NDP Leadership Candidates

The next NDP leader needs to be able to make a 10 year commitment to rebuilding the party. The person needs to be articulate, quick on his or her feet when dealing with the media, patient when dealing with party activists and wise when dealing with opposing interests. The new leader should have been successful in his or her chosen career. The new leader needs to be able to work with resource dependent communities as well as with environmentalists. The new leader needs to be able to win respect for the NDP like Gary Doer has done in Manitoba. That takes a leader who can help public sector unions understand that a balanced budget and economic growth are necessary in order to fund needed services. A debate around issues like that is precisely the kind of "high voltage jolt" that Joy MacPhail talked about when making her announcement; a jolt that will shake off old stereotypes.

At a time when most minds are focused on summer barbecues, anyone interested in becoming the leader of the NDP needs to do a lot of heavy duty campaigning in the next two months. As of the first week of June, the November 21-22 convention is 24 weeks away but party rules set the delegate selection meetings for the period October 1 - November 6, and members must be signed up 90 days prior to the meeting in order to vote. In other words, in less than four weeks for the first possible delegate selection meetings, and in no more than 9 weeks for the last ones, new members must be signed up if they want their vote to count in selecting convention delegates.

For all practical purposes, the tight timeframe means that the NDP should be able to avoid the very nasty membership signup drives that contributed to bitterness around the Dosanjh leadership bid. If by early August the party's membership remains around 13,000 it will mean that no "camp" was able to take advantage of the short time that is available to sign up new members purely for the purpose of stacking delegate selection meetings. As of early June, there are no "camps" but a difference of opinion does seem to be emerging over whether former MLAs should be considered as serious contenders.

I have frequently expressed the opinion that former MLAs should remain in retirement. They have a role to play in fund raising, organizing and other unglamorous party duties, but the NDP would be better off with fresh faces as candidates. That is doubly so when the leadership is considered. Former MLAs like Harry Lali, Steven Orcherton or others who have put out feelers about the leadership could lower the NDP's prospects in 2005. With the exception of some hopeless has-been assuming the leadership, almost any capable leader should be able to help make the NDP competitive in 20 or 30 ridings in 2005, but no leader is likely to be able to make the NDP competitive with respect to forming a government after just one term out. The difference between a capable new leader, and a recycled former MLA, is that the NDP could become competitive for the following election in 2009.

Some of the new faces that could run for the NDP leadership have been approached by the media and have already indicated that they are otherwise engaged. The response from Victoria lawyer Murray Rankin, however, was not an outright refusal to run. Some activists are doing their best to persuade him to announce that he is a candidate. Others are attempting to persuade Surrey lawyer Bruce Ralston to take the next step in his activism. Ralston is a former President of the BC NDP, and has served several terms as a director of VanCity. Undoubtedly there will be some successful women who also emerge as candidates. Hopefully the candidates will also include serious contenders from BC's Interior. By the end of June British Columbians should know who wants to lead the NDP. Serious candidates cannot afford to wait until July to make their intentions known.