Horgan, Notley not real New Democrats

Re: “Horgan on thin ice over pipeline,” editorial, Feb. 11. In your editorial, you wonder if Premier John Horgan is risking “going down in history as the premier who split the country’s NDP movement” by taking the position he has on the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion.

Your question indicates either an amazing lack of understanding of the Canadian NDP movement or an attempt to pressure resolution by creating a false story.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is not now and never has been a social democrat, which is the philosophical stance of the vast majority of NDP supporters across this nation. Notley is a Conservative masquerading as a New Democrat.

Horgan was for many years a social democrat sitting on the right side of the leftist section of the political spectrum.

Pressured by neo-conservative opportunist carpetbaggers, he has become a full-blown non-committal Liberal.

If this dispute has any impact on the NDP, it will be primarily a message to the membership that if you want to have a party of integrity, you can’t put moles and carpetbaggers in charge.

The NDP movement in Canada might need to undergo a major reorganization, which will have to include the purging of the self-serving opportunist element.

Given that neither of these leaders represents the New Democratic movement, their antics are unlikely to destroy the movement that they have (temporarily) usurped. Brian Fisher Nanaimo