The time is now to unite the Left

I hope that the progressive political forces on the Island (NDP, Greens) think carefully about the content of the recent letters to the editor from Ole Hammarlund and Peter Meggs.

The competitive nature of the current First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system in effect sets the progressive forces on this Island against one another, thereby dissipating their effect.

And this FPTP approach also ensures we will continue to have minority governments as we do now (a party with the support of only a minority of voters holds all the power and the purse while the majority of voters are ignored).

While a Proportional Representation electoral system on the Island system will require a more co-operative, less competitive approach to policy-making by all parties, no one should think Proportional Representation is a sure thing in the future given the Liberal government’s disdain for the results of the recent electoral reform referendum?

It just makes sense for the Greens and the NDP to co-operate in the manner Hammarlund and Meggs suggest for two reasons. First, both parties support Proportional Representation, a system that would require each to co-operate (so start getting used to it) and second, there is little chance the almost identical policy positions of both parties will ever be implemented otherwise.

Another thought beyond where Mr. Hammarlund and Mr. Meggs would take us . . . why not a ‘Unite the Left’ movement and bring one strong, progressive, political force to bear on Island politics? Maybe the time for this is now.

Darragh Mogan, Charlottetown