Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:58 PM
Sid Ryan and the NDP
Adam Radwanski
I've generally avoided the Sid Ryan issue the past couple of days, because it's just too damn easy. Wherever you come down on Gaza, or anything to do with the Middle East, CUPE's call to ban Israeli professors from Ontario campuses is so inherently dumb - for the reasons enumerated by Andrew Steele - that it practically speaks for itself.
That said, Tim Powers did touch on a relevant and mostly ignored point the other day: How does Jack Layton play this?
It hardly seems necessary for Layton to publicly call out Ryan, as Tim suggests. He's not responsible for what past candidates for his party say or do in other capacities. But where he does have some responsibility, or at least clout, is in determining whether that past candidate is allowed to serve as a future one.
Ryan didn't run in the last federal election, but his political ambitions seem too strong to have been permanently set aside. This is a guy who's carried the NDP banner in five campaigns over the past decade, including the two previous federal elections - in which the NDP flooded his Oshawa riding with volunteers - and the last provincial one. He was probably just taking a break in 2008.
If so, we may soon get a test of just how serious Layton is about professionalizing his party.
If Layton is as committed to being taken seriously as his top strategist, he can't afford to have fringe members like Ryan running as high-profile candidates. Having wielded a fairly heavy stick against members who've strayed too far from NDP positions in the past, and having been quick to act against scandal-plagued candidates in the last election, there's no reason why he shouldn't be similarly merciless with those who veer into wing-nuttery.
Sure, the discipline of power - as hinted at by the aforementioned strategist - would be nice. But for the NDP to get closer to power, the discipline might have to come first.
