Summerville A Liberal

Paul Summerville, the former Bay Street economist who became a star candidate for the New Democratic Party in the last federal election, has defected to the Liberals because he is disillusioned with the NDP’s economic policies.Former star candidate abandons NDP for Grits

Paul Summerville always was an economic and political liberal.....but this is not good news on the eve of the NDP Convention in Montreal.

And it shows how a Liberal party led by Bob Rae or even Gerard Kennedy will hurt the NDP in urban Ontario. And with a shift to the left as appears may happen at this convention, it gives an opening to the Green Party too.


In July 2006 he posted a blog on his website where he wrote that he would support Bob Rae arguing that Canada would be very well served by Rae's return to public office. In that blog he was also critical of the NDP's stance on the economy among other things. He has given up his membership in the NDP in order to join the federal Liberal Party to give his full support to Rae. Paul Summerville - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One man, Paul Summerville, was given a place of prominence by NDP leaders and was heralded as having a new vision for the future of the party. Summerville was a keynote speaker at both conferences, and is being strongly promoted by the heads of the party as a top priority candidate. These facts show quite clearly that Summerville’s vision, made clear in his speeches, is one that the leadership shares.

A former investment banker and economist, Summerville insisted that for the NDP to be a factor in Canadian politics, it had to re-adapt itself to the new world economy. “Today, virtually every social democratic political party in the world understands one simple truth. The truth is, whatever we may think about the rules of global capitalism, today with a bias to trade that is free, investment that is global, labour that is mobile, a central bank that is independent, and annual government budgets that are balanced, Canada does not have much say in how the global economy operates and if we want a seat at this table then these are the rules we are going to be working with.” The Progressive Liberal Party of Canada - NDP

And while I support the Socialist Caucus in the NDP and a shift to the left the fact is that the old party is old, and lacking not an economic vision so much as any vision that appeals to Canadians interested in change. Under Layton the party has become a smorgasborg of issues, all aimed at gaining seats. The party needs to champion one cause and one cause only, Parliamentary reform. And that seems to have been last years issue, unfortunately.

Also See:

NDP

Liberal Leadership Race

Green Party

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