New Provincial Political Party

Rumblings afoot about a new provincial political party that could defeat the BC Liberals' from the Globe and Mail last Monday by Justine Hunter


Frustrated by the performance of B.C.'s New Democratic Party, Vision Vancouver strategists are looking at turning their landslide civic electoral success into a centrist provincial party that can beat the B.C. Liberals.
The concept of a Vision B.C. party, still in its infancy, has been rumbling through political backrooms since the spring election consigned the NDP to the opposition benches – for the third time in a row.
By contrast, the fledgling Vision Vancouver swelled to one of the largest civic parties in Canada last November when former NDP MLA Gregor Robertson swept into the mayor's office with a centrist platform.
“I'm aware of the rumblings of ‘Is it time for a Vision B.C.?' ” said NDP MLA Bob Simpson. It is born, he said, out of questions about whether the NDP can be fixed: “One of the questions everyone legitimately has is, can you revamp and rebrand the NDP?”
In Vancouver, the traditional slates of left and right were largely discarded in last November's civic election. Mr. Simpson said both of the province's mainstream parties are threatened by the notion of a “third way” party.
Once the provincial election ballots were counted on May 12, the Liberals and the NDP found themselves deadlocked in their share of popular support – the results were virtually identical to the 2005 election.
Another key catalyst for the creation of a new party was that both mainstream parties lost voters by the tens of thousands as the province marked record-low voter turnout.
“I think all of us, every MLA in both parties, need to think hard and adjust, or we make ourselves vulnerable to a third party coming up the middle, capturing that disenfranchised vote,” Mr. Simpson said. “And they get government and we get the backbench.”
In the wake of the election, NDP Leader Carole James vowed to stay on as leader to reshape the party and reach out to disaffected voters.
Marcella Munro, an activist and former executive with Vision Vancouver, and a former communications strategist for the NDP, said the New Democrats could learn something from the civic party's success.
“There is room in this province for a voice that says the balance has tipped too far toward what's good for private enterprise, but we don't want to go back to just what's best for the unions,” she said.
Ms. Munro said the lesson from Vision Vancouver's success was that the voting public is looking for another option.
“It's about having a positive agenda. And I am not hearing it from the NDP.”
She said Ms. James has done little to reach out and learn from the success of the civic team, but that she and other Vision activists will go to the NDP's convention in November to see if they can “inject some of that Vision energy” into the party anyway.
The convention is not a leadership review, but it will be a chance to change the party's look. The NDP will elect a new party president and make other key executive appointments.
If that Vision effort doesn't take, she said, a third party will start to look more viable.
Senator Larry Campbell, the former Vancouver mayor who laid the foundation for Vision Vancouver, said talk of a provincial offshoot of the party is premature.
“I see, eventually, a central party in B.C.,” he said. “But you have to wait and see what happens at the next leadership convention for the Liberal Party of B.C.”
Gordon Campbell has not signalled he is stepping down after winning his third term as premier, but the senator – and he is not alone – suspects the Liberal leader will make way for a successor after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The B.C. Liberal party is founded on a coalition of federal Liberals and Conservatives. If the Premier makes way for a new leader who can't hold federal Liberals in the tent, the senator said, B.C. could be ripe for a repeat of 1991, when a revived B.C. Liberal party, led by Gordon Wilson, came out of nowhere and almost formed government. (The party would eventually be taken over by Gordon Campbell, absorbing the old Social Credit party and B.C. Reform.)
“You may find yourself in a Gordon Wilson moment, where you go from nothing to 17 seats,” Senator Campbell said. “That's not that far off.”