The New Democratic Party of Canada announced this week that it will be staging six debates for its party's leadership candidates, with the first set for Dec. 4 in Ottawa. Each debate will have a theme:
- Ottawa DEC 4: Towards an Inclusive Economy
- Halifax January TBD: Families
- Quebec City February TBD: Canada on the world stage
- Winnipeg February TBD: Connecting people and regions
- Montreal March TBD: Building a strong, united Canada
- Vancouver March TBD: Opportunities for young and new Canadians
The vote itself will take place on the weekend of March 23-24 in Toronto.
Leadership candidate Paul Dewar, though, thinks that six debates is not enough. He wants 10: “Over the next 4 months our New Democratic Party has an opportunity to reach out and connect with Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast,” said Dewar. “We owe it to our members, and Canadians at large, to speak to as many of them as possible”.
Nathan Cullen and Niki Ashton are with Dewar on this one. “I've not been impressed with the schedule and we pushed for many more as well,” Cullen told me in an e-mail. “In particular we've been asking members to advocate for more and will encourage folks to organize their own if the party won't budge. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario in particular are left out in the cold here.” Ashton, who represents the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill, wants more for northern Canada: “I believe we should have more debates. We should have debates in Saskatchwan, Alberta and there should be one in Canada's North,” she said in an e-mail. “It's good to see the two debates in Quebec. But there should be a tour throughout Quebec.”
Brian Topp is largely agnostic on the issue, saying he's happy to participate in whatever debates the party decides to hold and adds, “If the party decides to expand the schedule, I'd encourage them to find a way to keep the current balance between French and English-language debates. This given the very high premium party members are placing on bilingualism in the next leader, and the strategic importance of our breakthrough in Quebec — source of more than half of our current caucus.”
Robert Chisholm, the Nova Scotian in the race, says: “I look forward to the debates. The party made a decision on the number and location and I will comply with their schedule. I understand there will be many other opportunities for debates and I will certainly try to be part of those as well.”
Julien Newman, a spokesman for the Thomas Mulcair, said his candidate was happy to have more debates but noted that all campaigns were consulted ahead of time about the number and nature of the debates. “We're happy with the process,” Newman said.
Daniel Wilson of the Romeo Saganash campaign, said: “The schedule was set by the party and agreed to by most campaigns. The party believes that it meets the need for regional exposure and linguistic balance, considering limits on timing, funds and logistics. Some may have different views about that, but we would not support any criticism of the debate schedule as agreed. We note that there may be informal debates in other cities in which we would consider participating, depending on the quality of preparations, fairness of procedures and completeness of candidate participation.”
And here's Wally Stephen, campaign director for Martin Singh's campaign: “Regarding the number of debates, we are fine with the six scheduled debates. That being said, we would welcome any additional opportunities which may come about, as long as all of the candidates are available.”
Meanwhile, Alice Funke breaks down the latest NDP membership numbers. The next NDP leader will be chosen in in a one-vote per member system. And, right now, the New Democratic Party is still very much a party of the west with a total of 59,773 or 63% of its members/voters living west of the Ontario/Manitoba border. This, of course, despite the fact that more than half of its caucus in the House of Commons come from Quebec.
But, as Alice notes, the growth in party memberships has, so far, come from east of the Manitoba border. Membership in the Ontario NDP is up 15.7 % over the last month to 25,772. Ontario New Democrats are the second largest provincial block behind the 31,456 card-carrying New Democrats in British Columbia. Quebec membership is still pitiable, compared to the party's electoral strength there, at 5,558 voters. Still, Quebec membership has more than tripled over the last month. The number of card-carrying New Democrats has doubled and the number in Newfoundland and Labrador is up nearly six-fold. Oddly: About 700 New Democrats have ripped up their cards let the memberships expire so there are fewer NDPers in that province now than there were a month ago. Again: Check out Alice's post for all the stats.
Thanks for the very kind citation, David.