Should the Alberta Party Participate in the Leaders' Debate?

With an election being held at some point this spring the perennial election question of which parties should participate in televised leaders' debates is rearing its head.

In the last few federal elections, and most provincial elections this question tends to revolve around whether the Green party should be participating in the debate. However this isn't the case in Alberta this time around, because the Green Party of Alberta was deregistered by Elections Alberta after failing to file financial disclosures. This time the question has to do with the Alberta Party.

For those who aren't familiar with the Alberta Party, they are a "centrist" party that basically came about after a group of dissident Alberta Liberals and red tories got together and took over the board of a small far-right political party known as the Alberta Party so that they wouldn't have to go through the usual party registration process. The Alberta Party has not come up with much in terms of concrete policy, instead claiming that they'll "listen" to Albertan's and make decisions on what their party supports along the way. They've struggled to gain much support - which is not surprising since most voters want to know what they're voting for, rather than a party that won't say how they'll govern until after they're elected. When they have been included in public opinion polls they poll somewhere between 3% and 6%, with the most recent forum poll showing them at 3% (with a 3% margin of error meaning it could be 0%).

The arguments for and against including the Alberta Party are similar to those that have been used regarding Green Party participation in debates. The percent of popular support the party has mostly counts against them at this point, unlike the federal Greens who were polling around 10% when they really started arguing to be included in debates the Alberta Party is currently polling at 3%, which puts them in the same league as the Social Credit, Alberta Separation Party and the Communist Party. Arguably if the Alberta Party is included in the debate then the So Creds, Communists and Separatists should be included as well.

Whether a party has seats in the legislature is often cited as a justification for allowing the party to participate in the leaders' debate. The Alberta Party does in fact have a seat which some would view as justification for allowing the Alberta Party to participate in the debate, but it should also be noted that the Alberta Party has never actually won a seat - the seat they possess in the legislature is held by Dave Taylor, a former Liberal MLA who left the Liberals in a huff when he wasn't given the leadership. The fact that their sole MLA is someone who crossed the floor from another party in my opinion cancels out any consideration the party should be given for having an MLA.

My personal opinion - let them in the debate, if the Communist Party, Social Credit Party and Alberta Separation party are allowed too.

*Sidenote: When I ran in 2008 the social credit candidate who was also running in the constituency was one of the most entertaining characters I've ever seen at a forum. If their leader is even half as entertaining as he was they should include him.

NDP Restores Online Convention Registration for Youth and the Unwaged

And the NDP has come to their senses and restored the ability for youth and unwaged delegates to register for convention online. It's good to see that all members are being treated equitably.

Petition to End Discriminatory Convention Registration Process

As many of you are now aware the party has banned youth and unwaged delegates from registering for convention online. If you weren't already aware check out my previous post on the issue here.

There is now a petition available which will be sent to party headquarters demanding that all members be able to register for convention online and that this age and income based discrimination stop. Please sign the petition here.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/end-discrimination-against-youth-and-unwaged-ndp/

NDP Adopts Discriminatory Convention Registration Process

Over the Christmas break I noticed something quite odd on the registration page for the upcoming NDP leadership convention, the option for youth and unwaged delegates to register online was removed. Now a notice has been posted at the bottom of the page saying that unwaged and youth delegates must phone in to register, the problem being that the number provided only seems to work during Ontario office hours - which means that many youth, and unwaged people are being totally shut out of being able to register for convention.

You can see the registration page here: https://secure.ndp.ca/register/index.php?language=e which has the small blurb "To register as a Youth or Unwaged delegate please call 1-866-525-2555 x.6001" at the bottom of the page

I have attempted to contact the NDP using the online form on their website, Twitter and voicemail (remember the number doesn't work after hours) and have received no reply from the party or explanation for this decision. They have also not responded to questions on the official Facebook event page asking why this decision was made. It seems that the party does not want to be forthcoming when it comes to explaining their decision to discriminate against young members of the party and those who are unwaged.

I have contacted each of the leadership campaigns through Twitter and e-mail asking them to look into this manner, and asking whether they thought that discriminating against youth and the unwaged in this manner was acceptable. So far only Romeo Saganash's campaign has replied indicating that they believe that all members of the party should be treated equally and should all have the same access to convention registration (update - the Nathan Cullen campaign has now also replied saying this doesn't seem right and will be in contact with the party). Someone from Brian Topp's campaign has told me that he has attempted to contact the party but has been unable to get a reply as well.

Most disappointing of all however is the lack of response from the New Democratic Youth of Canada (NDYC). The NDYC is supposed to function as an advocate for youth within our party, but they seem to have not really responded to this at all. I let one of the NDYC co-chairs know this was happening, and they told me they would look into but I have not heard back from them regarding why youth are not being permitted to register online. It is also disappointing that it appears that the NDYC is taking no action to encourage the party to reverse this discriminatory position.

One of the co-chairs of the New Democratic Youth of Alberta (NDYA) was able to finally get someone from the leadership campaign office to respond after several attempts at contacting them. Rick Devereux attempted to justify this discrminatory practice to the NDYA co-chair by saying that they wanted to talk to all youth and unwaged people because some people had abused the discount offered to youth and unwaged people. I think this is unacceptable. All youth and all unwaged people should not be discriminated against simply because a few people who are not youth, and not unwaged people abused the process - if anything this shows that youth and the unwaged should not be discriminated against, because it is not them who are abusing the process. To make youth and unwaged people phone and beg the party (during Ontario business hours only of course) to be able to attend convention for less than $300 goes against all values that the NDP holds. I personally think that Jack Layton, who did so much to advocate on behalf of youth and the unwaged would be ashamed to know that the party is not allowing youth and the unwaged to register for convention online. Rick Devereux and anyone else involved in the decision to discriminate against these two groups should be ashamed of themselves.

I was actually likely to register at the full cost for convention because I can actually afford it (this is what I have been doing for provincial events since I completed school). However now that I know that other youth and unwaged people are being discriminated against in this manner I will definitely be only paying the youth delegate fees in protest. I will also be reconsidering any future donations to the party, because why should I donate to a party that has targeted a group I belong to for discrimination? This also leads me to ask - if the federal NDP will discriminate against these two groups in this fashion how can we trust them to not target other groups for similar discrimination in the future? Will they begin requiring members of other groups to speak to them on the phone before registering for events so they can interrogate the member and "ensure that they are actually a member of that group?"

Update January 14th - 4:15PM : Nathan Cullen (or someone on his campaign) has responded to my e-mail stating that this does not seem quite right and will be contacting the party regarding this issue.

Update: Please sign the petition demanding an end to this discriminatory practice on the part of the party http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/end-discrimination-against-youth-and-unwaged-ndp/

Current NDP Leadership Rankings

This is currently how I think I'll vote. I'll provide more detailed explanations later:

1. Mulcair

2. Dewar

3/4 Saganash

3/4 Ashton

5. Topp

6. Cullen

7. Nash

8. Singh

Robert Chisholm Withdraws

I believe Robert Chrisholm made the right decision in withdrawing from the leadership race. While Chrisholm has experience leading the Nova Scotia NDP that would definitely be beneficial when it comes to leading the party his lack of French was a major handicap that he admits he would not overcome by March 24th.

Being fluent in French is an essential qualification for the leader of the official opposition. While it may have been acceptable for the NDP to pick someone who was not completely fluent as the leader in the past when it was the third party this is not something they can afford now - especially when over half of the party's seats are in Quebec. While it is possible that Chrisholm could be bilingual by the time the 2015 election roles around this is not really a risk we as a party can take at this time.

The ability to speak French is one of the key areas I am struggling with when it comes to whether to give Paul Dewar the #1 spot on my ballot. I'll admit my French isn't very good, but from what I can hear when he's speaking, and from what others have told me I'm not convinced he is fluent enough in French right now. However he does seem to be functional in it - and I'm sure he'll be very good by the time the 2015 election roles around. However I'm still not completely convinced that he knows enough to serve as leader of the official opposition with a sizeable Quebec caucus yet. It sounds like his French has improved since the beginning of the race, so perhaps he'll be able to show to me by March 24th that he's ready.

Thomas Mulcair

I'll admit it - Thomas Mulcair was likely near the bottom of my list when the leadership race started. However since that time I've been impressed by his campaign and his ability to connect with voters. He's now moved up to be jockeying with Paul Dewar for #1 on my ballot.

I'm particularly impressed with the stance Mulcair took near the beginning of the race advocating that all members of the party should have an equal vote in the selection of the leadership. In my view the one member one EQUAL vote method of selecting a leader is something every party should be following - and the NDP would have no excuse for picking one group and allowing them to have more votes than others (full disclosure: I'm a union member who would have benefited from having the weight of my vote increased)