I'm gonna miss the New Democratic Party and, by the sounds of it, I'll be missing it more than they will. At least Tommy didn't live to see it.
It seems the New Dems have seen the error of their ways. Or perhaps they've discovered that standing on principles, no matter how lofty, is for losers.
And so the NDP leadership is heading to that great outhouse in the woods to take a massive, ideological dump.
NDP brass are taking a second shot at jettisoning some of the socialist baggage that many — including party leader Tom Mulcair — feel might hold them back in the next federal election.
A committee of senior NDP members is recommending the party modernize its guiding statement by making it less ideological and prescriptive, and dropping most of its many references to socialism.
At the last convention two years ago, attempts to do away with the word socialist from the preamble split the rank-and-file, even though the idea was endorsed by late leader Jack Layton.
The existing statement outlines the "principles of democratic socialism," including the concepts of "social ownership," "social planning," and the idea that goods and services should be directed toward the people "and not to the making of profit."
The proposal is a much longer preamble, and makes just one mention of the party's "social democratic and democratic socialist traditions."
Maybe they should take a hard look at what happened to Britain's Labour Party under Tony Blair and how a party that 'jettisons' its core principles is a party that will just keep ditching principles that get in its way.
Oh well, it's all part and parcel of the opposition parties giving Sideshow Steve Harper the very thing he's quested for, quite openly, all along - to permanently shift Canada's political centre far to the right.
And so, you Dippers, you find yourself on the verge of becoming the very sort of party that you spent decades castigating. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You sanctimonious buggers.
3 comments:
I believe a constitutional change like this would require 75% support from the convention to pass. I doubt it will get it. It might get dumped at the priority setting stage.
DOC, I'd like to believe you're right and I'd like to believe the NDP won't abandon its post anchoring the Left in Canada. If we're ever going to right Canada's political keel we can't rely on today's Liberals who have drifted into Conservative-Lite territory. The NDP has to decide whether it actually stands for something or whether the pursuit of power is more important.
Given the latest polling results, the NDP's quest for power may be turning elusive. A Liberal party under Trudeau seems poised to knock them off their perch in Quebec, Mulcair's position (albeit legitimate) on the Tar Sands has hurt them in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the nonsensical business about 50% plus One has hurt them elsewhere.
The NDP leadership may have changed, and the NDP voters may have changed, but the people who attend these conventions are the same old geezers who have been going for years.
I read that Trudeau isn't getting much traction in Quebec. Alberta is pretty much a write-off for the NDP, except parts of the cities and most people don't care it about if it is 50%+1 or, if I may quote the legislation, "Clear".
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