The influence of billionaires. First past the post voting. Corporate lobbyists.
There are many obstacles to genuine political democracy in Canada. A significant, if little discussed, hurdle is the power party insiders have to determine who can run in election races.
In the 2022 BC NDP leadership race, Anjali Appadurai was expelled from the race when it looked like she was going to win. In the last federal Green Party leadership race, eco-socialist Green Party of Quebec leader Alex Tyrell, was excluded from participating.
How can we build support for fundamental social change when backroom decision makers can simply exclude the candidates seeking out radical transformation?
During my recent speaking events I heard from multiple individuals who were blocked from running in local NDP races because of seemingly arbitrary party vetting. One individual who wanted to run in London, Ontario, was ‘vetted’ for a year by the federal party until allowed to run in a nearby rural riding the NDP had no chance of winning. In Kitchener Centre, retired professor Peter Eglin, whose wife is a city councillor who recently ran for the NDP provincially, was blocked from running in favour of an individual from outside of the city. Party officials said it was because they didn’t have the resources to go through his voluminous writings over the years but Eglin believes it was at least partly due to his longstanding support for Palestinians.
In one of the more infamous examples, the NDP blocked Paul Manly, a filmmaker and son of a former NDP MP, from seeking the 2015 party candidacy in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, because he had criticized the party after it failed to call on Israel to release his father who was arrested on a humanitarian boat bound for Gaza. Manly then won the seat for the Green Party in the 2019 election.
In recent years, local ‘vetting’ processes have blocked candidates not because of any crime or transgression they may have committed, but as a form of political censorship. If only candidates that ‘toe the line’ are allowed, then our democracy is transformed into a superficial echo-chamber.
Initially justified as a means of preventing surprises during election campaigns, vetting processes are now used to assert centralized control. In the ongoing federal leadership race a committee of three backroom officials decides if members are even allowed to evaluate a potential candidate. According to the NDP leadership race rules, a prospective applicant can be excluded if they don’t comply with “the principles and core values of the Party.”
Isn’t the leadership race (and policy conventions) where the NDP’s “core values” are determined?
Shouldn’t party democracy be the vetting process for political differences?
Blocking candidates from nomination races because they express different opinions is a fundamental threat to party democracy. It leads to depoliticized nomination races, where the only thing to discuss is the cosmetic qualities of the candidates.
If we can’t discuss issues like capitalism, imperialism and genocide during a leadership race, then when can we? If we are not allowed to put forward criticisms of our party, how can it ever change?
Isn’t it supposed to be the New DEMOCRATIC Party?
To assist, donate or learn more about my bid to lead the NDP check out yvesforndpleader.ca
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