Vision Vancouver plots to split the NDP

There have been many rumblings inside the BC NDP lately. The members are clearly unhappy about the direction their party has been headed and the failure to win an election. The Take Back the Party initiative which is quickly gaining momentum hopes to push the party to the left. But not all the criticism is coming from the left. Now, it appears that several prominent supporters of Vision Vancouver (many of them members of the NDP) are considering the launch of a new party altogether. The Vision Vancouver folks seem to think that the NDP is too left wing as it is. They believe they can repeat their civic success at the provincial level; they are mistaken.

It is difficult to imagine anyone believing that the NDP isn’t already in the middle of the road. The last provincial election saw both major parties pushing their rhetoric to the center in an attempt to pick up undecided voters. This strategy did not work for either of them, and we witnessed the lowest voter turnout in BC’s history. But somehow, key members of Vision Vancouver have determined that there is wide opening for a provincial political party in the center of the political spectrum.

The Vision Vancouver group has made it clear that they plan to attend the NDP’s convention in November to “inject some of that Vision energy” into the party. But if they don’t get their way, a new provincial party could be in the cards. This is not surprising given the history of this bunch. After finding themselves in a minority in Vancouver’s Coalition of Progressive Electors, they left en masse and set up their new civic party. They also left COPE with the election debt that many of them had run up to get elected. It is alleged that they then (illegally) used NDP and COPE membership lists to sign people up to their new project. They bullied the Coalition of Progressive Electors into running just two candidates in the following election. Knowing that members of COPE had put their homes up as collateral for the election loans, they used the debt as a bargaining chip in this charade.

With this in mind, it is clear that Vision Vancouver’s electoral success was not due to their politics, but to their back room maneuvers. The previous right-wing city council had done everything possible to pave the way for a victory of the left. In the last days of the NPA’s rule, even the right wing turned on Mayor Sam Sullivan and he was unable to secure his nomination. But one thing is clear, if COPE had run a full slate of candidates, there would not be a Vision Vancouver city council today.

Now with Vision Vancouver in office, it is clear that there is really no such thing as a “center” party. When the capitalist system is failing on a global scale, anyone who defends it is pushed to the right, willingly or not. We now see that Gregor Robertson’s promises of ending homelessness in Vancouver were as empty as a Pigeon Park Savings account. This supposedly progressive city council has spent hundreds of millions of dollars bailing out Olympic projects. Their latest initiative to clamp down on free speech during the 2010 Olympics includes a ban on leaflets, posters, protest signs or megaphones in key parts of the city. Under capitalism in the 21st century, there is no such thing as a third way!

The creation of a new provincial party that tries to put on a left face, while defending the interests of big business could prove to be a disaster for working people in British Columbia. Such a party would only serve the purpose of securing a fourth victory for the BC Liberals. But there may be a silver lining to this cloud. A move like this may also pull some of the worst elements of the NDP along with it. The right wing of the party would likely line up behind Vision’s new initiative. This would force the party to take a harder left stand to differentiate itself from its new rival. That could lead to an opening for socialist ideas within the party and this ultimately is what will inspire working class people to get active. All those that would consider forming this new party were never really with us to begin with. And to them, I say “So long and good riddance!”