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Frank Hangler's avatar

Good rundown as always, Russil!

My sincere hope is that Eby keeps his head about him and does not go into an explicit arrangement with the Greens. I worried when, in his election night speech, he proclaimed a "clear majority for progressive values."

Anecdata, yes, but: I know plenty of people who definitely do not consider themselves progressives — people who will, with certainty, vote for the federal Conservatives — who voted NDP in this election based almost entirely on the housing file. They *only* felt comfortable doing so because they gave Eby credit for landing on a more moderate approach on a number of issues, including highly-salient public safety issues. On some of those issues, such as involuntary commitment and drug criminalization, the Greens explicitly oppose his approach. On housing, too, the Greens question upzoning and the profit motive in delivering housing.

Eby should embrace the notion that he ran as a centrist in this election, not as a progressive — and even then he nearly lost the entire thing (or actually did, pending full results!) to an upstart, relatively disorganized, "extremist" Conservative Party. I do not think victory in the next election lies in tacking to the left.

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