Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
Maybe. I tend to think that the Interlakes and Dauphins of this world might be gone forever, just like the party now barely registers in its former stronghold of Lac du Bonnet. The old Slavic/Icelander/Francophone rural base that the NDP used to draw from seems to have realigned with the rest of rural Manitoba.
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The same thing has happened here in Saskatchewan. Areas like Yorkton used to be pretty strong NDP but now they are toast there.
I think that when all those 1/4 section or 1/2 section farmers sold out and moved to town or to the city, they lost the people who would vote NDP. The larger farmers who bought out the small guys are not big fans of the way the NDP (in its rhetoric at least) looks down its nose at corporations or big business (the dreaded Corporate Farm is 99% family operations that became corporations due to taxation and succession planning reasons not because they are run by some nefarious off-shore entity mining the land and using cheap labour). Then there are the people who live in the small towns and cities in rural SK or MB. They are the most part business owners or non-union labourers for construction, electrical, plumbing entities in the town. And once again the NDP rhetoric does not seem to be very compatible to these people's values.
So far be it from me to give advice to the NDP on how it can regain relevance in areas outside of the downtown core of Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon, but here it is:
Tone down the bloody anti-business, anti-GMO, anti conventional farming aspect of your message. Yes you can still critique them, but don't make blanket statements that they are the devil and should be fought tooth and nail. As soon as a NDP rep gets on a stage at foaming at the mouth anti Monsanto rally, the majority of the rural prairie people just tune them out.
Yes farmers and ranchers have issues with Monsanto, they can be a bully at times. But they also have issues with the CPR/CNR, RBC/BMO/TD Bank, Viterra/ADM/Cargill and Dow/Pfiezer. But they also know that these companies are essential to their continues success.
So NDP instead of saying - "Corporate Farms are destroying wetlands due to their mining of the land for offshore profits!":
Maybe say "Downstream flooding in urban areas due to the lack of water holdback is putting a strain on the financial health of the province. How can we work with landowners to retain wetlands to mitigate the annual cost of flooding clean-up" (I'm actually hoping the Palliser government is considering this)
You are still getting your point across, but the message isn't poisoned with an anti-farmer rhetoric.
The Conservatives in Manitoba and especially the Sask Party in SK have made their respective rural areas their fortresses. And they have made significant inroads into the Suburbs and are starting to nip at the urban core. The NDP have to adjust their message to reach out to these outlaying areas or they will be on the outside looking in for quite awhile.
This all my humble opinion of course!