Here’s the question that was posed on Reddit: Anyone have any thoughts on his right wing shift and adoption of centre right politics after being a NDP member since the mid 80’s. Also what left wing positions do you think Centrist parties like Canadian future and the Centrist party should adopt from the NDP and Greens? Also what policies should the new leader have to try to win back these Cardy- Mulclair style NDP members?
I got to know Cardy reasonably well when he was NDP leader in New Brunswick. He is pleasant and knowledgeable and well-spoken. I thought he would do better than he did, but it was clear even when I was there that many NB New Democrats wanted a pure labour party and Cardy wasn’t that.
As OP comments, there has been a leftward shift in NDP policies since then, over say the last ten years or so. Or maybe I should say, a shift toward a more hardline all-or-nothing approach, without the sort of flexibility you really need to address local issues and regional differences. NB is certainly not urban Ontario or lower mainland BC, and political realities reflect that.
There is – as usual for this sub – argumentation against moderate leftists and calls for a hard left approach. You can view the other comments for yourself. But I think it is far too narrow a view to depict the only two options as Third Way (aka neoloberal light) and “militant organizing necessary to flex the working class power needed” (to quote another commenter).
It’s not about mass movements and demonstrations and general strikes and all that fun stuff any more. Society is much more nuanced today. Those few who self-identify as ‘worker’ don’t want to be workers any more, while the rest of us have to negotiate an array of different issues related to human rights and dignity, health and human services, democracy and security, and much more. The day of simple slogans is over (if it ever existed).
Cardy was aware of this, and tried to work through that web in a province dominated by a billionaire family, hostile media, and a very strong aversion to change, even if that meant losing forever. That he was unsuccessful is no reflection on his abilities, IMO.
“Also what policies should the new leader have to try to win back these Cardy- Mulclair style NDP members?”
I honestly don’t care what the new leader’s political policies are. That doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions on these, and wouldn’t agree or disagree with them. It’s just that I don’t think there’s a policy plank (‘free groceries’, ‘dental and pharmacare’, ‘reconciliation’, etc) that will make a significant difference in winning back people who would normally be sympathetic with an NDP platform.
The party needs to rethink what it is. The days of mass movements with everyone marching in unison are over. The strongman leader (sorry Rob), the platform socialist (sorry Avi), the agrarian reformer (sorry Tony) are no longer models of 21st century political organization. We’re not in the 1960s any more. I’m now saying we need bureaucrats or technocrats, but we need serious people who are comfortable working with diverse interests and people who disagree on many things but who are brought together by a shifting set of common interests and belief in a few basic values.
For the next leader to be successful they need to recognize this and be willing to shape party structure to reflect this. It’s not simply a question of divesting control from the central office to EDAs, but it is partially that. It’s also a commitment to doing the work on the ground before even thinking of deciding what policy positions to emphasize, what positions to take, what statements to make. The last think the party needs is leadership by press release. It needs networks, services, tools and supports, and what money remains after paying off debts needs to be focused on this, not mass marketing or television campaigns.
The next leader also needs to be willing to reconsider what have always been core NDP policies, not from the perspective of “what’s wrong with them” – because they might be perfectly good – but from the perspective of “why do we believe this?” I hear a lot of people saying we should be harder left, but when I ask “why” they talk about getting the message out any maybe winning elections – but what is it that being harder left that is important? What underlying goal does it serve? Being left isn’t an end in itself (though you’d never know sometimes), it’s a means to an end. The next leader needs to be able to articulate what that end looks like. What we’re working (not ‘fighting’) FOR.
The previous leadership (and if I may say, current caucus (sorry Heather) have utterly failed to articulate this. That’s why we lost so badly in the last election, and what will prevent any future success unless we change it.