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I feel the same way about Dewar's campaign. Even though I now little about him, it doesnt surprise me he is the one most and/or first talking about the needs of the grassroots.
I know the dynamics of his campaign drive decisions of when to roll out with things. But from what I want to see- the sooner he begins to flesh out what he means, the more the others will have to follow. And the more the better. Pretty words about grassroots and the neeeds of organizing abound in our party.
That was one of the great things about Jack- what he said meant more. But even Jack fell well short on this as far as even many of his biggest fans are concerned.
So this is going to have to be pretty concrete to move me.
Conversly,as unimpressed as I also have with Dewar as critic, and what a huge handicap his French is and that would normally put him out of consideration [even "we'll see, maybe later I'll look"]...... some at least modestly detailed organizing ideas and commitments- along with at least some idea of how we will pay for it- is going to get a lot of us looking harder at him.
He will still have to show me that hes not essentially a centrist- and I'm still skeptical on that. Thats for other threads- but the relevance here is that being impressive on the organizational front cuts him some slack on at least getting a more open hearing.
Since we dont seem to be especially in mid-stream on anything- lets shift to a Part 2.
You can always import what someone said to the new thread.
did not mean to reply in this thread
It is a strange disease of the Canadian left. The union movement has had the same inertia on organizing for a long time. If you look at unions now most of them spend more time and energy on raiding than on organizing the unorganized.
Part of the problem the federal NDP has is the relationship with the provincial wings. The entwined nature of the membership means that everyone is both a provincial and a federal member. I've planned lots of fundraisers but they were done within periods that the two wings of the party had agreed upon. I have always supported the idea of a separate federal and provincial parties without the overlapping memberships. At the ebb tide of the BC NDP, after going centrist with Dosanjh, I know I had people tell me they would join the federal party but did not want anything to do with the provincial wing.
The party now has a unique situation where the province with the most MP's does not have a provincial wing and can fund raise and build the party continually. I think that the emphasis needs to be on helping organize viable riding associations as fast as possible. After all that is the local level of democracy in the constitution. I am looking forward to many vibrant riding associations in Quebec sending policy ideas to convention rather than having the political elite tell all and sundry what they think that Quebec NDP supporters want.
Closed for length.