Like Herding Cats (ou, le berger des chatons)

So, one of the most interesting things about this coming parliament is the fact that close to one third of all MPs will be taking their seats for the first time. This is a big deal for a few specific reasons, but the big general one is that there are a whole bunch of people who have no experience with political custom, decorum, or the traditional workings of the machinery of government. 

As we all know, the real work of the government is not done by elected MPs, but by the hundreds of thousands of civil service members who staff departments, provide recommendations, network with concerned parties, and implement the decisions taken by Parliament. When you have a third of MPs all meeting these civil service members for the first time, trying to learn their names, figure out who one should talk to about what (and who to avoid), you're set up for a slow start to government.

Now, an important distinction needs to be made here, which astute readers will have already thought to themselves: there is a huge qualitative difference between new Conservative MPs and new NDP ones. In the former case, there is a strong party apparatus with working relationships to the civil service reaching back at least  years, a party culture of internal discipline and strict whipping, and a more unified, cohesive ideological vision than the latter's.

Really, the worst damage that rookie Conservative MPs can do to their party is embarrassment. Not to generalize, but young, rural MPs often have less experience speaking 'politically correct' Ottawese (Ottaois) than those from urban areas and those with experience in the national spotlight. It only takes one young MP to say something in front of the press that would pass without comment in Wildrose, AB but cause riots in St-Pierre, QC, to galvanize opposition to Mr. Harper's party in these newly-Blue areas.

For the NDP, however, the stakes are higher. Leur surge au Québec est important, mais il est évident qu'il ne s'agit pas forcément d'une 'nouvelle direction' pour le Québec, mais plutôt d'une vote 'contre' les structures politiques corrompues partout au Québec. Ça se voit chez la mairie de Montréal, dans l'état de nos infrastructures (et le coût de les remplacer), et dans la dialogue publique qui semble ignorer problèmes plus larges auxquels les québécois(e)s font face. Pour que le NPD puisse devenir le gouvernement, il faut s'impressionner aux gens du pays de sorte qu'on voit que le NPD c'est le parti qui va se battre à Ottawa dans notre intérêt.

Je vois un Québec qui prend charge, prend un leadership role, de l'amélioration du sort de tout canadien(ne), et non pas seulement ceux avec qui on partage la langue maternelle. Au Québec, l'idée d'être solidaire, de garder la foi quand entourée des gens qui s'y opposent- de soutenir les communautés et s'intéresser aux conditions des voisins- est à la base fondamentale de la société. Le Canada anglophone aurait besoin d'une telle esprit, d'une telle message, et au sein d'un parti national détenant d'une base solide partout au pays, le deux-tiers du NPD québécois(e) se trouve avec une très bonne opportunité de changer les termes du débat d'ici 2015.

The NDP simply have more to lose. Two-thirds of their MPs represent Quebec, and at least half of them will represent their constituents in French. The Quebec tradition of communities in solidarity working for the defence of shared values, heritage, and culture against liberalizing and homogenizing outside influences is a message that could have great pull in other areas in Canada, and there is a lot to be learned in English Canada from Quebec's history of oppression and re-invention. In four years, the NDP could completely reshape the national dialogue, making for a much clearer choice in 2015- a choice that could barely be articulated in 2011's polite society.

In Québec especially, it can be argued that the rise of the NDP is really a vote against the ossified political caste that has been much publicized recently as participants in a variety of corruption scandals touching construction, the Montréal metro mayors' offices. People want to end corruption in our government, and the only party which is not demonstrably corrupt won a whole bunch of ridings where even weeks ago they had no hope. This could well be a breath of fresh air.

If the rookie MPs can make friends, play nice, treat their colleagues of all parties with respect, and at every turn draw a contrast with the secretive, scripted Government, they could be an incredibly effective Opposition. If they throw up their hands at the size of the task in front of them, then they're not fit for government. It's all about attitude- if the NDP start playing the same old political games, they'll disappear as quickly as they arrived.

So, rookie MPs. A mixed blessing, but the potential is there- it only takes a culture of respect, honesty, openness, and fairness to change everything forever. Easier said than done, perhaps.

Two Critics (and one bonus!) who should caucus with the NDP, even if they don't have Ministries:

Two critics who should caucus with the NDP, even if they don't have Ministries:

The NDP and Jack Layton have an enormous opportunity to frame the terms of the debate over the next four years. As this election campaign has proven beyond a doubt, the right message, repeated to the right people, will propagate through the Canadian electorate and can generate real change at the ballot box- but it's up to the Opposition to present a message to Canadians that gets them thinking about important issues that have been skirted by the other parties and national media. 

To that end, there are two critics that the NDP should have in their caucus, who should be consulting with public leaders in these fields and broadcasting their results through twitter, Facebook, and any other venues which youth consult, in order to leverage that mass exposure into national media attention and force the Conservative government to address them.

1. Public Transport- An Official Critic for Public Transport would consult with the heads of public transit agencies in cities such as Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver to get an understanding of how these big cities have tried to manage their high volumes and unique challenges, and to more clearly ascertain what their real funding needs are to maintain and even improve their services, and then hammer away with those facts at every opportunity. They should also be networking with equivalent officials in smaller hubs such as Québec, Halifax, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, Edmonton, and Winnipeg to find out what these areas have tried, what obstacles they face, and again broadcast these facts and needs at every opportunity. 

This critic is important because over the next four years, it is a near certainty that gas will rise to $1.40/L and stay there, meaning that more Canadians than ever will be depending on public transit to get around. We need evidence to back up our assertions that this will be very important in the suburbs, and that public transit is a better solution than gas price controls and new roads, and once we have it (many would say that we in fact already do) we can't shut up about it for a second. This critic would ideally already have connections within the public transport agencies, use public transit themselves to commute, so they know how expensive and frustrating it is in most of Canada.

2. Official Languages- A Critic for Official Languages would go a long way to shoring up support in Québec and making sure that the NDP surge is sustainable. The sovereigntist movement has never really been about the independence of the political unity of the province of Québec, but rather the survival and development of the French language in North America. The Bloc's problem was that their vision of the French fact excluded the hundreds of thousands of franco-Ontariens, Acadiens, and francophones de l'Ouest, making it narrow and limiting, encouraging a drain on traditional french-speaking places as their youth fled to opportunities in Québec.

This critic is important because over the next four years, we have the potential to change forever the Québec-Canada antagonistic relationship into a harmonious and collaborative English-French relationship. This critic needs to rassemble community leaders from marginalized francophone communities outside of Québec, and put them directly in contact with similar organizations in Québec, with the goal of encouraging solidarity within the french-language community from coast to coast. This critic would ideally be French-speaking, represent a riding not in Québec, but have strong ties to Québec organizations such as the Office de la langue française as well as a working relationship with the Comissioner of official languages.

BONUS

3. Environment- The Critic for the Environment should rightly be Elizabeth May. The Green party winning a seat is a mixed blessing- the Green party tends to let other parties believe that they can let environmental issues slide to a greater degree with the Greens around, because the people who are really motivated by those issues will vote for the Greens anyway. If the people truly susceptible to an environmental message are always going to vote Green, the parties can safely downplay the environmental message and kick the can even further down the road. 

This doesn't have to be so. The NDP can incorporate Elizabeth's proven track record of environmental activism into their own party fold, letting her keep her association with the Greens but giving her a platform louder than previously thought possible. By showing that they are willing to defer to the Green party leader on the Environmental front (while still maintaining a degree of control over the message), the NDP can build bridges between them and Green-minded Canadians across the country. Four years from now, we may all be a lot greener than we ever imagined we could be, so the NDP working with the Greens straight away seems a prudent strategic choice and fully coherent with the NDP's message of sustainability and collaboration.

Next time: 'Like herding cats'- what happens when a third of all MPs are noobs?

While it's fresh-

So, a big train ride from Toronto to Montréal ahead of me tomorrow, but before I spend all day flooding the internet with post-election thoughts, strategies, and messages, I thought I'd write some things down while I'm still 'fresh' from Jack Layton's amazing party downtown. 

1. Holy Shit Québec!

We did it! The Bloc are in tatters, M. Duceppe is gone from the Commons after a long dignified career, and Québec has said resoundingly YES to working with Canada to solve our common problems and secure our common future prosperity. The NDP will need truly massive support over the coming weeks to build an organization in a province that didn't have one less than three weeks ago. Young Canadians, especially young professionals, should get down to their constituency office tomorrow and see how they can help.

2. Goddamn Ontario, let's talk about Proportional Representation

The NDP vote split massively in Ontario, and Mr. Harper won a national majority with slightly less than 40% of the vote at last count. Now that the NDP are the Official Opposition and the Liberals are a rump party needing a new leader, this is the perfect time to start getting a PR system set up before 2015. The crucial thing here is that the NDP need to propose a real alternative and sell people on it who didn't vote for them, and that requires research, discussion, and strong marketing and PR. As Mr. Layton said, don't oppose, propose.

3. The youth turned up in record numbers, and we're not going anywhere. 

Mr. Layton reeled off a whole bunch of important priorities which we as young Canadians need to discuss and debate. We need to bring First Peoples into the fold dés maintenant, we need to integrate the NDP party mechanism into multiple linguistic and cultural opportunities, both representing ourselves to them and adding their voices to our debates. We need a plan for public transit, a plan for sustainable urban renewal, a plan to end senior poverty, and a plan for the North that doesn't involve jets and jails. We need to propose now.

The real work, friends, starts tomorrow, so I'll let you all sleep now- congrats to all the candidates and volunteers, and to all the millions of Canadians who voted for change today. Bonne fin de soirée!