How the Left in Canada Can Stay United—And Actually Win

It’s one of the most contentious debates in Canadian politics: how can the left stay united?

Let’s be honest, it’s messy. The left fractures over strategy, party loyalty, and personality politics. The Green Party calls the Liberals sellouts. The NDP calls the Liberals fake progressives. Liberals roll their eyes at both. And while we argue over who’s more left, the right is laser-focused on winning.

But here’s the bottom line:
If the left actually wants to help people, it has to win.

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1. Shared Values > Party Labels

We’ve got to stop treating political parties like sports teams. If you support:

• Public healthcare

• Climate action

• Reconciliation

• Disability justice

• Affordable housing

• Protecting 2SLGBTQ+ rights

…then you’re on the same side. The fight isn’t between the Liberals, NDP, and Greens. It’s against the Conservative Party, and figures like Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith, and Doug Ford, who are actively trying to dismantle progress.

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2. Stop the Circular Firing Squad

Criticizing policies is healthy. Demanding better is necessary. But calling the NDP “useless” or the Liberals “just Conservatives in red” only helps the actual right-wing win.

When the left cannibalizes itself, it loses power, and the people who lose the most are the vulnerable communities we claim to fight for.

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3. Unite Around Clear, Tangible Goals

The left often talks in big, abstract ideas like “equity for all” or “end capitalism.” Worthy goals, but hard to sell at the doorsteps in rural Alberta.

Instead, rally around clear, immediately understandable policies:

• Free public transit

• Free post-secondary education

• Raising disability benefits to livable levels

These are solutions people can feel in their wallets and lives. Don’t tell voters how you’ll fix capitalism, tell them how they’ll save $100 on a bus pass next month.

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4. Be Strategic, Not Just Ideological

Play the long game. That means organizing in your local riding, forming coalitions around the most electable progressive candidate, even if they’re not your perfect match.

If you're in rural Alberta, backing a Green candidate promising to end all natural resource extraction might feel morally right, but strategically pointless. Focus on winnability, and push for progress from the inside.

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5. Invest in Independent Media

The right has Rebel News, Postmedia, Juno News, propaganda machines feeding fear and disinformation.

The left needs its own firepower. Support creators, journalists, and platforms that push for progressive policies. That means helping them grow, amplify truth, and counter the noise. (Yes, that includes people like me.)

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6. Accept Imperfection

No politician is going to be perfect. If we wait for a hero with flawless policies, we’ll be waiting while the right burns it all down.

Build power first. Then shape the movement. That means voting for a Liberal in a swing riding if it keeps a Conservative out. That’s not selling out—that’s protecting the future so we can live to fight another day.

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7. Learn from the Right’s Simplicity

The right stays united with simple slogans:

“Lower taxes.”
“Protect our borders.”
“Freedom.”

From there, they slowly drag people toward anti-immigrant rhetoric, transphobia, and authoritarianism, convincing them that queer folks, racialized people, and public institutions are the problem.

We need to do the opposite.

Start with policies that make people’s lives better, free school, better transit, a decent minimum wage, and then teach them that immigrants, trans people, and marginalized communities want the same things they do: a safe, comfortable, dignified life.

Pierre Poilievre lost the last election because the left united around the goal of stopping him. That wasn’t idealism, it was strategy. And sometimes, that’s the win. If you’re waiting for perfect, you’ll get Poilievre.

Unity isn’t about giving up your beliefs. It’s about knowing when to stand together and when to pick your battles.

And right now, the battle is winning power before we lose everything.