NDP elects new federal Leader

Jack Layton hopes to bring attention to environment and healthcare to Parliament Hill

Jack Layton has won his first, tough battle by conquering the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada. However, now an even tougher battle looms ahead, winning a Parliamentary seat for himself and expanding the ranks of NDP MPs.
Layton might have much less time than foreseen to prepare for this battle. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is rumoured to be willing to call a general election before the end of his mandate, possibly even next spring.
As for Layton's victory, few were surprised by it, but many were impressed by how easily he defeated his competitors, including the runner-up, veteran Bill Blaikie, an MP for over 20 years and much respected in Canadian social-democratic circles.
Layton won at the first vote with 31,150 votes, 53.5 percent of the total. In second place, predictably, was Bill Blaikie with 14,365 votes, i.e. 24.7 percent.
The results for Lorne Nystrom were disappointing. This NDP MP, running for the third time for the party leadership and for the third time defeated, so severely that his future career might be in jeopardy. Nystrom, in fact, just barely preceded Joe Comartin, a recent MP, who garnered 4,490 votes (7.7 percent). The Windsor MP was strongly supported by the unions, particularly the Canadian Auto Worker Union of Buzz Hargrove.
Most observers were impressed by young Pierre Ducasse, current co-chair of the party, who is striving to create an electoral base for the NDP in Quebec. Ducasse received 2,155 votes, just 3.7 percent, but this result does not accurately mirror the feelings of the NDP base towards this young man, frequently referred to as "the future of the party".
The reason why Ducasse did not obtain many more votes is to be found in the voting system. The total of eligible voters was 81,000, but only about 58,200 actually voted. Over 45,000 of them had already voted by mail or via the Internet in the days preceding the congress. In practice, only 13,000 people voted after the presentation speeches: 1,000 were delegates, the rest used the Internet.
Considering the proportion of Layton's success, the leader had already been chosen and the speeches had minimal impact.
"Our party," said Layton commenting on his victory, "will always be the party of hope, and on this basis we seek the support of millions of Canadians at election time."
Layton said that he intends to use his position as party leader for promoting social programmes and issues like the commitment against the war on Iraq, the protection of the environment, initiatives against poverty, especially child poverty, and in favour of a plan for "an immediate, radical reform of healthcare that rules out any private intervention."
One of the very few controversies that accompanied the long and often boring leadership campaign concerned Layton's "lack of parliamentary experience".
Jack Layton is a city councillor in Toronto, so he does not sit in Parliament, and he said he does not intend to seek one to speed up his entry to the Commons. "I have no intention," he said, "of asking one of our MPs to resign to let me in." He added that he will run in the next election for the Toronto-Danforth ward. That seat is currently occupied by Liberal Dennis Mills. In the last few weeks Mills was rumoured as a possible candidate for Toronto mayor, but Mills denied those rumours and clarified his firm intention to stay where he is "if nothing else, to avoid having the citizens of our ward being represented in Parliament by someone like Layton."
This problem was repeatedly raised during the campaign and the congress by Blaikie. He said that "not being present in Parliament means allowing the Tories and Alliance the opportunity to be the only voices raised against the Chrétien cabinet in important events such as Question Period."
However, those who thought that the lack of a parliamentary seat could handicap Layton were clearly wrong. One of the reasons the delegates preferred Layton to Blaikie was a widespread desire in the party base for a revamped image. Layton has proved his skill as an able communicator, diffusing a renewed message.
Layton, 52, a former university teacher, was first elected in Toronto City Council in 1982 and fought mainly to protect the environment and the homeless.
Now his first commitment is to increase the parliamentary strength of the NDP. Currently the New Democrats are the fourth national party with only 14 MPs out of 301 available.
The NDP has never been in power in Canada, and its best electoral result came in 1988 when, under the leadership of Ed Broadbent (who was among Layton's supporters in this congress), it managed to get 43 seats.
Layton replaces Alexa McDonough, who had been elected in 1995 and resigned last summer. Before her, the party had been led by Audrey McLaughlin to a debacle in 1993: a mere nine seats. Even earlier, the NDP was led by Broadbent in four elections.
The NDP was founded in 1962 by Tommy Douglas, who also led it to four elections, never going above 22 MPs. His successor, David Lewis, in 1972 brought the party to 31 parliamentary seats but in 1974 back down to 16. He lost his own seat to Italian-Canadian Ursula Apolloni. Lewis was succeeded by Ed Broadbent.

ITALIAN-CANADIAN NEW DEMOCRATS

New technologies allowed many NDP supporters to vote in advance, or to follow the congress through television stations like CBC-Newsworld and CTV-Newsnet that covered the congress almost non-stop for two days.
Many Italian-Canadians chose to take advantage of these technologies and remain at home, following the congress without going to the CNE in person.
One of those who went there anyway was Odoardo Di Santo, former NDP MPP, universally considered the grandfather of Italian-Canadian New Democrats.
Di Santo supported Jack Layton. "Sure, I voted for Jack, not just for the personal friendship between us but also because this new epoch of globalization requires a new approach to politics. Moreover, the area of the Left that was almost empty has now been filled with new movements in favour of peace, the environment, and justice for all."
Di Santo added that "these movements, e.g. the no-global movement, have no voice in Parliament, and this congress debated this with passion."
"This is exactly the perspective embodied by Layton, who holds an impressive record in the defence of the environment, the homeless and all the groups excluded by parliamentary politics that need representation." According to Di Santo, a great many Canadians belong in this area. They include the working class but also employees, teachers and professionals who find themselves in a vulnerable position.
Di Santo also underscored another positive aspect in Layton's election: "He's very capable of organizing, mobilizing people and getting them involved in party life. That is very important."
Union organizer Brando Paris is also satisfied: "I expected the party to move in a new direction and I must say that what I heard in this congress pleased me. The ideas and programmes presented can truly bring together old and new militants, such as our past and our future. I think that this could allow our party to do better than ever on the national level."
Fil Falbo, co-ordinator of United Steelworkers of America, also thinks that this congress can mark a turning point for the NDP: "I hoped that this congress would lead the party down a new path, able to reach workers, professionals, and people close to new movements such as that for environmental protection, preparing an alternative to today's government of the country." Falbo, who also supported Layton, feels confident in the future of the party.
Di Santo, Falbo and Paris, like most of the delegates, were really impressed "by Pierre Ducasse's passionate speech."
"His speech," remarked Di Santo, "proved that the party is full of capable youth that can ensure the future expansion of the NDP." - A.P.

Publication Date: 2003-02-02
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2318