I see no compelling evidence that NDP extracted CERB, "paid sick days" from unwilling, inflexible Liberal govt - esp. when NDP aligned with CFIB for wage subsidies. Given their 2008 coalition & Notley/Horgan/Trudeau love triangle, I'd wager there's a top-level Lib-NDP agreement.

The Liberals have always shown incredible flexibility in making populist left pivots. Recent examples include Trudeau's performance in 2015 which @Martin_Lukacs documented so well in his book the Trudeau Formula. Freeland, author of Plutocrats, is well-versed in this, too.

After Liberals made the greatest health & social cuts in Cdn history in 1995, Chretien/Martin won in 1997 on modest social reinvestment (which panned out during the Clinton Boom). They even got Romanow (Judas of Sask socialism) to mollify popular anger over their own health cuts.

The examples are endless. The entire history of the 20th and 21st century Liberals is the ability to outflank, absorb and reappropriate serious oppositional challenges from the left - a lesson they learned well watching the fate of the mighty British Liberal Party.

All this is to say is I think we can dismiss the idea that the NDP tail has wagged the Liberal dog during the pandemic. The Liberals were not on the precipice of allowing a collapse in living standards (and the massively-inflated housing market) which necessitated the NDP.

In fact, the NDP's proposals of CERB, paid sick days, CEWS have met no handwringing or dispute from the Liberals, and have instead stabilized the Liberals. The pattern looks more like NDP-sponsored trial balloons than a "left" party pushing around resistant Liberals.

CERB: When the crisis hit, the NDP completely abandoned traditional demands for EI reform - dropping hourly qualifications & other penalties - in favour of temporary income supports ending in October. A lifeline for the Liberal govt with no push for longer-term EI reforms. Hmm.

Paid Sick Days: In March, provinces & feds reject PSDs, incl BC NDP. In late May, Singh announces deal with Trudeau to explore fed EI program. In same discussions, Horgan presses for PSDs via EI program - while refusing to pass a BC PSD law. In Aug, Trudeau intro's PSD via EI.

CEWS: In March, NDP, Unifor, UFCW, Steel collab with anti-union CFIB to demand wage subsidies. Within days, Liberals agree to program. Firm size qualifications are dropped before April implementation. By July, revenue decline qualifications dropped, CEWS extended to Dec.

In each case, the NDP pressed these policies in a manner that circumvented longer-term changes (EI liberalization, avoiding BC PSD law) or directly served business interests (CEWS, uploading PSD costs from provincial business to EI premiums).

There's no evidence here the Liberals resisted NDP proposals. The NDP openly collab'd with Libs for CERB and PSD, and with CFIB for CEWS. In each case, the NDP is pushing on an open door. But the pattern suggests an ongoing collaboration - or the NDP are just really useful idiots

Either way, the results are the same. The NDP is functioning as a junior partner to the Liberals, floating trial balloons and providing "progressive" cover to an inherently corrupt corporate party seeking to navigate a world-historic crisis and stave off a revanchist threat.

It's a recipe for defeat and disaster, not just for an independent socialist and labour politics that seeks power through the morass of the neoliberalized NDP, but the very prospect of a democratic future where hopes are pinned on a corporate liberal bulwark against fascism.