Liberals Can Move Left

One of the central themes, already emerging within the confines of this leadership campaign, is the discussion of where Liberals should go on the political spectrum. Many commentators have looked at the overall field and expressed concern that it has a lefty bias, at the expense of the center. The argument seems to be the Liberals risk alienating the soft-Tory voter and even moderate Liberals if they go in this direction. There is also concern that the Liberals will effectively cede the center to Harper and in turn allow him to drift right, without fear of a moderate counter.

The counter-argument to any potential pitfalls is the potential appeal to the soft NDP voter. There is no question the NDP has been successful in eroding the Liberals support on the left. If the Liberal Party can adopt a true liberal philosophy, it can effective take on the NDP in a substantive debate, instead of the usual electioneering. If there is less light between Liberal and NDP policy, it allows for a realistic call to "unite the left" to "stop" Harper.

The one issue, where the Liberals can appeal to progressives is on the environment. Early signs suggest that environmental policy will be a central theme with the leadership contenders. The NDP has championed this issue with striking success, as opposed to the glacial approach of the Liberals. In adopting a somewhat revolutionary tone to their environmental policy, Liberals can counter the NDP and seize a core ideal. If the Liberals can craft an environmental vision that demonstrates some economic potential, instead of defending economic damage, they can move left without ceding the center on the fiscal side- in effect the best of both worlds.

This isn't America, Canada is vote rich on the left so the strategy isn't as risky as some would argue. The Liberals must address the biting dog on their left flank because Layton means to make then irrelevant. If the Liberals ignore the erosion, then the NDP makes the case without much rational retort. If the Liberals pick and choose certain issues that speak to the left, then the "don't waste your vote" argument has impact. I thought Ignatieff had a good soundbite the other day, with his "we must plant our flag on the center-left" argument. I can think of many former Liberal majority governments that had no qualms with that place on the political spectrum. Given the current political party makeup, I would argue a move to the left isn't a gamble, but more correctly a necessity.