Life as it would be in Jack’s world.

The federal NDP convention is underway in the walled city of Quebec, a festival of utopian dreams and somewhat unusual aspirations. All steeped in the unreal belief that they will actually ever get to implement their ideas one day.

It’s been a bit of a rough start for Jack Layton, day one saw two participants of the convention decide that uh, they’d rather not actually be NDPers anymore, announcing their departure from the convention and from the party, a third has decided to distance himself from the party that Jack is rebuilding. Bit players no doubt, but still when a star candidate declares that they aren’t steeped in economic reality at times, well it’s not the best image to kick off the shin dig with.

The NDP which while an electable concept provincially, never seems to move past the 20-25% mark of the vote federally. This makes for a nice little platform for dreaming those dreams of the wishful thinker. But also come complete with the realization that they don’t have to worry too much about actually ever having to implement some of these wild fantasies of social engineering.

There is something like 300 pages, some 600 possible policy options to work through in between visits to the Quebec City nightlife and the less exciting policy workshops of the light of day. One of the pending issues of the weekend never made it to the draft resolution table, the reaction to branding Canadian soldiers as terrorists, was quickly shuffled to another pile not to be discussed while the potential of press coverage, not to mention national outrage might shine down on it.

Regardless, there’s still quite a bit of far reaching theories to put forward, some of the other resolutions for a brave new land that will unite the faithful include:

--Rejecting military intervention as a tool for peace

--Walk away from all international treaties such as NAFTA, GATT, WTO and any other negotiated arrangements that don’t appeal to it.

--Impose a trade embargo on Israel, while increasing aid to the Palestine territories.

--Expropriate all of the Canadian assets of the petroleum companies.

--Nationalizing the banks, health care, insurance, manufacturing and the mass media.

--Double the amount of MP’s we send to Ottawa, by having both a male and female MP elected to each riding.

--And Give the Queen the punt, since she wasn’t born here anyways.

Greg Weston has much more in his column for Canoe.ca here, and a Conservative blogger named Stephen Taylor (how come all Conservatives spell their Stephens with a ph?) has his own contribution to full disclosure here.

If ever implemented they would make for a wonderful world that Hugo Chavez would probably enjoy, but would surely send FOX TV over the edge, it might even scare Lou Dobbs over at CNN..

Imagine the horror in the States, if even one or two of the policy possibilities were put in place on the Northern front, the American government would be apoplectic in fear that Mao and Stalin’s ghosts have been summoned and are now a guiding force less than a two hour flight from White House.

Of course, in the real world of Canadian politics, not many of these resolutions would ever become government policy. Canada is open to new ideas, but the idea of wholesale political change as enunciated by the draft resolutions of the convention, well it’s far too radical for a staid and politically safe country such as ours.

Which makes one wonder why the NDP allows the flights of fancy to be forwarded, yes it’s a Democratic party and everyone has a say. But if the ability to get elected as a government is the goal, then perhaps a refinement of the goals and aspirations file might be in order.

The NDP has already let some valuable time slip by them, the Liberals in disarray since the nasty fall of Paul Martin, were a ready made target for the siphoning of support away from. The underwhelming Leadership campaign that has played out over the summer and now heads to the finish line, gave the NDP more hope that they could seriously consider becoming a major force in Canadian politics. But, with some of the silliness being brought forward in Quebec City this weekend, well it seems unlikely that they’ll be making a breakthrough any time soon now.

The Liberals must be watching the proceedings with glee, each slip on the banana peel another gift from the political Gods. All of which will no doubt guarantee a burst of media attention for the Liberals as they try to figure out where they are going. They’ll poach from both sides of the political spectrum as their convention nears, the NDP’s health care plans will suddenly take on the look of small L liberalism, as will the other parts of the NDP platform that aren’t the thoughts of those seeking out their own private nirvana.

Back in the seventies the NDP went through these sessions of free thought and talk that frightens the middle class to the core. That was back in the days of the regular NDP and the Waffle NDP, a slightly more intense band of socialists that felt that the regular NDP were far too safe and far to content to follow the usual old roads. More radical than where David Lewis and Ed Broadbent would wish them to be, they were usually dismissed, left in a huff and then saner heads prevailed.

Yet, the net result was a party that at best would hold the balance of power in a minority government but never have the chance to form a majority and actually run the nation. As time went on, they settled back into the low teens of support and became mostly a social conscience in Parliament, the earnest but badgering kids making the noise in the corner.

In the past the NDP has some valuable ideas to ponder for Canadians, important issues that they have in the past brought to the debate and impacted on eventual legislation. Stephen Lewis' address to the convention Friday harkened back to a more sensible era, it was one of passion and a vitally important address, the kind of speech that makes Canadians sit up and take notice. But all of those workable and sensible projects go for naught, if nobody will be listening because they've been marginalized by the rehtoric of the fringe.

Recently there has been some thought that the NDP would one day knock the Liberals off and take over the centre-left side of the political spectrum in Canada. There seemed to be a renewed energy as Jack Layton took control of the reins and began to take the horses for a run.

However, judging by the ideas being bounced around in both official languages this weekend, it’s going to be a long, long march to the centre… A place where the Canadian voter still resides, cautious with their vote and not inclined to wander down a path carved out by fanciful zealots.

You can follow all the debates and speeches live on CPAC all weekend long, it's just like being in Qebec City, without the pub crawls.