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THE NDP HAS TROUBLES

Life isn't always fair. Just ask federal NDP leader, Jack Layton. He has relentlessly run up and down the country at break-neck speed since he became party leader in 2003, speaking before every available open microphone attempting to gain credibility, both for himself and his party. Of course, it doesn't help that Mr. Layton often makes inane comments, such as "marijuana [is] 'a wonderful drug" and that he would go further than simply decriminalizing cannabis, but would "legalize it with provisions for home use, use in cafes, and personal grow-ops". Further, he stated that "Canadians should be able to smoke pot without getting bothered by the law." If he follows his own advice, perhaps that might explain some of his more foolish comments. In fact, Mr. Layton pops up so frequently in the media on this and other issues, that he resembles a child's jack-in-the-box!

However, Mr. "jack-in-the-box" Layton is facing some serious problems. His party propped up the Liberal government last spring by insisting that the 2005 federal budget be expanded by $4.6 billion by the addition of NDP priorities, such as funding for the environment and municipalities. In October, Mr. Layton dourly warned the Liberals that unless Prime Minister Martin took action to protect medicare, his party will stop supporting them. This would result in a Christmas election. Thus, when the Gomery Report was released in early November, Mr. Layton, announced he would no longer prop up the Liberals. At the time of writing this article it is not known whether the NDP is merely using this refusal as a negotiating tactic to wrestle more goodies from the Liberals, or whether Mr. Layton is trying to actually distance his party from the Liberals because his party is disappearing into the Liberal's shadow by continuing to support them.

Despite all Mr. Layton's efforts to raise his party's profile, it appears that public support for his party has been more or less anchored at approximately 18% of the popular vote or about 19 seats. According to a Decima poll, conducted on October 13 to 17, 2005, the Liberal lead over the Conservatives had shrunk to 5%. However, a Strategic Counsel Poll for The Globe and Mail and CTV news conducted in the first week of November gave the Conservatives 31%, the Liberals 28% and the NDP zoomed up to 20% of the popular vote. An Ipsos-Reid poll conducted at the same time gave the Liberals 31% and the Conservatives 30% and the NDP 19%.

The Strategic Counsel polling company owned by pollster Allan Gregg, however, never seems to fail to come up with a poll in favour of the Liberal Party whenever it needs one. Thus, not surprisingly, on November 3rd and 4th a new Strategic Counsel poll, lo and behold, showed the Liberals had snapped back to 35% of the popular vote, the Conservatives at 28% and the NDP at a lowly 11%. There! That should stop the nasty opposition parties from calling for a non-confidence vote!

The difficulty is that polls are polls and change by the minute. They are not very reliable since much depends on the question asked and also on whether the polling is actually as "random" as it is supposed to be. However, all of the polls do indicate one unchanging fact - low numbers for the NDP. This indicates that the NDP would be fortunate to retain the number of seats it now holds in Parliament.

The troubles being experienced by the NDP today are numerous. They include:

1. Svend Robinson

Former NDP homosexual MP Svend Robinson plans to run in the next election in Vancouver Centre against incumbent Liberal Hedy Fry (she of the burning crosses in Prince George, "as we speak").

There is a good chance Mr. Robinson may defeat Ms Fry, and this spells trouble for the NDP caucus.

Mr. Robinson is a polarizing force and his presence will push the NDP out of the mainstream, where it has been desperately trying to relocate itself in the eyes of the general public.

Mr. Robinson, who was an NDP MP between 1979 and 2004, resigned his seat because he stole a $64,000.00 diamond ring intended for his boyfriend. Robinson claimed the theft was due to his suffering from bipolar disorder (manic depression), but admits that he takes no medication for his condition. Mr. Robinson received only a conditional sentence for his offence, along with 100 hours of community service. That is, he received neither jail time nor a criminal record.

It is astonishing that Mr. Robinson claims that his stealing of the ring was caused by his mental disorder, but claims that his disorder won't affect his judgment as an MP.

Party leader Layton accepted Mr. Robinson's decision to resign in April after the ring episode. However, Mr. Layton showed a remarkable lack of judgment and abuse of power in July, when he sent Mr. Robinson along with his boyfriend Max Rivéron to Edinburgh at taxpayers expense, to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. This was a free junket given to Mr. Robinson by the NDP for which Mr. Robinson was not entitled, since he had ceased to be an MP and could no longer represent Canada.

Mr. Robinson is not well liked within his own caucus because he is regarded as a brash, aggressive loner and a publicity hound. Some of Mr. Robinson's bizarre behaviour was listed in REALity, January / February 2004, p.4. These include being jailed for 14 days in 1994 for contempt of court, booing US President, Ronald Reagan in 1997 when he addressed the Canadian Parliament, enthusiastically endorsing, in 2002, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Iraq's Saddam Hussein. In 2001, he posed naked on the Internet in a fund-raising appeal on behalf of a conservationist group. The list of his eccentricities goes on and on, indicating both his lack of judgment and his insatiable desire for publicity. Consequently, the election of Mr. Robinson as an MP can only create problems for the NDP and its credibility with the Canadian public.

2. Loss of Nomination by NDP MP Bev Desjarlais (Churchill)

In October, NDP leader, Jack Layton, supported a 24-year old recent university graduate, daughter of a Manitoba cabinet minister, for the Churchill, Manitoba riding nomination against NDP incumbent, Bev Desjarlais. The latter had voted against same-sex marriage (Bill C-38) in June, despite Mr. Layton ordering his caucus to vote for the bill, with no exceptions. Immediately after the vote on same-sex marriage, Ms Desjarlais was punished by Mr. Layton by being relieved of her critic duties, and she has now been removed from her position as a candidate for the party in the forthcoming election. However, Ms Desjarlais remains unrepentant, stating that, "Discipline within caucus is a far lesser worry for me than my living with myself over something I believe quite strongly about." As a result of her loss of the nomination, Ms Desjarlais has now resigned from the NDP caucus, and is sitting as an independent in the House of Commons. This has reduced the NDP there to only 18 members. Ms Desjarlais plans to run as an independent in the next election. This means that there will certainly be a split vote on the left in her riding and, as a result, it is unlikely that the NDP will retain that seat.

3. Growing Conservative Religious Political Activism

The NDP is apparently being damaged by growing conservative religious political activism. Several Catholic NDP MPs received varying degrees of censure from their local churches for voting for the same-sex marriage legislation. As a result, NDP caucus members are trying to create some wiggle room for themselves by tabling a motion to create a Faith and Social Justice Caucus within the party to provide them with some cover when campaigning against what they refer to as our "right-wing brethren in the pews." They believe that the party must be made more inviting to religious "progressives" of all faiths, i.e. make room for a faith perspective within the party. As stated by NDP riding association president, Christopher Duncanson-Hines, for the Carlton-Mississippi Mills riding in Ontario, "Faith is becoming more important as an issue in public life, and I don't think we can ignore what's going on."

The faith motion is supported by MP Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie), who was relieved of all official duties in his local Catholic Church for backing the same-sex marriage bill. The motion for the "faith" caucus within the NDP was also supported by Catholic MP Charlie Angus (Timmins - James Bay) who was refused communion by his local parish priest for supporting the same-sex marriage bill. Deputy party leader Bill Blaikie, a United Church minister (Elmwood-Transcona, Manitoba), Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) and Quebecois party activist Pierre Ducasse also backed the motion to create the caucus. The motion to establish the "Faith" caucus will be debated at the NDP's next convention. The purpose of this proposed caucus, however, is not to re-open the party's debate around abortion, capital punishment, and same-sex marriage, etc., but rather to open up the social democratic spiritual floodgates to allow the party to expand its base and incorporate new immigrants with a religious background. MP Tony Martin is quoted as saying, "We ignore the growing conservative religious political activism at our peril!"

Whether the creation of the faith caucus will do the trick for the NDP, to offset the growing dynamic of conservative religious political activism, is debatable in view of the party's entrenched anti-life, anti-family policies, which are contrary to the views of the world's mainstream faiths.

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