Preparing for 2005 Election

February 28, 2003

Organizing for 2005

Organize It is common to hear people talk about what the NDP is going to do to renew, rather than what people can do to renew the NDP. There is an enormous difference.

The party has scheduled a series of Community Conferences beginning March 8-9 at the Images Theatre at SFU. The conferences will be open to anyone who is interested, not just party members. They will provide a forum for looking at policy issues so as to question whether tweaking policies will help to renew the party. More importantly, they will provide a forum for non-members to rub shoulders with members and see what they have in common.

Some people may be deterred from becoming active in the NDP because they feel that they are being asked to be like or follow those who are already active. It may be more difficult, but an alternative is to join and participate in changing the party.

People who are unhappy with the Campbell government have three choices: 1) They can be quiet and take it, 2) They can form a new party or join a small unsuccessful party, or 3) They can rebuild the NDP. Option 1 is unacceptable for most people. Option 2 is unlikely to succeed because the NDP won’t go away. Unlike the Social Credit or Reform parties, there is likely to be a sufficiently large group of NDP loyalists so as to assure that the anti-Campbell vote would be divided. Option 3, rebuilding and changing the NDP, is the best way of preventing that division. It would be more effective for new people to take charge within the NDP than it would be for new people to try to defeat both the NDP and the BC Liberals.

The renewed NDP will be defined, not just by an election platform, but also by the people who are nominated as candidates for the 2005 election. The focus for renewal should be on candidate recruitment and the nomination process. Traditionally, potential candidates emerge and they bring in new people to take key positions on constituency executives. Those who are serious about winning a nomination should begin this process soon. Constituency executives set nomination dates and rules, subject to whatever overall rules are set by the party’s provincial executive. The party will probably freeze nominations until sometime in 2004. The constituency executives that will likely be in office when nomination dates are set are those that are elected in 2003. That means that potential candidates who want to exert maximum influence should get involved now so as to have as many friends and supporters as possible on the executives that are elected in 2003. That also increases the chances of influencing the election of the provincial executive that will be chosen at the leadership convention in November 2003. In simple terms, key decisions that will determine who represents the NDP in the 2005 election will start with membership drives in 2003.

Those who want to change and renew the party should take an active role in recruiting new members now. The first step is to join, and attend the nearest community conference to meet the current activists. The second step is to encourage supporters to stand for positions on constituency executives. The third step is to set a nomination date and win the nomination. No one should expect renewal to occur from the top down by inviting “stars” to stand for uncontested nominations in the most winnable ridings. Real politics happens through organization and planning, and that requires signing up supporters and winning votes at constituency meetings. Those who think that is too difficult should prepare themselves for many more years of Campbell style government. Change takes organization. It is harder than attending a demonstration or complaining about the latest cutback. If it is going to happen, the work needs to start now with membership drives that are necessary for winning nomination contests in 2004.

February 21, 2003

Preparing for Election 2005

The latest McIntyre & Mustel poll showed a 7 point jump in support for the Campbell Liberals. There is little or no hope for those who want a moderate, reasonable government if after the embarrassments and scandals revealed in January, 50% of voters would still vote for the Campbell government. McIntyre & Mustel questioned 508 adults between February 6 and February 11. They report that their results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5% at the 95% confidence level. In other words, one time out of twenty, the error may be much larger. Those of us who hope the latest poll was the one out of twenty times when there is a bigger error will be anxiously waiting for the Ipsos-Reid poll that will be conducted the first week of March and released in late March.

Whether support for the Campbell Liberals is 50% or 40% is irrelevant if progressive opposition cannot unite behind one party. A group calling themselves "Coalition for BC" is circulating emails, sponsoring a website and running some advertisements asking people to "discuss a provincial electoral coalition even more inclusive than the community coalitions taking shape today across our province". The group says that they are not calling for a new political party but they talk about winning the 2005 provincial election. Spaceship to group: Candidates running for political parties win elections.

In a question and answer section of their website, the group advocating an "electoral coalition" comments on how it might work by saying "There might be a provincial meeting or process to decide how many candidates are NDP, how many are Green and how many (if any at all) are from neither party but from a community coalition, for example. Or those decisions could be made at the constituency level by some kind of open or joint nomination meeting." Nomination meetings are places where party members vote for the candidate of their choice. If anyone wants to wants to defeat the BC Liberals, it will not happen by power brokering organized by a handful of self selected coalition builders. It will happen if those who want change join the NDP, thereby changing it, and vote for new credible candidates who will stand a good chance in the 2005 election. Efforts to confuse people by pretending that some other process can be made to work, do nothing but help Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals.