Last spring, there was the non-aggression pact with the Greens. This weekend, the exodus of the Progressive Canadians to the Liberals. It’s clear now that the Liberal plan is to assimilate the fringe parties one by one (hell, David Orchard probably counts as a fringe party by himself), growing Liberal support 0.1% at a time.
With that in mind, here’s a rundown of the other fringe parties in Canada and if we can expect them to join the Liberal fold anytime soon:
Christian Heritage Party (28272 votes): This will be a difficult one – especially with JC no longer the party leader. But with the Liberals wandering aimlessly for at least the last 40 days, there may be some synergy.
Marxist-Lenninist Party (9289 votes): Admittedly, Jack Layton probably has the inside track here, and Ignatieff’s family background in Tsarist Russia could make a reprochement hard.
Marijuana Party (8266 votes): This one should be a sinch. Just invite their executive over to Stornoway, light up a reefer or two, and they’ll be in the bag, so to speak. But, be careful, this party’s membership has a reputation of being even more poorly organized than the LPCQ.
Canadian Action Party (6201 votes): With former Liberal leadership contender Paul Hellyer in charge, it’s shocking that a merger hasn’t happened yet. I’m even willing to do my part and toss in the dozen Paulberta t-shirts I have laying around to get the deal done. Sure, his UFO conspiracy theories are odd, but Dennis Kucinich is onside so his views are growing more mainstream by the day. At the very least, it will help the Liberals with the Omni subscribers (note to Jason Kenney: hold the press release).
Communist Party (3127 votes): Due to the bitter feud between the communists and the Marxist-Lenninists, we should be able to get one of them onside.
Libertarian Party (3103 votes): At first glance, a party that believes in smaller government might not seem compatible with the Liberals. But hey, there have been 95 no shows in the House for all confidence votes this fall so that sort of qualifies as less government, I suppose.
First Peoples National Party (1340 votes): God, given that Tom Flanagan is influencing Stephen Harper’s First Nations policy, I imagine these voters already have joined the Liberals.
Western Block Party (1094 votes): Who can resist a block party? The Western Block Party want to create an independent country in Western Canada. Given that this would assure the Liberals perpetual majority governments, it seems that a merger would be quite beneficial for both parties.
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada (72 votes): They have “environment” in their name. I imagine the OLO has already cut a deal with them of some sorts.