NDP convention begins in Edmonton amid uncertainty for party and leader
'Tough debates' to come as New Democrats gather to decide where the party goes and who will lead it
The first debate arose mere moments after the biennial convention of the federal NDP commenced Friday afternoon in Edmonton, when delegates were confronted almost immediately with a pivotal question: Would NDP Leader Tom Mulcair speak, as scheduled, at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning or would he, as proposed by a member of the party's socialist caucus, speak 45 minutes earlier, at 9:15 a.m.?
After a few minutes of debate, the motion was defeated and the convention proceeded with its previously agreed upon schedule, leaving only the most fundamental matters of party and leader to be settled.
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It would not be a proper NDP convention without some amount of procedural discontent, but this is to be a particularly difficult weekend for the federal party.
With the first speech of the convention, party president Rebecca Blaikie said the NDP was a party willing to have "tough conversations" about transitioning the economy to deal with climate change.
And, following Blaikie to the stage, Canadian Labour Congress leader Hassan Yussuf said that "tough debates" were to come this weekend.
As much as this convention might have been a triumphant celebration for the first federal government in NDP history, it is now a place for the NDP to consider its purpose and leadership.
The question of the Leap Manifesto
In one of several pre-convention meetings on Friday morning to settle the weekend agenda, delegates agreed to bring a resolution on the Leap Manifesto to the floor on Sunday morning. The resolution does not call on the party to adopt any or all of the manifesto's prescriptions, but interest in the treatise could push the party to adopt a more aggressively progressive agenda.
Whatever the party is to ultimately stand for, it first and foremost remains to be seen who will lead it after this Sunday.
That runs counter to the aims of Alberta's NDP government, which hopes to see a new pipeline built to tidewater. Premier Rachel Notley is due to address the convention on Saturday morning, two days after she used a televised address to stress her province's need to export oil and three days after Mulcair suggested in an interview with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge that he would abide if the party decided to take a hard line against developing oil resources.
Mulcair faces test of leadership
Whatever the party is to ultimately stand for, it first and foremost remains to be seen who will lead it after this Sunday. Mulcair's speech to the convention on Sunday morning will be immediately followed by a vote by delegates on the question of launching a leadership review.
Anything less than a strong rejection of a review — 70 per cent has been floated as the lowest level of support necessary to reinforce Mulcair's leadership — could compel the NDP leader to step aside.
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And less than 48 hours before that vote, there seems great uncertainty about the mood of delegates, with two former MPs — Peggy Nash and Dan Harris — publicly suggesting that they will be waiting to hear Mulcair's speech on Sunday morning before deciding how they will vote.
The NDP is thus a party confronted by uncertainty. "Instead of celebrating our victories, we find ourselves at a crossroads at this convention," said Yussuf, who was speaking to the convention just days after suggesting Mulcair should step aside.
Whatever the "tough debates" to come, the labour leader declared that the party would leave Edmonton united.
'We aren't going anywhere'
Blaikie's address was an impassioned rallying cry for the principles and values that she sees guiding her party on issues such as trade, climate change and indigenous welfare. She reminded delegates that the party had not disavowed its socialist roots and positioned it in opposition to neo-liberalism.
She said the party needed to listen to those who might share the party's values, but don't give the party their support. She said the party should be more activist, but should remind activists of the changes that can only be made at the ballot box. And she dismissed those who would dismiss her party.
"They will now chomp at the bit to relegate us to history," she said, "but sorry, we aren't going anywhere."
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