Weir debacle creating a vicious rift in the NDP
With a federal election a year away, Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are champing at the bit to displace Justin Trudeau’s Liberals — a realistic possibility.
And notwithstanding its bungling of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, recent polls suggest internal Conservative bickering and its stance on NAFTA may be enough for a second Liberal government term.
Where, though, can Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats now find optimism?
For New Democrats who most struggle with the notion that a political party is no more than a vehicle designed to get people to power, this question is particularly vexing. The party was always much more than that to New Democrats.
If there was never any realistic hope the NDP would form a federal government, they at least had one another. In the wake of Regina MP Erin Weir’s banishment from caucus and from NDP candidacy, they may no longer have even that.
We are now far removed from Jack Layton’s 2011 breakthrough in Quebec, which did vault the NDP to Official Opposition in Parliament for the first time in the party’s long history. The 2015 failure of successor Thomas Mulcair to come close to holding on to its 103 seats (let alone building on that total) led to his own ousting by 52 per cent at the membership in a confidence vote at the 2016 convention.
Since then has come the Leap Manifesto, the leadership convention that selected Singh and now the Weir ousting, which is a tacit admission the NDP is now more about expressing perceived 21st century values than forming government.
Of course, true leadership should always be about principled stances ... even if there is a price to pay. One can’t just ignore the fact 15 women have alleged there were workplace issues involving Weir, and one might be inclined to commend Singh for subscribing to the high standard of expected conduct.
The problem, however, is we haven’t seen the independent report allegedly validating complaints, and what we have heard (admittedly, most of it coming from Weir himself ) is that the offences cited have to do with “social awkwardness”, invading personal space by close-talking due to hearing impairment and, arguably egregiously, a loud argument with a staffer over the right the speak on the convention floor.
Until someone produces something to suggest the allegations against Weir are about something much worse, what we are left with is the federal NDP and its leader banishing someone for a new standard of politically correct conduct that neither it nor anyone else can realistically meet. (Even individuals representing the hearing impaired are now coming to Weir’s defence.)
And now we have 67 former Saskatchewan NDP MPS and MLAS — led by former Saskatchewan deputy premier Pat Atkinson — publicly condemning Singh over his handling of the Weir affair.
“Successful leaders listen to people in the field, they listen to former politicians, they listen to party members, they listen. You just can’t have a little enclave of people,” Atkinson said. “You sure should take into consideration what New Democrats in Saskatchewan are thinking.”
What’s impossible not to notice is the word “former”. Not one current Saskatchewan NDP MLA (in no small irony, Weir is the only elected MP in Saskatchewan since 2000) is publicly coming to Weir’s defence. What we have is a party largely divided by right and left, young and old and Saskatchewan NDP vs. non- Saskatchewan NDP.
The back-biting right now is nothing short of vicious. Some are now privately raising serious allegations about the conduct during their times in office of former male NDP MLAS and MPS who signed Atkinson’s letter. Meanwhile, those opposing Singh and his decision are accusing the leader and those around him of petty personal vendettas against not only Weir but also others.
As one disgruntled New Democrat wrote in a personal exchange: “The NDP is no fun. It is either crazy SJW (social justice warriors) social nutjobs or living-inthe-past big govt socialists with no brains.”
Right now, the NDP house is one that stands divided.