What can the federal party learn from the Nova Scotia NDP?
June 9, 2009 - 7:23pm
It seems like it would be a great idea for Jack Layton to go have a long talk with Premier-Elect Darrell Dexter about what worked for him and what didn't on the way from third-party status to government. It's not as though the situations in Nova Scotia provincial politics and in Federal politics are too very similar, but it seems like there might be something applicable to learn from the NS NDP experience.
Too late. Layton has decided to learn from Obama. There's little hope he'll change.
Dexter seems even more centrist and - dare I say - Blairite - than Layton or Obama have ever been - so Unionist - be careful about wishing for something, you may get it.
I'm told that Jack and Dexter are actually very close and talk very frequently and they have very similar ideas on strategy - but the big advantage in NS was that the NDP had already supplanted the Liberals as the alternative to the Tories before Dexter even became leader.
Speak to the voting public at large, not just your base.
Address your perceived weaknesses. People trusted the NDP most on the economy and on crime, two tough issues for the NDP.
Move decisively when the stench of scandal arises (paying back the money immediately in the union trouble nipped a potential problem in the bud nicely).
Reach out to all areas, not jjust the "safest" areas.
Don't promise the world. No one will believe you - for good reason. Talking about "living within our means" points to the kind of prudence people want to see from a government.
That's right, Michael Ignatieff's quiet American speech impressed our banksters so much that they can't wait to finance more of corporate America's takeover of Canada and using Canadians' savings to do it, too.
Wind of change blowing through Nova Scotia. The 160 year old line party death grip on that province is broken as of to-day!
I would say that Layton and Dexter are on similar if not the same pages. However, I am not sure the parties can said to be. I could be wrong but I doubt NS New Dems from rural Nova Scotia are ignored in the same way as some of us are in other areas. I have found some in authority get it, but as you get into rank and file members they just don't. Then you end up having to endure lectures about how all farmers should be this and rural people should think this and so on. Not much listening to those of us from the regions a lot more talking too. I don't get that vibe from the NSNDP.
... the big advantage in NS was that the NDP had already supplanted the Liberals as the alternative to the Tories before Dexter even became leader.
And in 1969 in Manitoba, that had almost been the case in the '66 election, but '69 confirmed it in spades. And the Liberals have never been seen or heard from since. Mind you, the Manitoba Liberals were to the right of the Conservatives. They were the party of rural reaction, so to speak, whereas the Conservatives had become the extremely Red Tories of Duff Roblin for a while. I have no idea what the NS dynamic was, so I'll cease the historical parallels right there - except to repeat that I still remember the youthful thrill of June 25, 1969 and I envy NSers tonight!
but the big advantage in NS was that the NDP had already supplanted the Liberals as the alternative to the Tories before Dexter even became leader.
Robert Chisholm took the NDP from 4 seats to a tie at 19 in the 1998 election. They've been official oppostion ever since.
Maybe Jack Layton can learn to keep anti-union legislation like the Michelin bill in place?
I think Jack and the federal NDP have very little to learn from the actual running of provincial affairs in Nova Scotia since stifling top-down, anti-nationalistic neoliberal bureaucracy was enacted by our two old line party feds in Ottawa over the last 25 years.
But the results in NS bode well for change in general in this northern Puerto Rico, Apparently Nova Scotians are fed up with the old line party bs after 160 years.
speakers at the Federal NDP convention
, Halifax NDP Scotia
http://hfx09.ca/program/speakers
Claude Beland
Former President of the Desjardins Group, current president of MEDAC (Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires)
Ed Broadbent
Former leader of Canada’s New Democrats
Led Party to its strongest electoral results
Darrell Dexter
Leader of Nova Scotia’s New Democrats
Gary Doer
Premier of Manitoba
Dean of Canada’s First Ministers
Andrew Ference
Defenceman with Boston Bruins
Founder of the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge
Ken Georgetti
President of the Canadian Labour Congress
Stephen Lewis
Former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
Former leader of Ontario’s New Democrats
Atlantic Canadians Showcase
With special tribute to Alexa McDonough, former leader of Canada’s New Democrats.
Wow! Quite the impressive lineup. I'm sure it will be a great convention as everyone enjoys the high of a historic victory.
Except for Sharon Carstairs' moment in the sun in 1988.
Right you are adma! I forgot.
It seems like it would be a great idea for Jack Layton to go have a long talk with Premier-Elect Darrell Dexter about what worked for him and what didn't on the way from third-party status to government. It's not as though the situations in Nova Scotia provincial politics and in Federal politics are too very similar, but it seems like there might be something applicable to learn from the NS NDP experience.
Perhaps it may also help to "look within" for Nova Scotia-like situations--most notably, the chipping away little by little that led to the NDP's Northern Ontario breakthrough last time...
How fascinating that the next federal NDP convention is scheduled for Nova Scotia.
Did the planners have a crystal ball about these election results?
This should give the federal NDP a big boost in the polls but there's no rush for an federal election. The federal NDP needs to wait right now, just as the NDP waited in Nova Scotia. Slow but sure seems to be working well for Layton as well, and is the best approach.
The key is to reach that critical breakthrough as the NS NDP did in '98 and to maintain it as Dexter has been doing every since by shoring up support where you can count on it, such as in Metro Halifax, etc.
I really think the October 2008 election should have been the federal NDP's chance for at least a minor breakthrough with such a weak Liberal leader and such an unlikable Conservative government. The NDP have probably missed their chance for the near future.
But the NDP MPs federally come from a real diverse set of backgrounds, geographically at least, and increasingly so. Why aren't they doing more party-building? The NDP made unexpected but really important gains in the last two federal elections in places as diverse as Edmonton, Montreal and St. John's. The real question is: what is the federal NDP doing about maintaining that support and growing it?
One thing nobody's raised: symbolically speaking, I wonder how much the federally elected presence of Peter Stoffer plays a part in making the NDP "palatable" to those who otherwise haven't been inclined in that direction...
Nope.
Not to discourage brainstorming though.
How fascinating that the next federal NDP convention is scheduled for Nova Scotia.
Did the planners have a crystal ball about these election results?
This should give the federal NDP a big boost in the polls but there's no rush for an federal election. The federal NDP needs to wait right now, just as the NDP waited in Nova Scotia. Slow but sure seems to be working well for Layton as well, and is the best approach.
No I think this victory was anticipated, perhaps not the strong majority, but a victory. On the other hand, if there is an election, convention will be postponed again.