Harcourt’s departure a wake- up call for the NDP
Party has forgotten jobs are key
Former B. C. premier Mike Harcourt delivered a blockbuster message to New Democrats last week with a simple disclosure that he has allowed his party membership to lapse. Harcourt is not the first former premier to do this. One- time Ontario premier Bob Rae, also a New Democrat, similarly left his longtime party, taking even more extreme action in later joining and leading the federal Liberals.
Such decisions always shock. It takes an awful lot for a politician who has led, inspired and defended a partisan organization to thereafter abandon it.
In explaining his position to reporters, the 71- year- old former politician, who now describes himself as politically independent, zeroed in on a widely criticized move in last year’s provincial election by NDP leader Adrian Dix to prematurely and cavalierly reject a proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline before it was even subjected to regulatory scrutiny.
Harcourt portrayed the decision as exemplifying how the party is failing to adequately balance needs of both urban and rural constituencies in B. C., failing to recognize the province is heavily dependent on natural resources for job creation and economic activity.
A 2012 research report from Natural Resources Canada reveals the energy, mines and metals sector accounts for 10 per cent of all economic activity in this province. And resource- related jobs generally tend to pay well and, in some communities, are the only game in town.
The labour movement, representing many of those holding resource- related jobs, traditionally has loyally supported the NDP.
It will not have escaped notice that support from organized labour is something Liberal Premier Christy Clark lately has been working hard to win over. Her latest achievement on this front came two weeks ago in commandeering a settlement to the truckers’ strike at Port Metro Vancouver.
Harcourt also noted the NDP, for all its environmental righteousness, failed to support the government’s proposed carbon tax in 2009.
B. C. New Democrats surely know they are doing something wrong. It has been 13 years since the party has held power. They’ve sat in opposition since 2001 under a raft of leaders, including acting and interim ones: Ujjal Dosanjh, Joy MacPhail, Carole James, Dawn Black and Dix. In September, the indebted party will choose its next leader.
Perhaps it is not surprising the party has been unable in its quest for renewal to attract any dynamic new leadership candidates, reaching into existing ranks for wannabes on offer. Mike Farnworth declared himself a leadership candidate, then dropped out this week, leaving John Horgan to be acclaimed if no one else steps forward before a May 1 deadline. Several attractive B. C. MPs had considered the prospect of running, but ultimately turned thumbs down.
The truth is, the party needs a new lease on life and a fresh policy orientation that seeks, in the manner of the federal New Democrats, to drop rigid socialist philosophy and recognize voters want, above all, to be able to earn a decent living in a province where costs are high, and to have a government that respects their tax dollars and delivers balanced budgets.
If Mike Harcourt delivered a message to his old party that served as a harsh wake- up call, he will have done NDPers a huge favour.