NB NDP leadership race

Pierre Cyr is testing the waters. link

Dominic Cardy is in

Pierre Cyr posts on Facebook about Dominic Cardy

Pierre Cyr got 24.6% in Nepisiguit, the second-highest result in the North after Roger Duguay's 32.3%, third-highest in the province after Wayne Dryer's 27.6% in Saint John Harbour.

I'm happy to see Dominic running, and if he has competition in the family, that sounds healthy.

I'll be interesting to see if Cardy and Cyr will offer different messages and visions. Cardy appears to be, not surprisingly, putting forth a platform akin to the last provincial election. We will see if Cyr offers something to the left of that position.

You can only get money if you ask for it. Which is more than direct mail and having a button on the website.

And asking more people for it goes along with developing the party. Which for example is not something that was done in Elizabeth Weir's otherwise more succesful tenure.

I did think the salary was zero. But if its not a level to sustain anyone except single people willing to get by at poverty level, it might as well be zero.

Actually, other than the words fiscal responsibility, I couldnt understand what he was saying in this excerpt.

As far fiscal responsibility goes- not every mention of taxes and fiscal prudence significantly reinforces the frame that will kill you. This is an example of not dislodging it.

The NDP in most places, certainly including NB, has to overcome fears. You cant just ignore that- least of all with the NB fiscal situation.

Delicate balance there. You arent trying to turn it into something people like you for- which wont happen. But you do need to neutralize the negatives.

And your frame is not something you defend- you build on it. If you are defending it, either its not a frame for you and never will be, or you are not going about it right.

At least as exciting as the BC NDP contest.

The New Democratic Party now has a race for its leadership after Pierre Cyr decided to put his name forward to replace Roger Duguay.

Pierre Cyr, who was defeated in the northern riding of Nepisiguit in the Sept. 27 election, will contest the party's leadership.

Cyr, who is a retired public servant, announced his leadership bid at a press conference in Beresford on Wednesday.

Although he was defeated in the provincial election, Cyr garnered 24 per cent of the vote in the rural northern riding.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/12/16/nb-pierre-cyr-ndp-leadership-546.html#ixzz18Hc6S2qM

Cyr's application rejected:

Don't you think that there could be legitimate grounds for rejecting someone's application to run for leader??  As I understand it, the party set some conditions that had to be met to allowed to run for leader - and all the candidates agreed to meet those conditions. One of them was that to run for leader you had to sign up at least 100 new members to the party or something along those lines.

I don't know the reasons for Cyr's candidacy being rejected - but if he failed to clear the incredibly low bar of signing up 100 new members - what does that tell you about how good a job he would do as leader in growing the party???

Those strike me as very easy requirements - I don't see why someone has any business running for leader if they can't meet them. According to the news report, Cyr is not appealing anything so I guess he is not disputing that he was incapable of meeting the requirements. C'est la vie.

Don't you think that if someone wants to lead a party with no seats and just 10% of the vote - they ought to be able to provide PROOF that they are capable of expanding the party and getting new members and donors?? 

I read the article - it really doesn't say much. Cyr admits his candidacy did not meet the requirements and he provides no details as to why and says he won't appeal. There is some vague innuendo, but no details. In the absence of any other information, I can only assume that he wasn't capable of signing up 100 new donors and was deemed ineligible. Tough luck.

Signing up 100 new donors is NOTHING compared to the herculean task of leading the party with no seat in the leg. and no money in the bank over the next four years and trying to raise money and sell memberships and build up infrastructure. I think this requirement was a very good way to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I've looked at the Cyr facebook page and what you call "the Cardy camp" seems to consist of literally two or three individuals (who maybe ought to give it a rest). Ever heard of a tempest in a teapot??

CBC English now has the story as well:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/03/02/nb-cardy-ne...

So which is it?

Cyr claims he was rejected and then tried to appeal, thought better of it, then changed his mind again and was denied a last minute appeal on deadline day.

The Beam statement claims Cyr pulled out before the "process was completed" but doesn't mention any rejection.

For Cyr's sake, we better hope it doesn't.

Meanwhile, let's talk about what Cardy's leadership will mean to the NDP in NB. He seems like a pretty smart guy with a lot of experience etc...

As someone who has had a senior role in a leadersship race during the age of social networking, I think it is dangerous to assume that a small number of people making comments on Facebook or elsewehere actually represent anyone much beyond themselves.

Certainly any competent campaign in this day and age will have people monitoring the major blogs, FB pages etc.  One of the roles of the monitors will be to respond (or direct responses) to misinformation, deliberate or otherwise.  In that vein, comments, say, on a candidate's FB page MAY be quasi-officially from another candidate's campaign. 

However. during the last Sask NDP leadership race, I know that more than one camp had occasion to contact overeager and unhelpful online supporters and ask them to tone it down - with mixed success.

The unhelpful supporter can be a very destructive thing for a leadership campaign - especially the "true believers."  Of course, if they are unhelpful supporters of the other candidate . . .

I have no idea if the handful of commenters on Cyr's page were quasi-official or completely unofficial.  I'd be reluctant (particularly given the apparently small number of them) to assume any quasi-official status.  Frankly, I think Cardy's too smart to countenance something so counterproductive.

Just to be clear he's not me. But being that I am pursuing the candidacy for the Tobique-Mactaquac riding in NB Im wondering if Pierre will also jump into the federal fray this spring. Would make for a few funny possibly confused moments in the media I think... ;)

Posted on Facebook by Pierre Cyr on March 26, 2011.

Any word if the other Pierre might run for the federal seat of Madawaska-Restigouche (he lives very close to, if not in the riding and worked in Madawaska-Restigouche for much of his professional career)? That is typically the NDP's second best seat in NB and would seem like a more worthwhile pursuit than suing the provincial party. It's also likely to be a close race between the CPC & Lib, making this a good opportunity for the NDP to squeeze up the middle.

I'm really lost now.

I was thinking I could pick up who the other Pierre is. But now a reference to a leadership race I thought was over.

??

I'm sure the debate isnt.

But that doesnt shed any more light on who is being talked about in the posts.

It looks like the NPD has their candidate in Madawaska-Restigouche: Widler Jules

Note: the video is old.

From Pierre Cyr's facebook page:

Ajourd'hui, je prépare le communiqué de presse concernant ma candidature à la Chefferie du NPD du N.-B en 2011.

I just want the issue to receive a full airing so that the party can move forward. There is another left-wing candidate waiting in the wings for when Cardy inevitably steps down as leader. I'm predicting that will be after the next provinical election.

So.....no reviews?? no, OMG he was wronged!! Nothing?

Where are the rabble rousers? Where are all the people decrying the mistreatment of this poor poor man?

Oh right, they read his report.

I was left wondering if it read better in French since the cpy I received was a translation into English. I think the leadership debate in NB has been put to rest for the time being.

One member of the executive council resigned over how the current leader was acclaimed/installed etc. There has been some debate over whether a ratification vote was required by the membership. I think that is water under the bridge and most recognize Dominic Cardy as the current leader. That set there is a more left faction in the provicial party who are coalescing around a candidate for the next time when the leadership is vacant.

Nice to see your response to Jack's inspiring letter and call to action is you not being interested in getting involved.

I wasn't at this rally, but wouldn't you expect a political leader of a party you support to be meeting as many people as he could?  It's not exactly "gladhanding" if you are trying to get elected you know. It is increasing the Party's visibility.

I would like to know what you'd rather have him do at a rally about an issue the NDP have been front-and-centre on, if not meeting other concerned citizens who may not know him and introducing himself, and articulating the Party's position.

I've seen too many NDPers in this province sit on their hands and not get involved - even aspiring candidates/leaders. I suppose that somehow raises their profile, even though nobody knows who they are.  It is this fundamental lack of understanding of politics, and what being a politician is, and the inexplicable disdain some in our ranks have for it that has a lot to do with the fact we never win any seats.

If Cardy is going to change that - which it looks like he will - then I think it is most welcome.

Also as an aside - are you really complaining about getting a hand-written note from a political party leader?  And a friendly one at that!  Ever consider he may just be a nice guy?

He is a nice guy. I never said he wasn't.  And I'm sure the handwritten letter was an expression of that.  I guess I was a little sceptical and also didn't express myself clearly in my earlier post:  I was unaware of the extent of the internal split because I have not been active in the party, either provincial or federal, and at the rally Cardy was not a speaker but a member of the audience, with whom he interacted quite a bit; his assistant and Ms Levi-Peters were the ones who introduced him to individuals and initiated conversations, which he then joined.  There was a very considerable NDP presence (numbers of orange t-shirts) at that rally -- great, because the fracking issue is important to the NDP. 

I'm not active in the party because I don't like to work with political parties of any stripe.  Besides, I have too many work deadlines right now and I'm involved in other things, like local energy issues. 

ummm call it whatever you need to deflect from the actual points made, but I wouldn't expect anything else from you or anyone else likeminded.

I believe you are talking about the situation as it exists in the minds of 2-3 mentally deluded people from four months ago.

This is ridiculous. 

Ps. If your "candidate" is who I've heard rumours of it being. Good luck with that!! :)

Having a leadership candidate ready to hit the ground running a few months after getting a new leader is, quite frankly, presumptuous and crass. If you and the two others who think like you actually cared about the Party, you'd support the current leader until such a time presents itself for a new leader. Anyone who pretends to actually care about a party knows and gets this. Already having a candidate is selfish. Do work first.

Also, please explain to me what is so decidedly not "left-wing" about the last platform? Is it the wording that is so insensitive or actual policies. If its a slogan, then that's ridiculous. Tell me some policies that aren't left-wing enough, or is it just the language used?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/09/06/nb-cra-political-poll-1251.html

This has to be good news for the NBNDP, no matter who the leader is and for now its Dominic

I'm not interested in rumours. Pierre Cyr's Facebook page says:

No hint of any expulsion.

According to his Facebook status, Dominic cardy is getting married tomorrow.

Here is a copy of the text that was presented to provincial council. There are also 13 pages of footnotes to this. If anyone is interested, I will certainly email you the whole document. Just pm me.

REPORT OF THE NBNDP DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE REGARDING THE RESOLUTION TO EXPEL PIERRE CYR

The Executive of the NBNDP endorsed a Resolution that recommended the expulsion of Pierre Cyr.

The Resolution stated in part:

Mr. Pierre Cyr, has (1) violated the party's policies on harassment and discrimination and (2) within
the party, in the media, and to the general public, between October 2010 and July 2011, through
formal and informal communications, sought to bring the NBNDP, its officials and members into
disrepute through (a) the circulation of untruths, libels, and other unsubstantiated allegations,
including unsubstantiated allegations of criminal behaviour, against the NBNDP and its officials
and members; (b) the use of inappropriate, discriminatory, and sexist language; (c) tampering with
and misrepresenting documentation related to conflicts between Mr. Cyr and the NBNDP and; (d)
harassment towards staff and volunteers of the NBNDP by Mr. Cyr.
In order to investigate the charges, the Disciplinary Committee accumulated and reviewed over 650 pages of documentation and interviewed the following individuals:
John Gagnon Wayne Dryer
Stephen Beam Leigh Sprague
Marshall Tremblay Dominic Cardy
The Disciplinary Committee regrets that it was unable to meet Pierre Cyr's terms of interview. Mr. Cyr's requirement for a solitary interview with Jean Dickson and no other committee member would have undercut the neutrality required of the committee. Mr. Cyr declined to be interviewed by the committee body as a whole. During its deliberation, the committee heard comments that the decision in the case of Pierre Cyr should take into consideration what some members might do if Pierre Cyr was expelled or if he retained membership in the NBNDP. We reject making a decision based on external factors and/or fear. The committee has reached its decision based on evidence, testimony, and substantiated actions. Members of the NBNDP are both intelligent and concerned with fairness. Therefore, based on the accompanying documentation that Mr. Cyr has not made public, we believe most Party members will agree with the Committee's decision.  Based upon the evidence which forms the major part of this report, we find the following:

Harassed staff and volunteers of the NBNDP.
The Public Legal Education and Information Service of New Brunswick states the following
regarding harassment on their website: "Any activity which degrades or devalues others can violate
an employee's rights even if he or she is not the intended victim. For example, sexist remarks can
create a hostile or offensive workplace for all employees, even if they are not made in the presence
of women. This is called a "poisoned" work environment ... Harassment is usually on-going
offensive behaviour which does not stop after the individual is told that the behaviour is upsetting
another employee."
Staff and volunteers were subjected to multiple aggressive emails and conversations from both Mr.
Cyr and one member of his team that repeatedly alluded that the staff/volunteers couldn't be
trusted, they had biases, and they were acting in inappropriate ways towards the Cyr campaign.
Not all incidents were electronic. In a meeting on February 17, 2010, Pierre Cyr and John Gagnon
repeatedly asked Stephen Beam to process Cyr's leadership application and would not listen to
either Stephen Beam or Marshall Tremblay's explanation of why Beam could not immediately
approve Pierre Cyr's application or immediately process over 100 PACs.
The resolution does not deal with members of the Cyr team other than Pierre Cyr himself.
Considering Pierre Cyr alone, many of his communications to and about the NBNDP volunteers
and staff can certainly be termed hostile as threats of legal action and accusations of bias are
repeatedly and early mentioned without being backed up with evidence. The behaviour was
repeated despite requests.

The Committee believes the constant strain of being accused of bias with allegations that were not
brought forward by Cyr or his team to the Executive was a form of harassment not appropriate in
a professional organization. Shouting at volunteers and staff is not acceptable. Neither is
demeaning the professionalism of volunteers and creating a work environment that discourages
participation through continued allegations of bias that are not backed up with documentation and
brought before the leadership. Neither is dismissing explanations provided for procedure or
dismissing explanations of legislative compliance required within a professional organization.
The Committee commends both Stephen Beam and Marshall Tremblay for the patient,
professional and respectful service they provided the Cyr team.

Violated the party 's policies on harassment and discrimination.
The NBNDP Anti-Harassment/Anti-Discrimination Policy has not been technically violated in
that no formal complaints against Mr. Cyr were made within the designated seven day time limit.
However, it should be noted that Stephen Beam wrote Pierre Cyr a letter immediately following an
incident and Mr. Cyr did not deny the behaviour but instead minimized it.
While the Policy was not technically violated, the NBNDP Anti-Harassment/Anti-Discrimination
Policy states that its foundation is a mutual treatment of respect and dignity.
There were numerous times where NDP members were not treated with respect or accorded dignity by Mr.Cyr and if a formal complaint had been made within the allotted time span, the Committee may have found that Mr. Cyr violated the Anti-Harassment/Anti-Discrimination Policy. Circulated untruths, libels, and other unsubstantiated allegations, including
unsubstantiated allegations of criminal behaviour, against the NBNDP and its officials and members.
Mr. Cyr provided allegations of wrong doing on the part of the NBNDP, its official and its members that were not substantiated.

In his report, Cyr also made numerous public statements purporting to be factual that negatively portrayed individuals in key roles within the NBNDP. He did not support these statements with documentation. Used inappropriate, discriminatory, and sexist language. There were several accounts in Pierre Cyr's blog and Facebook where language was used that was contrary to NDP values. Among the items were a derogatory term for homosexuals and Cyr telling a female member "Retourne à l'école pour apprendre la manière de vivre avec les gens biens et intelligents, [ name removed ]" because she repeatedly asked him to substantiate public statements made on Facebook. A male member who also made similar requests in a direct manner was not
treated disdainfully.

Tampered with and misrepresented documentation related to conflicts between Mr. Cyr and the NBNDP. Mr. Cyr removed several key pieces of information from his blog. His motivation for removing these items may have been to remove items that he realized were inappropriate for a previous NDP leadership candidate. Or it may not have been. Regardless of his motivation, Mr. Cyr mentioned on Facebook that he would be writing a report and would be telling the truth in his report.

By removing the information from his blog, Mr. Cyr removed the ability for NDP members to judge for themselves the validity of the NBNDP leadership process and the truth of Cyr's allegations. This is the heart of the tampering with evidence allegation. Mr. Cyr also frequently stated that he was considering legal action against the NBNDP, had made previous private and public statements of legal action and had even noted the importance of legal evidence. As such, Mr. Cyr provided proof that he was aware of the importance of any and all documentation that could be used as legal evidence. As such, it is highly likely that Mr. Cyr realized that removing documentation could negatively affect the ability of the NBNDP and its leadership to defend themselves and also negatively sway public opinion.

The Committee conducted a paragraph by paragraph examination of the claims in Pierre Cyr's report (English translation). The analysis reveals a multitude of statements that misrepresent the actions of the NBNDP, its officials and its members through techniques such as concealment (omitting key information), misdirection or diversion, evasion, minimization (when an individual asserts their actions were not as harmful or irresponsible as stated), and projecting blame. Mr. Cyr has repeatedly and significantly misrepresented documentation relating to the conflicts in his report. 

Recommendation.
The Committee, having examined and compiled extensive evidence, supports the Resolution to expel Pierre Cyr from the NBNDP membership. At the same time, we regret that Cyr's actions have led to this decision and sincerely wish Mr. Cyr had expressed his concerns within proper channels after first questioning whether his assumptions of conspiracy and bias were wrong. Unfortunately, Mr. Cyr appeared to only look for information that verified his assertions of bias and corruption and didn't appear to look
for evidence disproving his assumptions. After extensive deliberation and investigation, the Committee has recommended Pierre Cyr's expulsion based largely upon what the Committee views as the most egregious of the issues:

• Mr. Cyr's repeated and significant public misrepresenting of documentation and actions which brought the Party's leadership, volunteers, and staff into disrepute. Despite being often corrected on Facebook, Cyr repeatedly posted inaccurate statements regarding his disqualification. An examination of Cyr's report which he made public reveals substantial statements that are not
substantiated and do not correctly represent the documentation;

• Mr. Cyr's actions in bringing policy disputes before the media without even what could be termed an elementary attempt to resolve these issues internally.

As one of Cyr's team members commented, within a work situation people should solve problems within the smallest circle possible, not the largest. If they can't resolve the issue in the smallest circle, they move to the next circle. Mr. Cyr jumped prematurely to the largest circle without first having seriously explored options within the smallest circle or next larger one.

Mr. Cyr made a choice to bypass proper Party process when he made his report public. He also refused to take part in Party process by finding excuses not to attend meetings and wanting fundamental Party processes altered to accommodate him. For perspective, Pierre Cyr himself claimed members should be expelled from the Party for pointing out that he had plagiarized a testimonial on his Facebook page. He stated that those suspected of hurting the Party should be expelled.


Additionally, Cyr went public with inaccurate and incomplete information, even while professing that he
was interested in resolving the matter internally.

Cyr knew the correct process. Cyr was advised by several individuals, including people in his own camp, to resolve issues internally. He was told in writing that a Resolution for Expulsion would be the result of taking inaccurate information public instead of resolving issues internally. Cyr chose to go public, and by doing so showed a blatant disregard of Party process and disrespect for the NBNDP. Within his report, by continuing to claim conspiracy on issues that had been brought before Council and voted upon, Cyr has shown a repeated willingness to disregard democracy and drive division.

As a result of all of the above reasons, the Committee recommends that Pierre Cyr's expulsion from the NBNDP be permanent.

Jean Dickson, Chair NBNDP Disciplinary Committee 

DATE: September 22, 2011

for Jean Dickson; Hélène Lapointe; Jesse Travis; Doug Mullin
Sébastien Duke abstains as he was unable to attend the Disciplinary Committee meeting