The NDP does suffer from competing mandates.

It needs to get a costed fiscal platform together, and it needs to do so far enough in advance to allay voter concern.

I am sorry, but a $10 a day publicly funded daycare program is not realistic. With startup and subsidy costs estimated at about 1.5 billion? 
 
Daycare is expensive because of a lack of supply. Nothing propels price like waitlists.  If the government wants to do something, they need to look at small business incentives, including taxation.  And get creative and cooperative - almost every school in Vancouver is suffering from declining enrollment and empty classrooms.

That's a classroom that can be used for a daycare - rent free.  

This is the type of leadership I want to see from the NDP. Creative, compassionate and cost conscious. That is what will get them elected.