NDP weekend a wash

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2017 (3122 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The highlight of this past weekend’s Manitoba NDP policy convention may have actually come the day before it started.

For it was on Friday we learned NDP members from the Concordia riding had proposed a resolution to pressure Air Canada and WestJet to establish direct, daily flights between Winnipeg and Costa Rica to cut down on the amount of time it takes Premier Brian Pallister to escape to the vacation property he owns in the tropical Central American country.

It was a wonderful political barb, delivered in a clever way. It was also a reminder to the 600 or so New Democrats gathered in Winnipeg that Pallister and his Progressive Conservative government have numerous weak spots that can be exploited by the right party led by the right leader.

Unfortunately, when the highlight of a critically important policy convention is a tongue-in-cheek resolution poking fun at the Tory premier, it suggests the rest of the weekend was a bitter disappointment. And so it was.

There was lots on the NDP’s to-do list this weekend.

First and foremost, the party needed to do something to remove the lingering stench of the mishandling of sexual-harassment allegations against former MLA Mohinder Saran. He has been ejected from the NDP caucus, but the delay in reaching that decision and the inappropriate meddling of interim leader Flor Marcelino has not been fully addressed.

The party also needed to revamp the rules that would govern this fall’s leadership convention. In the end, the party fell considerably short of what it needed to avoid the manipulations of past leadership battles.

Some progress was made. Labour organizations will no longer be given an automatic allotment of delegates based on the total number of members in their unions. Now, the calculation would be based on the number of actual NDP members within a particular union, dramatically reducing the total number of delegates handed out.

As well, several proposals to establish a one-member, one-vote (OMOV) system for electing leaders was also rejected. Although widely embraced in other parties, OMOV is viewed by many within the NDP as ripe for abuse, particularly among those leadership candidates who have shown a propensity for generating enormous membership sales in a handful of ridings.

The last major item on the to-do list was to unveil an array of candidates interested in the leadership of the party. To date, only Michelle McHale has launched a formal challenge, while other potential candidates remained in a holding pattern.

Although she generated substantial media attention for her efforts to establish the first Pride Day parade in Steinbach, McHale is still an unknown quantity to many within the NDP. Curiously, McHale reportedly kept a very low profile over the weekend policy convention. She was present throughout, but did not seem to be making an effort to be conspicuous, a strategy that would have served a candidate who is still a bit of a mystery within NDP circles.

One reason for McHale’s low-profile effort may have been the fact not a single other candidate stepped forward to enter the race. MLAs Wab Kinew, Nahanni Fontaine and Matt Wiebe, along with former MLA Steve Ashton, are all rumoured to have some interest in leading the party, but none stepped forward on a weekend when the province’s attention was focused on this convention.

Kinew, who delivered a couple of forceful and spontaneous speeches at the convention, told journalists he is still assembling a campaign team and will be making a final decision “soon.” Fontaine is reportedly waiting to see what Kinew does. Wiebe said hardly anything all weekend, although it appeared he was trying to get out and about during the convention. As for Ashton, who has twice fallen short in leadership bids, the former Thompson MLA continues to bask in the speculation he will make one final bid to lead the party.

As all the potential candidates weighed their options, they might have considered the value of jumping into the race this past weekend. The NDP is on life support right now and needs to demonstrate quickly it is still a going concern. Nothing would have done that better than a policy convention where it became clear the leadership would be contested by three or more candidates who are not named Ashton.

Ashton’s continued interest in the leadership defies all common sense. Not only did he lose his seat in the last election, but he also helped author the most contentious scandal of the NDP years through his dogged attempts to get the government to purchase flood mitigation equipment from a company represented by a close personal and political friend.

Ashton does have some support within the party from members who have been largely ignored by the party establishment. Like the residents of the Island of Misfit Toys, these disaffected party members see Ashton as a champion of the little guy. In actual fact, Ashton has proven time and time again he is really only a champion of Ashton.

Regardless of who decides to enter the leadership race, time is running out. Thanks to a measure of organizational procrastination on a truly profound scale, the NDP has left leadership candidates only about 90 days to sell memberships and build a base of support to challenge for delegates. That is precious little time for anyone to mount a serious campaign.

This policy convention presented the NDP with its best opportunity since the April 2016 election to put a charge into the party’s membership base, and build some excitement heading towards an October leadership vote.

Instead, the NDP fell short of its goals this past weekend. Instead of taking the first critical steps toward a rebranding, the NDP could only muster a few clever one-liners about the current premier’s affinity for Costa Rica. As entertaining as those were, it’s just not going to get the NDP where it needs to go.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca