I guess the BC NDP likes being dependent on organized labour to pay the bills.
He who pays the piper calls the tune. 
Another dumb move.
NDP decline to push for public financing for political parties.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2009/11/28/PublicPolitic/
No sorry Moe, if you think the world is going to gravitate to business only anything goes, you are wrong.That is quite the leap of logic, the two are not mutually exclusive. You can have a socially minded government without socialism.
This hostility towards workers engaging in class struggle is called small-l liberalism, by the way.
Climate change missing from James speech: former MLA
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2009/11/28/ClimateJames/
BC NDP leader Carole James delivered what can only be described as a disappointing speech at the party's convention this morning, long on rhetoric but lacking in new ideas or a strong explanation and defence of how her centrist approach can win the next election.
http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/2009/11/disappointing-speech-from-carol...
Is anybody listenin'? Besides the Liberals that is.
What Canadian Politicians Can Learn from Barack Obama
http://www.thefoush.com/2009/11/29/what-canadian-politicians-can-learn-f...
NDP convention speaker encourages parties to go big online
http://www.theprovince.com/business/convention+speaker+encourages+partie...
There is some talk that the Liberals are going to change the fixed election date to the Fall. Now which Fall is the question. Campbell will probably remain as leader until the Spring before the election when the Liberals will have a leadership convention and the new Liberal leader will blow Carole away if she is still the leader of the BC NDP in the next election. For what it's worth Carole's speech fell flat at the convention. At least Layton & Gerard fired up the troops. Harfoush had a good message but was anyone listening?
Your assuming that a new leader will be able to keep the lid on the many different factions. I don't see ANYONE that can keep Campbell's party together.
It's surprisin' how the opportunity for big money and power can discipline dissent. 
The polls are absolutely meaningless right now. For goodness sake, we are proably 3.5 years away from the next BC election. It doesn't matter one iota what the Liberals do right now. The Liberals could all turn into axe-murderers for the next couple of years, then clean up their act 6 mos, to a year, before the next election, and they will probably get re-elected.
For what it's worth Carole's speech fell flat at the convention.
Did you write that before or after she gave the speech??
NDP won't take a left turn with Moe Sihota as president
Former cabinet minister Moe Sihota is the new president of the B.C. NDP.
And his rise to the top spot likely ensures that the B.C. NDP will continue its rightward course under the leadership of Carole James.
http://www.straight.com/article-272784/vancouver/ndp-wont-take-left-turn-moe-sihota-president
Moe is the new President of the BC NDP.
The political optics of that are terrible and might allow the scribes at CanWest to re-brand the NDP in a negative light that we don't want based upon the Sihota follies of the 1990's. Let's hope that's not the case.
Controversial former B.C. cabinet minister elected president of Opposition New Democrats
British Columbia's New Democrats have elected Moe Sihota, a former cabinet minister whose 15 years in politics were marked by several controversies, as president of the provincial Opposition party.
Sihota, who has been a TV journalist and radio pundit since leaving politics in 2001, was elected at a weekend NDP convention in Vancouver.
Sihota was first elected to the legislature as a New Democrat in 1986, and was seen as leader of a pack of NDP pit bulls relentlessly hammering the Social Credit government of Bill Vander Zalm.
After the NDP formed government in the 1990s, Sihota held the cabinet portfolios of education, environment and social development, but was either forced to resign or booted from cabinet three times in the span of a decade over various controversies.
He opted not to run again in 2001, when the NDP was decimated in an election that brought Gordon Campbell's Liberals to power.
Dennis Pilon, a political scientist at the University of Victoria, said Sihota's election as president isn't likely to signal any significant changes for the NDP, whose leader, Carole James, has unsuccessfully tried to position the party as a centrist alternative to the Liberals.
Pilon said that's precisely the problem for a party whose strategy to steal Liberal support hasn't worked.
"There's no change - James is going to continue with the let's-try-to-cuddle-up-to-business approach, which has failed miserably," said Pilon.
"If I were writing the headlines, it would be: NDP decides losing strategy could be a winner. It always kills me that these people have dominated the party's direction for the past 30 years, it's never worked, but somehow they always get another chance."
Pilon says the NDP would be wise to instead look at what's behind the increasingly low voter turnout in the province, and whether the large number of people who stay home on election day could be potential NDP supporters if the party changed its direction.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hXp4UrvqxKSTxTdvxzAimjRk3fBw
Former cabinet minister Moe Sihota is the new president of the B.C. NDP.
And his rise to the top spot likely ensures that the B.C. NDP will continue its rightward course under the leadership of Carole James.
What is this supposed "rightward shift" supposed to be in comparison to? Is it a shift to the right compared to the previous leader and now federal Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh? or maybe its a shift to the right compared to Glen Clark who everyone now denounces as a sell-out and an eco-terrorist? or maybe they mean a shift to the right compared to Mike Harcourt who was the consummate moderate who courted the business community? I dunno, I guess must mean either that Carole James represents a shift to the right compared to Dave Barrett during the first part of his first term in 1972-73 or failing that it must mean a shit to the right compared to the BC CCF in the 40s and 50s when it had an openly "socialist" platform nd never got more than 33% of the vote and lost every election by a wide margin.
What is the answer?
Who the Pres is rarely has little to do with ideology or direction of the party.
And in this particular case, it is about 'those who put in there time' making sure they have their hands on the levers of the party bureaucracy.
The effects on the direction of the party are derivative of the fact that the old line Clark crowd is now that much more likely to prevail in the leadership succession.
The irony is that many who fancy themselves 'more left', more true, and all that, will see this as a good thing. At least, substantially preferable to the likely alternatives.
Liberal Right or Liberal Lite great choices.
Who needs any political discourse based on social democratic or socialist political ideology? Mean Moe is right the neo cons have won. The only party with any tradition of social democracy refuses to talk about the economic system that has driven more and more of our families into poverty. No problem Carole is going to talk real nice to the Howe street puppeteers and they will become kinder and gentler and all those upper income BC'ers will embrace the NDP and help us build social justice for the marginalized in our society.
The "new" focus is also to ensure that more women and POC are running for the party. I think they should try to encourage Diane Watts and Ujhal and Carole Taylor and all those other quality women and POC candidates to join the party that wants a real liberal vision not a right wing BC Liberal vision.
Don't forget the other part of the strategy which is too vilify any one who doesn't want merely another liberal lite party and claim that they are the problem. You know those stupid people who actually still want to try to change the economy to have better outcomes for poor people when everyone knows that global corporatism is the only reality imaginable.
Don't worry, as long as the right stays united, the NDP won't get elected in BC. 
Happening now:
Pondering the New(er) Democrats
Join Bill Tieleman, Clay Suddaby and Globe B.C. Editor Patrick Brethour in a live conversation on the future of the provincial NDP
Hopefully for 2017 the NDP have a new leader in BC. They can officially kiss 2013 off now. Carole is staying and Moe Sihota is now president 
like the BC NDP seems to be their own worst enemy so much of the time. It is worse than amateur hour a lot of the times.
Don't worry, as long as the right stays united, the NDP won't get elected in BC.
========
Yup. The NDP can only win when there is a split. If they had a great leader maybe that could change but I do not see that happening. I guess I have to find a new party in BC to support or just intenally spoil my ballot.
Why do people think Carole is going to energize the party now when she hasn't for 6 years. She's toast as leader and will be replaced before the next election.
'Sustainability' the Hot Word (Again) at NDP Convention
Leader James links economy with ecology, but some delegates not satisfied.
NDP won't take a left turn with Moe Sihota as president
With James at the helm, the NDP has kept relatively quiet about the B.C. Liberal government's draconian welfare policies, which are among the most punitive in North America. In this province--unlike in most jurisdictions--welfare recipients can't make any money on the side without the government deducting this on a dollar-by-dollar basis from their cheques.
All of this has been well-documented by the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The Campbell government's welfare policies are also directly responsible for B.C. registering the worst child-poverty record in Canada for six straight years.
The NDP often makes a point of highlighting the child-poverty rates. But typical of the James-led party, it refused to call for an increase in welfare rates in its recent response to B.C.'s abysmal record.
Instead, the NDP called for an increase in the minimum wage, more accessible and high-quality childcare, and more social housing. Welfare isn't even mentioned in the NDP news release about child poverty.
From this, we can only conclude that the NDP thinks it's okay that the B.C. Liberal government claws back every dollar of income and every dollar of family maintenance from single mothers across B.C.--and that these policies have nothing to do with the child-poverty rate.
Is it any wonder that so many B.C. voters stayed home in the last election?
http://www.straight.com/article-272784/vancouver/ndp-wont-take-left-turn-moe-sihota-president
That makes perfect sense. Increasing welfare rates tends to be extremely UNpopular with the general public - so the best thing to do is to say nothing about it during the campaign and then raise the welfare rates once in power. If you campaign on increasing welfare - you'll lose for sure. The point is to highlight POPULAR policies - not policies that are huge political liabilities.
I agree with you.
But didn't the BC NDP lower welfare rates the last time they were in power.
I don't know, I think they might have lowered them slightly after raising them a lot - but the BC Liberals were more insidous - I think they didn't change the base rate that much, they just tightened the rules so much that almost no one can qualify for welfare.
I think getting Moe to return to politics in any capacity is a major bonus for the BC NDP.
He's a kick-ass politician, with a lot of political smarts, and will insert some much-needed energy into the party.
This is the key to BC NDP success in the next election. And of course with a little help from Jack Layton.
"For the NDP to be successful, it needs to have stronger relations with all sectors of the business community," he recently told columnist Mike Smyth of the Province newspaper. "People need to see that the party is attentive to both business and social concerns. You need to reach out so that people feel comfortable."Note that Sihota isn't saying the party should reach out to business so that business leaders will support the NDP. It's so the electorate at large will see that the NDP is willing to accommodate all sectors of the economy, including those that provide growth, entrepreneurship and innovation.
There are now a few blogs out of BC, discussing politics in BC, but except for bill tieleman's blog they all seem to have a right-wing Liberal orientation.
citycaucus.com
Publiceyeonline.com
northvancouverpolitics.com
Money talks and Moe will listen and BC will continue to have the highest poverty rates in the country for another decade. What a brave new world.
NV-Seymour NDP constituency association requests changes to leader election rules
How many people heard Layton say "Praise the Lord" last Sunday at the BC NDP Convention?
NV-Seymour NDP constituency association requests changes to leader election rules
Who cares? This was from two weeks ago, the motion to have regular leadership reviews passed unanimously with Carole James's support - and most people wonder why it took this long for the BC NDP to codify its leadership process in the first place.
NDP, Carole James must give more details
http://www.canada.com/Carole+James+must+give+more+details/2285233/story.html
And here it comes
NDP merely pays lip service to change
It's not that these matters aren't important. They are. Just as the ones Ms. James raised are concerning. But ending child poverty is not an issue that is going to engage vast swaths of voters. Nor is homelessness. As I say, people don't disagree that something should be done about these problems. But they also know you need money to tackle them. And that takes a vibrant economy.
Here is another thing many New Democrats don't seem to understand: People vote in their own self-interest. Inevitably, the one thing they are thinking about when they enter the polling booth is: Which party is best able to protect my job and my standard of living? That goes for union members, too. That is one of the reasons, according to reports, that only 50 per cent of union members voted New Democrat in the last election in B.C. Obviously, many felt their jobs would be safer with a Liberal government.
Increasingly, ordinary working-class men and women – the NDP's mythic core constituency – understand their fortunes are linked to the health of institutions like investment banks and to capital markets half a world away. Increasingly, many of these men and women are becoming part of a growing investor class.
Trying to perpetuate a divide between the two worlds is pointless. Just as labelling Ms. James's ambitions to become more business friendly as “a move to the right” is an old-school construct that really has no place in modern, political dialogue.
This is the key to BC NDP success in the next election. And of course with a little help from Jack Layton.
"For the NDP to be successful, it needs to have stronger relations with all sectors of the business community," he recently told columnist Mike Smyth of the Province newspaper. "People need to see that the party is attentive to both business and social concerns. You need to reach out so that people feel comfortable."Note that Sihota isn't saying the party should reach out to business so that business leaders will support the NDP. It's so the electorate at large will see that the NDP is willing to accommodate all sectors of the economy, including those that provide growth, entrepreneurship and innovation.
It's been doing that for years already. The NDP is (or was?) a centrist-centre-left welfare liberal/social democratic party, they aren't communists, or even democratic socialists.* So I find it really annoying when the NDP feels the need to listen to people like Gary Mason, Keith Baldry, Vaughn Palmer, Mike Smyth and etc... as if they're somehow representative of the average British Columbian or as if they actually have their finger on the pulse of real BC political issues. If people on Howe street want to believe that the NDP is going to ship everyone off to a collective farm, raise corporate and upper-income tax rates to 100% and force everyone to read from little Orange Books, maybe the NDP would be better advised to hire some good satirists to send the average person the message that the economic world won't end when the NDP wins the next election. It would be a lot more effective than trying to placate the punditocracy, or the Howe Street crowd.
*While the punditocracy might think these are "old constructs", I'd argue that they're still apt. While there isn't some magic formula where voters ONLY have cliche left-wing or right-wing views [well, for the most part anyways], many will have a few "right wing" views and a general left-wing philosophy or vice versa, most still fit within the spectrum to some degree, whether they identify as a "liberal", "conservative", "socialist" or reject these labels all together.
Two NDP factions preparing to oust Carole James
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/factions+preparing+oust+Carole+James/2287419/story.html
Sihota's history too good to forget
http://www.vancouversun.com/Sihota+history+good+forget/2288498/story.html
Can the new-look James just say no?
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/look+James+just/2288815/story.html
Two NDP factions preparing to oust Carole James
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/factions+preparing+oust+Carole+James/2287419/story.html
Isn't Michael Smyth of the Province known for being the most vicious NDP-basher in the entire BC media (and that's saying a lot). He could have written a hatchet job on the NDP and whoever was the leader of the party - without even knowing who the leader was or going to the convention. Who cares?
I would think that this time around Moe intends to keep himself out of trouble, and probably out of the limelight period.
I won't say he can't. We'll see.
But if he does hes going to dissapoint reporters and a lot of people in the BCNDP who are hoping for his usual self immolation.
I would think Moe's plans are pretty simple:
He's Pres to be in place to help his leadership candidate. If he wins, Moe runs for a seat in 2013. Assuming the BCNDP returns to power- Phoenix Moe is back with again, with an even stronger inner Cabinet role.
[Variant: if he does not have a leadership candidate fairly certain to win, Moe can spread his ingratiating talents. Still be in the new government, albeit not as centrally positioned.]
I haven't heard recent speculation how likely it is James is going to want to stick around. If she does, then having the rules and mechanics of a leadership review referreed by Moe will be interesting.
But I would think that more than the potential for manipulation against her- the certainty of the sharp elbows and that she would have to overcome that for an at least 75% review result, is going to militate against her deciding she wants to stick around.
Sask NDP was fiscally competent unlike its predecessor. Sask was also doing quite well prior to the Sask Party taking power. Sask has been in a bit of a boom, but the Sask party and the NDP would do very much the same thing. The only problem is that the Sask party is taking Sask down the deficit highway and unemployment is rising. Compared to Manitoba where unemployment is half of the rest of the country and IIRC is the only Province not running a deficit, means that the NDP is providing good government. Good government is the best thing for business because it provides stability. Booms lead to busts.I think the biggest problem economically will be, and has been in the past, business reducing investment in jurisdictions that are NDP run. It is well known that big business will pull large amounts of investments from provinces with NDP governments, just to screw them over. Then when a business friendly party returns to power, they ramp up investment and it appears like the governmnet was responsible. Saskatchewan's recent "boom" is evidence of this fact.
How do you deal with this type of irrational behaviour?
Infact it is not well known that businesses pull their investments because of the NDP. Infact many LPC and CPC federal policies and many Liberal, PC and Neo Liberal economic policies actually make it easier to pull investment from Canada or provinces and put that investment in foreign countries. The intent is to get the government to become a puppet to the interests of big business, not he interests of the Province. If Big business is interested in what a Province can provide, Big Business will be there regardless of the government brand. If big business wants to leave, it is more difficult to get a golden handshake from an NDP government on the way out the door.
Why pick someone with this background?Sihota's history too good to forget
http://www.vancouversun.com/Sihota+history+good+forget/2288498/story.html
Moe does have other sides.
And all of that happened when he was an elected politician. Even being skeptical of him, thats a different time and position and he deserves to be judged on the merits of what he does now.
I think bringing Moe in is exactly what the BC NDP needs. We will now see some action, and the BC Liberals will finally begin to feel the heat.
People in BC do have their own opinions on Moe's actions back then, Palmer's spin on it, is not the average BC one who remembers it all....
Sihota's history too good to forgethttp://www.vancouversun.com/Sihota+history+good+forget/2288498/story.html
My suspicions are starting to ring true. Last night on Global BC, the local newscast in the country with the highest ratings, a news segment focused upon Moe's follies of the 1990's and the optics were certainly poor. Again here with Vaughn Palmer, who is the widest read political news scribe in BC.
And now I am also hearing the NDP referred to as the "Carole James-Moe Sihota Party". And that's not positive branding in BC.
James should just have forgot about Sihota and focused upon David Levi as party president - Levi is not only the son of former long-time MLA Norm Levi (has political instincts from that background) but is also president of Growthworks, managing $1 billion in assets.
Levi would have had the financial connections to assist in retiring the provincial party debt, provided a moderate direction for the party, and boosted the party's image. Not Sihota.
We have a drunken stumble-bum for a premier and you are worried about this.
Global TV and the Vancouver Sun will never ever support the NDP so who cares what they say.
....thought the Global report was entertaining fair over dinner....got a chuckle out of it
Well this clears up a lot of lose ends for me......
I just want the BC NDp to stop calling themselves a socialist party that is aligned with the socialist movement internationally. I hate liars and their constitution is an outright lie that all the movers and shakers in the BC NDP reject as a direction or talking points for the party. So stop the lies and just drop the part about anything left wing.
Don't get me wrong I think they are likely right that a centrist party that is not socialist and has a business friendly leader is more likely to beat Campbell so just drop the bullshit that the NDP is a left wing party in the traditional sense of left being socialistic and get on with the power politics of trying to win government
So, do you think there are ANY social democratic parties in the western world that meet your standards for being able to be considered part of the "socialist movement internationally"???
Investment Oppotunities