Probably the only reason he never made it as prime minister was that if he ever achieved the position, he would have conveniently or suddenly died.
I’m a lifelong NDPer and I love Broadbent and he would have made an unbelievable Prime Minister as his vision for the people would have saved so many from poverty or struggle. At the same time, his leadership would have directly threatened and most probably ended the power, control and influence of the wealthiest most powerful people and corporations that are driving our country right now.
Broadbent was the last true left-wing leader of the NDP. Too bad so many decided decades ago that NDP would never be federally elected because supposedly they are “fiscally irresponsible”.
We are a nation of losers who have been scammed by PCs and Liberals to think that no one but them can rule properly.
This might have actually been true at the time. Not sure if it’s still true today. Someone with plausible labor credentials replacing Jagmeet might be what’s needed.
Jack Layton moved the NDP to centre-left, to be more palatable to centrist voters.
Singh hasn’t done anything to change that, as the old-guard running the party isn’t interested in moving back to the left.
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I have a lot or respect for Ed, but he was much more suited for opposition than governing. I suspect he’d have pulled a Bob Rae. try to do too much, and flame out in the ensuing backlash.
On the list of “greatest never-was” I’d likely put Robert Stanfield high on the list. Sort of a Joe Clark like character, very down to earth and related to people on a personal level. He was conservative in the “think twice and act cautiously” vein, not the “burn everything down” types we’re stuck with today. His subdued style and the lingering aftertaste of the Diefenbaker days combined with Trudeaumania left him as an also-ran.
I don’t think Bob Rae fizzled out, ever since he left the NDP he’s been a high ranking member of the Federal Liberals and even served as interim leader
I was referring only to Rae’s one term government. The backlash resulted in the election of the Mike Harris PCs with the resultant looting, corruption and devastating tax and service cuts.
In the last ~20 years Rae’s carved out a pretty solid track record.
