Right in the centre- NDP in the wilderness

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Published on Thursday, January 5, 2017

Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The once mighty New Democratic Party of Manitoba is floundering. In power from 1999 to 2016, the party once was a powerhouse that neither the Progressive Conservatives nor the Liberals could even challenge, let alone beat. The NDP came to power in 1999, for the third time in history, by way of a coalition of labour, social activist groups and public service unions. Gary Doer, who worked briefly in the provincial civil service and then became president of the Manitoba Government Employees Union (MGEU), rode that gig into the leadership of the NDP. What many people don’t know is that Doer waffled for a while, as he considered if he would go NDP or PC. He obviously decided to go NDP, but it wasn’t always a done deal. Doer was a coalition builder who surrounded himself with tough guys, who were his enforcers. Women didn’t play a big part in his coalition, a number of vigorous women politicians left the Doer fold over his tenure.

The NDP bid for power in Manitoba had its roots much further back than Doer. For the first 70 years of the 1900s in Manitoba, conservative minded governments ruled the province. Regardless of the name, be it Liberal, PC, United Farmers of Manitoba or Progressives, the governing parties were all pretty much conservative in policy. The last Liberal government of D.L Campbell was liberal in name only. The succeeding Roblin government was a modernized version of the conservative movement and spent a pile of money on roads, schools and the Winnipeg Floodway. 

When Roblin decided to go into federal politics, Walter Weir took over and the perception of Weir being more old-fashioned helped bring the NDP to power.  Lead by a charismatic, young Edward Schreyer, the NDP party of what were then the young bucks of politics, swept to victory in 1969.

The NDP have always been a coalition, albeit an illegitimate coalition. When they come together in their conventions, they have delegates from each constituency, just like any other party at the provincial or federal level. Like other parties, they have some special or ex-officio delegates such as sitting MLAs. However, the NDP do a classic double-dipping when it comes to delegate selection, as the unions also have a set number of delegates. Sometimes, a third of a convention is made up of delegates who have no real mandate from a constituency, except that they are union members. 

In the last NDP leadership convention, there were so many designated union delegate spots that the unions had trouble filling all the positions. I attended that convention as a reporter and it was amazing to watch the convention within a convention. The local constituent delegates seemed to wander around wondering what would happen, but the labour delegates were marshalled into set groups and were lead about to vote strategically. The unions got their way and kept Greg Selinger as leader, even though that didn’t seem to be the popular choice.

The inflated number of delegates is symbolic in many ways. The inflated number of delegates is like the inflated number of employees that are in many unions. There are more people employed by the government than we can afford. There are perhaps more people employed by the government than we actually need. Sad to say, but most governments have inflated employee numbers.

Without the enforced participation of union numbers in the NDP ranks, the party likely would never have gotten into power and certainly would not have stayed so long. The designated union delegated system overpowers the one member, one vote system that is in each constituency. MLAs are elected to represent a geographic area, not a union, any more than they are elected to represent any other organization. The unions have gotten away with direct, designated and enforced participation in elections in a way that would never have been open to the Chamber of Commerce or a manufacturers association. To force the point, if the unions can have designated delegates at the NDP convention, then why doesn’t the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association? The unions need to get out of politics in the same way as corporations are forbidden to get directly involved in politics. The concept of one-member-one-vote must not be distorted and ambushed by designated union delegates. 

Whenever a person loses their right to an independent opinion, democracy is poorly served. The current NDP model has served democracy poorly and today, they are paying the price. Until they put democracy back in their operation, as well as their name, they deserve to stay in the wilderness.