Heading into the New Democrat’s federal leadership race, NewPolitics Initiative (NPI) activists had two plans.

Plan A: If Bill Blaikie wins, we continue to organize.
Plan B: If Jack Layton wins, we continue to organize.

Good thing we had a plan B.

Although much of the NPI was solidly behind Layton, I had my reservations. The slick campaign style andwell-organized campaign was almost too slick and toowell-organized. Can this guy be trusted?

People who have worked on the left much longer than I,and who have worked with Layton, tell me he’s the realdeal.

“Jack Layton’s huge margin of victory bodes well forboth the country and B.C.,” says Murray Dobbin ofVancouver. “It confirms what the 2000 NDP conventionhinted at with its strong support for the NPIresolution: Rank-and-file NDPers see the need for aleader who will work hard to bridge the gap betweensocial movement and party politics — something Laytonhas always done and has promised to do as leader. Weare working in B.C. to create that kind of politics atthe provincial level, and I am certain Jack’s victorywill help that process.”

And isn’t this just what the party needs to get on itsfeet and what social movements need to get their footin the door at Parliament — somebody who will give activists a say in developing practical policysolutions?

During the seven-month leadership race, Iinterviewed all but one of the candidates. Jack Laytondidn’t make my cut. Afterreading his response to the NPI’s ten questions posedto the candidates, I e-mailed his organizer JameyHeath and told him I didn’t want to waste Layton’stime. My questions had been answered.

The Toronto city councillor is upfront about hissupport of social movements and gives a nod tovolunteer activists who help get leaders elected. In the weeks leading up to convention, it becameapparent that the leadership race was between Laytonand Blaikie.

Blaikie, who was often negative and defensive oversocial movements during the leadership campaign, saidthings would change in the party if he were electedleader, but he failed to spell out a vision that wasdistinctive from predecessor Alexa McDonough’s.

Since I was convinced the election would go to asecond ballot, my vote was one of about 2,500 thatwent to Pierre Ducasse, the party organizer from Quebec. I wanted to send a messageto the party to take Quebec issues seriously — andbesides, Ducasse’s nomination speech Saturday is widelyregarded as thebest of the entire leadership race.

Layton was my second-round choice.My vote went to Layton because — even though hedoesn’t have a seat in Parliament, even though he has no experiencein the House — because his vision best suits the ideas oftapping social movements as well as appealing toindividual Canadians to build the party.

Layton can create the energy needed to change theparty, to make it more of an activist party. Thefifty-two-year-old activist addressed this issue in hisresponse to the NPI questions when he talked aboutwhat is needed to move the party forward.“I believe the barriers to having a more activistparty are not so much structural, but deeply culturalwithin the party. What is required is to foster andencourage activism on a broader scale throughout theparty,” Layton says in the NPI questionnaire.

Though Layton is not as radical as Ducasse, who proposes a refounding of theNDP, his ideas are more palatable to most of the party. Layton, former presidentof the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, says thatdemocratic reform is not what is needed — thedemocratic structures are already in place. “We need to decentralize our public interaction to thecommunity level to provide a positive and open firstexperience instead of a highly formalized ridingassociation meeting with Robert’s Rules of Order.”

“I will consult with movements across the country to see how NDP memberscould become more active between elections, workingfor change,” he adds.

Layton can also build much-needed inroads in Ontario,where federal support has been on a downward spiralsince former premier Bob Rae left office. Onlyrecently has support begun to pull out of thattailspin with the electoral coups by Joe Comartin inwhat used to be Herb Grey’s long-held Windsor-St.Clair riding and Brian Masse in Windsor West. Laytonwill build on that momentum with an election campaignin Toronto-Danforth just as McDonough’s leadershipcampaign did on the East Coast.

During his campaign speech Saturday morning, Layton tappedinto the hurt Ontarians feel in the wake of theso-called “Common Sense Revolution” carried out by theMike Harris in the 1990s, as well as the discontent ofBritish Columbians feeling the brunt of the Gordon Campbell Gritswho stripped away thirty per cent of the social sector on the WestCoast since his government replaced the NDP.

His ideas aren’t advanced without giving recognitionwhere it’s due. In his response to the NPI questions, Layton recognizesthe work of previous NDP governments on issues such asbetter housing, cheaper tuition, higher minimum wages,stronger environmental protection and stronger labourlaws. He also tips his hat to the party for enactingand protecting health care, “backfilling federal cutsand expanding medicare, most notably Manitoba’s highlysuccessful and public homecare system.”

So can we trust this guy? And will Layton advance the interests of the NPI? More than any other candidate during the campaign,Layton showed he is capable of reflecting concerns back to NPI organizers, social movement activists and NDP members. And in addition to expressing a sincere interest in people, he quite oftenoffered practical and achievable solutions to their problems.

So the new plan is this: Activists and NPIers maintain aconstant, close working relationship with the new leader to keep Layton frombeing swept away by powerful interests in the party.

Layton’s first test will be when the NPI extends an invitation this week to discuss how the party can reach out to activists who remain cynical and distant from the party. Will he accept?