NB NDP Leader Resigns Amid Unhappiness With Fed Party Position On Syria

Yes, another doom and gloom anti-NDP thread by Mr. Scarborough himself. How much does the Liberal party pay you?

Mighty Middle wrote:

From October last year

New Brunswick NDP leader’s proposal for a bigger Canadian role in Syria reflects a division running through the party over how to achieve peace

http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/new-brunswick-ndp-leader-argues-f...

I guess since the federal NDP voted in favour of that very process for Libya one should look at the results to gauge the overall effect of the policy. Libya is in chaos and the people are at the mercy of roving gangs of armed militias while none of the Western NGO's have been able to kickstart anything that even vaguely resembles a democracy.. What did the people of Syria ever do to us for anyone to wish the same fate on them?

Here is a USIP assessment.

Quote:

Five years after Libya’s dictator Moammar Gadhafi was deposed in a popular revolution, the country remains trapped in a spiral of deteriorating security, economic crisis, and political deadlock. Trust in the nation’s weak government institutions has fallen to an all-time low as political elites, unable to agree on even a governmental structure, deploy armed militias to control territory and economic assets. An additional challenge comes from ISIS and other violent extremists exploiting the situation to expand operations in Libya. Still, civil society organizations remain active and committed to laying the foundation for a unity government capable of rebuilding the state. Meanwhile, a new, internationally recognized Government of National Accord—the product of a two-year, United Nations-led process—continues its struggle to establish legitimacy and a measure of control beyond the capital.

http://www.usip.org/publications/the-current-situation-in-libya

As someone who's never been to New Brunswick and is looking at this from Québec -- wow, how far to the right is Dominic Cardy? That little screed looks like it could've been written by Mike Harris.

And the fact that under Mr. Cardy's exemplary leadership the NBNDP remains seatless and in FOURTH place in the polls has nothing to do with his "principled" decision to resign, of course.

Which federal NB riding will Justin hand him a Liberal nomination for 2020 in, then?

Here's his full statement:

Dominic Cardy wrote:

January 1, 2017

Fellow New Brunswickers,

When I ran for leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party I challenged my party to become genuinely progressive. To break the network of patronage and bailouts that has undermined our province. To make our province fair, free, and wealthy.

The NDP we built since 2011 attracted lifetime New Democrats, reform-minded Liberals and Conservatives, and others who had never been inspired to run for office. We spoke hard truths: Wasteful government spending threatens the poor and social programs we need just as much as reckless tax cuts. Giving handouts to companies while cutting education is not economic development, it’s social vandalism. We need a strong government, not a big government.

We worked across party lines and got NDP authored bills passed into law – a Canadian first for a party with no seats. With a team of young volunteers and dedicated staff we cleaned up a party massively in debt, chronically disorganized, and deeply undemocratic in its operations. Today the NDP is debt free, the most organized provincial party, and runs according to clear rules.

I am so proud of the work my team accomplished. We ran a team of outstanding candidates and ran on a platform widely acknowledged as the best in 2014. We won more votes than any NDP campaign in New Brunswick’s history. We earned equal billing with the Liberals and PCs. We spooked the Liberals to the point they ran ads against us: I’ll take that as a compliment! We did it all on a shoestring budget, showing we were serious about being good stewards of people’s money. But we could not break the two-party cycle.

Since the disappointment of 2014 I have been honoured to win a leadership review at convention and votes of confidence at Provincial Council meetings. However, some New Democrats unfortunately believe change and openness have had their time. They want to return to an old NDP of true believers, ideological litmus tests and moral victories.

Some of these people, with support from certain leaders of the province’s largest public sector union, have tried to bend and break the rules, abusing new members and trying to undermine the democratic will of the party. They have served notice that, no matter how many votes they lose, they will continue to organize. Not to win elections, but to fight endless internal battles.

As leader, this leaves me with a difficult choice: Reward bad behaviour and adopt a protest platform or marshal the team to win yet another vote. The first choice was never an option. I will not be part of offering our province another set of bad, discredited, ideas. The second choice would exact a toll on party volunteers and staff who have been subjected, from 2011, to unacceptable abuse.

Today I have the resources to win a leadership fight, as I have won every fight before, or to win an electoral breakthrough. I cannot do both.

Today the NDP faces a rerun of 2014. Limited time and energy is being wasted on infighting before the election. That contributed to our loss in 2014 as it will in 2018. Those same destructive forces continue their sterile battle, ignoring the will of the party they claim to champion, using language from the 1930s and policies from the 1970s. There is nothing progressive about this behaviour.

The NDP is a one-stop shop. When you join the provincial NDP you join the federal NDP, whether you like it or not. Recently the federal NDP abandoned its proud history of internationalism, declaring itself a pacifist party. In a world where liberal democratic values are under threat from religious and political extremism and Canada confronts challenges from aggressive authoritarian regimes pacifism is a dangerous, extreme, and immoral position. The federal NDP’s statement that the conflict in Syria is “not our fight” goes against everything I believe: we live on a small planet with a responsibility to look after each other.

I cannot lead a party where a tiny minority of well-connected members refuse to accept the democratic will of the membership. I cannot continue as a member of a party that has abandoned internationalism. Therefore, after a Christmas of reflection with family and friends, I am resigning as leader and as a member of the New Brunswick NDP, effective January 1, 2017.

I grew up in New Brunswick. I love this province. Being leader of this party, having the chance to meet people in every corner of the province, to share their struggles and successes, has been the best experience of my life. We have the people we need to succeed; we still need a political vehicle to drive us where we need to go. I had hoped the NDP was that vehicle and, alongside many talented and caring people, I did my best to build it.

I have always been clear that parties are less important than ideas. I am stepping away from the NDP but I remain a New Brunswicker who loves this province. I look forward to fighting for my team’s ideals in new ways. Thank you to the team who worked alongside me. Thank you to the tens of thousands of New Brunswickers who voted for our vision of a better province.

We did our best. Thank you for the chance to serve,

Dominic Cardy
– 30 –

The difference is Hazen Argue could get himself elected. Why would the other parties bother with Cardy? The federal Liberals will have no or very few vacancies, and the Conservatives will need candidates with personal popularity.

And once Hazen switched parties, HE only got elected once.  They put him in the Senate for helping hold the NDP vote down in the Prairies in the 1962-65 era.

Reading his statement it's clear that he's a super Blairite.

josh wrote:

Reading his statement it's clear that he's a super Blairite.

I see no evidence of the NDP as a 'pacifist' party. On the contrary, it's bellicose boostering of imperialism in  Libya, Ukraine and Syria, (esp sanctions, White Helmets etc)  frequently exceeds that of the government itself. NDP = No Difference Party.

I dwelt on the assertion about the NDP being "a pacifist party" because in making that claim, Cardy has given the Liberals and the Conservatives a devastating attack line to use against the NDP at the next federal election.

To a lot of voters, the claim that a party is "pacifist" automatically delegitimizes that party.  It shouldn't(there's no reason Canada couldn't have a government that rejected war other than the defense of Canadian soil from external attack), but it does.

War as-an-extreme-last-resort needs to be kept in the policy offer...but this can still include a recognition that war is pretty much always a tragedy and a failure and nothing whose outcome should ever again be celebrated by anyone.

Cardy wrote:

However, some New Democrats unfortunately believe change and openness have had their time. They want to return to an old NDP of true believers, ideological litmus tests and moral victories.

Some of these people, with support from certain leaders of the province’s largest public sector union, have tried to bend and break the rules, abusing new members and trying to undermine the democratic will of the party. They have served notice that, no matter how many votes they lose, they will continue to organize.

Pardon my skepticism, but I don't think Mr. Cardy actually gives a shit about the people of Syria.

The largest public sector union in NB is undoubtedly CUPE, right? So does anyone closer to the scene know what those contradictions are about?

aka Mycroft wrote:

Cardy won't rule out return to politics, jump to PCs:

 

Cardy said Monday he had been thinking seriously about resigning over the past six months and when he saw Blaine Higgs chosen as Tory leader, it made the decision easier.

Cardy said it's not so much about political parties but ideas for him, and he has a great deal of respect for Higgs. He said he could consider joining the Conservatives before the next provincial election.

"If I have to choose between (New Brunswick Premier Brian) Gallant and Mr. Higgs, Blaine Higgs is an honourable person who has the best interests of the province at heart. I don't believe that about Mr. Gallant," said Cardy.

 

Yet he still hung onto his job.

Don't know much about NB politics but it sems like Cardy has largely been unsucessful as leader so maybe him leaving will turn out for the best for the NBNDP? 

Cardy's parting words rile foes within NDP

"His style of leadership has not been constructive in terms of building bridges," Fullerton said. "He's been mostly burning bridges and alienating a lot of people in the party."

Fullerton's riding association passed a motion last fall calling for Cardy's removal.

Under NDP rules, a leadership review vote takes place at every party convention. A convention was expected in 2017 and Fullerton said he expected Cardy to lose. 

"He has taken a different route than to go out gracefully," Fullerton said.

[...]

Patrick Colford, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour and an NDP supporter, agreed that "two camps were doing their best to mobilize people … and one camp might have had a bit more momentum," he said. "You can read between the lines." 'I've got no time for this idea that a huge central government, ever-expanding, is what it means to be progressive.' - Dominic Cardy, recently departed NDP leader ​Colford said many union members were disappointed when Cardy and his allies changed party rules to remove seats on the party executive set aside for organized labour. "There was of course some backlash," he said. "The people I surround myself with were a little taken aback. … Labour's always been a big part of the party and to see that happen at the time kind of left a bad taste in people's mouths." Cardy also spoke out often in favour of government spending restraint, which unions saw as an attack on their job security and pensions. Danny Légère, the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in New Brunswick, said Cardy "seemed to want to take the party more to the right, which didn't always line up with our vision of the party."

[...]

Another controversial move among some New Democrats was Cardy's recruitment of former Liberals and Progressive Conservatives to run as candidates in 2014. Took different approach Mount Allison University political scientist Geoff Martin, who ran for the NDP in the 2003 provincial election, said Cardy acted as if party tradition and principle didn't matter or were interchangeable with other parties. New Democrats might have accepted that if it had yielded seats in the legislature, he said. "It's when the strategy works so poorly or doesn't deliver the promised results." Légère said that's why he was planning to support the leadership review vote. Cardy "hasn't been able to have an NDP member elected to the provincial legislative assembly."

This must have been a shock for him. He joined a social democratic party and then found that there were actual social democrats in the organization. How awful for him.

At this point, are the NB Greens considered to be to the left of the NBNDP?

He was acclaimed leader; his only opponent was disqualified. Under Cardy, hyes, the Greens would have been to the Left of the NDP.  NB is a strange province. Often, the PCs are to the left of the Libs.

Haha!  Yes, no sympathy for them at all -- turkey bacon is an abomination.

I suupported Cardy's disqualified opponent. Let's say  many of us thought that the disqualification did not pass the sniff test. I don't think DC ever was endowed with dictatorial powers. Those to the left of him continued to critique him during his leadership tenure. The critique was pretty much suspended or muted during the last election campaign. The Party should have accepted his resignation after the last electeion when he tendered it.

Stockholm wrote:

Wasn't his opponent disqualified after it came to light that he had a plethora of social media postings defending rape and pedophilia? In any case, the guy passed away not long after Cardy became leader

http://rabble.ca/babble/atlantic-provinces/nb-ndp-leadership-race?page=2...

genstrike wrote:

jjuares wrote:

This must have been a shock for him. He joined a social democratic party and then found that there were actual social democrats in the organization. How awful for him.

Is it just me, or does this beg an important question.

Imagine a vegan joining a bacon eating club, ... 

This is silly. People act as if individuals politics and the evolution of that is totally static.

Not to mention that there are a lot of contending and very different ideas out there about what social democracy is. (And you cannot simply issue edicts that some are not legitimate.)