I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but here is a more succinct statement of the programatic convergence between the Leap Manifesto and the NDP which was circulated at the party’s Edmonton convention.
-------------- next part --------------
Significantly, the only point of departure is over the development of the tar sands and the pipelines. The NDP policy book agrees with all of the Leap demands, save one - “stop developing extraction infrastructure”
Of course, that’s the cutting edge environmental issue today, especially in BC, where approval of Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion is expected to be approved by the federal Liberal government.
The NDP program is silent on the issue because, as you know, the Alberta NDP government wants to see the pipeline approved so it can market tar sands oil and gas to Asia - a bridge to nowhere, if there ever was one, since the tar sands will remain globally uncompetitive as oil prices remain low and renewables displace fossil fuels. The Horgan leadership of the NDP opposition in BC will duly fall into line once the Trudeau Liberals give Kinder Morgan the go-ahead since it will ostensibly be the result of a public consultation and further regulatory assurances which the party demanded.
We all wish Robert Fox well, but even with the best of intentions, he’ll face formidable institutional pressures from within the party and the unions in the oil and gas industry. Nonetheless, I agree with you it provides an opening for the pro-Leap forces in the NDP.
Also in the news: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/avi-lewis-ndp-leap-manifesto-1.3763855
> On Sep 17, 2016, at 2:05 PM, 'Richard Fidler' rfidler_8 at sympatico.ca [SocialistProject] <SocialistProject at yahoogroups.ca> wrote:
>
> [Attachment(s) from Richard Fidler included below]
>
> The NDP federal leadership has in fact taken some modest steps toward implementing the Edmonton resolution directing the party to debate the Leap Manifesto, although so far it is left to individual constituency associations to follow through on this initiative.
>
>
>
> Attached hereto is the Discussion Guide to the Leap that has been distributed to Electoral District Associations as a basis for discussion. It discusses each topic under three headings: first, “Relevant NDP Policy,” second, the specific Leap document proposal, and third, what the 2015 election platform had to say (if anything) on the topic.
>
>
>
> It is striking just how many of the Leap proposals were already in the party program in some form. However, as we know, many of these proposals adopted by the party membership in convention have in practice simply been ignored or deformed by the federal leadership and NDP provincial governments. To put it another way, however, equally striking is how most of the Leap proposals were not innovative, but simply reflected the common sense of a broad left that has developed in recent years and been endorsed by the majority of NDP members.
>
>
>
> The main strength of the Leap Manifesto is not in its specific proposals (the NDP document faithfully reproduces them) but in its overall presentation of its approach, which stresses the urgency of a radical change in course if we are to avoid climate catastrophe, and ties together the specific proposals as a strategic approach to the fight for “climate justice.”
>
>
>
> A public meeting held here in Ottawa last Thursday drew more than 200 people to hear the Leap Manifesto debated between Avi Lewis (one of the authors) and Prof. Thomas Homer-Dixon, who had attacked it in the Globe & Mail. The meeting was videotaped and I will forward the link to these lists as soon as it is available. The entire meeting turned into a debate over capitalism and whether and how we can replace it. Well worth watching. Lewis made a very strong defense of the Manifesto that was quite explicit in its anticapitalism.
>
>
>
> The Leap Manifesto was of course a compromise negotiated between the initial signatories. Avi Lewis told some of us in conversation after the meeting that the reason the Manifesto does not call for a complete shutdown of the Tar Sands, for example, was that Jerry Dias would not put Unifor’s signature on the manifesto if it did. Unifor represents many of the Tars Sands workers. Fuel for further debate....
>
>
>
> The appointment of Robert Fox as NDP national director is indeed a promising sign that the Leap debate will gain further impetus within the NDP. Like Marv, I worked closely with Robert in the 1980s in Nicaragua solidarity, and more recently we engaged in Cuba solidarity as well as other progressive causes.
>
>
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> From: SocialistProject at yahoogroups.ca [mailto:SocialistProject at yahoogroups.ca]
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 1:25 PM
> To: Socialist Project; Pen-L Economics; LBO
> Subject: [SocialistProject] Robert Fox appointed new national director of NDP
>
>
>
>
>
> Many of us knew Fox, a decent and capable individual, when he was active on the Ottawa left.
>
> Oxfam Canada, where Fox later became executive director, was an initiating organization of the Leap Manifesto, so it would be surprising if his comments about it were anything other than positive and welcoming.
>
> If nothing else, his appointment at the NDP's new national director might encourage ridings to sponsor discussions of the manifesto within the NDP, as mandated by the party's federal convention in Edmonton earlier this year.
>
> The party leadership didn't support and hasn't to date acted on the convention resolution, which was vehemently attacked by the NDP government in Alberta together with some unions tied to the fossil fuels industry. They want the party to take as much distance as it can from the Leap Manifesto.
>
> Fox recognizes the party is atrophying and needs to reach out to the environmental and other movements if it is not to be outflanked by the Greens and Liberals who are competing for the same constituencies on the centre left of the Canadian political spectrum.
>
> http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/09/16/NDP-New-National-Director/?utm_source=daily
>
>
>
> __._,_.___
> Attachment(s) from Richard Fidler | View attachments on the web
> 1 of 1 File(s)
> RenewalGuidebook-DiscussionII-EN.pdf
> Posted by: "Richard Fidler" <rfidler_8 at sympatico.ca>
> Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a new topic • Messages in this topic (2)
> On the web: http://www.socialistproject.ca
> VISIT YOUR GROUP
> • New Members 10
>
> • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
>
> .
>
>
> __,_._,___