Has the B.C. NDP drifted too far away from its working-class roots?
That question recently emerged in the provincial legislature when B.C. Green Adam Olsen challenged the ideological direction of the party.
“This B.C. NDP government doesn’t offer a well-being budget that one would expect from a true social democratic political organization that they purport to be — the narrative of their rhetoric,” Olsen said. “Rather, they’ve become some orange-shaded Thatcherites. They have abandoned the impoverished and destitute, promoted a green-washed, fossil-fueled drenched propaganda while inequality grows on their watch.”
He made these comments just days after the New Democrats tabled their pre-election budget on Feb. 22 with a record-setting deficit of nearly $8 billion, billing it as “supporting people to build a good life in B.C.”
The budget includes, among other measures, an additional $4 billion for health care, one round of publicly financed in-vitro fertilization and several financial relief measures, albeit just for one year.
When asked how it feels to compared to the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who broke British labour unions in the 1980s and promoted neo-liberalims, B.C. NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon said it does not weigh on him.
“The name calling…is not a good thing to do, but it’s politics and we are going to to continue to do what we have been doing, which is investing historic dollars into making sure there is affordable housing available for people, supporting families through really challenging times,” he said. He added the B.C. Greens have opposed many measures provincial New Democrats have put forward.
University of British Columbia political scientist Stewart Prest said Olsen’s comments are political hyperbole, but that the B.C. NDP has in fact shifted its focus over the years.
“It’s an over-statement to say that the B.C. NDP does not look to speak to the concerns of low-income British Columbians, but what is fair to say is that they are really focused on trying to say that they are not just a party for low-income British Columbians, of working-class British Columbians. They want to be seen as a big-tent party of the left, but also of the centre, speaking to the needs and concerns of middle-income British Columbians.”
This focus on the political centre is evident in recent housing announcements such as BC Builds, Prest said, adding that the NDP are trying to show that they can help people from diverse backgrounds.
But does the NDP’s attempt to be a ‘big-tent party’ not run the risk of alienating voters, who are more concerned about immediate pocket-big issues rather than non-material issues like gender-inclusive language?
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“The short answer is yes,” Prest said. “We have seen this dynamic at the federal level. The Conservative Party of Canada has undertaken an explicit strategy of trying to appeal to labour voters, to voters who are members of unions,” he said.
Right-of-centre parties across Canada are “looking to speak to the dissatisfaction” among working-class voters, who feel that their interests are not being heard at the expense of issues like climate change or issues favoured by the “intellectual wings” of left-wing parties like inclusivity, Prest said.
Right-of-centre parties in turn try to stoke cultural divisions in appealing to voters historically associated with left-of-centre parties, he said.
“We are seeing this strategy seem to bear fruit at the federal level and it’s definitely a risk in B.C. as well,” Prest said. “I don’t think we have seen that movement yet in anything like the same degree here in B.C., but I think the NDP do need to keep that in mind.”
Prest sees provincial New Democrats trying to “make it impossible for anyone to say they are not doing everything they can,” especially in the area of housing, where the party enjoys a structural advantage.
“(They) are trying to make the case, ‘if you think this is an issue, where government is not doing enough, you are not going to find another party, that is willing to do more,’” Prest said.
At the same time, provincial Conservatives are clearly emulating federal Conservatives in arguing that “everything is broken, you need a new broom to come in,” Prest said. “That’s a time-honoured tradition in politics among all parties,” he said.
But if federal issues are spilling over into provincial affairs with provincial Conservatives benefiting from the coattails of the federal Conservatives, the extent of this spillover only goes so far.
The longer a party has been in office, the less it can blame existing problems on the previous government, Prest said.
“We are coming up on Year 7 of the BC-NDP in government,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to make the case everything is wrong because what the B.C. Liberals did. At a certain point, it is your record that you need to run on. That’s why we do see this focus really on doing everything they can to address these issues because they can’t say these issues are somebody else’s problem.”