Bruce Strachan
Right Side Up
In a recent column, Vancouver Sun political writer Vaughn Palmer claims NDP leader Carole James should be taken seriously as the premier-in-waiting.
Given that Palmer has been kicking around the hallowed halls of the B.C. Legislature for 26 years, his opinion carries a lot of weight. There is however a contrary opinion out there arguing that, as soon as Gordon Campbell goes, the NDP knives will be out for James.
Campbell is seen as a great target for James but, if the Liberals take a fresh new face to the 2013 election campaign, the NDP will follow suit.
So who's right? Has the NDP propaganda machine captured columnist Palmer? I've known Vaughn for those 26 years and on the political scale I'd characterize him as slightly centre-right, with a well-seasoned and finely-tuned spin detector. It's not too likely he's been co-opted by the NDP.
Or is the conventional opinion of two new 2013 leaders the result of a media echo chamber over-amplifying and attempting to over-simplify a complex political dynamic?
Let's go with Palmer and look at the road facing James between now and May 2013, a terrifyingly short time in the rapidly over-heating B.C. political scene. James has probably 20 months to convince her own party she can defeat whoever the Liberals offer as leader and a bit more time to build the political momentum needed to form government.
In what can be best described as the first step in her next leadership campaign, James has sent out a four-page letter to the faithful. This is a pre-emptive strike and a smart move. In it James is calling for an elimination of child poverty, keeping public resources in public hands, the creation of green jobs, enhancing the public service, raising the minimum wage, renegotiating the HST in 2015 and spending more on education.
Good stuff, NDP boiler-plate policy for sure, but skimpy on details and cost estimates.
However, if James really wants to energize the currently grumpy B.C. electorate she needs sizzle, determination and deliverable policies. Currently she's topping the polls by default. Gordon Campbell has become the Liberal's Glen Clark, the HST introduction disaster a 2010 rendition of the fast ferry fiasco. In the last year the Liberal party has become radioactive, but that can change in a heartbeat.
To win, to capture the hearts and mind of the electorate, James needs to break the mould, push the envelope and most importantly, move to the middle, because that's where the voters are.
To begin, the provincial NDP really needs to examine its constitution. It's still right out of the Karl Marx playbook and has no place in 21st century politics. For example, the NDP constitution begins with this preamble.
"The New Democratic Party believes that socialist, economic and political progress in Canada can only be assured by the application of democratic socialist principles to government and the administration of public affairs."
The goals of democratic socialism are described in the B.C. NDP constitution as "the production and distribution of goods and services shall be directed to meeting the social and individual needs of people and not for profit."
That dogma may sell in Cuba or North Korea but it has no place in a prosperous market economy such as British Columbia. It does though explain the distorted economic policies of the previous NDP government; policies such as non-market wage scales for public-sector employees and resource management practices that discouraged investment.
The NDP/trade-union connection is yet another scary feature of the current party constitution as it artificially favours one labour sector over another and eliminates competitive pricing on government expenditures.
Carole James has the opportunity to break the B.C. NDP out of the old trade-union, socialist-economic-policy doctrine, show the electorate she's in charge and has the leadership skills to manage the biggest and most complex business in the province.
Can she do it? Can she put a real "New" into New Democrat? Is she truly a premier-in-waiting, or is she just waiting? The next 20 or so months will tell. Stay tuned. If Carole James can drag the New Democratic Party out of the 19th century and into the 21st, she just may be our next premier.
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Left-wing crazies.
It's good to be taken seriously. However, a bracketed comment in last week's column referring to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business as a gang of left-wing crazies was taken a bit too seriously.
It was a tongue-in-cheek comment - hence the brackets - pointing out that Stephen Harper's change in the mandatory census form was opposed by his own supporters.
To the CFIB, I am well aware of your leadership role in the private-sector Canadian economy and I support your objectives. To all other readers, Stephen Harper is still wrong and is confusing his own narrow-minded ideology with the provision of competent government services.
