Dear Ms.
Horwath,
We would like to first begin by formally congratulating you on your election as the new leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. The leadership campaign in which you participated was one of the longest and most expensive provincial
NDP leadership races in history, and your victory is a testament to your team’s organizational skills.
As you may be aware, our group was initially formed in response to the entrance fee for the provincial leadership race. We felt that a $5,000 deposit and $10,000 entrance fee was unacceptably high for a political party which purported to represent working class citizens. When one considers that the mean income for a Canadian family has been in the $50-60,000 range for several years, a $15,000 entrance fee makes it difficult for us as
NDP activists to argue that our party has some greater understanding of the needs of working people.
Following the initial work around the entrance fee, some of our members felt that the group ought to address what we felt were more comprehensive issues relating to party policy and governance. In a series of unstructured discussion groups, open to all
NDP members and others with similar view points, party members expressed their opinions on issues ranging from the party’s handling of the funding of separate schools in last election, the crisis in the auto sector, rights for LGBT and party governance. The members who participated in our discussions represented a broad cross-section of the Canadian left, from members of trade union organizations,
NDP activists and other progressive groups. There was a sense from many members of the group, rightly or wrongly, that the party was in some sense, out of touch with not only the broader public, but also with the
NDP membership itself. However, it is hard to evaluate the validity of this statement, since, as of the date of the writing of this letter, there are no public documents that we are aware of which outline the totality of
NDP policy to the public.
The lack of any detailed policies in between elections is a major concern for us. In our opinion, policy statements should not simply be released during elections, but should be available to the public, in print, and online. We should have a
comprehensive,
permanent and evolving platform. On the
ONDP website there are numerous calls for campaigns and certain bills or other activist work. There is not, however, a list of the policies, as voted on by members of the party at convention and articulated by the party staff. As of the writing of this letter, the Green Party, the Progressive Conservative Party and the Liberal Party all have their platforms available online. The lack of a publicly accessible platform document provides fodder to those critics who would suggest that we are simply disgruntled activists, lacking any vision or plan, as well as those who would argue that we are no different than the other mainstream political parties and that we would sacrifice our principles for political expediency.
A second topic that was frequently raised was related to election strategies. Many party members had reservations relating to the “push to win” strategy that prioritized certain
ridings for party resources at the expense of others. We feel that this strategy should be abandoned, as it has failed to produce any tangible results during an election. The
NDP should instead adopt a policy that ensures each riding association has the ability to reach every household in their riding at least once during an election campaign. We should force the other parties to have to engage us seriously in every riding in the province.
As we continue our work in the Ginger Project, we will continue to attempt to engage the party’s membership, as well as other activists and organizations outside the
NDP. Our hope is to continue to provide constructive feedback on how to best advance the causes that we are both fighting for: a society without severe income inequality, without discrimination on race, religion, gender sexual orientation or disability, and where each Ontarian has an opportunity to affect the government policies that effect their life, regardless of the size of their bank account. We look forward to carrying on our struggle together.
In Solidarity
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