August was a dramatic and busy month with the death of the federal Leader or the Opposition quickly followed by the start of the un-official NDP leadership race. Liberals, meeting to discuss party revitalization, quickly rejected the idea of a merger with the NDP and were smiling as that party's recently achieved prominence triggered internal turmoil that is all to familiar to the red party.
The late NDP leader - if one believes he was the true author of the "Letter to Canadians" - initiated it with the call for an early convention under the same old rules. More likely, party president Brian Topp was maneuvering for his own candidacy as he co-drafted the letter with the leader's staff, his soon-to-be widow and a very ill man who, within hours of death, was an unlikely active participant. Even earlier, the leader's inner circle was strategizing with the appointment of a non-entity as acting leader rather the promotion of the obviously better prepared and more qualified House Leader, Thomas Mulcair.
Rather than inspiring unity, the Letter to Canadians instigated instant conflict. The convention date and rules will be critical: will unions be allowed their continued special privilege and votes? will there be sufficient time for candidates to organize and sign-up voting members or will the party establishment win by default? will francophone voters be over-whelmed by west-of-Quebec party members? will closer ties to the Liberal Party and progressive voters be considered?
The Letter was clear in bolstering the NDP establishment, complete with its ties to the big unions. Whether it set-out the best strategy for a party seeking to move from opposition to government will not be known until 2015 but there are indications the near-term affect will be a divided and conflicted NDP.
All of this has to delight the prime minister and Conservatives. Rather than opposing the government, the NDP seems more likely to be concentrating on internal divisions rather than on reforming itself to appeal to more Canadians; the Canadians whose votes are needed to move the NDP closer to its goal of forming a federal government. Liberals can delight too, as the NDP is forced to adjust to a degree of scrutiny it has never known previously. Canadians hoping for an effective and cohesive opposition will not be delighted.
