NDP hopefuls attract 300 to debate

By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published Oct. 4, 2003


A standing room-only crowd of almost 300 people came out to the Canadian Auto Workers Hall in New Westminster Tuesday night to meet the seven candidates vying for the leadership of the B.C. NDP.

And what they heard was a collection of mostly like-minded politicians who sounded upbeat and enthusiastic about their prospects of winning back many of the seats their party lost in the last provincial election, and even a few predictions that they might even form the next government.

"The question I've been asked the most is 'Why on earth would you run?'" said former Victoria school board chair Carol James, who probably had the largest group of supporters at the meeting.

James pointed to her family's NDP roots and her own financial management skills - she voted on 11 balanced or surplus budgets as a former school trustee - as some of her greatest assets for leading the party.

Financial prudence was a common theme for the contenders.

"In just two years of a Liberal government, they've run up as much of a deficit as we did in 10 years," said former MLA Leonard Krog.

"This province is in rough shape and who do we have to thank? Gordon Campbell, someone who I call 'The Dogkeeper.' That's because you've got 75 of the worst lapdogs ever assembled in British Columbia," Krog quipped to the loudest applause during the two-hour meeting.

Craig Keating, a college history instructor and North Vancouver city councillor, said he is running because the Liberals have broken many of their promises.

"We do not have to choose between economic prosperity and the principles we value," said Keating, who pointed to the Liberal record of 60 per cent university tuition fee increases, the loss of health care services and the closure of government offices.

Nils Jensen, a lawyer, pointed to his work as a social activist in countries as diverse as Haiti and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as his platform for leadership.


"Social justice, compassion and environmental responsibility - these are the values I bring to this campaign," said Jensen, an avid cyclist.

Steve Orcherton, another former MLA, said that he would make sure the NDP stays true to its left-wing roots. "The NDP has been going down the road of moderation for five years or more, and look where it got us," he said. "We've pushed away our support."

Peter Dimitrov, the lawyer who organized the Save B.C. Hydro petition which has garnered over 80,000 signatures in two years, said he would like to see the government put more focus on co- operative business ventures.

"We need a made-in-B.C. energy strategy rather than a continental strategy," said Dimitrov, who noted the province could also generate more business activity simply by investing more of the revenue from B.C. government pension funds in the province.

Candidate Mehdi Najari made the unusual step of calling on NDP members to reject the policies of the past, and pointed to the "closed-door" meetings between labour, government and business during the Harcourt and Clark governments as the main reason for the party's decline in popularity.

"Take the party back," Najari said. "Democracy is when you are present and demand your rights every day."

There were only a few differences between the candidates on the major policy issues facing the NDP.

Virtually every candidate spoke in favour of restoring the Ministry of Women's Equality, and except for Najari and Jensen, the candidates were in favour of continuing the party's formal ties to the labour movement.

The B.C. NDP leadership race was triggered earlier this summer when current leader Joy MacPhail unexpectedly announced that she was leaving politics to spend time with her family.

The leadership convention will take place at the Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver on Nov. 21.

ON THE ECONOMY

James called for a return to a progressive tax system, so the government has the resources it needs to build the infrastructure and provide the services it wants.

Dimitrov called for a series of regional investment trust funds so that resource revenues from an area can be reinvested into those communities, saying that the province has $50 million in pension funds and we're not using them wisely to invest in our province.

Najari criticized the NDP for using an economic model favoured by business.

Orcherton sparked some debate when he said the NDP should bring in "the same radical changes the Campbell government brought in, except in reverse."

Jensen said there are no quick fixes and it would be "reckless" to swing the pendulum back too quickly.

"It's about confidence," said Krog, who called on the government to embrace the green economy.

Keating said the NDP must set precise targets on exactly where it intends to spend any future tax increases. "We need to build this province again on a social contract."

ON SALMON FARMING

The candidates were almost unanimous in favour of renewing the moratorium on new fish farms, and favoured keeping farmed salmon either in completely enclosed pens, or else in on-land facilities.

"Our fish stocks in British Columbia are at enormous risk," said Orcherton. "We could well end up losing our fishing industry."

Dimitrov said a fish protection strategy must include a moratorium on oil exploration, an expansion of marine protected areas and stronger protection for key spawning routes. "We need to get more jurisdictional control over our coastal fishery."

Najari said offshore drilling must be banned, and society should move towards more green energy.

"I don't buy farmed salmon and I don't eat farmed salmon, it's as simple as that," said Krog. "What has happened to our wild salmon stocks is our canary in the coal mines."

Keating called for "clear labelling" on store-bought fish; Jensen said better forest practices and ratification of the Kyoto accord would help; and James chastised the Liberals because "they even took the word environment out of the ministry's name."

ON PHOTO RADAR

Most of the candidates said they would bring back some form of photo radar, with one exception.

"I'm not convinced that speed always kills," said Dimitrov, adding that he would support lowering the blood alcohol limit for impaired drivers to 0.06.

"I was a huge fan of photo radar. Unfortunately, it was as popular as stealing children," said Krog.

Orcherton said photo radar was good public policy because he got one photo radar ticket, and never got another.

And Jensen, who was a crown prosecutor responsible for photo radar cases, said he "wholeheartedly" supports photo radar, even though it was previously set up in a political fashion.

James said public education is needed to teach young people the dangers of speeding.