The first day of the NDP convention since the party hit its historic high of 103 seats in the House of Commons was, I'd say, a good day for those within the NDP who are looking to set themselves up as a “government-in-waiting” when the next general election is held in 2015. The sense I get here here in Vancouver is that policies or proposals that might alienate the broad swath of Canadians whose political leanings might go slightly right-of-centre or slightly left-of-centre on any given day are not the views of a healthy majority of delegates here. For example, there were some New Democrats pushing what could be described as an anti-Israel line but delegates rejected even talking about those policies in any forum that might be captured on live television.
Outgoing NDP president Peggy Nash told me that the key to the party's success in the May 2 election was, among other things, a focus on so-called pocketbook issues. Canadians are concerned about their pensions and retirement, she said. They're concerned about their household finances with the arrival of the HST in BC and Ontario (but notably, not so concerned in Nova Scotia where NDP Premier Darrell Dexter, slated to speaker here tomorrow, is fine with the HST).
NDP national director Brad Lavigne talked about the party infrastructure now in place to achieve electoral success. Among other things, the party had 30 field agents spread across the country and 12 new field offices to support their work. Lavigne spoke about the importance in the last election campaign of the NDP's decision to support “local campaign capacity” and to build a national infrastructure to “better challenge the Conservatives.”
In the last election, the NDP focused heavily on the Conservatives, with leader Jack Layton reminding voters on a daily basis that only the NDP, not the Liberals, were the ones who could beat Conservatives. On May 2, 4.5 million Canadians voted for that pitch.
And that's one of the reasons this weekend's NDP convention is more important than last weekend's Conservative Party convention. The Conservatives have reached their promised land — a majority government — and are now looking to sustain that success. The NDP, on the other hand, wants to remain on its upward arc. It has not reached its goal of forming the first-ever national NDP government. The decisions the NDP makes this weekend may not make the Conservatives quake with fear but it ought to concern the Liberal Party of Canada. Much of the language on several, but not all, policy proposals up for debate could have been lifted out of any number of Liberal platform documents. And indeed, if the NDP want to be considered as a “government-in-waiting”, it must prevent any resurgence from the Liberals. (The party will vote later this weekend on a proposal that would prohibit any merger with the Liberals, incidentally.)
Canada's political centre, where majority governments are made, was largely the domain for much of the last century of the Liberal Party of Canada. Now that centre is up for grabs. On May 2, one could make the argument that the Conservatives did best at winning the centre. That was helped by the fact that many 'blue Grits” voted Tory on May 2 to avoid any chance of a Layton-led minority government.
But many “orange Grits” voted for Layton because they didn't like Michael Ignatieff or they believed that a Layton-led government would be progressive enough for their liking. Many in the NDP are keenly aware that many voters — mostly Liberal but also some Conservatives — looked at the post-May 2 political landscape and are now ready to think about some new options. The senior leadership of the NDP wants those Liberal voters who are looking for a home to come to their party and this convention is an important first step towards that goal.
And so, on day one, here is the NDP press release which, it is impossible not to notice, continues to focus on the pocketbook issues — a chief issue for the political centre — that won the NDP so much success on May 2:
NEW DEMOCRATS FOCUS ON SPARKING ECONOMY
Members adopt policies to create and defend family-supporting jobs
VANCOUVER – On this opening day of their national convention, New Democrats passed a number of resolutions aimed at jumpstarting Canada’s economy in the wake of a job-killing recession. “Canada’s job-supporting industries need to be fostered,” said New Democrat Leader Jack Layton. “Our recovery from the this recession is still fragile and we need action to reward job creators and support investment here at home.” One successful resolution calls for targeted tax incentives to encourage job creation and job-supporting investment. Another calls for an overhaul of the Investment Canada Act to prevent corporate takeovers that result in quality jobs being shipped overseas.
“More than a decade of reckless, across-the-board corporate tax cuts have failed to create or even protect decent jobs,” Layton said. “I’m proud to see New Democrats adopting 21st policies to spark our economy with real, family-supporting job creation.” Delegates also resolved to protect farmers’ rights to determine the Canadian Wheat Board’s direction, and to strengthen Canada’s shipbuilding industry through fair procurement policies. The resolutions were part of the first of seven blocks of policy to be debated by 1,500 delegates at the party’s national convention, which comes six weeks after the party’s most successful federal election ever.
