Advice for NDP Leader Jack Layton
November 17, 2008
January 28, 2003
Five Suggestions for Newly Elected NDP Leader Jack Layton
Les Campbell
While the impressive breadth and depth of Jack Layton’s victory at the New Democratic Party’s leadership convention in Toronto has temporarily silenced potential critics, Mr. Layton inherits a party establishment and a parliamentary caucus with a long-standing propensity to undermine even the most promising of new faces.
Mr. Layton is a man of undeniable political talent. Handsome, articulate, media savvy and gracious, Layton could well become a beacon for Canadians on the centre-left looking for an alternative to the Liberal party, but he faces two serious challenges, one from within and one from without. To face down challenges from within, he’ll need the confidence and vision to withstand the inevitable demands that will come from supporters looking for their “pound of flesh”. Led by NDP MP Svend Robinson, many of Layton’s internal boosters are associated with moves to pull the party leftward, into marginal protest movements and into policy stands — the Middle East conflict comes to mind — that will only damage the party in the long run.
Hurt feelings and bitterness will dominate Mr. Layton’s early interactions with his parliamentary caucus. Having been supported by only two of fourteen MPs and having run against three influential MPs, Layton’s first order of business will be fence mending. Retaining Bill Blaikie as House Leader and ensuring that Lorne Nystrom, an economic moderate, has the finance portfolio, will help to reassure western New Democrats that the leader from Toronto is open to prairie NDP experience.
From without, he has to counter the inevitable loss of momentum that follows the hype of a leadership contest. Audrey McLaughlin and Alexa McDonough both fell off the political screen in the first months after winning a party mandate. Once absent from the daily Ottawa media routine, it is difficult, if not impossible, to make up ground. Being in the major national story of the day can reassure party members and supporters that the leader is active and can help stave off caucus backbiters.
Keeping in mind that Audrey Mc Laughlin and Alexa Mc Donough emerged as party leaders in 1989 and 1995, respectively, with the same high expectations that have greeted Mr. Layton, but ultimately failed to broaden the NDP’s appeal, here are five suggestions that may help Mr. Layton avoid the fate of the last two NDP leaders:
1) Ottawa matters. Run in a by-election, whether offered through a deal with the Liberals or through the temporary retirement of an NDP MP. Failing that, move to Ottawa. Get an office in Parliament Hill’s Center Block and camp out in the press theater. Don’t be at a party event in Saskatchewan when the press gallery is looking for comments on Canada’s participation in an Iraq war.
2) Start building a big tent. The demands of your campaign supporters are almost guaranteed to send you straight to the margins of Canadian political discourse. Reach out to new constituencies quickly. Talk to business interests - they’ll be happy to get to know you. Find out what disaffected Liberals are thinking. Make it clear that the NDP can be their political home.
3) Stay away from the Middle East. First and foremost, make sure Svend Robinson does not reassume the Middle East (or Foreign Affairs) portfolio. Make Alexa McDonough or better yet, Winnipeg MP Pat Martin, your Middle East critic, and ask the new critic to spend time learning the issues before commenting. Drop the ill-fated strategy to turn blind support of the Palestinian cause into votes - you’ve got everything to lose and nothing to gain from alienating broad swaths of the Jewish left and other Canadians who have a more nuanced view of the conflict.
4) Convince Canadians that you don’t want more of their money. There is a centre-left political consensus in Canada but it doesn’t include higher taxes. Make a pilgrimage to Gary Doer’s Manitoba and Lorne Calvert’s Saskatchewan, and find out how NDP governments protect health care while balancing the budget. See how frugality and social democratic principles can mix.
5) Build a real federal political party. Canadians watching the NDP leadership convention on television may have been fooled into thinking that the federal NDP is stronger than it is. While 82,000 members is nothing to sneeze at, in reality all of those members belong to the provincial sections and their allegiances will shift to upcoming provincial elections in Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The Federal NDP needs it own membership lists and nation-wide staff.
Jack Layton may well be the leader that can bring the NDP back to 44 seats or, better yet, 151 seats in the House of Commons. But, in addition to good looks and a nice turn of phrase, he’ll need uncommon backbone and clarity of vision to overcome a decade of NDP stagnation and marginalization.
Author’s note: A version of this article appeared in the National Post on January 28, 2003
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