British Columbia NDP leadership candidates Mike Farnworth, Adrian Dix, John Horgan and Dana Larsen await the start of a televised debate on April 9, 2011.DARRYL DYCK
It was an unemployed forest worker who gave MLA Bob Simpson the reality check that left-wing politics in British Columbia are old and tired and badly in need of a shakeup.
Mr. Simpson was a member of the B.C. New Democratic caucus when he visited the jobless mill worker in his Quesnel-area constituency in the Interior.
"I go door-knocking in 2009, and as an NDPer my response to people is, 'Look, if you get an NDP government in we'll take care of you while you're unemployed,"' said Mr. Simpson. "And the guy looks at me and says, 'Well, I don't want to be unemployed.'"
About a year later, Mr. Simpson was booted from the NDP caucus for publicly criticizing NDP leader Carole James. He now sits as an independent MLA.
His criticism sparked a public feud within the NDP that developed into vicious open criticism of Ms. James's leadership by 13 members of her caucus, forcing her resignation last December at a time the New Democrats were ahead of the governing Liberals in the polls after losing three straight elections.
Today, the B.C. NDP is looking for a new leader and a new direction.
Three James loyalists, Mike Farnworth, Adrian Dix and John Horgan, and long-shot marijuana activist Dana Larsen are seeking the party leadership on April 17.
The leadership contest, the recent feuding within the B.C. NDP and the changing nature of left-wing politics in British Columbia have party insiders searching for a new, progressive message.
British Columbians, meanwhile, are simply wondering whether the NDP is a governing alternative, or not.
Mr. Simpson said the B.C. NDP never took the time over the past decade - after the 2001 election defeat that reduced the party to two seats - to examine and explain what the party stands for and why it wants to form the government.
"As a consequence their default is always the anti-message," he said. "In many respects they just don't have a story to tell."
The B.C. Liberals, by contrast, have their right-wing story polished to a shine: cutting taxes, managing finances, reducing the size of government, slashing red tape and creating a competitive business environment, Mr. Simpson said.
"What is our tax messaging, other than getting back into a class war of saying tax corporations up the ying-yang," he said. "That doesn't fly with anybody after three or four decades now of 'taxes are bad.'"
Former NDP premier Mike Harcourt said the left in British Columbia is showing signs of growing up, offering an alternative voice on economic issues and promoting education and job skills.
He said the B.C. NDP is becoming more like the New Democrats in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where they are expected to be alternatives to government that put forward economic and financial policies that are realistic, because one day they may have to be implemented.
"You can't afford to put out silly ideas," said Mr. Harcourt, who has endorsed Mr. Farnworth for leader. "You've got to be prudent."
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, was adamant the left is alive and well, but Doug McArthur, a professor of public policy at Simon Fraser University, said the NDP needs to guard against becoming locked in a time warp of old left-right divides when class divisions are no longer as clearly defined.
The left is trying to define itself as progressive without being specific about what that means, he said.
"You have to put some meat on it. It's one thing to say we're progressive, we're the good guys and we'll do good things for people, but they have to put some specifics on how they are going to achieve that."
Prof. McArthur said the B.C. Liberals under former premier Gordon Campbell were able to move left on the environment and aboriginal issues, while still satisfying their business supporters.
"We're struggling," said Prof. McArthur, who has worked for the NDP in the past.
Political historian David Mitchell said the NDP and the left need to take a page from the Liberal book and move toward the middle, where most people's political sympathies lie.
"By and large, most British Columbians are not fire-breathing partisans and they are not ideological warriors," said Mr. Mitchell, a former B.C. Liberal MLA who now runs an Ottawa-based think tank.
"They occupy, largely, that middle ground."