the reason is that the august numbers reflect where the country's prejudices are. the august numbers reflect where our partisan allegiances fall naturally, before any evidence is presented to alter them. if we would have voted a priori, we would have elected an ndp majority.
but, then the evidence presented itself. tom mulcair opened his big stupid mouth and promised balanced budgets, which is code for cuts to health care. justin trudeau took advantage of this ridiculous blunder and promised budget deficits. the electorate made an informed choice: the november results reflect how the country reacted to the evidence of the candidates in front of us.
but, trudeau has repeated the error that mulcair made, which is the same error that ignatieff made and the same error that paul martin made: he has abandoned the left due to pressure from neo-liberals that believe that history is over. apparently, he has a very short memory. these academics are dead fucking wrong.
the ndp are not ready to govern, and thomas mulcair remains unelectable. but, the data is abundantly clear. all the ndp needs to do is present themselves as the party of douglas and lewis again. they merely need to reclaim their own legacy, to become their own reflection.
if they pick the right leader, they could win the next election - and trudeau could lose his own seat.
