I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own

In a press conference yesterday in downtown Toronto, Jack Layton talked as if the new parliament was another Conservative minority.

“We will try to convince Mr. Harper to do what he should,” he said. “And with the mandate we received, it’s his obligation to listen to us.”

I agree that it is the duty of the opposition to influence the government.  But Mr. Layton faces a majority government, not another minority.  Technically, the Conservatives don't have to listen to the opposition at all. So the best way to make the government listen is by changing public opinion (any government that doesn't respond to the will of the people will not find themselves in power for long).

The problem is, 60% of the NDP's new-found 'talent' was elected on a protest vote.  Quebec didn't vote for the NDP, they voted against everybody else.  Mr. Layton had better gauge the mood of his new constituents quickly before he tries to bend their will to suit his own agenda.  Try to bend it too far and he may send Quebec running back to the Liberals, or worse, the Bloc.