NDP removes its policy manual from party website

Mulcair not obliged to campaign on what’s in booklet, adviser says

The NDP has removed a detailed policy book from its main website that spells out the party’s beliefs on a wide range of issues and it now says voters should look to another document — a yet-to-be released campaign platform — for an idea of what Tom Mulcair would do as prime minister.

The party’s 29-page policy document reflects resolutions passed by the grassroots members at past conventions. It includes dozens of proposals for policies, legislation and spending on issues such as climate change, foreign investment, energy, employment insurance, privatization of the public sector, post-secondary education, gun control, abortion, protection of gays and lesbians, the Middle East and the role of the military.

However, a party spokesman said that just as the Conservative and Liberal leaders aren’t bound by the policy resolutions of their own members, Mulcair is not obliged to campaign on everything his grassroots put in their policy booklet.

“The policy document is not the platform,” senior NDP campaign adviser Brad Lavigne said in an interview.

“The policy document is an expression of the will of the delegates at our convention.”

The party’s policy book was on the NDP’s main website until midJuly, when Lavigne said it was removed because a campaign was in the offing and the party wanted to put the focus on the election.

“The policy document gives the average Canadian a sense of what our value systems are, what our belief systems are. But they’re not a prescription, per se, of what the next government would necessarily do. “That’s in the platform.” Lavigne said the platform has been created with “input” from the party, caucus and leader, and added that affordability is one factor behind promises being made.

He said that “in the modern era,” the platform is based on “financial considerations” that will face the next government.

“The obligation of the campaign is to rank the priorities of all that it wishes to achieve. You have to boil down what it is that is achievable and what it is that you can do in a mandate.

“Platforms have to be embedded in the realities of the current state of finances as well as the current needs of the country. Whereas policy booklets from a convention are an overall expression of overall objectives and values.”

Elements of the NDP platform are gradually being rolled out and the full plan won’t be released until later in the campaign, said Lavigne.

“We’ll have plenty to say about much of what we want to place as our top priorities if elected government. The guiding document that does that is the platform.”

For the first time in the party’s history, the NDP is in contention in this campaign to emerge as the victor.

As part of its strategy to attract new voters, the party is adopting a cautious approach to counter criticisms that the NDP would spend recklessly.

So far, the party is keeping its campaign promises to a handful of themes. Six of those themes — jobs, childcare, environment, communities, retirement security and health care — are now highlighted on the website.

Moreover, this week Mulcair pledged that the NDP would not run a deficit — a commitment that has drawn criticism from the Liberals who accuse the New Democrats of planning to govern with austerity.

On Wednesday in London, Ont., Mulcair rejected the criticism.

“We’re going to have a fully-costed program that will be released during the course of the campaign,” Mulcair told reporters.

Among the major promises made so far are a national child care program, a $15-minimum wage for workers in federally regulated sectors, and an increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement paid to seniors.