Carole James is resigning as leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party.
She didn't walk; she was pushed.
A curious push indeed, the only thing the NDP had going for it was Carole James.
By way of a quick and dirty (underscore dirty) recap, in September, James turfed Cariboo-North MLA Bob Simpson for posting comments critical to the leader on his website. In the after froth of Simpson's exit, James' fall from NDP grace came quickly. Last week, 13 NDP MLA's called on James to resign, they said she was autocratic, irrelevant, and unethical.
James was smart enough to recognize a losing hand and she folded.
Is this the end of the NDP?
Some pundits are saying it is. It's no doubt the end of the current caucus as a political force, but the events of the last decade show one can never count out the left when it comes to breathing new life into the old socialist corpse.
By way of a quick rewind, following the Mike Harcourt/Glen Clark misadventures of the 1990s, the New Democrats were rewarded with two seats out of 79 in the 2001 election.
In 2003, with the NDP still stuck in their self-inflicted rut, Carole James was elected NDP leader. She presented herself as a thoughtful moderate, saying she wanted to broaden the base of the party.
In the 2005 general election, James increased the NDP seat count to 33 winning the support of 42 per cent of the B.C. electorate. She held that approval percentage count in the 2009 election.
Now she's gone. Most pundits, yours truly included, reckoned there would two new major party leaders in the 2013 provincial election. We also concluded Gordon Campbell was the best friend Carole James ever had. With Campbell gone, James would have to consider her future.
But having a dissident rump of the party throw a public tantrum is not the way to engender public support. If NDP members can't manage a minor squabble, especially while watching the governing Liberals squirm on the HST hook, then how can they manage the daunting task of running the province?
Moreover, the next election is two-and-a-half-years away, giving the NDP lots of time to hold an orderly leadership convention if one is needed.
But apparently that's not the NDP way of doing things. Instead of happily watching the Liberals fall, some in the current NDP caucus seemed intent on breaking out the Kool-Aid.
Next on the NDP agenda is the election of an interim leader. This will come after the Christmas break. I don't envy the winner of this dogfight. No matter who's elected, the internal distrust will still be there.
Leading that caucus will be like herding cats, wild cats. That same fear will concern anyone seeking permanent leadership of the party. As long as the dissidents are skulking around the new leader will spend an inordinate amount of time watching his or her back.
Caucus loyalty, the essential ingredient of a political party, appears to have gone missing in the NDP scheme of things.
The most intriguing aspect to all of this is the future direction of the NDP. Long gone are the days of wooly-headed social activists, or militant labor leaders wrapping themselves in solidarity banners and calling for wildcat strikes.
The Canadian and British Columbian population, both politically and chronologically, is older, grayer and more conservative. Flower power has given way to discussions of balanced budgets and low debt-to-GDP ratios. Universities are places where one goes to get an education and do research.
Politicians who expect to be successful have to understand economics as well as social programs, but in all cases, social programs we can afford.
For the NDP to be successful in a British Columbia general election, the non-NDP voters have to split. That was the case in 1972 when Dave Barrett won. It was also the winning factor in 1991 with Mike Harcourt and again in 1996 when Glen Clark was elected.
What's most interesting is that the NDP leader who captured the highest percentage of the popular vote in any B.C. general election was the same leader who endorsed the political middle and attempted to broaden the spectrum of NDP support.
That leader was Carole James.
Go figure.
