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votes
Is the New Democratic Party a vassal for the Liberals in Canada if breaking from them is never on the table?
If it's never even a remote consideration that the NDP may break from the Liberals and side with the CPC in the House of Commons, aren't they essentially a vassal for the LPC, soaking up votes from disaffected Liberal voters and funneling them back into Liberal control? I mean from a simple game theoretic perspective, Liberals in the long run can demand everything and give nothing. I think Canadian politics has probably been damaged by overapplying the American left-right political spectrum, when it may be better thought as a three way spectrum between liberalism, conservatism, and democratic socialism (something like Red Toryism for example would be pretty inconceivable in American politics).
I think the NDP has the effect of pulling the Liberal Party (who are fairly centrist, though left of centre) to the left. The more seats they have, the more effective they are.
Jack Layton's NDP (RIP) was the height of their influence in modern times, but at other moments the NDP have been truly revolutionary (Tommy Douglas).
There’s always the possibility that the conservatives will win a majority due to vote splitting, so the threat of the NDP forcing an election gives them leverage to influence policy.
My feeling is they have been a bit effective on this, eg pharmacare which I doubt would be actually progressing without the NDP.
But how believable would that bluff be?
I mean the proof is in the pudding. That’s what the NDP demanded with the confidence-and-supply agreement and that’s where we are now.
The alternative in a FPTP system is they merge to stop vote splitting but that will shift the Overton window right. Look at the US if you want to see what that might eventually look like.
Vote splitting is frustrating and I wish the NDP would wield their influence better but it's preferable to the alternative.
A big factor limiting the NDP is money in politics. They often aren't in a position to force an election because they don't have as much money as the other two parties.
The money issue has been exacerbated by the (somewhat) recent electoral funding changes, as well. Votes used to guarantee you public funding to campaign with. Now everyone uses private funding. Most corporations aren't social democrats...
Edited to fix spelling mistakes.
The liberals reneging on their voting reform campaign promise is one of the main complaints I have with them.
And senate reform!