"The party got off to a bad start with its election promise to balance the budget without raising taxes. That promise, difficult to honour during a period of general economic turmoil, would seriously limit its policy options."
That quote, though fitting, was not about the last federal election, but was written about the Nova Scotia NDP, that got trounced after just one mandate. The author, Howard Epstein, was a long serving NDP MLA who wrote the book: Hope betrayed? The Nova Scotia NDP's rocky fall from power.
Epstein asks: "If the NDP can't differentiate itself from other parties, should it exist?"
That is a very good question. Federally, they are now back to third party status, in a Liberal majority, with a progressive platform; what will their role be? How can they possibly hope to rebuild when they have nothing to rebuild on?
Their appointment of the right-wing Thomas Mulcair as leader, and their disastrous election campaign, has left them rudderless.
Social activist Michael Laxer, on his The Left Chapter blog, also puts much of the blame on the NDP themselves, but sees their refusal to take responsibility as a major hindrance. They can't accept that they did anything wrong, but instead call for blind devotion and solidarity.
Solidarity that will be hard to achieve, when the true believers; the activists who coalesced around the NDP, have, as Laxer points out; already left. Or truthfully, were banished.
Make no mistake about the importance of what happened in Toronto last weekend: Tens of thousands of New Democrats rebelled against the party establishment – a cabal of union leaders, academics, journalists and party apparatchiks – to elect an outsider.
They did it, in the words of one NDP supporter who was at the convention, because they no longer wanted to be led by “a comfy sweater.” Mr. Mulcair and Brian Topp, who finished second, were both seen as bare-knuckle politicians who could take on the Conservatives and win.
They forgot that it was the "cabal of union leaders, academics, journalists and party apparatchiks" who helped to build the NDP.
"Facing a ruthless tough guy? Get your own ruthless tough guy. And possibly create a monster you can't control. It is as if policy, philosophy, and vision for the country have simply been devalued to the point where they are an afterthought or some vaguely interesting historical relic."
They are no longer facing a "ruthless tough guy" so do they really need Mulcair now? Not that it really matters, because without their activist base, who are they?
Those activists can now work with Justin Trudeau, to build the kind of Canada that we want to live in, since the NDP are no longer in a position to do much of anything.
And as CTV points out, there is still the matter of the 2.7 million dollars owed by current and defeated MPs, and with no money to fight the decision in court, this could very well spell the end of the NDP.
Stagnating in public support, the NDP are trying desperately to get back to the days when the passion over Bill C-51; the omnibus bill that is now law, and changes many laws; gave them a bump in the polls. To do that they are planning rallies against the Liberals over Harper's C-51.
The media will still have to wear their complicity, in the nonsense that blamed Justin Trudeau, and let Stephen Harper off the hook, in their attempt to become kingmakers. However, they have forgotten an important fact.
Two Canadian soldiers were killed on Canadian soil.
The sister of one, welcomed tougher security laws, so hoping that her brother had not died in vain. No one can argue that the Harper government took it too far, but the anti-terrorism portion of the law can be amended. We cannot bring back these two young men, but every sign carried is being used to kill them over and over again.
For heaven sakes let them rest in peace.
Olivia Chow is going to lead the charge. I don't know when she became heartless, but maybe someone needs to send her a picture of those soldiers, with the names of their grieving family members.
If she can still protest after that, then she has no business wanting to be a member of our government.
This has never been the Canadian way. We don't spit on soldiers graves.
On the front page of the Toronto Star yesterday, there was a small headline suggesting that Jack Layton's widow, Olivia Chow, might be a possibility as the next NDP leader.
I think she would be a good choice. She's urban and chic, and one of the more progressive members of the party.
The media claims that Thomas Mulcair is a front runner, but I think that would be a mistake. I used to like Mulcair until he attacked Libby Davies, simply because she raised awareness to the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.
She was forced to withdraw her statement.
Besides, when Mulcair decided to enter federal politics, he couldn't decide whether to run for the NDP or the Conservatives. Hardly a committed dipper.
He's also combative and sometimes nasty.
Instead of a clear alternative, it could be a choice between Stephen Harper and Stephen Harper lite. No thanks.
I'm very worried about the future of our country, however. We have thrived as a centrist nation, with the PCs and Liberals, taking from both the right and the left, while avoiding the excesses of either.
Some have suggested that Stephen Harper is governing from the centre, but he has simply moved the centre so far to the right, that it now rests at Tea Party headquarters.
And when members of the NDP caucus tried to have the term 'socialist' removed from their mandate, they were met with strong opposition. Pat Martin was even booed off the stage.
So where do centrists, like myself, go?
I've voted NDP in the past but the constant chanting of "big banks, big oil, big gas" became like fingernails on a blackboard.
I'm not anti-corporation, but expect them to pay their fair share and act like responsible citizens.
So I prefer Bob Rae's philosophy. Capitalism is here to stay, so we have to ask ourselves, what kind of capitalism do we want for our country?
Definitely not Harper's idea of capitalism, in an unrestrained free market. And not the kind where we make enemies of big business.
That being said, I would not be opposed to Olivia Chow as leader of the opposition, or even prime minister, though it will be tough. Unfortunately, the right has all the money, and money usually determines the outcome of elections.
But she could certainly capture the imagination of the electorate, and hold on to Quebec support as Jack's widow.
We need a shake up at the federal level. Olivia Chow heading the NDP and Justin Trudeau the Liberals, would go a long way into restoring our image, and might just get people out to vote.
If their 12 MP holdouts are from rural Canada, and their constituents oppose the registry, they need to do a better job of convincing them just how important it is.
It only takes a few minutes and a computer to do it, so maybe they could set up clinics and help them through. I know many people living in rural communities who just don't understand what it means. They think the government wants to take their guns.
We don't want to cause a rift, where none exists. We've seen with the prison farm issue that urban Canada can work very well with rural Canada. Now we just need our politicians to build bridges and stop fuelling Harper's insanity.
In 1985, then Toronto councilman Jack Layton was invited to be a guest auctioneer for a hospital fundraiser. Organizers arranged for him to have a Chinese translator, and according to Layton: "She was gorgeous with long hair and an off-the-shoulder dress. It took me half a nanosecond to fall madly in love." (1)
That beautiful young woman was Olivia Chow, and the couple were married three years later. She wore a red silk gown that Layton's father had brought back from Hong Kong years before.
They were the perfect political couple.
It's a charismatic partnership, which has had an impact Toronto civic life for two decades. In 1986, when most people were in denial over AIDS, Layton, as chair of the board of health, and Chow, as a school trustee, persuaded their boards to place condoms in school washrooms - a highly controversial program which probably saved lives. They used that same one-two punch to champion affordable housing, gay rights, bicycle lanes and revitalization of Toronto's waterfront, latterly with Chow also as a city councillor. (1)
And Jack Layton was the perfect enlightened male, claiming to have acquired his sense of gender equality from his parents, an engineer and a school librarian who were church leaders. And when Olivia joined the Bloor Street United Church in the 1980's, inspired by a liberal preacher who had installed a female crucifix; Layton followed her.
And in 1989, when 14 women were massacred at Concordia University, mourners gathered around that crucifix, which had been moved to the University of Toronto. Deeply disturbed by the tragedy, Layton co-founded the White Ribbon Campaign as a way for men to protest violence against women. It has now spread to 30 countries.
And yet this man filled with so much compassion for those women killed in the Montreal Massacre, and was so inspired that he started a white ribbon campaign to draw attention to violence against women, is now turning his back on one of the most important pieces of legislation of our time.
If the long-gun registry is scrapped next month, NDP Leader Jack Layton doesn't want Canadians blaming his party. At least 12 NDP MPs have previously supported the Conservatives' efforts to kill the registry, as did eight Liberals at second reading of Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to scrap it.
But unlike the Liberals, Layton isn't whipping his members to vote against the government, allowing them instead to "represent their constituents." Our members are in constant touch with their constituents," Layton said Friday. "Our members represent their constituents, and always have, and have brought their views forward." If enough of the NDP MPs side with the government, the bill could pass without any Liberal or Bloc Quebecois support. But Layton doesn't want his party held responsible if the registry dies. (3)
That's a cop out Jack, and you know it. What happened to you? What happened to the man who was so inspired in 1991 that he set in motion an international movement to raise awareness for violence agaisnt women?
Maybe you need to go home and look at the photos of your bride in that beautiful red silk dress, and remember who you used to be, and why you entered politics. And if I, or that, can't shame you into doing the right thing, maybe this will:
Sources:
1. The Balance of Power The dynamic duo of Jack Layton and Olivia Chow share the secrets of their democratic success, by Sylvia Fraser, Scarlett Communications
When Mike Harris was in government in Ontario, he tried to push through a deal on behalf of one of his most generous backers, The Cortellucci Group, who wanted to turn an abandoned mine into a dump site for Toronto's garbage.
Though the city of Toronto was initially interested, a group of concerned citizens around the Adams Mine, opposed the site, because the Harris government had curtailed any environmental assessments, which would have shown that this could have poisoned the ground water.
Harris fought tooth and nail. After all, groups like Cortellucci didn't come around often.
There is no doubt Cortellucci's Tory connections run deep, as do his pockets. Since 1995, the Cortellucci group of firms have donated almost $1 million to the party and played host to one of the marquee fundraising events on the Tory calendar a dinner every fall that brings in more than $300,000 in one evening. The $900,000 in donations to the party made up until 2001 represent the largest amount of money to come from any one company or group of companies with common ownership, outpacing even the firms owned by Peter Munk and the Barrick Gold fortune. Donations made since midway through 2001 are not yet publicly available. (1)
They would also contribute $47,000 to Jim Flaherty's leadership campaign and $ 40,000 to Tony Clement's, when they were running in 2002 to replace Harris, not to mention $100,000 to Stockwell Day when he was running for the leadership of the Alliance Party (1) (Clement was president).
At the Toronto meeting, two councillors who were concerned with the environment, presented a showing of the Simpsons "Trash of the Titans" that helped to sway the vote, and the dump was turned down. Those two councillors were Jack Layton and his wife Olivia Chow.
However, I have just started reading Elizabeth May's latest book: Losing Confidence, and was surprised to learn that Layton had apparently worked out a deal with Stephen Harper to sabotage Canada's role in Kyoto, and all for political gain. This is distressing to me because I voted for the NDP then.
What I didn't realize at the time was that Jack Layton had entered into a coalition with Harper to take Paul Martin down at the throne speech. He eventually backed out, but had I known I probably would not have had anything to do with the NDP after that. However:
By fall Of 2005, Jack Layton had decided he was not content with forcing changes to the minority government's budget. In a meeting with other opposition leaders, he struck a deal to bring down the Paul Martin government on November 28, 2005, unless Martin agreed to trigger an election and end his government early in the New Year ... What the news media missed, as they focused on whether Canadians would stand for an election over Christmas, was the most galling element of the Harper- Layton and Duceppe gambit; November 2 8 was the opening day of the most important global climate negotiations in history. The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ... Worse yet, Canada was the host for those negotiations, set to take place in Montreal. With Canada's government falling on the opening day, the whole process could be derailed. The president of the COP was, under the UN terms of hosting, the environment minister from the host country, Stephane Dion. Environmentalists from around the world were horrified. (2)
I always liked Stephane Dion and he handled himself very well at that conference. In fact to make sure that it went forward as planned despite the election call, Dion announced that on December 8 he worked for the UN and would not resume as a Canadian politician until December 10. How many people would do that?
I remember phoning Jack Layton to beg him not to bring down the government on the opening day of the climate conference. I had known and liked Jack since he was on Toronto City Council. He had been enormously helpful, volunteering as an auctioneer in local Sierra Club events. He told me when he ran for leader of the NDP that he was only seeking a role in federal politics to deal with the climate crisis. I had believed him. As he threatened to sabotage the most important global climate negotiations in history, I recall leaving a message on his cellphone: "How will you look at yourself in the mirror if you do this?" We spoke a few times. He was angry that Sierra Club had issued a press release saying, "There's more at stake than Christmas" and highlighting the threat to the Montreal talks. I had begged him to wait for a money vote in the House already scheduled for December 8. It was to no avail.
... I may never have been as devastated as when Stephen Harper was elected, knowing he would do whatever he could to stop progress in reducing greenhouse gases. What we didn't see as a further disaster in bringing down the government on November 2 8 was that it effectively rendered the Montreal negotiations invisible to the Canadian public. The media was off on the typical brainless pursuit of Canadian election as horserace. Policy and science, particularly UN discussions of the climate crisis, were not going to be covered in an election campaign.
It is only with hindsight that I have come to believe that the climate negotiations were not merely collateral damage to the incidental timing of November 2 8. I now believe that Harper and Layton had a shared desire to pull the plug before the Martin government had a chance to look good on the world stage. I think it is extremely likely, given the way Layton downplayed the climate threat in 2oo6, that a conscious decision was made by NDP strategists. They had to make sure the key issue remained Liberal corruption for the NDP to avoid losing votes to the Liberals.
Even during the 2008 election campaign, the NDP opposed the carbon tax as aggressively as the Conservatives, only saying later that they thought it was a good idea. I was so mad, because it was a good idea.
I certainly have a different opinion of Jack Layton now. So what does he stand for? Two election campaigns and he worked against action on climate change.
As a result we've had more than four years of no action at all. The 2006 platform called for a Made in Canada solution, but what few people knew was that the draft was written by a supposed non-profit group called Canadian Renewable Fuels Strategy, headed up by none other than Kory Teneycke. The same Kory Teneycke who became Harper's communication's chief and the same Kory Teneycke who is now flogging Fox News North.
They appear to be an extension of Guy Giorno's anti-environmental group: Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions. It was an astroturf front group for Giorno's employers, National Public Relations (NPR), who are the lobbyists for the oil patch. John Baird spoke at one of their conferences, before he entered federal politics, bashing Kyoto, and yet became one of our environmental ministers.
We've been royally had. And to think that Jack Layon could have done something but chose his own political career, makes me very disappointed. Because according to the Star today: Global warming 'undeniable,' it's getting hotter every year.
“A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record,” the annual State of the Climate report declares. Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10 indicators that are “clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.”
So Stephen Harper may have been able to direct our attention away from climate change, believing he's won, but not even he can simply put it on hold.
And Jack Layton, I am very angry with you. What Simpsons episode are you going to show now? Roasting on an Open Fire?
Sources:
1. Developer's Tory party ties run deep - Caught in controversy over land deal: Proposal involves Adams Mine, By Kate Harries and Caroline Mallan, The Toronto Star. May. 9, 2003
2. Losing Confidence: Power, Politics, and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy, By Elizabeth May, McClelland & Stewart, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-7710-5760-1, Pg. 2-7
