Political Legacy
Some have felt that Barrett would have made a more effective leader than McLaughlin, since the NDP had long been the voice of western discontent, but the party had never had much of a presence in Quebec. In 1989, the Quebec New Democratic Party adopted a sovereigntist platform and severed its ties with the federal NDP. Although Edmonston would win the NDP its first seat in Quebec through a by-election, he was a Quebec nationalist who clashed with the party over its position on Canadian federalism and against decentralization and devolving powers to Quebec. Barrett's warnings about Western alienation would prove prophetic in the 1993 federal election, as the Reform Party replaced the NDP as the protest voice west of Ontario.
Read more about this topic: Dave Barrett
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or legacy:
“An inquiry about the attitude towards the release of so-called political prisoners. I should be very sorry to see the United States holding anyone in confinement on account of any opinion that that person might hold. It is a fundamental tenet of our institutions that people have a right to believe what they want to believe and hold such opinions as they want to hold without having to answer to anyone for their private opinion.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)