[Marxism] Canada's Provincial NDPs opt for the Tony Blair model

["Raymond Chase" <r_chase@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Manitoba NDP premier and British Columbia NDP party leader opt for the Tony
Blair's Third Way model.  Wither the federal NDP?

This is the reality that anti-capitalist socialists in the NDP are up
against!

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http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=7a81c3f7-2648-4bdf-b3f7-1e6c38109b3d

Vancouver Sun   Thursday, January 27, 2005

B.C. NDP eyes Doer roadmap

This province's party finds much to be commended in Manitoba premier's
philosophy

By Gordon Hamilton

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer has some simple advice for his British Columbia
NDP colleagues on how to return to power: Forget about the reams of policy
resolutions New Democrats love to pass at party conventions.

"We have one resolution or two resolutions per member. We all know that; we
all write them," Doer quipped before a crowd of 300 people attending a party
fundraiser in Vancouver earlier this month. "But I think the Canadian public
is desirous of having men or women who will focus in ! on five or six issues
and be accountable for keeping them."

Doer's down-home advice on how to succeed in government sounded more like an
inspirational tape on organizing your life than a roadmap to political
power. But it provided a glimpse into the personality and the politics
behind a man who tops the polls as the country's most popular premier -- the
man B.C. NDP leader Carole James sees as the role model for the new
direction she wants to take this province's NDP.

It's a direction that Doer imposed on the ideologically driven NDP through
party discipline and sheer force of personality, borrowing heavily from Tony
Blair's success in forging a new Labour Party in Britain a decade ago.

James is steering the NDP in a similar direction, attempting to move the
party from the left-right split that has characterized public policy in this
province.

James believes the Campbell government's swing to the right has opened up
the middle ground for a left-of-centre moderate party, just as happened six
years ago in Manitoba. Doer walked into power in 1999 when the Conservative
Gary Filmon government veered right.

Now James is seeking Doer's advice as the party gears up for the May 17
general election. She invited him to Vancouver for the fundraiser, held at
Yaletown's Roundhouse Community Centre.

Doer received several standing ovations from party faithful who see him as
the miracle worker who has achieved what no British Columbia NDP government
could: Two ba ck-to-back election wins, and he is still at the top of the
polls. It's a six-year-long honeymoon with the voters that shows no sign of
letting up.

Doer believes he knows what the public wants in a politician and he will go
with those instincts every time over party policy.

He did that most recently by endorsing former New Brunswick premier Frank
McKenna as Canada's new ambassador to Washington. McKenna is a Liberal and
the federal NDP opposed his nomination.

Doer said of his decision to support McKenna that he didn't want to "waste
political capital," taking a partisan stand when, as far as he is concerned
McKenna is exactly the kind of ambassador Canada needs in Washington.
Somebody who can grab the attention of the U.S. media.

"Just because he's a Liberal, he's in with a group I don't believe in,
you've got to look at the job. You've got to get away from the jargon."

In Manitoba, Doer took a battered, despondent and ideologically entrenched
party and dragged it into the 21st century by appealing to NDP "values" such
as inclusiveness and opportunity for all. He borrowed some of his ideas from
Tony Blair, particularly Blair's strategy of keeping campaigns focused on
only a few issues.

" I don't agree with everything he does," Doer said of Blair. "But the
campaign model of focus is a good model for new Labour. The Blair model of
focused priorities is sensible. I think having the debate inside the party
before you go before the public is logical."

There are parallels between Doer's Manitoba and British Columbia. He became
leader in 1988 after the enormously unpopular government of Howard Pawley
lost a vote of confidence and Pawley resigned. Sensing electoral defeat on
the horizon, Doer did not swear himself in as premier after winning the
leadership. The party lost badly during the general election. Internal
polling showed it had sunk to to six per cent of voter support.

The party's chance came 11 years later, in 1999, after the Gary Filmon
Conservatives took a turn to the right and then became discredited over a
voting fraud issue. Doer, who had been rebuilding his party was viewed as a
moderate alternative and was elected with a majority! government. His
popularity has been on the upswing ever since.

Like James, Doer was initially made leader through the support of labour and
the party establishment. As premier, however, he gradually brought the party
towards the centre, making alliances with business and cutting financial
ties to organized labour.

He uses buzzwords like consensus and inclusion, words that James uses
frequent! ly in her speeches.

And he keeps his list of political promises short.

In an interview after the fundraiser, with James sitting by his side, Doer
balked at being described as pragmatic or a moderate.

He uses only three words to describe his style. "Focused, prioritized and
do-able."

But is what he is doing so revolutionary?

At the January fund-raiser, James praised Doer as an innovator.

"Manitoba has risen to become one of Canada's most successful and
progressive provinces. A province that is leading in innovation and change
and providing a model for the rest of Canada in terms of what can be
achieved when New Democrat values are put into action," James said of Doer.

She said she wanted B.C. party members to "reflect on how we meet the
challenges of the 21st century while building on our core values."

But according to Raymond Hebert, political science professor at College
universitaire de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg, Doer has not championed change:
His success has more to do with making changes around the margins while
maintaining the status quo.

Doer has a keen sense of what the public wants, an optimistic personality
and a knack of avoiding confrontational issues, all personality traits that
have little to do with policy.

Hebert describes Doer as a political centrist who would r ather provide good
government than apply ideology-based policies.

"Any criticism he has run into has tended to come from the hard-liners
within his own party who say, 'Our time has now come.' "

A weak Conservative opposition has also helped maintain Doer's popularity.
Winnipeg Free Press columnist Frances Russell recently described the six
years of the Doer government as "the longest honeymoon in Manitoba history."

But can Doer's success as a politician and as a strategist in re-shaping his
own party be exported to B.C.?

"It depends on the l eader, the credibility of the leader and how well-known
the leader is," Hebert said.

University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff said James faces a
challenge in convincing the electorate that the Doer-inspired changes she is
proposing are real. Polls show support for the NDP has returned after the
2001 electoral loss, but that James loses the "best premier" contest to
Gordon Campbell. Almost half the people surveyed in a December Ipsos-Reid
poll said Campbell would make the best premier, while only 35 per cent said
the same of James.

"She is still an unknown quantity. Her main problem is visibility around the
province," Ruff said.

By identifying with Doer, he said, James is trying to con! nect the B.C.
party with a successful NDP government, rather than its own past performance
in this province.

"But bringing in Doer also sends the message she intends to be more
pragmatic," he said.

Rob Fleming, a James supporter who recently won the Victoria-Hillside
nomination for the NDP, said he sees a clear link between James's agenda and
the Doer government. He said Doer initially focused on bringing balance to
government, but that there are elements of activism, particularly over
environmental and educational issues.

"Those are things you are going to see in our platform as well," Fleming
said, adding that big spending is out.

"In terms of a costly entitlements-based approach to government, that is not
p! art of the Doer program."

The major change Doer made in the way politics works was to ban union and
corporate donations to all parties. James has pledged to do the same if she
is elected.

Doer cautioned her that she will be in for a fight over the issue.

"The big issue we had was banning union donations," he said in the
interview. "What we did was controversial with labour in Manitoba. It's less
controversial today than it was when we did it. But it allows us now, when
we bring in something for workplace safety and health, no one can say 'This
is a payback for something else.'"

"For us, it does two things: One, it levels the playing field but it also
decreases the cynicism about why we make decisions.

"It's a tough road," he said, turning to James. "That's a tough debate
within our party."

James has already had run-ins with labour. She did not fare well in one, an
initiative to review the party's relationship with organized labo! ur. It
was shuffled off to a committee and will not be dealt with until after the
election.

But when unions tried to sway her from delivering a middle-way speech at
December's B.C. Federation of Labour convention, she stuck to her guns,
telling delegates she intends to consult with business as well as with
labour if elected. Choosing the Fed convention for such a speech sent a
signal within the party and organized labour alike that, despite the tabling
of the official review, she is intent on remaking NDP's relationship with
labour.

"She was not swayed from her message. I did not expect this degree of
toughness from her," said long-time party member and communications
consultant Brad Zubic. "A lot of this goes on behind closed doors."

James acknowledges there is resistance to her direction.

"Change isn't easy. You are always going to see that kind of debate as you
move forward," she said of the labour issue.

The fundraiser itself illustrated the impact labour has on the party. The
cost of renting Yaletown's Roundhouse community centre was paid in part by
the B.C. Federation of Labour and the United Food & Commercial Workers
Union.

And an incident near the end of the evening illustrated that despite all
James's talk about "inclusion," the party still has deep ideological splits
that influential members are reluctant to abandon.

In the same breath that one of the speakers, Vancouver park board chair Eva
Riccius, praised Doer as a premier "whose main interest is bringing people
together," she laid open the latest division to split the left: Vancouver
Mayor Larry Campbell's decision to distance himself from his more
ideologically committed colleagues on council.

"I see we've got friends of Carole James here. We've got friends of Premier
Doer," she announced. "We've got lots of friends of the various NDP
candidates who are running in the next election. Do we have any friends of
Larry Campbell here tonight? Oooh, actually I'm not sure. Maybe that's why
he went to China."

ghamilton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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The B.C. NDP: Following in Gary Doer's footsteps:

Carole James proposes:

1. End union and corporate donations to political parties.

Gary Doer's record: Yes

2. Make regional health boa! rds more accountable in their communities.

Gary Doer's record: Yes

3. End privatization of assets, especially health care services.

Gary Doer's record: Some movement towards this.

4. Establish a permanent economic advisory council that would include
business, labour, academics and regional leaders.

Gary Doer's record: Yes

5. Require government advertising to be subject to guidelines established by
a non-partisan committee.

Gary Doer's record: No

6. A government that is accountable.

Gary Doer's record: Yes in theory, but no specific mechanisms.

7. Govern through consensus and "finding common solutions to common
problems."

Gary Doer's record: This has not been a particular explicit theme, but it is
the way Doer has governed.

8. Reach out to the business community.

Gary Doer's record: Yes ... although some controversial legislation,
especially in labour law.

9. Fiscal responsibility. "The NDP under my leadership will balance the
budget."

Gary Doer's record: Yes -- all budgets have been balanced, with the proviso
that the auditor-general disagrees with some of the exclusions.

10. Expand opportunity by increasing access to universities and training
facilities through ending tuition hikes and restoring educational spending.

Gary Doer's record: Tuition freeze has been in effect most if not all
years -- educational authorities, especially universities, are disappointed
with the funding increases, and want the government to restore their right
to raise tuition.

Source: Gordon Hamilton, with assistance from Raymond Hebert


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