VICTORIA — A bitter and bizarre race among New Democrats vying for the party’s candidacy in the Cowichan Valley could leave the B.C. NDP at risk of losing its grip on what has been an Island stronghold.
NDP members will pick the candidate to replace outgoing MLA Bill Routley on Sunday. For the past several elections, winning the NDP nomination was like winning the election, because of the party’s base of support in that region of Vancouver Island.
But this time the NDP is limping into its candidate meeting with self-inflicted wounds, infighting and resignations.
“Democracy is messy,” said Lori Iannidinardo, a local regional director who is one of three vying for the nomination. “Not usually quite this messy, but it is messy. And we all know that. And what we need to do is do better.”
The NDP’s opponents, meanwhile, are circling. The B.C. Greens have recruited high-profile local politician Sonia Furstenau, who led the fight against pollution near Shawinigan Lake. The B.C. Liberals are re-running Steve Housser, who placed a surprisingly strong second in 2013.
The NDP’s woes began last month, when candidate Georgia Collins dropped out amid accusations she’d faced sexism and harassment. Collins blasted NDP headquarters for not protecting her, prompting a belated internal investigation from party brass.
The situation worsened Thursday, when riding association president Ian Morrison abruptly quit.
Morrison was furious that the NDP’s gender equity policy — which has proven hugely contentious — barred him from running because he’s a man. The policy says that in ridings where an incumbent male MLA retires, the replacement must be a woman or member of an “equity-seeking” minority group.
“In order to remove barriers for what they call the equity-seeking groups, they’ve raised barriers against heterosexual white males … and that’s the dictionary definition of discrimination,” said Morrison.
Morrison, who was Bill Routley’s campaign manager in 2013, blamed NDP headquarters for its “elitist” rules. He’s now running as an independent.
“It’s certainly not my intention to burn down the NDP, even though some people seem to think that,” he said.
The equity policy has proven divisive among NDP members. Some see it as a necessary way to increase diversity among candidates, while others view it as the party unnecessarily hamstringing itself from selecting the candidate most likely to actually win office.
The policy most recently flared up in Columbia River-Revelstoke, where Invermere Mayor Gerry Taft declared minority status to defeat a woman in a wheelchair for the riding’s nomination. He refused to explain his minority status even to local NDP members, but eventually disclosed he was bisexual amid complaints he was undermining the spirit of the equity mandate.
There are now three remaining candidates for the NDP in Cowichan Valley: Iannidinardo; Hannah Seymour, a former school trustee; and Leanne Finlayson, an assistant to the local NDP MP.
Finlayson is the partner of Doug Routley, the MLA for neighbouring Nanaimo-North Cowichan. Should she win, it wouldn’t be the first time the mid-Island has had partner MLAs. Jan Pullinger and Dale Lovick also represented the region while married in the 1990s.
The NDP won’t know for sure how much self-inflicted damage it has done until May 9. But whoever wins faces a tougher fight than in 2013.
“We need to rise above this,” said Iannidinardo. “And start being the progressive party that we are.”
The NDP’s sudden weakness in a once-strong riding has political opponents licking their chops.
Housser, the Liberal candidate, said the NDP’s problems chime with what he’s hearing that constituents are tired of having an opposition MLA with little influence or power.
“It may have changed it a bit, but I think there was already an appetite for change,” he said. “If you look at the Island, you have 14 seats and only two are Liberals, and I think people are recognizing there’s something wrong with that picture.”
Furstenau, the Green candidate, said the NDP’s issues don’t affect her optimism.
“We’ve aways thought I have an excellent chance in getting elected in this riding regardless of what the other parties are doing,” she said.
Furstenau said in the past few weeks she’s had traditional NDP supporters contact her, asking for signs and materials to support her campaign. “We have had people come to us and say you know what I have supported NDP all my life and I’m going to support you now.”
