As provincial New Democrats begin a renewal process at a convention in Vancouver this weekend, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said the party needs to reconnect to its roots.
"I think it's going to be one of the more important conventions that the B.C. NDPers have had in a long time," Cullen said Thursday during a conference call with regional media. "This is about reconnecting after such a devastating loss in the spring."
The provincial NDP will debate what's next following its spring election defeat at the hands of the governing Liberals. Heading into the campaign the NDP appeared poised to form government, but Premier Christy Clark led the Liberals to a fourth straight victory.
"You can take any issue or any moment in the last campaign and expand it, whether it be resource development or how we talk about the environment, but essentially the great opportunity in this crisis is for the party to re-find itself and reconnect with that large swath of progressive voters in British Columbia that want a progressive government, one that balances the environment and the economy and treats First Nations with respect," Cullen said.
The NDP will elect a new party executive this weekend and continue to lay out timelines and rules for its upcoming leadership convention. Outgoing leader Adrian Dix announced his plan to step down in September, but pledged to stay on until a new leader is selected.
Cullen had been contemplating a run for provincial leader, but last week concluded he's still got more work to do in the federal arena.
"Upon a lot of reflection, I realized there was still unfinished business," he said. "Particularly as New Democrats stand just on the very doorstep of potentially forming a government in a year and half."
So far no candidates have officially entered the race to replace Dix, but that's expected to change in the coming days as the party nails down the details about the race.
When he was debating a potential run, Cullen had been calling on the party to delay the leadership vote until 2015 to allow time for more candidates to come forward. Now that he's officially out of the race, he still thinks the timing of the vote should be later to allow for a wide and deep field.
