NDP still the NDP

NDP still the NDP

and not so "Lily White," says LPC blogger...

Seven hours for debate. That's a fair amount of time at any major party convention. That is in addition to the time spent by the panels. At NDP conventions, it is the delegates that decide what priority is set to each item. Not the party brass.

Good guy Liberal blogger Scott Tribe wrote a blog titled "How undemocratic of the New Democratic Party delegates (or some of 'em). " specifically about the name change resolution.

Scott reasons that the name change issue was so big that the party faithful should have had an opportunity to debate it and when it did finally come to debate, the clock was run out by some pretty smart (undemocratic in Scott's terms) delegates opposed to a name change.

The name change was all big hype by the media and bloggers. I even supported the idea. That said, the delegates did not seem to think it needed such a high priority. When the ranking of resolutions was put to the floor, the delegates adopted the ranking. Any resolution can still be moved up on the the list if there is a will by the delegates to do so.

So the real story behind Scott's blog is made clear here in a reply from someone who said the story isn't so important...

Scott Tribe Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

@Paladiea, Actually.. its all over the papers (ie the Star saying this was all anti-climactic), but whatever.. I’m just pointing it out so the next time NDP bloggers try to be critical of Liberal leadership for some undemocratic slight (and they’ve had no bones about doing so before), they can be reminded they aren’t lilly-white when it comes to undemocratic practices in their own party.

I suppose its tough being a Liberal (LPC) these days. They have been working overtime to bring the NDP vote into their fold. It has proven to be a great failure. So while the NDP took positions on many issues of the day at their convention, the LPCs are still trying to figure out how to prevent an election as their party succumbs to the Conservatives in the latest polling. Muddying the "Lily White" NDP seems to be an ongoing growth strategy for some LPC supporters.

Back to Scott's blog, Devin Johnson, a NDP blogger wrote...

Devin Johnston Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

@Scott Tribe,

Where is the lack of democracy here? We didn’t get to the name change because the party delegates voted to prioritize other resolutions first. It is literally not possible in our party for the party leadership to prevent us from debating something that the membership is interested in debating: the prioritization list comes from the convention delegates themselves. When New Dems criticize the Libs for being undemocratic, it’s because the Liberal brass is actually making a unilateral decision without allowing the membership to dissent. When Liberals accuse New Democrats of being undemocratic, it’s because we were pressed for time at our convention. Incidentally, any policies that didn’t make it to the floor get forwarded on to our federal council for further discussion.

I think Devon did a good job here...

Im not sure what the bloggers will say when the NDP introduce a motion to eliminate small business tax. "NDP abandons workers," comes to mind.