Newly elected British Columbia New Democratic Party president Craig Keating convened his equally new provincial council on Sunday to start figuring out what the new-look NDP is all about as the party’s convention in Vancouver wrapped up.
Where the NDP goes next won’t be clear until a new leader is selected and that decision is turning into a bedevilling process that still has a way to run.
Leader Adrian Dix and what is now the old guard planned a spring leadership convention, after which Dix would step down. But it started an argument that derailed that plan.
Later Sunday, the executive confirmed a leadership convention will be held in September.
The iffy timetable has left all the potential replacements reluctant to step up. The only news in the two months since Dix announced he’s leaving has been about prospective front-runners such as MLA John Horgan and MP Nathan Cullen opting not to run.
Keating said they made their own settlement with their own consciences about how they wanted to proceed.
He told delegates at the finish of the convention that it marked the turning point, after six months of dismay at the May election results.
“Today is the day we stop looking back and we start looking forward.”
One of the problems that emerged from reviewing the loss is that the party doesn’t operate nearly as well as it used to.
The NDP’s get-out-the-vote machinery used to be well regarded. But one speaker over the weekend admitted those days are gone. The idea of a formidable NDP campaign machine is now a myth.
The official review found a number of technical problems, a lot of communication shortfalls and a lot of friction between the manager and campaigners.
Even worse, what the party stands for appeared to confuse many voters. B.C. Liberals bounced back from what looked like sure defeat on a simple message of jobs and prosperity based on industrial development.
The NDP convention dipped into dozens of resolutions about “sustainable economy and the environment.” But delegates were reluctant to make the hard choice when it comes to promoting jobs, period.
On the complicated issue of fish farms, for example, they debated a motion Sunday that focused on the federal Cohen report about wild salmon. The resolution demanded termination of all fish farm licences on salmon migration routes unless “expeditious, rigorous and independent scientific study” shows they’re not a threat.
Some speakers warned that such a move would strip hundreds of good union jobs from the coast and could cost the NDP at least one Island riding.
But the party delegates rejected the idea of referring it to further study and passed it overwhelmingly.
There was a long list of similar resolutions that didn’t make it to the floor. They were against the Site C dam, against coal trains and against log exports. It’s safe to say if they had been debated, all the motions would have passed.
Some high-profile members have warned the party it needs to get real about promoting jobs. Others have blamed the snap decision to oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline for the election loss.
But it’s still hard to find a place where the NDP is unequivocally in favour of high-paying resource sector jobs, of the kind Clark is promising by the thousands.
In an interview with Business in Vancouver on November 18, Keating stressed the party will put an emphasis on economic issues but not at the expense of what the NDP stands for.
“As a party we are dedicated to fostering a fair and just society for all people, while protecting the environment,” he said.
“There isn’t a saw-off between the environment and the economy.”
- With files from Sean Kolenko
