EDMONTON — Moments after he was unseated as the leader of the federal NDP, Tom Mulcair pleaded for unity from a room that was anything but.
“The only thing that’s important is that we leave here united,” stressed a subdued Mulcair, who earned a measly 48 percent support in a party leadership review.
“The person who replaces me must have the absolute and complete support of 100 percent of the members of the NDP.”
At the moment, a united NDP appears to be nothing more than a pipe dream.
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The first sign something was amiss was evident April 8 as delegates arrived at the party’s convention in Edmonton. Organizers had been expecting 700 to 800 members in the weeks leading up to the convention, but there were 1,793 registered delegates by the afternoon of April 9, including 344 from Alberta and 400 union representatives. Few were sporting Mulcair buttons.
Rifts were apparent from the beginning as the party grappled with the direction it wanted to go, with many still licking wounds incurred from last fall’s heart wrenching election loss.
There was a clear push from party activists to go back to the NDP’s socialist roots and embrace an ideology similar to the likes of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in the United States or Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Great Britain. Their ideas included no more pipelines, opposition to “unfair” trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and an end to fossil fuel dependency.
Meanwhile, Alberta delegates, whose May 2015 election victory toppled 43 years of Conservative reign, were livid with their federal counterparts’ inability to understand Alberta politics and its current economic climate.
The province’s desperate need for a pipeline to tide water to help the more than 60,000 Albertans who have lost their jobs because of the oil crash fell on deaf ears.
And despite pleadings from Alberta labour leaders, MLAs and even Premier Rachel Notley, the federal party decided to move ahead with discussions for the next two years on its controversial Leap Manifesto, a document backed by the likes of activists Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis. It calls, among other things, for a dramatic shift toward renewable energy at the expense of fossil fuel.
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan warned it could turn into “a dangerous political symbol,” going as far as to suggest the manifesto could be interpreted politically as the NDP’s version of the Liberals’ despised National Energy Program of 30 years ago.
“The reality is that no one remembers what the NEP actually said, it has become a symbol, and I’m afraid the Leap Manifesto has transformed from a very good, very progressive policy document into a dangerous political symbol that will be viewed by our opponents in this province to beat our political party,” McGowan said before delegates voted.
Alberta delegates fear that the manifesto, which will rear up again in 2018, just months before the next provincial election, could cost them unless the party distances itself significantly from their federal colleagues.
Talk about being knifed in the back as you lay out the welcome mat.
The future of the oil industry wasn’t the only issue that divided delegates.
In an unsurprising move, the federal NDP formally entrenched their opposition to the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, commonly referred to among party faithful as “the job killing TPP.”
This, despite pleadings from western delegates who insisted export dependent agriculture, such as Alberta beef producers and grain farmers, would benefit from the deal.
“Alberta cattle producers are significant benefactors of this deal, ” said Jen Anthony, an Alberta delegate. “It allows for a better open market for our product blocked from crossing borders on a number of occasions for reasons that have been unfair to both Alberta and to Canada.
“I want to ensure we understand that there are others who need this bill to pass.… We have to accept that this a reality.”
Those concerns, too, were ignored, despite one delegate insisting the NDP was the party that could “best stand up for farmers.”
The NDP also voted to amend its policy book to strengthen the language around its commitment to supply management and ensuring it is protected under Canadian trade deals. That resolution was backed by Alberta agriculture minister Oneil Carlier.
