil becomes more expensive.
Reducing fossil fuel usage is environmentally good practise. How do we do it affordably and without freezing people during our long cold season?
That’s a discussion the Dexter government needs to have.
Kill the other 2 parties with kindness.
Instruct all NDP members to think DECORUM. No heckling,clapping,desk banging,chattering. Ministers to thank a questioner and make a clear attempt to provide an answer. No cheap shots. Quiet respect for opponents. With a majority, Premier Dexter can be the first to establish a House where adults work, not a bunfest for kids. Set a standard for the rest of the country and make history. Goodbye yahoos, hello civilised adults.
Kimber writes: “They are, it is true, inheriting a mess that was not of their own making.”
What fantasy world did tyhis come from? For the last 6 years the NDP has pretty much had its own way at the Legislature, getting legislation and amendments passed that led to more spending, more taxes, more government. They are every bit as responsible for the status of things right now as anyone.
I think this is grand: not only did LIBs and TORY get spanked.. Noddy Roddy got third place…. priceless…
The ‘whiney- never- been asked to dance’ NDP gets to show their stuff on the dance floor now…. I hope NDP realizes that they set the bar now that if they mess up they will be expected to sit on the side lines quietly with their legs cross for all eternity…..
Nothing like have a hungry dog nipping at your heels and I for one look forward to this new dance routine…..I have popped the popcorn and pulled up my chair…let the show begin…..
Dang Roddy…that spanking gots to hurt… is it wrong for me to be enjoying this to much…also kicked to the curb FINALLY: Sorry Tory Mark Parent, David ‘Peanuthead writes like he is in grade one’ Morse and Judy Stretch….and last and tied for least…Barry Burnett….. a moment of silence please…nah nevermind….. lets not be too excited when they do the walk of shame ….. goodbye farewell
My hopes for the NDPers are as follows:
I hope that sometime before they are able to enact any legislation at least 5 of their MLAs either:
a) cross the floor to one of the opposition parties or sit as independents against the NDP.
b) get embroiled in a scandal and have to resign, causing a by-election which an opposition party wins.
c) realize they’re NDPers and resign out of good conscience, also with an opposition by-election victory.
Or any combination thereof.
then after they’ve been reduced to a minority they get defeated on their throne speech and Nova Scotians come to their senses and elect a Liberal Majority, reducing the NDP to, oh, lets say, 0 seats.
Unlikely I know, but hey, when faced with the destruction of your home Province you grasp at straws.
Fuckin’ A Dex, lets get to work and fix the shit that the PC’s left!
I just hope that Dexter didn’t just campaign from the centre and will govern from the left. Not that I’m not happy that the NDP won, but if he ends up governing from the left, he’ll end up alienating the people that helped him into power and basically annihilating the gains of this election and possibly alienating some of the party faithful. He’ll need to walk a really fine line between the leftist agenda that some of the more experienced cabinet minsters will most certainly impose on him and some more centre policies that the newly elected members were elected under. Remember, this is the same sort of circumstances that generated the split of Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives some time ago.
What we do is PRAY. I get a kick outof lifesucks an dother NDIPPERS. They are alreayd blaming the Tories for the inability of the NDP to meet their election promises. Dexter is using the oldest line in the book “Oh well we had no idea what shape the province’s books were in so we will not be abl eto deliver a balanced budget”. Really Darrell?!? And what part of “We are in a recession” did not compute with your tiny lil brain when you were promising voters the world? What a joke.
Whatch for the following. Joan Jessome to get a huge appointment in government (a job will be created for her), Joan Masssey to get a huge appointment, and our taxes to go up for huge union settlements.
Now that the ndp is in power, a new provinical government, which I am sure a lot of university students voted for, it is time to be vocal. With a prosperous future on the horizon, affordable housing
ought to be in the minds of graduating or graduates to be. It is time to make this government realize
affordable housing, energy efficient, and rent control
should be on the top of the list. Working in the real world and spending over 40% of ones income is not justifiable. University students, along with others should definitely fight for rent control in Nova Scotia, so with this ecomonic downfall at least we would have a chance to survive in dignity. Contact your mlas, lets go!
Rob, Halifax
In reference to Bullet’s comments – it sounds like Bullet needs a revision in the English language, that style is what gets us in trouble. Simply offensive.
I just wanted to laugh out loud a little bit at one particular phrase in this article:
“That’s why Stephen McNeil’s Liberals—despite a very respectable campaign that, in another election season, might have made his party seem like the logical alternative to a tired government in power—failed to more than marginally improve their numbers in the legislature.”
is this sentence for real? I mean, did you read their platform? Reading the Liberals platform was like reading a quaint little bed time story about elves that fix everything and dont need any money or resources to do it. Similair to the Elves and the Shoemaker come to think of it, and about as realistic.