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Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson who was kicked out of his party's caucus by NDP leader Carole James Thursday morning, says he was not ousted for his "mild" criticism of a recent speech, but instead, because he had raised concerns about the party's direction and James' leadership.
"I can't believe it was about a two-sentence critique in a weekly column," he told The Citizen.
Simpson, a two-term MLA who lives in Quesnel, said he doesn't think the NDP has a winning strategy. He pointed to the fact that despite the hammering the governing Liberals and Premier Gordon Campbell are receiving over the introduction of the HST this summer, the NDP don't appear to be gaining any traction. After seven years of leading the NDP party, polls show that two thirds of voters don't support James as potential premier or have no opinion of her, said Simpson. He also said the party is having a tough time sustaining memberships.
Simpson said he believes the party is not doing a good enough job of investigating and adopting policies on issue such as how to generate revenue, taxation, projects like the $5.5-billion Enbridge project and social justice. "Was is it we're going to do?" he said from Quesnel Thursday afternoon where he had been inundated with media calls after James' announcement.
Although Simpson was hoping to bring the issues up directly with James at an NDP caucus retreat next week, he said he had not gone public with his concerns.
Simpson had written on a regional media website that James had little concrete to offer delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention last week in Whistler. He made a similar criticism of Premier Gordon Campbell.
In dismissing the Cariboo North MLA this morning, James said that through his public comments, Simpson had made it clear he would rather criticize the party's work than contribute to it.
"He has made it clear that he does not want to be part of our team," she said in a prepared statement.
Simpson also noted that his constituency association executive had passed a motion which calls for a leadership convention next year. That motion was first being put to the larger constituency membership. Simpson said he had made the party executive aware of the leadership resolution.
Simpson, who lives in Quesnel, has twice been elected to the Cariboo North riding, defeating his Liberal opponents by several hundred votes each time.
Simpson said he will take some time to decide on his next move, but that he would not be joining another political party. Simpson had been the Cariboo North riding president in the mid-'90s and a supporter of Campbell until he broke with him over the party's direction.
UNBC political scientist Jason Morris says Simpson's criticisms don't appear to warrant removal from caucus, which leads him to believe something more has happened behind the scenes, something that may never be known.
The B.C. Liberals are likely to view the development as "a gift dropped in their laps" as they are not faring well in the public opinion, said Morris. However, it's too early to tell whether the dismissal will lead to something that will hurt the NDP's chances of forming government, he said.
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An excerpt from Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson's column that caused his dismissal from the NDP caucus. The comments were directed at speeches delivered at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Whistler last weekend.
The only concrete announcements the premier (Gordon Campbell) made, aside from a rehash of previously announced infrastructure projects that may or may not be funded, was three new totem poles and some money for Beetle Action Coalitions.
Neither of these spoke to the immediate needs of local governments which lack resources to address the increasing responsibilities that have been downloaded onto them by provincial and federal governments.
The Leader of the Opposition (Carole James) likewise had little concrete to offer the delegates other than a commitment to be more consultative than the current government and a promise to explore the possibility of revenue sharing with local governments. This is a timely concept which has the potential to address the resource needs of local governments, but the lack of specifics was a disappointment to delegates.
