CKNW Editorial
for May 9, 2001

If the present trend continues, the center left in this province will really be without a political outlet. All political parties are coalitions and the NDP are scarcely an exception to that rule. But the center left was the part of that coalition that sustained it, and on three occasions in our history, elected it. What if the NDP becomes simply the party of the left meaning mainly union leaders though scarcely even the majority let alone all of the
unions members?

If the problem was just in BC it wouldn't be quite so serious for the NDP but their malaise is national in scope. They are running a bad third in the industrial heartland of the country, Ontario, are chicken scratches in all the other provinces save Saskatchewan and even there look more like a Liberal Party than socialist. That, no doubt, is because Saskatchewan really doesn't have much of an industrial base.

So, two questions ... what happens to the NDP and if they cannot or will not re-invent itself, where does the center left go?

Federally it has already joined the Liberal Party. In fact, the decimation of the national NDP has been in large part due to the fact that as between the NDP and the Liberal Party, to the center-lefter, the latter looks more attractive. This is one of those dog chasing its tail things - as the people left the NDP its leadership tended to speak more for the far left which drove more center lefters out and so on. Because, unlike other national parties, the NDP considered itself to be an all inclusive federal/provincial party the hurt to the national party has been sorely felt at various provincial levels.
For the NDP to revive its fortunes in BC it has to cast off its big labour image and since that is about the only place it's getting its money these days, that won't be easy. Again it’s catch-22 - for unless the NDP does in fact shed its union made label, it will remain on the margins.

What about an alternative vehicle for the center-left? There seems at this point to be only one option - the Green Party.

It has several strengths and one serious drawback. The drawback? The hard core environmental strain which is the backbone of the Greens is seen by much of the center left as being anti jobs. You don't close forests and mines without there being a cost - and the cost is in jobs. Many communities with browned-off center lefters who have abandoned the NDP for a temporary support of the Provincial Liberals don't see the Green Party as a friend but as a clear enemy.

The plus side, mainly, is that outside environmental concerns the Green Party can become whatever it needs to become. It can be a left party – which would be foolish, or it can, as is likely, move to the center. Because it has no formal presence in the Canadian political spectrum the Green Party can, like the chameleon and despite its name, change to whatever hue best suits it.

The legislature will be full of Liberals. Many of them, after a year or two has past will - and you can depend upon it - be restless. Many of them will be middle of the roaders without a role. It is this group upon which the Greens might well decide to work. And watching this process unfold is what's going to keep all eyes on the political scene even though, on the surface, it might seem as if the Liberal Party has it all its own way.
Nature and politics abhor a vacuum - and there is and will remain a vacuum at the center and to the left of center that one way or another, in the next half decade, will be filled. The only question is, by whom?