The Socialists: NDP 101

THE New Democratic Party (Nouveau Parti Démocratique) or NDP is left-of-center in Canada’s political spectrum. At present, it has 36 Members in the House of Commons, the second most in number and, as such, it is the Official Opposition, the first time in its history that it achieved the influential status. Thomas Mulclair was elected NDP Leader in 2011, following former leader Jack Layton’s death.

The NDP was founded in Ottawa in 1961. The party was formed from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). At its core are populist, agrarian, and socialist philosophies: the New Democrats champion “the people” in favor of the elite; they campaign for equal land distribution; they stand for social equity and strive for a mixed public-private economy by way of collective decision-making, income distribution based on contribution, and public ownership of capital and natural resources.

Advocacies

• Human rights protection; workers’ and aboriginal peoples’ rights; LGBT equality.
• Environmental protection and international peace.
• Public interest over corporate interest; increasing corporate taxes and decreasing taxes for small businesses; reducing poverty and class inequality.
• Expanding funding for public transportation and health care.
• Better retirement and education plans; national dental care and child care programs; social assistance and unemployment insurance tailored to the citizens’ needs.

Recently

• The NDP leaked a 17-page document sent by and to Liberal Party members detailing a “quick-win” strategy to secure ethnic voters in the upcoming elections. The Grits’ “Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan” detailed strategies to woo the multicultural community into voting for the Liberals. The NDP criticized its language and its agendas to manipulate multicultural voters.
• The NDP is the main proponent behind the Climate Change Accountability Act, which aims to cut carbon emissions across Canada by 80% before 2050. The bill passed Commons in 2010. It was voted down in the Senate, but the NDP reintroduced the bill in 2011.
• The NDP lauded the United Nation’s global Arms Trade Treaty, which seeks to regulate international trade in arms, from guns to tanks and aircraft and warships. The NDP has historically favored international political intervention through peaceful efforts by the UN, as opposed to military action by the US. It has stood against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Canada’s military alliance with the US, Britain, and other western European nations. The party also disapproved of the North American Air Defence Agreement (NORAD), which merged Canadian and US air force.
• The past several years saw the NDP at its most influential under the leadership of the late Jack Layton. A city councilor of Toronto for 20 years, Layton was elected NDP leader in 2003. His popularity brought the New Democrats into the Official Opposition in 2011, the largest Opposition in the past 31 years. In 2005, Layton took $4.6 billion in corporate tax giveaways from the budget and allocated it instead to housing, job training and public transit. Layton died of cancer in August 2011.

Thomas Muclair, leader of the New Democratic Party. (Photo by Paul Chiasson, The Canadian Press)

Thomas Mulcair

Mulcair was elected March 24, 2012 with 57.2% of the vote. He was born in Ottawa and raised in Montreal. A lawyer, a professor, he worked at Legislative Affairs in Quebec’s Ministry of Justice and in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Superior Council of the French Language. In 1983 he was named Director of Legal Affairs at Alliance Quebec, a group that lobbied on behalf of English-speaking Quebecers.

In 2003 Mulcair became Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks in Quebec. He launched Quebec’s Sustainable Development Plan. Among its propositions: that to live in a healthy environment was a human right. The plan was adopted unanimously in April 2006.

Mulcair became Jack Layton’s Quebec lieutenant in 2007. He was elected as the MP for Outremont in 2007, 2008 and 2011; with Libby Davies, he was appointed deputy leader of the NDP.

Mulcair stands strongly for a more supportive free trade policy, in contrast with other NDP leaders. He campaigns against the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines; he favors, instead, a local pipeline to carry oil from west Canada to be refined in the east coast.

Trivia

Since 1971, the NDP has fought to end the “war on marijuana.” NDP introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession in 1971. In 1993, NDP MP Jim Fulton introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. In 2004, members and friends of NDP formed End Prohibition—the initiative intends to replace present restrictions and laws against cannabis in Canada with a “non-punitive system based upon accurate education, reduction of harm, regulated access and responsible use.” In 2011 and 2012, Deputy NDP Leader Libby Davies was a guest speaker at Vancoucer’s 4/20 Cannabis Celebration. Just last year, NDP Leader Thomas Mulclair confirmed that the party stands firmly for decrimininalizing marijuana, urging for “a national discussion that will focus on a non-punitive, regulatory approach to marijuana use.” (Source: Dana Larsen, founder of the BC Marijuana Party and now member of the NDP since 2003.)

NDP official website: www.ndp.ca

Sources: Wikipedia; thecanadianencyclopedia.com.