On April 11, Saskatchewan’s NDP Leader Cam Broten stepped down as head of the party. This came a day after federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair was unceremoniously punted as leader of their party.
These events come a few weeks before Manitoba NDP Premier Greg Selinger is about to get the heave-ho, first as premier, then as party leader, in the wake of their upcoming provincial election.
As the National Post noted, it’s a tough time to be an NDP leader in this country.
Even Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who is currently the most successful leader they have, got sandbagged by the federal party by its choice to take the next two years discussing the Leap Manifesto at the grassroots level. Thankfully, she has said "These ideas will never form any part of our policy,” and added, "They are naive, they are ill-informed, and they are tone-deaf."
When it comes to Broten, he didn’t seem to get very far, at all. If he couldn't make any progress against an administration seeking its third term, he never will. He may have been going against the most popular premier in the country, if not the most popular politician, but surely somewhere in the Saskatchewan Party record he could have found some things to more vigorously oppose. They don’t call it the “Official Opposition” for nothing.
In many ways, Broten was an empty shirt. He was there, but not. He just didn’t gain any traction. And if you can’t win your own seat as leader, you shouldn’t be premier.
I keep tabs with some NDP-types, and some of the support behind this Leap Manifesto is just nuts. The manifesto is nuts. They want Canada to get away from using fossil fuels entirely by 2050, and have all electrical generation come from renewable resources in 20 years.
It’s lovely that Tesla just announced its “affordable” electric vehicle, starting around US$35,000. But I would like to see how a Tesla 3 stands up to a Canadian winter, with the heater cranked up to ward off -42 C temperatures. Show me the electric-powered semi that can pull a tanker full of milk, or a 45-ton excavator on a trailer that includes both a jeep and a booster. Where do I buy a battery-powered tractor to pull my 90-foot air drill? When will Boeing start building 300-passenger airliners running on batteries?
(Maybe if Bombardier announces an electric airliner, they can get more money out of Ottawa?)
And what will charge all these batteries? Not coal. Alberta’s shutting down their coal plants. Not nuclear. Most NDPers would drop dead before approving a nuclear plant. So what? Wind and solar? What happens when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine? How do you use solar in the north in the winter, when the sun doesn’t rise at all?
The NDPs shifted from social issues to, it seems, almost exclusively environmental issues. When their environmental issues become so out to lunch, they will be unelectable.
Some might say they were always unelectable, but Notley’s triumph in Alberta proves that is not the case. If they can win there, they can win anywhere.
Perhaps that’s why Mulcair was shown the door. He had been in the lead during the early parts of the election campaign. If Notley could win, why couldn’t he hold onto that lead and win himself? Surely that idea must have crossed the minds of many party faithful.
In finding new leaders, the NDP will also have to find itself. Is it going to be the Green Party in all but name? Or will it worry about the workers, the hundreds of thousands of which are now unemployed in the oilpatch?
The people would like to know.
