NDP is no longer democratic

Dear Editor:

“Democracy” is no longer a part of the New Democratic Party.

According to its website, the NDP emphasizes “egalitarianism, social equality, protecting the environment, and strengthening the social safety net through liberalism. They support voting rights and minority rights, including LGBT rights, multiculturalism, and religious secularism.”

However, in three B.C. constituencies, the basic element of democracy, voting rights, has gone by the wayside.

In Merritt, the election committee resigned in protest as NDP leaders decided who should be the candidate in that district. “They have interfered in, obstructed, bullied and dictated how things are to be run without any input from our elected Executive.” ( Herald, Sept. 19).

In our northern Stikine constituency, the B.C. NDP’s Equity Mandate states that “when a male MLA does not seek re-election, the party requires the next nominee be a member of an equity-seeking group, such as an Indigenous person or a woman.” As a result, an indigenous person will get the nod, despite one of B.C.’s most prominent retired Federal MPs, Nathan Cullen, also seeking the candidacy for that area.

And then of course, we have the situation in the Penticton/Summerland constituency, where Summerland’s mayor, Toni Boot, got the nod from NDP headquarters without a run-off between her and another Summerlander seeking the nomination, Doug Holmes.

It seems the NDP is no longer democratic, rather it has become an “oligarchy,” with government by the few. Frank Martens

Summerland