The laundry list

Layton has publicly listed the NDP's priorities for the fall session - and one has to like the issues:

Layton said Sunday that the NDP wants the Liberals to:

- Demonstrate support for public health care and stop what the NDP calls increased privatization.
- Take action on climate change.
- Get the U.S. to address the softwood lumber issue.
- Protect workers' pensions.
- Address ethical issues.

While some observers had thought that the NDP would support the Liberals, as they did earlier this year, the list of specific demands was surprising.

It means the Liberals can't take NDP support for granted.

I do have to wonder who the "some observers" are, as they don't seem to have been paying too much attention to the NDP's consistent position that support for the Liberals will be based only on policy which fits with the party's principles. But that aside, the big question now is what kind of response will greet the list.

In principle, it shouldn't be too difficult to reach an agreement on a lot of the issues, especially to the extent that health care and the environment are usually Liberal platform staples (if ones which are easily forgotten post-election). And there's probably room for the Liberals to gain politically by going along with most of the NDP's priorities.

Meanwhile, the NDP has put itself in as strong a position as possible. If the Liberals won't go along with reasonable requests on these issues, then the NDP should be able to take a bite out of their centre-left support. If the parties can reach agreement, then the NDP looks stronger as a potential government, and hopefully bleeds some Con support away in the process.

There's an awful lot more left to be done, but at the very least either possible result of this announcement should present some significant upside for the NDP. Now that another public message has been sent, we can only wait now to see how both the Libs and the public respond.