The Conservative government’s mean-spirited response to the apparent revitalization of the federal Liberals as “the party of the middle class” under Justin Trudeau is well-documented. More telling, and indeed disturbing for the future of Canada, however, has been the reaction of the official opposition.

By maintaining their focus on gaining absolute power, the New Democratic Party has confirmed that the progressive, idealistic impulse in Canada – the old desire among supporters of the NDP and the now defunct Progressive Conservative Party to promote the interests of the nation’s poorest (albeit for different reasons) regardless of the electoral consequences – is all but gone.

Before Jack Layton, the federal NDP viewed itself as Canada’s social conscience. Recognizing that their party’s progressive platform would likely never win them elections, New Democrats dedicated themselves instead to embedding the principles of social justice across the Canadian body politic.

And when they focused on policy, rather than just results at the polls, they could often claim significant successes. Indeed, much of the so-called Liberal social welfare state of the 1940s through the 1960s was built on the backs of courageous, persistent and strategically-savvy progressive advocates.

Everything changed with Layton’s decision to bring down the Paul Martin government in 2006. By rejecting a budget that had promised Canadians a universal child-care program along with a well-funded plan to deal collaboratively with Canada’s First Nations communities, the NDP confirmed its newfound preference for power over principle.

Indeed, at the strategic level, New Democrats revealed a political approach remarkably similar to that of the Conservative Party of Canada, a group that had not long before demonstrated its true colours by dropping the term progressive from its moniker altogether.

Today, then, Canada is home to three major federal parties explicitly committed to the so-called middle class, its interests and its values.

In their singular quest for power, all three are also inclined to treat Canadians like taxpayers rather than citizens: voters who must be served rather than represented.

Since the nation’s poorest pay less tax and vote less often, they have no place in this political picture. So progressive policies, based on a long-term understanding of national self-interest that emphasizes the sustainability of economic and social gains in generational terms, have been marginalized.

Canadians should be concerned about what we could soon become. And ironically, it’s what used to be the most progressive party of all that could lead us there.

Adam Chapnick teaches defence studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. His column appears on thestar.com every Tuesday.