Brian Topp was Jack Layton's 2008 national campaign director and is co-chair of the NDP's election planning committee.
Robert Silver, a Liberal activist and blogger for globeandmail.com, is a former adviser to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
In an ongoing e-mail exchange, they're sharing their thoughts on the collapse of the opposition coalition.
From: Rob Silver
Sent: Wed 28/01/2009 5:29 PM
To: Brian Topp
Subject: The end of the coalition
As a fan of politics, I find the coalition to be a fascinating topic. There is a wonderful book waiting to be written about it and what it says about Canadian politics, good, bad and otherwise.
What is striking to me - and maybe this is where we can start our conversation, Brian - is how different the approach to the coalition was from Liberals as compared to the NDP (if you will allow me to use an absurd over-generalization that either party thinks as one on any issue).
As I see it, the Liberals always treated the coalition as a tactic: The party opposed the fiscal update, could not go into another election, and therefore the coalition became the default option. There was no real alternative 60 days ago. (Sixty days... man, it feels like a different life.)
Some Liberals obviously saw the coalition, once it started gaining steam, as more than that. There were those who saw "killing Harper" (to use a phrase used metaphorically on the Globe site by one Liberal) as a good in and of itself; there were others who saw it as a vehicle to pursue a "unite the left" agenda; but in some ways, those were all secondary considerations that flowed from the basic reality that Harper left the party no alternative other than the coalition.
Thus all the Liberals who argued and continue to argue what a mistake the coalition was for the Liberals (myself included - my thoughts on the deal are fairly well documented) are being intellectually dishonest if we argue coalition versus no coalition. No coalition back in November was either an election or the fiscal update passing. That was the choice.
Yes, that may make me a giant hypocrite; it won't be the first time.
To the NDP, while the fiscal update was obviously a trigger, the thought process for the coalition - for better or worse - strikes me as far more strategic than tactical. I will let you go into the strategic thought process that motivated the NDP.
Here's the thing: For the Liberals, the tactic worked. The fiscal update died and the party lived to fight another day.
I guess the question I will throw over to you, Brian, is where does the death of the coalition leave the NDP?
From: Brian Topp
Sent: Wed 28/01/2009 7:26 PM
To: Rob Silver
Subject: Re: The end of the coalition
Viewed from the inside, it is certainly oversimplifying to talk about "the Liberals" and "the New Democrats," no doubt about that. I think all parties are conversations more than structures.
Recent events provoked quite a lot of conversation, within each party and between them. Whatever else was achieved, we all know each other a lot better.
The conversation in our party begins with a debate about power. Is power a good thing? Some in our tent argue that it isn't, and that our role is basically an advocacy one.
I think this view is very much a minority one at the moment in our tribe. To simplify, New Democrats are tired of being advocates. They want to "get things done" - and that is what Mr. Layton is all about.
