I wrote a week ago about how NDP leader Avi Lewis is screaming to obscurity and irrelevance the longer he doesn’t get a seat, and lo, he proves to me that he continues to avoid learning a single gods damned lesson from his predecessor. To wit:
https://bsky.app/profile/avilewis.ca/post/3mse6qtrc3c2p
That’s right. He’s exhilarated by a US primary contest. Oh, and “big money” is not a factor in Canadian politics. We’ve had donation limits and have banned corporate money for almost a quarter century now.
Of course there are many factors shaping this shift, most unique to the US.But there is an underlying feeling that we share in Canada, and its importance cannot be overstated.
Yes, this is entirely unique to the US, because we don’t have primary contests, nomination contests are much, much smaller affairs, and WE DON’T HAVE BIG MONEY IN CANADIAN POLITICS!
People are furious with ultra rich, powerful elites.The social contract has been broken. People who work for a wage or salary (not a dividend or bonus) just can’t make the household math make sense.And we’re looking up at the unlimited wealth of the 1% and we are pissed.
Are they? Because a whole lot of Canadians decided they were just fine with Banker Daddy™, and his numbers keep rising in spite of his having proven himself to be a fraud on so very many files.
This groundswell of populist rage is legitimate, and it’s a completely predictable consequence of our economic system and how it has been managed for the last 50 years.The desire to push back against the smug arrogance and creepy impunity of elites is a defining force in politics today.
It will either be harnessed by progressive politics, to balance the scales of society and make a fairer economy for all…Or it will fuel fascism.That’s the choice. And happily, it's up to us!
Yes, it could fuel fascism, particularly because how the populist right and left define “elites” are very different, and it has nothing to do with money. And if he doesn’t realise that, well, that’s a problem.
Which is why I’m so grateful to be doing the work of rebuilding the NDP into a national fighting force for the working class, and to see so many people rushing through the wide-open doors of our movement.
You’re not going to turn the NDP into a federal fighting force without a seat. It’s just not going to happen. Eventually he’ll learn that lesson, and waste a year or two in the process before he does, and then wonder why he’s constantly trying to play catch-up. And then he’ll wonder why his message doesn’t resonate in Canada, because he continues to cater to a very small group of very online people obsessed with American politics, while offering absolutely nothing that is relevant up here. Had he paid the slightest bit of attention to the political fortunes in his own party for the better part of the past decade, he might recognise that fact, but as we can see, he has refused to learn any of those lessons, and so he’s going to keep repeating his predecessor’s mistakes, and wind up in the same place his predecessor did. Funny how that works.
My Latest:
My Loonie Politics Quick Take notes that we seem to have avoided emergency committee meeting season this summer (as the Liberals have a working majority).
Ukraine Dispatch:
Russia fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Kyiv, killing at least seventeen people and hitting major retailers’ warehouses; the problem is because interceptor missile delivers have fallen to a third of 2025 levels. A North Korean missile unit is being deployed to western Russia. Ukraine continues to attack Wildberries sites, including a logistics centre in Tula region.
Noteworthy:
- Here is a look at how overseas gangs exploited student visas in Canada.
- Anne Applebaum worries that the “human safari” of Russian drones chasing and attacking civilians may become a dystopian new normal if allowed to continue.
Honestly, fuck off with this.The premiers created this situation by allowing scam strip mall colleges to run amok for a decade, which the federal government had no ability to audit or oversee. The feds are not blameless, but the premiers bear a tonne of blame.globalnews.ca/news/1200695…
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-08-06T02:16:52.399Z
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