Tommy Douglas predicts future Liberal-NDP merger

In this CBC clip from the first televised Leader's Debates in 1968, NDP leader Tommy Douglas predicts that one day the right and left wing of the country will consolidate back into two main parties.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ndp
• merger
• coalition
• liberal
• party
• canada
• tommy
• douglas
• trudeau
• debate
• 1968
• conservative

[SocialDemocracy4EVER]

The Liberals have NOT been a "left of center" party since 1984.

If anything, he's talking about the Tories and the Liberals merging.

They're basically the same party now, anyway.

[billy51020]

I think that now the NDP will be the left of center party that will survive.

Go jack go!

[harrisonconstantinou]

liberals are a center party

[jasoncbaines72]

It's not a merger he's predicting, it's the end of the liberal party. Wow, he got that one right!

[picarddelta]

These remarks say absolutely nothing about a merger. Douglas obviously envisioned the disappearance of the centrist Liberal Party and its replacement by the NDP.

[Veltanschaung]

Tommy Douglas is a true Canadian hero for all times! And a prophet. He predicted 4 decades ago that Canada will move to a two-party system: Conservative and NDP. He predicted that the liberals and cons would become indistinguishable--and the winner would be the party that didn't let Canadian families file for bankruptcy 'cause they can't pay for the kids' operations! In U.S. 65% of bankruptcies are for med bills. In Canada ZERO Percent, and cheaper, gov. spending 1/3 less GDP than U.S.A.

[StephenHP62]

Note too that at the time Douglas made his comments (1968) he represented a federal riding in Burnaby, BC. In BC, Liberals and Conservatives had formed a coalition government in the 1940s to keep out their common enemy, the CCF (forerunner of the NDP). In the 1970s, they rallied behind Social Credit for the same reason.

In short, Douglas has no illusions that the Liberals and Conservatives were natural allies. There was (and still is) ample evidence to prove it.