Politics & Power Quote by Stockwell Day

Power in parliamentary politics rarely announces itself as power; it dresses up as “teamwork,” “discipline,” “unity.” Stockwell Day’s line strips off the costume. The phrasing is bluntly procedural - “get elected,” “under the label,” “good standing,” “pledged to be cooperative” - and that’s the point: he’s describing a gatekeeping system that operates less through grand ideology than through permissions and approvals. “Label” does a lot of work here. It frames party affiliation not as a shared program but as a brand asset controlled from the center, something you’re allowed to wear if you don’t embarrass the boss.

The subtext is a warning about how modern party machinery collapses the distance between voter choice and leadership preference. In theory, constituents select a representative; in practice, the party’s internal ecosystem (nomination rules, leader’s office influence, fundraising, committee assignments, campaign resources) filters who even reaches the ballot with a viable banner. “Good standing with the Prime Minister” implies a loyalty test that is personal as much as political, echoing the Canadian reality of strong leader control and whipped votes.

Day’s intent isn’t just to complain about hierarchy; it’s to make a democratic argument using inside-baseball realism. By stressing “cooperative,” he’s naming the euphemism: cooperation can mean competence, or it can mean quiet obedience. The quote lands because it treats the most consequential part of politics as the least romantic: not debate in the chamber, but who gets permission to run.