TORONTO — They were there from the past, from the grand old days of the New Democratic Party on the Prairies.
And they were there mainly to support Brian Topp, a legendary back room NDP operative now trying to become the 7th leader in the 50-year history of the party.
Shirley Douglas, daughter of party saint T.C. Douglas, rose from her wheel chair to endorse him Friday as the leadership convention kicked off with speeches from the seven contenders.
Former Saskatchewan premiers Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert appeared on video to support him.
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Former leader Ed Broadbent, who led the party to its best Prairie showing in 1988, told the large crowd gathered at Toronto’s convention centre that Topp was was “ready” to lead, more ready than either Broadbent or the late Jack Layton were when they took the job.
But the appearance of these grandees from the party’s glorious past can’t help but highlight the fact that among the celebrity endorsements, no contemporaries were present.
There aren’t any, or many save for the leaders of Manitoba’s NDP government who have not been prominent at the convention.
In speeches, only Churchill, Man. MP Niki Ashton mentioned the Canadian Wheat Board issue and the need for the party to rebuild its Prairie base. When votes are counted and a leader declared, she will not be on the podium.
Although Ashton, the only Prairie candidate in the race, gave perhaps the best speech, she really is running for the next time, if there is one.
With the NDP at historic heights, playing the role of official opposition in the House of Commons after its 2011 breakthrough in Quebec that gave the party 103 seats, the new leader truly will be able to claim the role of prime minister-in-waiting.
The irony is that after years of having a largely prairie base while party planners agonized over how to gain a foothold in Quebec, the next leader with a (at least temporary) strong base in Quebec will be agonizing over how to regain a foothold on the Prairies.
At present, the party holds just three of the 54 seats that occupy that vast territory between Ontario and British Columbia. Saskatchewan has not elected a New Democrat MP since 2000.
Yet in their final pitch to delegates, none of the leading contenders considered it a challenge worth mentioning.
