Compare and contrast

One party's response to a limited amount of Parliamentary resources:

“New Democrat MPs were responsible for 56 per cent of all private members’ motions, and 59 per cent of all private members’ bills. Compared to other parties, that’s four times as many motions and five times as many bills per MP. We work hard in committee, we are diligent about representing the interests of our constituents, and we are standing up to the Harper government,” said Layton.

Another party's take on a virtually identical situation:

Mr. MacEachern said he thinks the Liberals will need to decide what sort of opposition party they want to be. With fewer resources and reduced research funding, Mr. MacEachern said the Liberals will need to pick a "smaller, more realistic" number of policy areas; a number that better reflects their caucus' new size.

Might there be some connection to the fact that the former has managed to win more resources than the latter?

On value debates

Yes, Bruce Anderson's latest has already been duly mocked. But it's particularly worth contrasting Anderson's claim that no party should date to criticize the Cons as overly right-wing against what Canadians themselves actually want done from a policy standpoint:

(M)ost Canadians balked at jailing people for minor offences such as breaking and entering, saying: "It does more harm than good."

The live-and-let-live views of Canadians came out strongly on sexual morality, with 83 per cent of Canadians agreeing "the lifestyles of gay and lesbian people are just as valid as those of heterosexual people."

However, Canadians aren't opposed to government intervention on non-bedroomrelated (sic) issues. Three-quarters of Canadians want stricter environmental regulations, saying they're "worth the cost."

Another 68 per cent of Canadians believe governments need to provide more financial aid to the poor, suggesting most Canadians don't oppose political action for the common good.

Finally, even though a majority of Canadians supported various tax cuts, only one out of five agreed that "government debt should be reduced, even if it means cuts in health care."

Of course, Harper has thus far avoided any political price for being on the wrong side of the Canadian public on every single one of those issues. But particularly given the rise of an opposition party which has actually fought back on those types of values questions over one which took Anderson's advice to focus on "performance and tone", the obvious conclusion is that Harper is indeed vulnerable on his ideology - just as long as he faces an opponent who offers something meaningfully better.

Still hard at work

In case there was any doubt whether the NDP's hard-earned reputation as the most productive caucus in Ottawa would change as the party moved into its new role as Official Opposition, LEGISInfo provides a handy comparison for the bills introduced in the spring session of Parliament:

Type
Senate Government Bill (1)
Senate Private Bill (1)
Senate Public Bill (4)
House Government Bill (9)
Private Member’s Bill (65)
...
Political Affiliation
Bloc Québécois (2)
Conservative (16)
Liberal (10)
NDP (51)
PC (1)

Now, it's not at all new for the NDP to be ahead of the pack in the number of bills introduced. But it's well worth noting that even with a caucus that's nearly tripled in size, and with only a three-plus-week session for its rookies to learn the ropes in Ottawa, the NDP is once again far ahead of all of the other official parties - and roughly even with the four-member Bloc - in the number of policy ideas per MP. And we can only expect the gap to widen as the NDP's new members join their colleagues in developing and introducing bills.

A different story

Yessiree, the conventional wisdom goes, Canada's political parties are all the same. Especially the NDP, which having reached Official Opposition status is sure to abandon any pretense of principle when it comes to, say, electoral reform. (Especially now that it's actually benefitting from first-past-the-post.)

But wait, what's this?

Spokespersons from various parties participated in a political panel to give their point of view on how to move forward on electoral reform in the new political landscape. Tyler Crosby, Legislative Assistant to David Christopherson, the NDP critic for electoral reform, announced that the NDP would introduce a motion on proportional representation in the House in the next session.

Bruce Anderson is presumably unavailable for comment.