Lori Idlout joining Mark Carney’s Liberals shines a spotlight on the NDP’s rightist, anti-activist orientation.
On Tuesday Nunavut MP Idlout joined one of the most right-wing Liberal governments in generations. Considering Carney’s politics, it’s revealing that two elected NDP representatives have joined his team in short order. A month ago, Ontario NDP MPP and deputy party leader Doly Begum resigned to run for the Liberals federally.
Representing a relatively impoverished population, one can sympathize with Idlout joining the government to garner more resources for her community. But Carney has also pursued anti-Indigenous policies through Bill C-5 and billions of dollars in cuts to Indigenous programs.
Three weeks ago, Idlout released an odious statement on the new Defence Industrial Strategy, which is part of an effort to spend 5% of GDP on the military. In a statement on behalf of the party, Idlout all but agreed with the strategy, suggesting that adhering to Donald Trump’s demand to massively increase military spending was anti-Trump. Her statement began with “Canadians are united in standing up to Donald Trump and to making the necessary investments in defence that will help protect our sovereignty and our economy.”
The release also suggested Carney further militarize the north, which has brought ecological and social disaster in the past and contravenes the position of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.
A week ago, Idlout endorsed Avi Lewis to lead the NDP. She introduced the probable new party leader at an event in Ottawa, prompting several left critics to suggest Idlout’s floor crossing speaks poorly about Lewis. Linking it to another rightist NDP figure, Ray Guardia, who also endorsed Lewis, Simon Dougherty wrote “nothing says party renewal like these endorsements. If people who are comfortable with Carney’s extreme militarism and austerity are also fine with Avi Lewis as NDP leader, what does that tell you about how he will actually lead? Ask Team Avi to explain issues like this (and there are many issues beyond these endorsements), and you’re either met with accountability-avoiding silence, rationalization with reference to illusions in unity with those on and to the right of the NDP, or outright gaslighting and abuse by Lewis proxies.”
Lewis and his proxies have engaged in a stunning amount of left bashing during this campaign. Proxies Judy Rebick, Kim Fry and Martin Lukacs devoted significant effort to assisting the party establishment’s bid to crush an insurgent campaignand Lewis was the only leadership candidate willing to tell the Globe and Mail that my anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist campaign should (effectively) be excluded from the race. He even justified the party brass blocking me and my three-year-old from an NDP social the night before the party’s first official debate in Montreal. The video of Lewis’ support for my exclusion from an event open to the public went viral.
With much of the ‘left’ of the NDP bashing anti-imperialism, the NDP’s unelected three-person vetting committee had little difficulty barring me from running. They then denied Bianca Mugyenyi’s candidacy, decisively rejecting our eco-socialist platform. Subsequently, NDP director Lucy Watson expelled me from the party with no right to appeal.
While they exclude anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism, the party brass embraces pro-corporate and empire politics. The insiders running the NDP want a party that is barely different from the Liberals. One where Lori Idlout and Doly Begum can seamlessly join Carney’s team.
Let’s hope an NDP led by Avi Lewis is different. But, his record offers little reason to be optimistic and his supporters have shown little willingness to challenge the party’s left bashing culture.
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