February 19, 2001
Why the NDP must be considered - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- The riding I live in, provincially, is Vancouver-Kensington. Its boundaries are 16th Avenue east to Kingsway, Kingsway to Nanaimo all the way to 45th. At 45th it goes west to Victoria Drive going south to 49th; along 49th it heads west to Main and then back to 16th. (For purists, it includes the strip of Main to Ontario in between King Edward and 33rd avenue.) The geographical description preceding was to outline the riding as some readers reside within the riding and the following column, I request be taken into consideration when going to the polls within the next couple of months.
It is no secret that Gordon Campbell and the Liberals will assume the government as the NDP will be sent into political purgatory in the upcoming election. As a former card carrying member of the NDP, I feel they certainly deserve to be sent packing after 9 years of abominable governance. Whether it was the catamaran debacle or the Nanaimo Commonwealth Bingo crap or fudge-it budgets or the horrifying Carrier Lumber case, no more can be said. The NDP must go and it’s time for a fresh start.
Ten years ago we were treated to a similar situation, politically. A tired government was in its death throes. A disgraced Premier had resigned over impropriety, its own people were abandoning the ship, and an opposition party, claiming to be the carriers of virtue were ready to govern. Skipping a beat, that party was the NDP. It formed the government and ten years later we are treated to a Premier (two actually) resigning and seeing its own people abandoning ship.
Ujjal Dosanjh, has been a disappointment as Premier. I said up top that I was a card carrying member of the NDP. Last May, I resigned my membership of the NDP citing my disappointment with the government’s record which was promised to be reformed by Dosanjh as a pillar of his leadership campaign. Then, as in now, the record remains the same. The province is politically polarised and the tone of the discourse is nothing but civil. I got it right in May that they were on a losing course. Almost a year later, I hold those same opinions, reaffirmed.
Now I will concede that I am a member (card carrying no less,) of a political party. Different than the NDP, for sure; I am a member of the Canadian Alliance. Sure, they are political polar opposites, but I am comfortable, thanks very much. Then, it will be of some surprise that a bigot and Holocaust denier like me, (thanks for that Eleanor Kaplan,) will come to the defence of the NDP.
I am in a quandary. First because I live in those electoral boundaries up top, I will vote NDP, as my candidate will be Premier Ujjal Dosanjh. The Liberal candidate is Patrick Wong, who is a fiscal conservative. However, my political experience is that a leader of a party, let alone a former Premier would be a good MLA to have. The man, regardless of the result come the election, has credentials and influence. A constituent in this archaic parliamentary system, will come to realise that that influence is most useful.
Now, it is Dosanjh’s leadership itself I have a problem with, but he must be considered at the ballot box, if for no other reason that he must keep the NDP together. Judging from the leadership battle of one year ago and the cards as they sit now, no one can rightfully step up to the plate to assume the leadership of the party, post-Dosanjh.
The NDP never much satisfies me, but the wipe-out faced Social Credit ten years ago should not be repeated, irrespective of the NDP’s performance. A good segment of the population voted Social Credit from 1952 to 1991. When we were dissatisfied with them we voted the NDP. The Socreds disintegrated, thus a group of the population became disenfranchised. The left, as it is disenfranchised at best. The performance of the federal NDP was pathetic at best, bringing up the old question of ‘What’s left?’
The NDP rightfully should be stripped of the government, and they should be made to feel that. However, the Liberals and Gordon Campbell should not be given a blank check of government. There must be an opposition. If we live in a republican type political system, like our American friends, then a clean sweep of seats would be bearable and correct. Parliamentary democracy needs an opposition, because their sole purpose is to oppose. Lord Randolph Churchill said over a century ago, succinctly that, “It is the duty of an opposition to oppose.”
The Liberals, for all their hope and promised prosperity, need to face an opposition. The NDP is the only party able to do so. The Unity Party, an amalgamation of Reform BC and other right-wingers and the Green Party, as much as they will attract votes, cannot possibly bring forth a decent enough opposition. They will siphon off votes from the Liberals and the NDP, that the result may not be desirable for that so said opposition I am calling for.
The kicker, in all columns political, as always, is to vote. Regardless of party, candidate or reason, show up on election day and exercise your franchise.
Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca
An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .