B. C. delegates put stamp on NDP race

Province has 30% of voting delegates

OTTAWA — B. C. remains the most powerful regional player in the New Democratic Party leadership race, though the province’s influence has shrunk as a result of huge membership hikes in Ontario and Quebec, the party said Tuesday.

B. C. has 38,735 of the 128,351 members eligible to vote in next month’s leadership contest, making up just over 30 per cent of the total. In October, the province, thanks to a provincial leadership contest in 2011, had 30,000 members, or 36 per cent of the 83,824 across the country.

But Ontario’s total has surged from 22,225 to 36,760 since October.

Together, Ontario and B. C. have 59 per cent of the party’s voting members.

“British Columbia and Ontario will have the lion’s share of the say over the outcome of the NDP leadership race,” political analyst Alice Funke said.

Quebec experienced by far the largest growth, with total membership skyrocketing from 1,695 to 12,266 – a jump of more than 600 per cent.

But Quebec still holds fewer than 10 per cent of the NDP’S members despite having about 23 per cent of Canada’s population, giving it disproportionately less clout even though the NDP holds 58 of the province’s 75 seats.

Most of the other provinces experienced relatively flat growth.

New Democrats had to sign up by February 18 to be eligible to vote before or during the leadership convention March 23- 24 in Toronto.

MP Nathan Cullen is the only candidate from B. C., but there is no evidence that he has emerged as the regional favourite.

His challengers have been making numerous campaign stops on the West Coast and Brian Topp, with major B. C. endorsements, a strong organization, and a large base in the politically influential Indo- Canadian community, appears to have the most clout on the West Coast.

The candidates also include Ontario MPS Peggy Nash and Paul Dewar, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, and Nova Scotia pharmacist Martin Singh.

Topp, the former party president, was once viewed as the front- runner due to the huge wave of support from top establishment figures.

But some shaky debate performances have stalled his momentum. Concerns have also been raised over his lack of a House of Commons seat, since the party has struggled under unpolished interim leader Nycole Turmel.