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| Power in the BC Legislature is the BC NDP goal - Bill Tieleman photo |
And if BC New Democrats continue to
reject the resource sector, they will lose. Again.
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Vancouver / The Tyee column
Tuesday March 4, 2014
By Bill Tieleman
"Everybody
wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."
- Boxer Joe Louis, 1914-1981
The
fundamental problem facing the B.C. New Democratic Party is simple to state and
hard to solve: going green has browned off key voters needed to form
government.
And as
the leadership race begins with veteran MLA Mike Farnworth announcing his
candidacy Sunday, he and his likely competitor, MLA John Horgan, have to
address a growing split in the party that comes back yet again to B.C.'s
classic jobs-versus-environment debate.
Environment-minded
New Democrats are the first to say we can protect the environment and create
jobs, too -- just like going to heaven without dying.
But if
they really mean rejecting oil and gas pipelines and projects, ditching the
Site C dam proposal, kiboshing mining and exports, fighting fracking for
natural gas, and preserving forests from logging, then the NDP is doomed to an
extended stay in opposition.
British
Columbia won't prosper if its main industries are tourism, film and television
and high tech alone, valuable though they are to the economy.
Leader
hopefuls see the challenge
What's
worse, some New Democrats don't bother to connect private, resource-sector
economic activity with the taxation revenue needed for a strong public sector.
Yet
it's corporate taxes and income taxes from workers in the oil and gas,
forestry, mining and other sectors that help pay the salaries of teachers,
doctors, nurses, hospital, municipal and provincial government workers, all of
whom play vital roles.
Public
sector employees and other urban professionals are often the loudest in
demanding a stop to resource sector projects on environmental grounds. But
while everyone wants ecological heaven, no one wants to accept the need for
resource extraction to keep improving needed services and their wages.
Port
Coquitlam MLA Farnworth seems to understand the daunting conundrum the NDP
faces. He said that outgoing leader Adrian Dix's decision to oppose the
proposed twinning of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline, announced in the middle of
the May 2013 election campaign, was a big mistake that cost the party key
suburban and rural ridings.
"I
think many voters said, 'Wait a second. Resource development is important and
these are our jobs,'" Farnworth told
The Province's Michael Smyth. "It allowed the Liberals to characterize us
as a party without an economic vision."
Juan du
Fuca MLA Horgan has also pointed out the NDP's huge challenge.
"We
have lost our way when it comes to speaking to resource-dependent communities.
There is a chasm between the Coast and the Kootenays that is not represented by
the NDP," Horgan said
in Oct. 2013 when announcing he wouldn't run for leadership, a decision he's
now reconsidering.
Or
not green enough?
For
some green NDP activists, however, opposing Kinder Morgan doesn't go far
enough.
Harold
Steves is a Richmond city councillor and respected former NDP MLA in Dave
Barrett's 1972 to 1975 government, which introduced the Agricultural Land
Reserve against huge opposition. The reserve has stood the test of time, though
is challenged once again today by the BC Liberals.
Steves
said after the May election that the NDP was simply not green enough for him.
"What
has been missing from the NDP caucus is a strong environmental presence,"
Steves told
The Georgia Straight in Sept. 2013.
Steeves
pointed to Vancouver-Fairview MLA George Heyman, a former executive director of
the Sierra Club in BC and ex-BC Government and Service Employees Union
president, as a potential leader, but Heyman will not run.
Though
environmentalists like Ben West of ForestEthics and Tzeporah Berman endorsed
Dix's anti-Kinder Morgan position when announced mid-campaign, after the
election they criticized Dix for not "selling" it better -- in rather
ungracious thanks for listening to their lobbying.
"I
think Adrian Dix did a lousy job of explaining why he opposes the Kinder Morgan
pipeline," West said
in Oct. 2013.
West
went further
in November in The Georgia Straight: "The truth is that Dix didn't take a
position on Kinder Morgan before the election, and he never really took a clear
position during the election either."
Did
West read what he himself and Berman said after Dix's announcement on Kinder
Morgan? "The BC NDP have also taken a strong stand against increased oil
tanker traffic on our coast and the Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan
pipeline proposals," Berman wrote after Dix spoke.
But
like West, Berman was quick to blame the NDP after the election. "People
were nervous about the way it was rolled out," Berman said
in November. "In the future, the BC NDP need to clearly articulate the
kind of economy they want to create -- about what the party is saying 'yes'
to."
Along
with David Suzuki, Berman had previously trashed the NDP during the
2009 election campaign over its opposition to the BC Liberals' carbon tax in a
calculated and transparent attempt to influence the results.
The
uncomfortable truth is that environmentalists' pressure on the BC NDP to go
greener has not resulted in a delivery of votes, and arguably cost the party
the last election.
Greens
not gaining from NDP
Despite
arguments that the NDP must get greener to win power, in fact the B.C. Green
Party has seen its percentage share of the provincial vote shrink from the 2005
to 2009 to 2013 elections, despite a historic breakthrough for Andrew Weaver in
Oak Bay-Gordon Head to become the first Green provincial MLA in Canada.
The
Greens took 9.18 per cent of the vote in 2005, dropped to 8.21 per cent in
2009, and then 8.13 per cent in 2013. In terms of raw total B.C. votes, the
Greens slipped from 161,849 in 2005 to 134,570 in 2009, then rose slightly to
146,607 in 2013.
Most of
that bump-up can be accounted for by the high profile climatologist Weaver
increasing the Green vote in Oak Bay-Gordon Head from 2,330 in 2009 to 10,722
in 2013.
In that
riding, the Greens replicated the federal consolidation of resources strategy
that helped elect Elizabeth May in Saanich-Gulf Islands for the party in the
2011 federal election.
But to
find multiple star candidates and the financial and human resources to back
Greens in several provincial ridings to challenge both NDP and BC Liberal
incumbents likely won't be possible by 2017.
That
means the contest will again see the NDP and Christy Clark's BC Liberals face
off again over jobs and the economy.
If the NDP
doesn't find the appropriate balance between protecting the environment and
supporting B.C.'s critical natural resource sector, the 2017 election may not
even be close.
.
7 comments:
Bill the NDP lost the election because they had the wrong candidate.
If Dix would not have dirt on him from the past, he would by far have been the best candidate.
So what do they do they try to play were the good guys and will not sling mud at the liberals and just breeze are way to election victory. Huge mistake. That way they figured there would be minimal mud slung at Dix and the NDP would win. Hardly at all was there anything said about Liberals appalling policies etc. End of story.
Bill: Great Column! The problem with drawing people's attention to the obvious is one instantly labeled as a heretic. We only have to count the times we have formed government to understand we may have to adjust our policies.We have great minds who are dedicated to helping those who truly need help, the challenge is all those, who have no skin in the game, that continually get in the way of this honourable work. Until we clear a path for our team, we remain cobbled to the role of opposition. Good for you for taking on the challenge. Keep up the good work!
Shorter version:
The greens? How many divisions do they have?
If the Greens don't think the NDP is green enough let them think about this. B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in Canada in the past 10 yrs, except for one. It is important to think about the environment, but voting so children remain in poverty is just sick.
The lieberals aren't green. they will do more to destroy the environemnt than the NDP, plus child will go hungry as will those with disabilities. The choice is real easy for me, NDP because it is the only hope for the children of this province.
Bill James says, "Bill the NDP lost the election because they had the wrong candidate.
If Dix would not have dirt on him from the past, he would by far have been the best candidate."
Dix did make a mistake in the past with the memos but he admitted his mistake and apologized for doing it. That showed character. The MSM continuously brought this up but they never said a word about Christy Clarke. She was heavily involved in the lying and sale of BC Rail. She has yet to apologize to us for those misdeeds, which were much worse than Dix's. The MSM never said a word about her misdeeds because they are backers of the BC Liberals.
Shorter version methinks:
The BCNDP need a narrative that'll require compromise but will pass a general election. Oh and way better pairing of pundits... you don't put against the best pundit in the game a mediocre NDPer who can't hold her own. Nor do you rely on Tzeporah Berman who is a sleazy, slimy snake.
Good column. Bill gets it, but e.a.f and the others are still in denial.
The NDP of the 1970s and 1980s is long gone.
and constantly complaining won't help, as we saw with the constant complaining before the last election and the determination to get rid of the BC Liberals.
Obviously didn't work. The NDP has to change and shed it's very left wing / labour position and still be a bit left of centre. Ask Tony Blair of the UK Labour Party. It worked for him, it can work here too.
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