The Same Drugs
The Same Drugs
Stuart Parker was a gold star leftist—he's working with the BC Conservatives now
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Stuart Parker was a gold star leftist—he's working with the BC Conservatives now

Why are lifelong leftists crossing the aisle to support the Conservative Party?

is among the most credentialed leftists in British Columbia. He was the leader of the BC Green Party from 1993 to 2000 (and had been the founder and spokesperson of the party's youth wing, the Young Greens, from 1988 to 1992) and was the acting leader of the BC Ecosocialists, a party “further left than the NDP, greener than the greens,” in 2020. After leaving the Greens, he joined the NDP, working with the BC NDP in the 2001 provincial election and the federal NDP in the 2004 election, seeking nomination in an Ontario electoral district in the 2009 provincial by-election. Ousted from the NDP in 2018, Stuart has subject to a seemingly endless mass cancellation across the left, namely on account of his public challenges to trans activism and defenses of women fighting for their sex-based rights. Having worked as an instructor at a number of Canadian universities, he is now deemed unhireable, on account of his dissidence.

Lots has happened since I interviewed Stuart last, in 2020. This year, in what might have seemed an unprecedented turn to those not paying attention to the direction the left has taken, Stuart joined the BC Conservative Party.

Today, Stuart runs the Los Altos Institute, a left-wing think tank, and has been living in Tanzania.He is the author of a newly released book of essays.

We spoke about where “woke” really came from, what happened to the left, and why the BC Conservatives are the logical leap.

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The Same Drugs
The Same Drugs
Meghan Murphy and guests embrace authenticity, and have real, honest discussions about culture, politics, relationships, internet wars, the media social justice, cancel culture, and more. Conversations outside the algorithm.