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610 CKTB | The Relevancy of Irrelevancy: The NDP’s Severance Delusion · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On Tuesdays and on Thursdays. We love talking to one
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of our great storytellers on the show. He is John Litkey,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a former newspaper publisher. He's a journalist, he publishes a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: lot of articles and also a broadcaster. Hey John, Welcome,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Good good morning.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Jeane.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, as usual, you've come up with something very very interesting.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: You're calling it the relevancy of irrelevancy the NDP's severance delusion.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: So you've just published this rather caving take on the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: NDP convention over the weekend in Winnipeg. It's called the
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: clinical severance procedure. And for those who haven't seen the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: HBO show Succession, what on earth does succession of that
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: mean for the party? I can't wait for this one.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: It's a political lobotomy gene. In the show, the characters
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: of their brain split so their work selves don't have
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: to know their home selves. It's the dream, right, someone
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: else does the work for you, you get all the
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: time off work. That's essentially the NDP right now. On
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the inside, the innies, you've got the faculty lounge activists.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: On the outside are the oudies, the industrial workers in
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  Speaker 2: towns like Windsor and Oshawa who are staring down a
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six gun of a trade war. It severance
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: meets the communist manifesto light because let's be honest, even
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Avid Lewis won't commit to nationalization, just a public option expansion.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: But I digress. But the directors here forgot to include
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the people who actually are building the sets of this
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: real life sitcom, the workers. The NDP isn't just on
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a different set themselves, They're in a different political reality today. Yea.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Now, I watched a little bit of the convention and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I was just shaking my head because I couldn't figure
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: out what they were talking about. Now you are critical
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of what they called the equity cards used at the convention.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Why did that debug you so much?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: You know, it was just because it's performative theater in
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: the world that's under an administrative seeds. There's nothing wrong
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: with ensuring that minority verse voices are heard. But there
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: were moderators in this case lecturing grown adults on how
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to form straight lines and then being concerned that they
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: said the word straight because that would run against LGBT orthodoxy.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I suppose it was ridiculous. They reprimanded people publicly from
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: misgendering the chair when it was an honest mistake. While again,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: this geopolitical turmoil is at the door right now, but
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: equity cards aren't going to lower the price of milk
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: or gasoline. This is a faculty lounge obsession. If you're
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy instead of at the
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: top of an ivory tower, and you're wondering how to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: pay rent, being told you can speak two minutes earlier
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: because of your card feels less like progress and more
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: like a joke. This is just a proxy for actual power,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and workers know this.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You know I'm not making fun of delegates, okay, because
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: you know they run their convention a certain way and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: for them. But I mean, what I could understand was
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: one gentleman getting up and he was being very sincere.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: He said, I'm a man of color, white, I'm Korean,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: but not by blood, and then he went on to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: describe a problem he had with premature ejaculation. I'm just thinking,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: what on earth does this have to do with electing
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the leader of the NDP. And in any event, you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: described the new leader, Avi Lewis, who I know by
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the way, as trading jug meat sings Rolex for his
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: academic radicalism. So I'm picking up on the fact you
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: think he's the wrong guy at the wrong time.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: We've just witnessed a coronation that proved the elevator of
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: the NDP still only goes to the penthouse and not
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to the shop floor. They traded custom suits for a
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: guy from Upper Canada college dynasty who talks about factories
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: full of sunlight. This is the you know, it's just
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: they're propping up nineteen seventies radicalism and hoping that the
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: workers won't notice the smell of tenure wrapped up all
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: around this. Lewis wants AI full stop. He wants wealth taxes,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: but he's talking to a base that's just worried about
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: their factory closing right now. This is academic hopium for
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: people who are just hoping that the paycheck shows up
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: again next week.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: You know one thing that I found interesting and we
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: talked a little bit about this with Dave Trafford earlier.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Once Abby Lewis was elected, and he still eventually is
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: going to have to win a seat, and the party
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: isn't terrible dead as well, but new Democrats in places
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: like Alberta in Saskatchewan. You know, they crossed the rise,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: rolled the rise back in their heads, shook their heads
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  Speaker 1: back and forth and said no, no, no, no, no, no no,
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  Speaker 1: this is not our new Democratic Party.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: In Western Canada, we're watching provincial restraining orders and firewalls
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: being built up. Jeane Nihit NNSCHI and the Saskatchewan DPM,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: equally from Alberta are essentially building digital moats around their
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: provinces to keep themselves away from the federal brand, sinking
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: their local chances. This is like when I chatted with
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: you about the whiskey war in the Arctic. This is
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: polite on the surface, but everyone's marking their territory right now.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: When your own provincial cousins are treating you like a pariah.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: The second that Abi Lewis took the stage, you know
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: that you've reached a level of toxicity that's usually reserved
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: for subprime assets. But let's be honest, they're measuring the
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: distance from Ottawa and light years because reality and the
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: faculty lounge that I was chatting about just don't mix.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Interesting quote in your article here you claim Carney, our
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: prime minister is buying the party for parts. Now that's
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: really something I mean, I mean, in your opinion, do
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: you think the NDP has really become that irrelevant?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Well, look at the numbers. Nine percent is a total
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: woof moment. If I'm going to quote Kevin McAllister from
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Home Alone, this is the political equivalent of a red wedding.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Mark Carney is the ultimate elite, but he's speaking the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: language of a managerial class that's actually winning gene. The
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: NDP is busy with this innies versus Audi's drama, but
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: the Liberals are picking them apart for parts. Like I said,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: it's like a fire sale, and they're picking up members
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: who are crossing the floor while the NDP is acting
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: like a niche pressure group. This is a new style
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: of politics that's moving on without them. They're standing still
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: while the floor is being pulled out from underneath them. So, yeah,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Carney is being able to pick it up and I
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: think pretty soon he'll be at his majority government.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you say the NDP is decorating a room that's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: already been demolished. Yikes, that's that's that's that's that's brutal. John.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: So what's your final takeaway for the average Canadian worker
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: who in the past would look towards the NDP as
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the party that supported unions and supported the working class
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: of Canadians.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: The takeaway is that the severance procedure is complete. Inside
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the house, you've got the Abby Lewis Party decorating a
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: room with fair trade coffee and equity cards. But outside,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the worker is staring at an empty lunch box because
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: filling the gas tank to get to work that day
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: was more important than faculty lounge procedures. This is a
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: delusion in real time. The NAP used to be the
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Party of the worker, but now they're the party of
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: the seminar in lecture. If this doesn't find that, if
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: they don't find a way to bridge this gap, they're
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: going to be the most irrelevant relevant party in history.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: A cautionary tale of how to lose the heartland while
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: winning the faculty.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Lounge team and speaking of all of that, and I'm
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: going to be mentioning this a lot during the show.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Today Tomorrow is April first, April Fools Day. There will
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: be no jokes or pranks on the show tomorrow. MP's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: cabinet minister is the Prime Minister, the Governor General and
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: every MLA at Queen's Park will be taking. We'll be
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: giving themselves at our expense, a great, big fat Harry
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Garlicky pay raise. And John tune in tomorrow because I'm
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: naming names and I'm telling everybody which what each member
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: is going to be taking from various purses and wallets
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: throughout Ontario and across Canada tomorrow.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Well, isn't that just the greatest joke of the.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Ma all Jeane, you got it April first. Maybe that's
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: why they did it on that day. Has to be
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: all right, John, great talking here. We're going to see
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: on Thursday, and we're going to talk either about the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: marijuana industry or Donald Trump. One of the two.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: One of the two.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: And when you think about it, I think Trump's doing gummies.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: There you go when I when I think about Trump,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I have to do that.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: All right, you have a great day. We'll talk to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you on Thursday.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: All right, YouTube Thursday.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Hey, there he goes John Letke. He always has a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: great take on what's happening in Canada.