PUBLISHED IN THE VANCOUVER SUN
November 24, 2009
This weekend, Carole James will gather several hundred New Democrats in downtown Vancouver and try to figure out how to break the losing streak.
It’s an important opportunity for her to show that she has a plan not only to attack BC Liberal weaknesses over the next three years, but also to show the NDP is preparing for government by confronting and mitigating their own vulnerability.
Just six months after a disappointing election, winning in 2013 may seem inevitable for New Democrats surveying the landscape in the fall of 2009. For the first time since 2004, the NDP enjoys a healthy lead over the BC Liberals. Gordon Campbell’s apparent inability to recover from dishonesty about the HST and the budget deficit have created an historic opportunity to break apart, perhaps permanently, the BC Liberal coalition between centrist urban voters and more conservative folks in suburban and rural communities.
There’s a chance that New Democrats can engineer a tactical victory in 2013 just by leveraging public anger to drive a wedge between these two groups and winning the election with a minority of voters. The problem is this is not a recipe for government with sufficient political capital to make meaningful progress in cleaning up the messes of the Campbell government.
The NDP cannot really end the losing streak until they form a true majority government with the stability to make real and lasting progress. And to do that, James has to make some changes.
The BC NDP under Joy MacPhail and Carole James has come a long way from the wipeout of 2001, but too many voters, even some of those who support the NDP, still don’t trust them to manage the economy. A majority of voters know New Democrats share their values on and will stand up for health care, protection for the vulnerable and the environment, but these are ideal qualities for an opposition party. Government is expected to balance these values with prudent fiscal management and private sector economic development.
There’s the rub. The fact is voters think the NDP just doesn’t get the economy. And the economy is a pretty big deal. It may not always show up as top of mind in polling, but voters have come to expect fiscal competence as a prerequisite for parties aspiring to government.
Around the world, social democrats who have confronted their own economic weakness head on have established stable, popular and progressive governments where the social and environmental gains New Democrats crave were actually achieved — along with private sector job creation, economic growth and responsible budgets.
It’s time for James to do the same. Starting this weekend.
Changing public perception about the NDP’s ability to manage the economy competently will take time and concrete action. It can’t be put off until the three months leading up to the next election. And right now, the conditions are perfect.
After years of taking credit for an economic boom led by factors outside the province, the Campbell government is now facing tough questions about their handling of the deficit and response to growing unemployment. For the first time since 2001, British Columbians who have tended to vote BC Liberal, including leaders in the business community, are coming to the conclusion that these guys may not be all that good at managing the economy — the one and maybe only thing they were supposed to be really good at.
These voters are now open to an alternative, but they need to know that the NDP has changed their take on economic management.
James needs to do more to reach out to business leaders and build the partnerships her government will need to ensure a strong economy that benefits all British Columbians, not just friends of the Liberal Party. She needs to recruit candidates with financial and economic credentials to form a cabinet that will ensure the long-term economic stability needed to make lasting improvements to health and education. She needs to build relationships with economists and governments and bring forward the best of their ideas and experience to develop concrete plans for government that combines competence with caring.
In short, she needs to show that she can reach out and build a government-in-waiting with some real economic experience. This team will bring the new ideas and wider base of support the NDP seeks right now, but most of all it will show the NDP can be trusted to balance social and environmental progress with a strong economy.
And one that happens, the shutout will be over.
David Bieber was director of party communications for the BC NDP from 2003 to 2009.