Decision, Decisions: NDP Leadership

After all these months after we lost Jack Layton, with the NDP struggling with Nycole Turmel being overshadowed Bob Rae in the Liberal party, this weekend is the make or break occasion to get a new leader to take charge and lead my party into a position to harry Harper and take him and his cronies on in 2015. So, the NDP Leadership convention this weekend.

The problem for me is that I don't know who I want to go with and a lot is riding on this weekend. For instance, I want the party to keep to Tommy Douglas' ideals and principles, but that won't mean as much if we don't win power. So, I'm in a delicate balance of ideals and pragmatism that would determine the fate of this nation I don't want to mess my contribution up.

The problem is that I have not been able to see or listen to any of the debates and I haven't heard all of the interviews of the candidates on CBC Radio One, not that Thomas Muclair actually bothered to give one. So, I'm down to a few basic things I know about each of them, coloured by my prejudices and personal stands I cannot compromise.

So, I all I can do is list the candidates and give my feelings

• Thomas Muclair: He is the front runner and he is a established NDP veteran in Quebec and we need to keep our seats there if we are going to win.  However, his proposal to push the NDP to the center feels a violation what the party was created to be, the voice of the Left in this country and screams of Tony Blair's betrayal of the Labour Party in the UK that ultimately led him to be a toady to George W. Bush for his Iraq War based on lies. Yet, the Toronto Star, my favourite newspaper endorses him and they make a good argument of why we need him, even if Ed Broadbeat has made his potential job harder. At the same time, the fact that he refused interviews for CBC's The Current or The House is a black mark that says a lot of things about his attitudes and his openness.
• Brian Topp: He is the mastermind who enabled Jack to take Quebec, was endorsed by Ed Broadbent and he has the strongest commitment to electoral reform to bring in proportional representation. On the other hand, he is not a sitting MP and that is a major factor that will hamper his effectiveness in the House.
• Nathan Cullen: He stands out for his idea of cooperating the Liberals to some degree to help defeat the Tories.  There is a lot to be said about that, but I am wary of the threat such moves would lead to some kind of coalition to the point of the Liberals absorbing the NDP and killing Tommy's dream once and for all. Still, Harper has gotten this far by divide and conquer and we have to take action to stop that.
• Paul Dewar: I like his ideals, but his weakness in speaking French would make putting him in charge a perceived slap in the face of the Quebec wing and we cannot afford that.
• Peggy Nash: Just that interview on the House in which she refused to seriously entertain the possibility of reversing the Tory and Liberal corporate tax cuts kills my support.  Jack pulled some real victories fighting those stupid tax policies that have eviscerated our public services and I will not have that stance thrown away, pure and simple.
• Martin Singh: Some of his policies sound sensible enough, but the fact that he pushing his supporters to have Muclair as their #2 choice undercuts his credibility for his independence in my eyes.
• Niki Ashton : She is a very articulate woman who has a real fire that represents the NDP's new strength and has a good understanding of where the party has to go, but she is relatively new at this and I think she needs more time under her belt to be a serious candidate for the the next leadership race.

So, all I have is essentially some half-heard facts and more gut feelings which I doubt are pure and admirable by any stretch, but I'm down to a few days to decide and I hope I can make a good call for myself.