Monday, January 24, 2011

Bill Tieleman endorses Adrian Dix for BC NDP leadership

Adrian Dix, Sharon Prescott & Bill Tieleman
Tieleman Backs Adrian Dix

'His record shows Dix is a fighter for ordinary people. He gets results.'

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday January 25, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

"Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself."

- Thomas J. Watson, 1874-1956, president of IBM

In the contest to lead the British Columbia New Democratic Party, one candidate has already proven his ability through hard work, dedication and intensity -- Adrian Dix.

Adrian is a good friend and a former colleague of mine when we both worked for premier Glen Clark in 1996, so you may say I am biased. But I'd feel the same way if I had never met him before.

The reasons Dix would make the best leader are many.

Since being elected as member of the legislative assembly for Vancouver-Kingsway in 2005, Dix been the NDP's most effective and impassioned critic.

Dix always stands up for ordinary people -- from hospital workers and nurses whose union contracts were legislatively shredded by the BC Liberals, to women fearing for their safety at SkyTrain stations, to small business owners being crushed by the Harmonized Sales Tax, to the most vulnerable of all citizens -- children in government care.

And despite being in opposition, Dix gets results. His persistent high profile questioning of cover ups of child deaths in care and funding cuts to the ministry of children and families forced the government to change.

As health critic, Dix has repeatedly pressured the BC Liberals to answer for long waiting lists and cutbacks in beds, doctors and staff.

And Dix also led the successful fight to save Sir Guy Carleton and other Vancouver schools from closure due to provincial education funding shortfalls.

Best equipped to fight

The new NDP leader will face a BC Liberal Party likely led by either George Abbott or Kevin Falcon -- both former health ministers who fear Dix's persistent, knowledgeable and impassioned questioning in the legislature.

And it's likely a provincial election will take place in 2011, since having a BC Liberal premier govern for over two years with no mandate from voters is untenable.

Dix faces talented leadership competition within the NDP caucus, without question. Mike Farnworth has been highly effective on public safety issues, as has John Horgan on energy concerns.

Nicholas Simons wants more democratic engagement and attention paid to the arts and culture, while Harry Lali is boldly questioning party equity quotas and saying out loud what some members think.

I like and respect them all.

Marijuana legalization advocate Dana Larsen is also running, as he has every right to.

But Dix is my choice, based on his work ethic, his communications savvy and his demonstrated commitment to social justice.

I also believe Dix can best heal the divide in the NDP that formed over Carole James' leadership, as it must if the party is to win the next election.

Shifting the burden

What's more, Dix has ideas to add to his ideals.

His promise to kill the Harmonized Sales Tax was matched by his energetic canvassing to gain signatures for the citizens initiative petition began by Fight HST, the group former Premier Bill Vander Zalm, Chris Delaney and I helped create.

"What we are seeing is a fundamental shift in who is responsible for paying for the critical institutions in British Columbia. We're seeing taxes imposed on working people who are already struggling in our communities," Dix said in the legislature on Sept. 17, 2009. "This is a dramatic shift in taxation onto small business and onto working people."

"It will damage small businesses in our community. That's why, when I walk up and down Kingsway in our community and we walk in with petitions, everyone signs, because they know the effect -- business people know the effect; working people know the effect -- of this wrong-headed policy, and in their heart of hearts they know the effect of it as well," he said of his canvassing efforts.

But while he promises to kill the HST, he also pledges to reintroduce the corporate capital tax on big banks and financial institutions that the BC Liberals eliminated in a multi-million gift to their backers while hiking B.C. Medical Services Plan premiums by over 50 per cent for the rest of us.

Dix also won't accept for a moment the myth that the BC Liberal government has managed the provincial economy well while previous NDP administrations allegedly ruined it.

"Let me be clear: I will put the record of the BC NDP governments up against that of the BC Liberals without a moment's hesitation anywhere, anytime," Dix said in launching his campaign Jan. 17.

"Here are the facts, not the spin: the average economic growth under the NDP governments of the 1990s was three per cent -- significantly higher than the BC Liberals' two per cent."

"Economic growth in the Liberals' 10 years has been much lower than it was in the 10 years of NDP government, which had both higher economic and job growth," Dix said.

It's refreshing to actually hear a New Democrat refute the endlessly repeated claims that outgoing BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell was a great economic manager -- when the facts clearly show otherwise.

The NDP won't win an election solely based on who will best run B.C.'s economy, but they will certainly lose if they run away from the debate, as they did in 2009.

Healthy understandings

Health is Dix's critic area but it's also intensely personal. As a Type 1 diabetic, Adrian has a deep understanding -- and a big stake -- in an effective public health care system.

His willingness to openly discuss his condition and advocate on behalf of other diabetics -- including leading a successful fight in 2008 to have the province provide insulin pumps to kids with diabetes -- because of his high profile is admirable.

Dix has also fought hard on behalf of hospital workers, who have continually and unfairly been attacked by the BC Liberals, through privatizing their jobs and ripping up their legally negotiated contracts -- which Campbell promised before the election in their own union newspaper not to do.

"You know, there are constituents of mine who are single parents and have children. They work very hard, and their jobs were privatized. Their wages were slashed, and they now work 70 hours a week. Those are hours taken away from their children that they'll never get back," Dix said on May 8, 2007 in the legislature.

"So I think it's quite reasonable to ask why the honourable minister of health is fearmongering by putting into this request for proposals the jobs of those health care workers in Kelowna," Dix told George Abbott.

In the kids' corner

But Dix has perhaps been at his best fighting for kids in government care.

"This government has cut too deep and too hard into child protection in B.C. So I want to ask the minister of finance, because the minister of children and family development surely didn't make the case to her before this minibudget: can she explain why another big-business tax cut took priority over the government's fundamental responsibility, indeed all of our fundamental responsibility, to protect kids?" Dix asked then finance minister Carole Taylor on Sept. 15, 2005.

She dodged the question.

"Can the solicitor general confirm that the files of the former children's commissioner are being housed in a Victoria warehouse?" Dix asked on Nov. 17, 2005.

Then-minister John Les replied: "I have not visited any particular location, but I am told that they were in storage in a warehouse in Victoria."

Dix then blasted Les: "This minister a few minutes ago used the term 'shameful.' It is shameful to replace a children's commissioner and a children's commission -- with experts, with committed people, with hard-working people, with people who cared about children -- with a warehouse."

"It is shameful. That is shameful, and that is the responsibility of this premier and his ministers in this government."

Speaking out for survivors

Lastly, Dix stood up for Woodlands School survivors -- who were physically and sexually abused as children at an institution for those with developmental challenges -- and were forced to go to court to seek compensation. Dix continues to fight for those wrongly excluded from a settlement with the provincial government.

"I've met many Woodlands survivors, and many of them are suffering through the most abject poverty, suffering through indignity to this day, suffering through the terrible consequences of what they suffered at Woodlands, which has been described -- not by me but by the ombudsman who did a report into the issue, Dulcie McCallum -- as systemic abuse," Dix said in the legislature on Nov. 24, 2005.

"Surely, even though the amount of money we're talking about is, I think it's fair to say, totally inadequate," he said.

"The minister said he didn't agree with my characterization that there was systemic abuse... I think that's what Dulcie McCallum, in her first-phase review, said. She said to the government that there was systemic abuse. She said the government should learn more from Woodlands survivors."

"Their memory, their courage, all they provide to our society, which is an inspiration to me as an MLA, I think, justifies those actions. I want to ask the minister what he thinks of that," Dix concluded.

It's that kind of commitment to righting wrongs committed against the powerless that I want to see in a leader.

The backdated memo issue

Dix's background gives him excellent preparation to lead the NDP. In addition to his role as Clark's chief of staff, including through the upset NDP election win over Campbell in 1996 when I was director of communications, he has also worked in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

But more importantly to me was his five-year role as executive director of Canadian Parents for French's B.C. branch, where he grew the membership from about 100 to 7,000.

Working outside of government with a non-profit organization rounded Dix's experience out considerably and also gave him the chance to travel the province extensively -- something he continues as an MLA.

But don't believe BC Liberal spin that they want Dix to win the leadership -- think why anyone would even say that out loud if it were true. They know Dix is a formidable opponent who gives no quarter.

BC Liberal MLAs continue to hope that shouting "memo to file" will deter Dix. It hasn't before and it won't now.

Dix admitted he made an error in the 1990s by backdating a memo regarding Clark's instructions on a casino application, paid a significant price and learned from it.

Would that the B.C. government do the same, instead of repeatedly making grievous errors that hurt the province's most vulnerable citizens, deny any wrongdoing and learn nothing.

We all make mistakes in our lives -- it's those who acknowledge and learn from them that become better people as a result.

Can Adrian Dix lead the NDP and lead it to victory in the next provincial election?

Absolutely -- his record shows Dix is a fighter for ordinary people who have been shafted for the past 10 years by the BC Liberals -- Dix is the right choice.

Tieleman on TV

I will be appearing on David Berner's new Shaw Cable TV show to talk about the Basi-Virk/B.C. legislature raid case this Monday at 4:30 a.m., with rebroadcasts Tuesday at 10:30 p.m., Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. and Friday at 2:30 p.m. -- tune in!

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32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent! A well-written endorsement of a fine MLA and person. I endorse Adrian Dix, too.

Anonymous said...

Bill, I thought you were a fairly decent straight shooter. Well you just crapped all over your credibility by defending Dix and conveniently avoiding the membership boondoggle. Ya Dix is smart, maybe brilliant but that membership thing ends it all. Just you see.

DPL said...

Good article Bill, and you even provided links to the other NDP candidates. All are good people and contenders, but long before this article was written, our family had decided Adrian is our guy. I watched him in question period and read his comments in estimates.I contacted him a few times on the delays in medical services. Adrian offered to raise those concerns in the house, and even offered to come by our house to review the issues.He showed himself to be hard working, not some grand stander. You are quite correct Adrian knows the subjects he is discussing and yes the Liberals are scared silly that he will be the Opposition leader. He is loyal and was one of the group that stayed with Ms. Dithers to the end.When he becomes premier, there will be a lot of things that need change, and he has the gonads to deliver. The rest of the caucus will be with him , working to make the BC Liberals a bad memory.

J Thomson said...

What is Adrian Dix's position on the Corky Evans' suggestion of having a Provincial Balance Sheet showing the Provincial "Assets", (and any growth in them), as well as just the "Liabilities" we already see (Provincial Debt)?

We are continually reminded that when it comes to the delivery of government provided services to the Public, the Province's finances should be managed just like those of "..every other business" ~ a conception that is normally bound up in having a "balanced" Budget.

With a surplus Budget equated to business 'profit'(and a sign of good management), and a deficit one to 'loss'), and the opposite.

Yet no private business operates solely off a "Budget". And its 'profit' is NOT Revenues minus Spending, but rather an increase in Assets over Liabilities ~ something quite different.

Before Mr. Dix goes too far in proposing any new taxes or increased fees, on anything or anybody, perhaps it might pay him to have a closer look at the way the government actually keeps its books.

Anonymous said...

No comment on his newest scandal? The bags of money and memberships?

Charley Chan said...

Sure..he`d be fine..as would any one of them really. At times I do wonder why anyone would want the job.
Who would want to be Premier of this place now?
Where does Mr. Dix stand on Family values and of course...change?
Does he believe in ghosts?... this is what I`m asking myself.
Another question...rumours of "closet nazis" anything to them?

Gerry Mulligan said...

I would definitely buy a used car from this gentleman.

Anonymous said...

That was easy to figure out.

So here we go back to the 1990s again.

Is there anything "New" in New Democratic?

cherylb said...

Adrian's a good guy. I just don't want to go back to the Glen Clark days. I want to go in a different direction. I want somebody and something new who knocks my socks off! Is that too much to ask for? I'm beginning to think so.

Anonymous said...

Bill, I had a lot of respect for you after the HST fight, which I worked night and day on. Not anymore. You are a huge disappointment. Nice to see that in the end, you put your loyalty to Glen Clark and Adrian Dix ahead of honesty and integrity.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Tieleman:

I thought you were leaning to that Crime-Stopper goof, Mike Farnsworth. If not the innocuous Jenny Kwan, whose husband works under Rich Coleman.

I might have to start liking you again.

Before Darryl Plecas and other excrementals commenced the latest drug-scare, 94% of Canadians endorsed medical marijuana. Dix can point to $100,000,000 wasted in the Fraser Valley alone, during the zealotry.

Guess what. Kevin Falcon's election website includes an endorsement by Darryl Plecas. Tell Falcon that Plecas' son skated from an Assault charge against an Abbotsford activist. Yah, that is real "crime reduction." GO DIX!

Anonymous said...

Believe you me. The NDP membership boondoggle, is absolutely nothing to the BC Liberals crimes and booddoggle's. At least the NDP are sorting it out, to put it right. It is also true, the NDP candidates, are all good candidates. What do you say, about the Liberal candidates? Want any of them? You would have to be literally obtuse, not to see how the HST has destroyed this province. We are dead last, behind all of the other provinces. We have the most job losses, because of the HST. We have the highest number of children living in poverty. Our BCR was thieved and sold. Our rivers, have been thieved and sold. Campbell's own stupidity, destroyed our health care. We have really filthy hospitals, filled with super bugs, because of Campbell's stupidity. Our children's education, is being destroyed. BC is the most corrupt province in Canada. Campbell's corrupt sale of the BCR, was a big "boondoggle". The Liberals are using every dirty tactic to get the documents, away from the defense. Gee, I wonder why? Perhaps the shredder? Campbell and Hansen, blatantly lied about the HST, for Campbell's re-election. The dirty rotten things Campbell is doing, to keep his HST lie intact, is revolting. His election lie, the BCR wasn't for sale, and De Jongs theft of our tax dollars, to pay the two patsies legal fees, want him? Do not talk to me about boonddogles, the NDP have made. Campbell and the BC Liberals, have been a litany of, lies, deceit, corruption, theft and they cheat to win. Now, that's a boondoggle. I will take the NDP's boondoggle any day.

DPL said...

Tieleman has provided links to all the NDP candidates so why ask him what Dix's position is on subjects of interest? Go to Dix's website and find out. The membership issue appears to be under the control of the party executives. If anything was done incorrectly I'm sure the executive will tell you. Might be a bit hard to find out if your contact to the party executive is requested by a unknown, person called anon. Without a name, even a trusting person like myself would ignore the question.
I would figure the candidate has positions on many things so aim your questions to the candidates. Only the candidates can and should speak for themselves

Grant G said...

Aw Bill T...You go and endorse the most tainted candidate.

I hope you have a plan for when the BC Liberals and Global/CKNW run ads showing Dix back-dating memo`s with Glen Clark pacing in his kitchen....And it was very tawdry Dix`s bulk membership entrance into the race...

You should have stayed neutral Bill T!

However...That explains your reluctance for weeks now to even acknowledge John Horgan or anyone else....

As an aside....I will gladly trumpet my first victory over you Bill T....Horgan is a man among boys with dirty hands from playing in the mud...

Don`t worry Bill T....I`ll put in a good word for to the new premier John Horgan!

outsourced said...

Bill: Hope the radio show worked out well. Sorry I missed it.

Maybe someone can fill me in about how it was that when the RCMP (?) raided Glen Clark's house (I can still see the TV footage in my mind) there were TV cameras and I believe an ex-VPD cop, now private security guy and supposed expert on drug gangs, Leo Knight giving interviews. The question is how would the media and Leo Knight have known there was going to be a police raid on a private home. Is that usual?

I am also confused about the results of the RCMP investigation. Was Glen Clark charged with anything after the year and half investigation? Was there any breach of law or ethics? Was a special prosecutor appointed?

Thanks for providing some context for the Adrian and Glen Clark relationship.

Anonymous said...

"membership boondoggle"

PISH POSH! Big deal it amounts to a hill of beans. That said:

John Horgan.

cherylb said...

Why didn't you post my comment Bill? Something wrong with it?

Mark D said...

Bill, something that has been bothering me since reading Vaughn Palmer's column last week, supposedly Adrian Dix was involved in trying to stop recall efforts sometime in the late 90's. There was no mention of him doing anything wrong but both him and Glen Clark wanted it kept quiet, according to Palmer. I know you were connected with the Clark government back then, any idea if this is something to worry about or is Palmer just trying to drag Adrian's good name through the mud?

Adrian B. said...

Good piece Bill, you make an excellent case here for Dix.

It's refreshing to actually hear a New Democrat refute the endlessly repeated claims that outgoing BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell was a great economic manager -- when the facts clearly show otherwise.

Amen, it's tough to overcome the media bias, but it's absolutely critical to win the argument on the economy. And the NDP have an unfair advantage too: they have the facts and truth on their side. Dix should take the offense on issues like how the Liberals turned BC into a "have-not" province. In 2000-2001 we were a "have" province under the NDP, and after 2001 when the Liberals came in we became a "have-not" province for 6 years in a row, the longest stretch in the history of British Columbia (longer than the 1957-62 period under WAC Bennett). If it had just been for a year or two after the Libs assumed office maybe you could argue it was the NDP's fault or something, but 6 years in a row means it was incontrovertibly the failed policies of the Liberals.

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2007/themes/bkrfbs-eng.html (Table 9)

But don't believe BC Liberal spin that they want Dix to win the leadership -- think why anyone would even say that out loud if it were true. They know Dix is a formidable opponent who gives no quarter.

BC Liberal MLAs continue to hope that shouting "memo to file" will deter Dix. It hasn't before and it won't now.

Dix admitted he made an error in the 1990s by backdating a memo regarding Clark's instructions on a casino application, paid a significant price and learned from it.


I wouldn't be surprised if some Liberals were foolish enough to root for Dix in the NDP race, even though he's the candidate they would least like to see get elected Premier. They can link Dix the most with the 90s, Clark, and a more Leftish NDP. But the odds are still for the NDP to win the next election, and if Liberals want to support the smartest, toughest NDP candidate who will most reanimate and mobilize the party's disaffected, progressive base they have my full support and enthusiastic applause.

And it looks like the Liberals and their friends in the media are going to overreach on the puffed up Memo-to-file "scandal", which is a real gift to Dix. I guess they bizarrely want to make the next election against a Dix NDP about corruption and dishonesty, not exactly a great issue for the Libs given the last few years. Obsessively fixating on some obscure footnote from the 90s that the public barely remembers or cares about will be a colossal blunder. Though I have one qualm with how Dix is handling Memo-to-file so far, even if I see where he's coming from. Dix is right to apologize for it and admit he made a mistake, but I really think he should be putting it into context, as people are going to assume the worse if he doesn't explain what actually happened. Namely, that Dix typed up an accurately dated note a month or two after it was recorded without mentioning in it when the memorandum had been typed up. And since this was a year before Dix had any idea what a scandal Casinogate would be, it's obviously a pretty small peccadillo. The real mendacity and fabrication concerning Memo-to-file is from the media and the Liberals. The dishonest implication or sometimes outright fabrication, which continues to this day, is that Dix brazenly made the memo up after the Casinogate scandal had already broke in a desperate attempt to save Clark. For instance I think Vaughn Palmer claimed that at the time without any credible evidence whatsoever. Commissioner Oliver and Justice Bennett didn't believe or rule that that was the case at all. I can see why Dix doesn't even want to explain what his mistake was, because it would make the issue blow up even more, but I don't think he can avoid explaining what actually happened, plus it will make the media overreach even more on this issue.

Anonymous said...

So when is Adrian going to come up with something positive? Him and his supporters just perpetually whine.

A good fit I suppose.

Anonymous said...

Campbell's election lie, the BCR wasn't for sale, was a total election scam. The HST, not on Campbell and Hansen's was another election scam, along with the deficit lie. BC has corrupt courts, corrupt police, corrupt Elections BC, tampering of the FOI. BC is the most corrupt province in Canada. Campbell and the BC Liberals, will go down in history for, the worst, corrupt politicians ever. Dix knows he was foolish, he says he was. He corrected himself. Stack that up to, Campbell's piss on you attitude, arrogance and corruption. I will take Dix any day.

Anonymous said...

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5114

Vancouver, BC – A new Ipsos Reid online poll shows that Mike Farnworth is by far the public’s most positively viewed NDP leadership contender. The poll also shows declining impressions of Adrian Dix among past NDP voters.

Looks like your endorsement worked wonders Bill.

Anonymous said...

Joy McPhail endorses Adrian Dix and
turns to readers of this blog:

We are the Dix Borg.

Lower your shields and surrender your support. We will add your political and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your Farnworth culture will adapt to service us.

Resistance is futile.

Ron1 said...

Sean Homan's "Liberal Eye" continues to dwell on the membership sign-ups by Dixian supporters.

Apparently - he says - it means an NDP government would not be open and honest?

We'll have to wait until Sunday morning when Sean and his fiberal panel discuss their version of the NDP leadership race.

DPL said...

Way to go Joy, many on the fence members will soon line up behind Adrian. He wrote an excellent letter to the editor in the Times Colonist today covering a number of question that had been put to him including the HST. Time for the NDP to unite and blow the Liberals out of town

Anonymous said...

Is this the 1990's all over again?

What's next John Laxton endorsing Adrix Dix so he can return as CEO of BC Hydro?

What exactly is new in "New" Democratic Party?

Adrian B. said...

Vancouver, BC – A new Ipsos Reid online poll shows that Mike Farnworth is by far the public’s most positively viewed NDP leadership contender. The poll also shows declining impressions of Adrian Dix among past NDP voters.

It's a little early to be writing the obits for Dix yet.

Though I'm rather impressed at how the Farnworth campaign helped to drive up Dix's negatives by ginning up a fake controversy, and then not take any flak for it from New Democrats despite it unfairly tarnishing the integrity of the election in the eyes of the public. Campaign Manager Richard Tones' ridiculous demands to change the rules to disqualify Dix voters was absolutely egregious and something you would more expect to see from Floridian Republicans. I'm surprised Tones didn't claim that Dix's memberships were incomplete because some still had hanging chads. The Summary rules that Tones claimed he was defending said that "if there was not enough time to process all forms on January 17, 2011, the forms would be date stamped and the canvasser would have to return the next day to complete the process" [Emphasis mine] Plus there was a Jan. 15th statement from O'Brien that incomplete memberships lacking the canvasser submission forms before 1700 could still be submitted and then finished the next day. Therefore, Tones' letter was demanding that the set rules should not be followed and that valid memberships from other campaigns should now, conveniently, become void. Besides, the processing of the "vast majority" of new memberships was completed by 1700 on Jan. 17th anyway and there's 90 days to verify the new members, so there is absolutely no membership scandal at all, but merely a fraudulent media concoction manufactured by an extremely biased anti-NDP press and a few Machiavellian pols. It seems Farnworth learned a lot when he was busy subverting democracy in Iraq as an imperialist stooge for the National Endowment For Democracy, an organization, with its IRI and NDI tentacles among others, passionately dedicated to blocking and undermining democracy around the world.

Is this the 1990's all over again?

Most British Columbians would prefer the 90s to today. After 10 lost years of failed Gordonomics, consumers have less confidence and optimism, folks are struggling to make ends meet more than ever, and people feel like they are paying more taxes for less services plus higher prices everywhere. British Columbians do not feel better off since Campbell has been in.

What exactly is new in "New" Democratic Party?

Hey, if New York is still new, then so is the NDP.

PeterInEdmonton said...

I was a bit shy about commenting on this piece from the right side of the Rockies. We've been a bit busy with a new leadership race out here this week.

However, when I read the Globe's column on the Stelmach coup (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/stelmach-the-latest-casualty-of-resignation-by-coup/article1882812/) by Well-Known Albertan Gary Mason, I figured, why not?


I heard some rumbles about memberships without payments in BC. I am contemplating whether I should rent a membership in the Alberta PCs again for 5 bucks, the way I did last time when Stelmach got in.

Since the trend seems to be towards election of party leadership by member vote, I did a little web survey of some BC and Alberta provincial political parties and yes, there is an Alberta advantage:


BC Liberal: 10$, 5$ for Youth 14-25 years old
BC NDP: 10$ ? for Youth under 25.

AB PC: 5$
AB Liberal: 10$
AB Wildrose: 10$ with loyalty discount rate of 25$ for 3 years, 40$ for 5 years. Seriously, they think that the 1$ is going to make a difference?
AB NDP: $180, unless you are stupid*, in which case, no minimum is mentioned so in theory you could be in for a penny.

I don't know if the membership of the Alberta NDP gets a single vote on the leadership. There isn't a race on at the moment. I think that Alberta NDP leadership usually changes when one member of the caucus gets tired of leading and hands it over to the other member. The NDP member of the CKUA political panel dropped a little hint at the end of today's discussion. We'll have to see if Rachel takes over her hereditary role from the regent or not.

So, if you are a poor person, the Alberta Tories is your cheapest way into some say in a provincial party in Western Canada. If you can claim to be under 25 in BC or stupid in Alberta, the NDP is your best deal on party membership.

Regards,
Peter

*The form states that a "smart voter" would donate $180. See http://www.albertandp.ca//content/assets/Main%20Website/one%20page%20membership%20form.pdf

FYInescu said...

Champagne socialist MacPhail toasts the Red Baron Dix - Brian Kieran

"Joy! Give your head a shake. This is the same guy who – if he ever became premier ... gawd forbid – would hobble the free enterprise economy starting with the extermination of BC’s struggling green power sector. This is the guy who favours state ownership, wants to renew his marriage vows with labour, tax banks and introduce new laws that ensure that “natural resource use is linked to economic justice.” I’m afraid to even ask what that means for resource communities.

This is a cruel joke Joy. You should be ashamed.

Fortunately, MacPhail’s pet project can be put in context by Ipsos Reid polling that shows that the party’s only moderate, consensus-building candidate, Mike Farnworth, is by far the public’s favourite NDP leadership contender. The poll also shows declining impressions of Dix among past NDP voters.

Farnworth received a net score of +28 after negative impressions were subtracted from positive impressions and that placed him well ahead of the competition. Dix received a dismal net score of -6."

"This is a party that has just staged a leadership coup that all but destroyed every remaining shred of its shaky credibility. This is a party that is in such a state of internal angst that most of the people interested in leading it are flakes and dissidents.

It is a day like this that must give even the most pessimistic Liberal pause to smile."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bill Tieleman said:

"Gee Brian - sounds like you have a preference in this contest - and a party preference too!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gee Bill - sounds like you're opposed to someone having a preference in this contest - and a party preference too!

Anonymous said...

I have deleted your blog from my bookmarks long ago as the slant is too much. Far too much bad water under the bridge from days gone by. The problem we have in this province is too many of the same old players trying to regain a piece of that old gravy train looking for a big piece of pie again. I wish many of the ones that were not as forth right as they should have been when they had a kick at the can would just give it up, go away, and make room for some who actually really do know how to treat and care about the people. I listened to Adrian talk and he is an incredibly poor speaker who does not have the ability to inspire or motivate just appears to play the rest of the game that has been the template that has gotten our province into such a mess in the first place. Bill the golden rule is that the reporter should never become part of the story thus your blog no longer interests me. You have a long history with this party ( a party which i admire in a historical sense) however you all had your turn and as much as recycling may be fashionable it is not in regards to our provincial politics. I am thoroughly disappointed with your decision but not surprised. Too bad that we have to really on the same old same old. maybe you guys will figure out that history has a way of repeating itself if we don't address the elephants in the room, get rid of the baggage, the entitled arrogance and clean the house out. Time for a clean slate and unfortunately the party doesn't get it and with all the fingers in the pie they may never.

Adrian B. said...

Of course Dix's negatives are going to go up after that big manufactured propaganda blitz against him. But David Schreck had some good analysis pointing out why the Ipsos-Reid poll should be taken with a grain of salt. Folks aren't paying close attention to the race yet, and Farnworth is the most well known candidate (just as Christy Clark misleadingly has a big lead largely from name recognition). He may poll higher than Dix amongst 2009 NDP voters, but they are not choosing the leader. The membership of the NDP is significantly more Left-wing than those who vote for them, giving an edge to Dix. We don't really know what the actual NDP membership, whom will be the ones picking the leader, thinks about the candidates yet.

Anonymous said...

When it comes to leadership candidates responding to an important question from strata owners struggling with BC's antiquated legislation, it is BC Liberals 3, NDP 1. See www.visoa.bc.ca

It appears that of the 4 who responded, Adrian Dix is the only candidate who "gets it". The question is, why were the other NDP candidates silent on a matter that affects over 700,000 voters?