Unhappy B.C. New Democrats say they want to take back the NDP..."and steer it in the right direction!"
The group's Facebook page announces a meeting on Tuesday, July 7, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the YWCA Hotel at 733 Beatty Street. The group's manifesto:
The BC NDP threw away the provincial election in May with a platform of watered-down solutions that failed to address the issues facing working and marginalized people in BC. Given nothing worth voting for, voters stayed home and the province's most hated premier won, again.
Now we are facing "these tough economic times" with a government that has already introduced cuts to social programs less than a month after the election.
Enough is enough. The party has being moving in the wrong direction for too long. It's time to take back our party!
The announcement says two of the meeting's panelists will be Tim Louis, a former COPE councillor, and Mike Palacek of CUPW Local 846, who is also an editorial board member of Fightback.
Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.
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DPL
2 years ago
The old expression is" Lead,
The old expression is" Lead, follow, or get out of the way" The rather far side of the NDP have some points to raise so let's all hear them
Skywalker
2 years ago
They have four years...
...to do some thorough house cleaning. They would have to get rid of those liberal lites (that's most of them) who are content to spend all their days in opposition because the pay greatly exceeds the responsibility when governing.
Grumpy
2 years ago
Well that was predicted.
James is weak, as weak as dishwater and someone has decided to do something about it.
alive
2 years ago
Good move
We already have enough "middle-of-the- road" parties.
When the only party that should represent the lower income segment continues to veer towards the right, then it is about time for someone to speak up.
Of course they will get no media play whatsoever, what else is new?
Luke Skywalker Redux
2 years ago
Marxists?!
1. Tim Louis - of Che [Marxist] Guevara T-shirt fame; Even too left-wing for Van City's left-wing municipal COPE and he's now gone;
2. Mike Palacek of CUPW Local 846, who is also an editorial board member of Fightback - "The Marxist Voice of Labour and Youth".
I'm sure that once word of this leaks out the NDP will spiral downwards in the opinion polls.
Skywalker:
I also agree!
IMHO, BC would be much better off with the federal/Ontario political system with two major contenders - PC's and Liberals - where most of Canadians reside politically in any event.
The NDP can then remain as the small third party for left-wing diehards.
Grumpy
2 years ago
Luke Skywalker.............
.......thus spake Gordon Campbell!
Eugene Hunt
2 years ago
Would a further left approach work?
A quick look at the election results indicate there were seven ridings where the Liberals, in winning, had their vote decline from 2005 and the NDP's 2005 vote would have picked up the seat (Burnaby-Lougheed [comparing to the old Burquitlam riding]; Burnaby North; Cariboo Chilcotin [from the old Cariboo South riding], Maple Ridge-Mission; Nechako Lakes [the renamed Prince George-Omineca], Oak Bay-Gordon Head; Vancouver-Fairview). There also would have been more ridings in play.
I used the above method, by the way, to at least try and rule out 2005 NDP voters switching to the Libs, and to show that NDP voters in these ridings were not voting NDP for some or other reason. I make no claims to scientific accuracy.
It's generally considered the 2005 campaign was more traditionally left. The above indicates that approach has more than a little upside. The unscientific method above reveals that they could have formed government with Vicki Huntington's support (a big if, but one that seems more realistic than her joining the Liberals in forming government). At the very least, I wouldn't write-off a "further left" approach without more investigation.
telus employee
2 years ago
Luke Skywalker and the 'Marxist' Bogeyman
Hey Luke buddy....If you are anything like your buddies on the far right, you probably can't even define what Marxism means yet always bring it up as the evil Bogeyman.
I would like to see what you think makes someone a Marxist (without going to Wikipedia)
Whiskey reef
2 years ago
What the FCK
You let Luke(the puke) back in?
So much for ethics Tyee,you let Luke back who invades people`s privacy,he has goverment do searches on posters,he`s a total baffoon and you let him in?
Warning to you Luke,any more picture postings and you will hear a knock knock knock.
Be warned!
dorothy
2 years ago
"he has goverment do
"he has goverment do searches on posters,he`s a total baffoon"
Never mind the 'baffoon'. Such people are everywhere. but governments that such people can have do things aren't. I find the senior ranks more interesting in this, and would certainly like to know more on the pipeline at work here! are we back to the ostracon era, and where is the ugly maw in the wall that I can throw info into? I Have a couple of parties lined up that I would like to have the government do something about, but (sigh) normal approaches have not worked for me...Please do tell...
Fiat lux
2 years ago
Some of these "Marxists"
Some of these "Marxists" should perhaps remember how the Comintern declared ocial democracy as the worst enemy in the mid 30s and, after the war they hunted down, jailed and killed social democrats in all the countries they occupied. Many of them my friends. I barely escaped with my life, so they arested and tortured my mother.
Marx was a pathetic bum, who lived in squalor, his children starving to death, while he was trying to get into the pants of the wives of his followers.
He would have done anything for the "working class" except join it, surviving on handouts.
I'm NDP, very unhappy with the policy making inner circle at both ends, but if the party falls for this Marxist crap I'm out.
In any case, all ideologies are dead, or should be killed right now.
Unless the world turns to a strictly Thermodynamic, physical laws based economic system, humanity can can kiss their collective asses goodbye.
There are thousands of years of historical precedents proving that every religion and every ideology can be and has been taken over and used as ruling sector murder machines, so what's the point in having more of the same ?
Wake up and smell the rot of dead ideologies.
Ed Deak, Big Lake.
G West
2 years ago
Once again
Why has luke skywalker been permitted to return to commenting here under another name?
Either everyone counts or no one does - rules must mean something or there shouldn't be any.
There is no logical reason why that person should be permitted to continue to ruin these threads just because he's changed his moniker.
Van Isle
2 years ago
It'll be really hard to
It'll be really hard to 'reform' the NDP cuz they're a collection of special interest groups and they all want their agenda at the top of the priority list. Whoever the leader is will spend half of his/her time stroking these people. I do agree though that Carol James has to go or at least have a complete makeover in how she does her job as the leader of the opposition. Just waiting for the Liberals to self-destruct (as the NDP did) isn't going to work.
telus employee
2 years ago
Thank you Ed Deak
Thanks ED Deak for proving my point about right wingers not understanding what Marxism is!
Ed, luke and other uninformed, self proclaimed pundits, think that Stalinism and Marxism are the same thing. In my experience I have not met a single marxist who sees Stalin or the USSR as worthy of emulation.
Mark Twain said it best when he said 'it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you are stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt."
PS thank you ED Deak as well for demonstrating how far from its leftist roots the party has moved.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Well Said, Ed
Ed, you are an excellent observer of events present and past.
Really, it is laughable that the NDP would even hazard going further left wing when the only successful NDP parties in Canada won by moving towards the centre, where voters want them.
MichaelT
2 years ago
ed deak does it again
common sense indeed.
Luke Skywalker Redux
2 years ago
telus employee...
Marxist Bogeyman?
The guys organizing this NDP house revolt are all self-identified Marxists.
You know "SMASH CAPITALISM" ... the free market economy? Just read the "Fightback" link.
Real politik:
BC NDP receives 42% of vote comprising a majority of moderate anti-Campbell voters, not pro-NDP voters.
The more "left-wing" federal NDP (which is non-Marxist) is currently standing at 20% in BC according to ARS.
That's less than half of the provincial NDP. Why? Again the federal NDP is further left.
Now if the NDP goes Marxist, they will become a 4th or 5th party in BC lucky to get 2% of the vote.
Heck, I'd love to see the NDP go for a Marxist platform. That would be political suicide.
telus employee
2 years ago
Luke SkyWalker
Your characterization of Marxism as:
"You know "SMASH CAPITALISM" ... the free market economy? Just read the "Fightback" link."
Is about as shallow as a birdbath. It is like saying Christianity is defined by praying and going to church.
Let me enlighten your ignorance:
Marxism in simple terms is:
1) an analysis of capitalism (eg where profits come from and how capitalism works)
2) a materialist theory of how history develops (as opposed to liberal thinking that history is 'just one damn thing after another')
3) how to move toward a more humane and democratic society.
It is easy to fear what one doesn't understand, and luke Skywalker you seem to have a lot of fear.
Fiat lux
2 years ago
Telus.........Marx may have
Telus.........Marx may have said the most beautiful things, but his words have been so distorted and used for the enslavement and mass murder of millions by Stalin, Mao etc. that even the mention of his name brings back the most horrible memories and there's absolutely no hope in hell for any society to accept them.
In any case, the biggest criminals in history have all had some good ideas and used beautiful words, but they're now outdated and worthless in view of what we know, can see and what is happening with humanity and the environment.
We either get rid of all these prophets and start a completely new system or go to hell, beginning with the present "recession", which is nothing less than the beginning of the collapse of all known past and present economic systems.
The same applies to every single major religion and ideology. Capitalism is now rapidly becoming the new form of bolshevism, with economists and governments handing their powers and peoples over into the hands of the multinational corporate mafia, the new politbureau to be screwed, folded, stapled and enslaved.
All ideologies are dead horses and the pounding of the scriptures of long dead prophets, who couldn't even imagine the present times, is only going to make things worse.
Physical laws are the only unchangeable facts that can not be used for enslavement, or extorsion.
The physical definition of efficiency is the "most work done with the least resource/energy inputs"
The presently used fraudulent definition of economic efficiency is "the biggest profits for the least monetary inputs", an invitation to worldwide enslavement and mass murder.
When we read the words of dead prophets, we must also look on how they lived and what they've accomplished in their personal lives, apart from blowing hot air.
Ed Deak.
Dan the socialist
2 years ago
I had people tell me I was
I had people tell me I was full of it when I said there was a split in the party when Carole James took over. That is why Corky left, she annoyed the unions and many unhappy party members and Ms. James by refusing to step down I think has and will make things worse.
Yet when ever anything was said 'negative' about Ms. James some claim 'you do not like a strong women' or 'she lost because she was a women' blah blah. Jenny Kwan would of won, Joy McPhail would of won...Carole is just a to divisive figure.
I hope there is a leadership review and she is forcibly removed.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
I agree, Dan
Dan, I do agree that Joy McPhail would have been a much more effective party leader. I am not sure that she wanted to run, however, as she seems to be enjoying retirement.
I also disagree that Carole is divisive. She is really not an anything; she flips and flops all over the place (Port Mann, gas flaring, carbon tax to name a few), which made enough voters uncomfortable with her that she has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory twice.
Fiat lux
2 years ago
Dan, the NDP didn't lose
Dan, the NDP didn't lose because of Carole, but because of a poorly planned and executed
campaign, totally ignoring the gross corruption of the present government, concentrating instead on personal attacks on Campbell and getting buried in side issues, like the gas tax.
The party never had a decent communications program, or anybody with any understanding of communications, and have allowed the hacks of the BCLibs, obviously donated by the multinational corporate mafia, to run circles around them with their lies.
As long as this inner circle, with a long line of failures, is pulling the strings from behind, the party has no hope.
Federally the picture is even worse.
Ed Deak.
G West
2 years ago
One more time
Why has luke skywalker been permitted to return to commenting here under another name?
Either everyone counts or no one does - rules must mean something or there shouldn't be any.
There is no logical reason why that person should be permitted to continue to ruin these threads just because he's changed his moniker.
North of Hope
2 years ago
luke skywalker
To all you irritated by luke skywalker, do not read him, ignore him. He is like a school yard bully, trying to get attention by inane acts and statements. Ignore him and he will go away. There is enough to read with out comment from him or about him.
MichaelT
2 years ago
Ed! Ed! Ed!
please keep it up!
Dale Jackaman
2 years ago
Time for change
This last election underlined the failure of the left within the BC NDP, and the labour movement in general, to motivate the electorate (including labour’s own voter base) enough to remove an unpopular government and leader in the form of Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals.
Will the BC NDP form government again? Probably, and it will be a last resort rejection of whomever is in power. Will the NDP serve for more than one term? Probably not, at least not without profound change. The world, and the management of a modern government, is far from the simplistic leftist and labour oriented mantras of the past. This is the twenty-first century and it is time the BC NDP accepts that fact and moves forward with people and policies that accept the reality of this century.
Raising our standard of living, while providing the kind of governance that ensures cradle to grave support of our citizens irrespective of personal means, is what social democracy is all about. Make it so and voters, not to mention potential MLA’s with skills and experience, will come. Focus on old fashioned socialism and labour union needs and they will stay away in droves, and I don’t blame them.
North of Hope
2 years ago
communications program
Ed said, "The party never had a decent communications program, or anybody with any understanding of communications, and have allowed the hacks of the BCLibs, obviously donated by the multinational corporate mafia, to run circles around them with their lies."
This was the problem the NDP faced in the last provincial election. The MSM did not look at the issues facing us in the last election. They spent their time on side issues like the "attack ads" which became an attack on the NDP, but no discussion of the issues. Here is on example from a news show. ON this broadcast there was a short story about lumber being imported from the US by a govt contractor for us on BC highways. It lasted less than 1 minute. But it is a big issue for lumber to be imported in BC when our mills are being shut down because no one wants our lumber, esp. the govt. Another item on the same news show was about C. James posing for a picture with some comedic radio newspeople who wore t-shirts satirizing the 2010 Olympics(TM). This none issue story went on for 5 minutes. There was so little substance to the story that it was repeated twice to make it 5 minutes long. It is more important the imported lumber because it lasted so long. The average person watching the news, sees these stories and figures there is nothing worth voting for, so they don't. The BC Libs won't use our lumber but it's not a big deal and Carole James just spends her time horsing around, ignoring issues. This is why the NDP lost, the did not get the issues message to the voters. They relied on the MSM to be the medium to transport the message from the party to the people, but the media did not do its job. It did not report on the issues, whether if it was the economy, health, the economy and how the liberals destroyed it in BC, ROR's, green sustainability, education, etc. It was the media that dropped the ball. Maybe in the future , the electorate will have to go to the websites on the parties involved to find what the parties stance is because the MSM is not reporting. Or the parties will have to email everyone in the province or drop an issue stance on every doorstep in the province.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Call the Whaaaambulance!
"Why has luke skywalker been permitted to return to commenting here under another name?"
Get over it, Garth, whining to the editor to get anyone you don't agree with won't work. Besides, our old leftie friend Quarry is back after repeated banning and he is advocating muder,
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Well Said
"This is the twenty-first century and it is time the BC NDP accepts that fact and moves forward with people and policies that accept the reality of this century."
Unfortunately, the Faithful cannot recognise this.
Fiat lux
2 years ago
Just as the faithful,
Just as the faithful, especially their brainwashed economists, can not realize that capitalism is dying and will go the way of communism. No way out !
Hopefully, also with a whimper and not with a major destruction.
Meanwhile, what are the plans and who has them to mitigate the destruction and hardships caused by the colossal failure of this criminal system to billions of people?
I grew up in the depression, went to school barefoot and survived the postwar years starvation in Europe, so I need no lectures on hardships and their causes , which have always been faith based theories and their use by the predator classes to rob and kill.
Ed Deak.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Accept the reality! Rubbish!
I think the NDP has been taking advice from people like Luke Rereredux, Wilf Laurier, Realisticman too long. They might as well start taking advice from Gordon Campbell. I idea is quite laughable. Ask somebody out of a job how complicated he/she thinks the world is? Ask them about bank bailouts and 500.000 dollar salaries and see how complicated they think the world is? It is a neocon myth that issues are complicated. It is promoted by those in power who don't want to hear from anyone except the elite.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Accept the reality! Rubbish!
I think the NDP has been taking advice from people like Luke Rereredux, Wilf Laurier, Realisticman too long. They might as well start taking advice from Gordon Campbell. I idea is quite laughable. Ask somebody out of a job how complicated he/she thinks the world is? Ask them about bank bailouts and 500.000 dollar salaries and see how complicated they think the world is? It is a neocon myth that issues are complicated. It is promoted by those in power who don't want to hear from anyone except the elite.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Accept the reality! Rubbish!
I think the NDP has been taking advice from people like Luke Rereredux, Wilf Laurier, Realisticman too long. They might as well start taking advice from Gordon Campbell. I idea is quite laughable. Ask somebody out of a job how complicated he/she thinks the world is? Ask them about bank bailouts and 500.000 dollar salaries and see how complicated they think the world is? It is a neocon myth that issues are complicated. It is promoted by those in power who don't want to hear from anyone except the elite.
Matt T.
2 years ago
Groucho or Karlo?
The "proletariat" taking over the NDP? Sounds more like Groucho Marx than Karl Marx.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
LOL
Good point. But their record has been broken for a long time.
Skywalker
2 years ago
LOL II
Like yours Wilf. The needle has been stuck for years.