Don’t blame Thomas Mulcair for NDP woes.
THE NDP SHOULD NOT BE ANGRY AT MULCAIR — HE’S JUST TELLING THE TRUTH
New Democrats seem perplexed that Thomas Mulcair is saying unhelpful things about their party and its prospects.
Since he left office and signed up as a visiting professor in Montreal, the former NDP leader has offered a number of less-than-enthusiastic remarks for public consumption.
So far he’s indicated it would have been a good idea for his successor, Jagmeet Singh, to get himself a quick seat in the House of Commons; admitted he was surprised when Singh appeared caught off guard by a press question about white privilege; suggested it would be difficult for Singh to stay as leader if he loses an upcoming byelection in British Columbia; and worried that the NDP could lose ground to the Green Party if it doesn’t get its position on environmental issues straight.
He also told a questioner he knows of several NDP members of Parliament who don’t plan to run again, reflecting the confusion and discontent troubling the party.
The remarks appear to be getting to Charlie Angus, the Timmins MP whose initial mild comment — he noted Mulcair had been “a classy politician” who “expected loyalty” from his caucus — has given way to more direct criticism. “I know (Mulcair) was really bitter about losing the support of the members at the convention,” he tweeted Sunday. “I think the bitterness is getting the better of him.”
Mulcair defends himself by reminding people he now works as a political analyst — he’s signed up with CTV and two radio stations — and it’s his job to share his opinions on all parties, including his own. The real problem for New Democrats isn’t that he’s talking, it’s that he’s being honest. No one could read what Mulcair has had to say and disagree. If anything, he’s going easy on a party that can’t seem to decide what it is, or where it’s going.
The NDP has had similar problems with former leaders in the past. Bob Rae, once premier of Ontario, left the party for the Liberals. Former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh also quit for the Liberals. Another former B.C. premier, Mike Harcourt, let his membership lapse due to numerous disagreements with later leaders.
The party’s two premiers, in B.C. and Alberta, are barely on speaking terms. Singh, chosen to replace Mulcair in hopes he’d give the party some pizzazz, has been a distinct disappointment. A bust in Ottawa, he desperately needs to win the seat he’s contesting in Burnaby or risk a revolt against his leadership. His judgment is open to question, and he’s embroiled in a fierce internal dispute in Saskatchewan over his decision to dismiss Regina MP Erin Weir from caucus over harassment allegations that many question.
Former Saskatchewan NDP cabinet minister Pat Atkinson accuses Singh of ignoring due process and said this week his actions are damaging the party. Singh has previously dismissed such complaints by denouncing critics as “people of a position of privilege,” — an odd comment from a man who went to an expensive private school and enjoys expensive suits and Rolex watches. An NDP riding association is supporting Weir as its candidate in October’s federal election, but a spokesperson in Ottawa says he won’t be allowed to run.
What’s tearing up the party is uncertainty about how radical it wants to be over identity politics, gender combat, environmental activism and the sort of divisive rhetoric that has turned so much of public discourse into a wasteland of social warfare. Mulcair and his predecessor, Jack Layton, saw the future of the party in relative moderation, as it sought to take positions that would satisfy the social consciences of left-wing supporters while also appealing to Canada’s dominant middle-of-the-road voters.
In their absence, current leaders are all over the place. B.C. Premier John Horgan opposes pipelines carrying Alberta resources but supports pipelines carrying B.C. resources, and presides over the continent’s leading coal exports while bemoaning the dirty air coal produces in China.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was her party’s brightest star when elected but is now fighting federal carbon tax plans while buying railcars to ship more crude. Ontario’s Andrea Horwath apparently sees her role as leader of the opposition as a platform to denounce every action of the Progressive Conservative government as a plot by rich fat cats to sell off provincial riches to pals in the private sector, evidently failing to notice that the millions of voters who elected the PCs aren’t rich fat cats and don’t necessarily distrust private enterprise.
Singh shows every sign of being the wrong person to bring order to this. When the crisis in Venezuela reached boiling point he questioned the Trudeau government’s support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, arguing it was up to Venezuelans to choose their leader, as if unaware that the ruling regime had made that impossible. Foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière appeared to backtrack on that position Monday, suggesting it was the speed with which Ottawa recognized Guaido that upset New Democrats. But, as reported in the National Post on Tuesday, union leaders long courted by the NDP continue to champion Venezuela’s anti-democratic leadership, and helped finance an observer delegation to last year’s rigged election, declaring it a marvel of fairness despite near-global denunciations of the thuggery and violence of the ruling party.
As a political force the NDP doesn’t know whether it’s going or coming. It’s out of step with much of the population and in danger of losing ground, not only to the Greens, but to federal Liberals as well. Justin Trudeau’s handlers won’t miss the fact they can campaign well to the left without any risk of bumping into NDP fringe-dwellers. Tom Mulcair wouldn’t be much of an analyst if he pretended to be blind to all this.