The Jama Expulsion in context

Between Sarah Jama's expulsion from the ONDP caucus, the Paul Miller fiasco in Hamilton East, and the glorious do-nothing reign of Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, you can see the NDP cratering in Hamilton, one of the historic NDP strongholds in Ontario. We've already seen the big cracks in other traditional NDP strongholds in Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, and across northern Ontario. We've also seen the NDP's big gains in working-class Brampton completely rolled back in the wake of the ONDP's incredible backstabbing of their Brampton North MPP, Kevin Yarde, just before the 2022 election.

Manitoba's NDP: Permanent Austerity and Open for Business

October 3, 2023 is the Manitoba election. The ruling PCs led by Heather Stefanson are on the ropes after first coming to power two terms ago in 2016. They deposed an unpopular, exhausted and divided NDP dynasty that had held office for seventeen long years. The NDP is on the cusp of retaking power under the leadership of Wab Kinew. Kinew was leader in the 2019 election and was soundly defeated. If the NDP wins, he will become the first Indigenous provincial premier in Canada.

The Manitoba election has seen the PCs adopt a nasty scapegoating strategy against trans people first developed by America's right-wing movements and now provincial governments in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Ontario. The scapegoating of trans people under the guise of “parental rights” serves to rally its right-wing base among various conservative and religious communities. However, scapegoating of this nature is also about deflecting attention and scrutiny from the PC government’s terrible policies of permanent austerity, privatization, and profits over people.

Kinew and the NDP have positioned themselves against the PC’s scapegoating and have also pushed hard on promises of healthcare reinvestment. However, a closer investigation reveals a broad and deep consensus between the NDP and PCs on most economic and fiscal policy. These shared policies put wealthier people and business interests first while containing social programs, public development and democratic planning within the strict confines of permanent austerity. The following is an attempt to unpack aspects of this right-wing consensus between Manitoba's PCs and NDP.