James said Tuesday that behind the scenes party brokers such as Bob Williams and Bill Tieleman were actively working to remove her because she was taking the party to the right and extending an olive branch to big business -- the long-sworn enemy of the NDP, the longtime party of unions and workers.
The MLA who led the revolt, Jenny Kwan, says what sparked the coup was the belief that James simply couldn't get the NDP into power.
The MLA who led the revolt, Jenny Kwan, says what sparked the coup was the belief that James simply couldn't get the NDP into power.
Kwan, leader of 13 dissident MLAs who openly opposed James's leadership, said the party had to hurry to choose a new leader for fear the B.C. Liberals will call a snap election once their own new leader is in place.
" That's why there was an urgency to get this renewal," Kwan told The Province. " W e are going to be ready when they call an election."
" That's why there was an urgency to get this renewal," Kwan told The Province. " W e are going to be ready when they call an election."
There remains some speculation that the James ouster may have split the party and left it weakened. I'm no Dipper but I don't see it. I think Carole James has had her 15-minutes in the spotlight and she's now yesterday's news. It's hard to understand how her departure could have a seismic impact on the NDP's fortunes, or at least a negative impact.
2 comments:
James is exaggerating her own political importance.
She was pretty much a political cipher. A prim floral wallpaper in the assembly hallway.
Her best known positions were the "populist" anti-HST and carbon tax planks. While they were bricks to throw at the Liberals, they were also issues that seemed of secondary importance, and risked alienating centrists. What about education, climate change, promoting high paying jobs, and ending the Liberals directionless ministerial chaos and their war on municipalities?
And she seemed oblivious to the fact that her chosen battle forced her to incongruously share the public stage, as a potted plant, with the more charismatic Vander Zalm.
BTW, a lot of provincial NDP supporters in BC are not Dippers.
(In others provinces, you could say they were. Not so much here.)
I'm not a Dipper, and I voted for Lana Popham (one the James critics). I'm pleased with her integrity.
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