Adrian Dix stays on as BC NDP Leader

As I personally suspected and in a press conference held today, Adrian Dix stated that he would stay on as Leader of the BC NDP

View the article from CBC British Columbia here while Mike Smyth of the Province writes on this subject here and former NDP MLA David Schreck writes on this topic here

Meanwhile - watch Mr. Dix address the topic below:




Dix has now called for an comprehensive review of the 2013 Election Campaign and "no stone will be left unturned".  In addition, there is the BC NDP Party Convention this fall which includes a Leadership Review.  Should Dix either step down then or be forced out - there begs the question of:

Who then next as BC NDP Leader?

A couple of obvious choices include Mike Farnworth of Port Coquitlam and John Horgan of Juan de Fuca.  Both Mr. Farnworth and Mr. Horgan are very effective communicators and hopefully Dix will make use of these two gentleman in the 40th Parliament of BC

The NDP have no real reason to rush into a Leadership Race as the next election (at this point) is on May 8th, 2017.  Sufficient time to review the entire 2013 election campaign (and no, you can't blame it 100% on Dix, in my opinion) and determine what steps need to be taken to ensure no repeat of the 2013 Election Campaign for the next election campaign.  In my opinion, the Leader of a political party doesn't solely make for a bad election campaign.  It is usually the result of mis-steps by many to make a election campaign go south.  Methinks that the NDP Party faithful will say that it was Dix's first election campaign but the question will be -- Should you change party leaders after an election loss, like Carole James in 2009 and hope that the change is sufficient to get an electoral win at the ballot box in 2017.  I don't think the answer is that simple when you talk about winning in a province that typically has "divisive politics".  As a BC Liberal - I will be interested to see how the NDP struggle internally with the issue and where they take it...  but let's be clear - simply hoping for a win because of a change of leadership will not, in my view, improve your chances at the ballot box.  A successful election campaign has many elements to it, aside from a very good political leader who is able to connect with not only their supporters but with the 'undecided' vote as well which was roughly 20% in this recent provincial election.  A successful election campaign also needs to put good policies forward and communicate them with the 'apolitical' public in a way that they understand

I should add the BC Conservatives' should be (if not will be) going through the same process themselves like the BC NDP.  Unlike the BC NDP however, it is likely that John Cummins will resign his post and call for a new Leadership Race which the conclusion of this race could result in a better performance for the Conservatives' in 2017