NDP need to look at electability
By Bill Phillips
The Conservatives have the middle-aged white guy demographic covered in Cariboo-Prince George so it’s understandable the New Democrats are going in a different direction.
So far three people – two women and a First Nations man – have put their names forward for the NDP nomination. Prince George residents Debora Munoz and Trent Derrick along with Williams Lake resident Laura Zimmerman are seeking the party nomination. Whoever wins the party nomination later this month will go up against Conservative Todd Doherty and whoever the Liberals and Greens put forward.
With incumbent Dick Harris not seeking re-election, the riding is, as they say, “in play.”
The key to whether the Conservative lock on things gets shattered lies in the candidates. For the past few elections neither the NDP or the Liberals have put forward a good, solid, electable candidate. And that makes the difference.
So, are any of the three seeking the NDP nomination electable?
Munoz has, at least, has been elected. She was elected to Prince George city council twice. However, following her involvement in the Brian Skakun document-release scandal, voters turfed her out of office in 2011 and a re-election bid in 2014 also came up short. She also sought the provincial NDP nomination in Nechako Lakes in 2012, but came up short.
She has been elected, but following her latest attempts, seems desperate to get back into politics.
Derrick has a similar path in terms of being elected. He ran, unsuccessfully, for city council in 2008 and again last year. So, having a couple of failed election bids under one’s belt makes it tough or, at the very least, provides some ammo for the competition.
However, Zimmerman, according to her website, hasn’t run for any kind of office before this. And, while we’re at it, neither has Doherty, the Conservative candidate. I don’t know much about Zimmerman and therein is her challenge … becoming known in Prince George.
When I lived in Williams Lake, I hated the fact that Prince George carried the day when it came to politics. It is, though, the reality. Politics is about name recognition.
Munoz certainly has name recognition, at least in Prince George, but that name carries some baggage. She has a strong labour movement involvement, so that can help her win the NDP nomination. However, more is needed to win the general election.
That’s where Derrick has some strength. He is not your stereotypical NDPer, in that he doesn’t come out of the labour movement. He is a business owner. That can be appealing to voters who don’t want to vote Conservative but aren’t enamoured with labour either.
Derrick is also First Nations. It could make him appealing to large segment of the riding’s population … a segment that doesn’t flock to the voting booth en masse. If Derrick can mobilize First Nations voters, it could make things very interesting.
Zimmerman’s website states she has a diploma in business administration and is a certified educational assistant.
She helps mental health patients back into communities or supported environments. She has also worked in an aboriginal high school, teaching life skills, nutrition, and mentoring. She moved to Williams Lake three years ago so, while she likely has support there, she needs to become known in Quesnel and Prince George to have a realistic shot at anything.
And the campaigning has definitely begun. I’ve seen Derrick at several community events over the past few months, usually in the company of Bobby Deepak, who ran for the NDP provincially in 2013 (another unsuccessful campaign). Getting known is half the battle. Munoz announced on her Facebook page that she was “recruited” by the federal NDP to run, inferring that she is the pick of party brass in Ottawa. Turns out it was a “key” member of the local riding association.
Are any of them electable? Local New Democrats have less than a month to decide and rather than looking at who best fits the party mold they should be looking at who is electable.
Then there are the Liberals, or not.
Bill Phillips is a freelance columnist living in Prince George. He was the winner of the 2009 Best Editorial award at the British Columbia/Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards, in 2007 he won the association’s Best Columnist award. In 2004, he placed third in the Canadian Community Newspaper best columnist category and, in 2003, placed second. He can be reached at billphillips1@mac.com
Comments
“So, are any of the three seeking the NDP nomination electable?” No.
regardless of who the NDP get in for the race they will not get my support
Harper has all but destroyed Canada as we know it, his time is up. So be interesting in the months ahead for sure and would not count out the Libs, NDP.
It’s like going to the movies and deciding which one will suck the least, for your time and money.
In Canada we vote someone out, not someone in
Steph 100. Perhaps you should say Harper has destroyed Canada as you knew it. That would make more sense. He certainly hasn’t destroyed it for millions of Canadians who voted for him.
Time to wake up and smell the coffee.
The only thing than can stop the Conservatives from winning Prince George Cariboo, and Prince George Peace River, is complacency.
If the women come out and vote in the numbers they did in Alberta , harpers and his harperettes will be handed their hats and coats.
But I think the thoughts in the blog is intriguing.
It is of my opinion that Debora Munoz has a bit of political baggage from the scandal with Skakun. This unfortunately will haunt her.
Laura Zimmerman, even thou she may be great, the name recognization will come into play.
Trent Derrick, Appears to be very clean cut, and is reasonably well spoken. Thus, I think he will likely be the best candidate for the job.
I believe he will give the local NDP the best representation against a non encumbent. Since his first appearance in 2008 to 2014, Trent has become a lot more polished, and will have no problems negotiating his way thru the world of politics.
Funny thing about politics – it becomes addicting. I hope for Debora’s sake that she walks away from the madness if she is unsuccessful this time.
For the first time in my life I didn’t vote at the last federal election. I’m one of the unfortunate few who really felt like there was no one to represent me. Don’t trust the Conservatives, won’t vote for the rabid NDP’ers. And the Liberals “parachuted” a candidate in.
Will be interesting to see what happens this time round.
And please, please don’t anyone lecture me about if I don’t vote I should keep my mouth shut. I’d rather be true to my beliefs than a hypocrite.
Why is it we have had a Conservative government for so long. Cause folks keep voting them in. Why? Because the two other parties just don’t cut it.
it is high time the “old white guy” got the boot and bring in a new way of representing the North. If we want them to be electable all we have to do is get out and encourage others to as well and vote for them. Conservatives and Liberals have done us no favours so why the reluctance to look at other parties candidates I don’t understand.?
Posted on Monday, June 1, 2015 @ 11:34 AM by Grizzly2
Why is it we have had a Conservative government for so long. Cause folks keep voting them in. Why? Because the two other parties just don’t cut it.
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It’s largely because the right united their parties, while there are multiple parties out there who represent the center left. I say center left because IMHO the current conservative party does not represent those who would self identify as being central on the political spectrum.
If the center left ever united and was represented by one party, the would never lose power in Canada. The actual voting trends and results prove that.
To me, this suggests that those in the center left put the political fortunes of their own party ahead of the political desire to govern the country with such a philosophy. I’ll give the conservatives credit for dealing with that barrier. It’s time for the other side to do the same.
I am really concerned with the extreme conservative views of Harper, and the civil rights that is being relinquished to the security systems. I think Harper needs to check in with the people and reality.
I am wondering what to do. I don’t want Trudeau in power because the west will get bent over. So that leaves me the Socialist NDP or the Dictator Harper that will look after the west.
What a tragedy our country is in.
It’s not so much that I will be voting “for” the NDP, I will be voting “against” this, and a mountain of other crap, our country has had to endure:
Canada is falling in world governance rankings because of the Harper majority, report finds; “Among the key reasons: the Senate expenses scandal, weakened environmental laws, and a lack of commitment to “evidence-based decision-making,” says a global ranking of sustainable governance released on Thursday by Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation.”
www. theglobeandmail.com/news/national/tory-majority-linked-to-canadas-slip-in-governance-rankings/article18547974/
Canada’s drop in world governance ranking, is just a drop in the cesspool bucket this Harper government has put our country through. Between now and October 19th, I will be doing my level best to expose ALL of the Harper government’s “failings”.
Great idea NMG.
I hear this “extreme conservative views” attached to Harper – but really no listing of what they are. What I do know is this. They said when Harper came to power, women would lose the right to abortion – hasn’t happened. Gays would lose their rights – they gained same sex marriage. In fact, many evangelical Christians are shaking their heads wondering why they backed Harper, as they saw him as their “messiah” to drag Canada back from it’s “apostasy.” He has disappointed them greatly – which is the antithesis of what you would expect of someone with extreme conservative views.
It was Liberal Prime Minister Trudeau who used the war measures act and suspended everyone’s freedom. It was Liberal Trudeau who attempted to usurp Alberta’s oil and gas resource. It was Liberal Chretien who first refused to do anything about Omar Khadr. In fact, Liberals had up to 2006 to do something about it.
I’m not particularly fond of Stephen Harper, but I think it weakens an argument throwing out the word extreme without explaining what you mean by extreme. As far as I can see, he’s about as good or bad as most of them.
The reality is this. Whoever represents us, will very likely go to Ottawa and be sat down and told “when we need your opinion, we’ll tell you what it is, now go find your office and be quiet until we call you.”
Good points NMG. My experience with the local NDP is that they don’t have a clue as to what the constituency association need to do to win an election. They had no idea on the constitution or what the bylaws were about.
Cheers
Hah! Phillips’ assertion that “for the last few elections neither the NDP or the Liberals put up a good credible Candidate”…that’s just too rich!!!! So what Phillips is saying is that NDP and the Liberals had seven elections to put up a credible candidate and couldn’t find one……what a cop out for Phillips to say something as stupid as that……hey Bill, why don’t you just admit that Harris had what it takes to get elected and try as they may, the NDP and Liberals couldn’t defeat his popularity.
Or is Phillips trying to tell us that every one who voted Harris into the job for seven consecutive terms are stupid???
Methinks Phillips would sooner cut off his arm to avoid writing anything that gives Harris any credit for holding this riding for 22 consecutive years….
So Harris is leaving…I predict Phillips will do whatever he can to discredit Doherty…while he is doing whatever he can to “pump” anyone who runs for the NDP….
Bill…your colors have been showing for years….drinking too much orange Kool Aid I think.
“Harris had what it takes to get elected and try as they may, the NDP and Liberals couldn’t defeat his popularity”
Really? It’s been said that a rock and stick could be nominated by the Conservatives in both Prince George and area ridings, and the rock and stick would still get elected… so what does Harris’s popularity have to do with him getting re-elected? No, a loyal Conservative vote is based on an ideology; which is both faith based and corporate / business based. Nothing outside of these two realms exist in their world. Facts, truths, and evidence are of no reasonable importance, and use, to them.
My previous comment referred to the Harper government’s lack of commitment to “evidence-based-decision-making,” as one of the reasons Canada is free-falling downward in the world governance rankings. Of what use is “evidence” to ideologues? This is why the Harper government muzzled all our government scientists; ideologues don’t need evidence based science, facts, or truths on which to base important government decisions. Same with the long form census, why would an ideologue government need to base important economic and social policies on statistical facts? No, they continue to make important decisions based on what?? None of us will ever know. It’s a la, la world in Harper Land.
So it’s safe to say that for 22 years PG-Cariboo got Dick. :-)
I wonder if some of the posters on this site would like some cheese with their Whine.
PG Cariboo, and PG Peace River have been Social Credit, Reform, and Conservative ridings for many many years. The NDP or the Liberals will be pretty hard pressed to put forward a candidate that can defeat them.
Ski 51. I agree with a lot of what you posted. When it comes to Chretian and the Liberals we forget the **Red Book** and the fact that the Liberals when elected would get rid of the Free Trade Agreement, and the GST. Hmmmm. So much for that line of crap.
The Conservative party (contrary to popular opinion) gets a huge amount of its campaign financing from individual donations, not as some people think primarily from business or corporations.
They get more donations every year that the NDP and Liberals combined. Some people might want to ponder why this is so.
Want a breath of fresh air . Want intelligent people running the government . Want fact based decisions . GPC . That’s where you will find those things . The other three losers are not going to give you anything but the status quo . Little Stevie blunder is so shit scared of Elizabeth May the he’s willing to run away from 48 years of Canadian tradition , the consortium debates . Shame on you again coward , closet dweller . You are the anticanada.
The only way to eradicate, from our country, this festering boil that is the Harper government, is to vote strategically through ABC (Anything But Conservative). Whatever federal riding you live in, vote for the candidate that has the best chance at beating the Conservative candidate. If we do this across the country, we won’t split the vote, and more Liberal, NDP and Green candidates will get elected. This is not about uniting the centre – left, this is about voting strategically to ensure we are rid of this cancer called the Harper government.
As the October 19th election date draws nearer, I will be commenting on ABC in more detail.
I hear you Sophic . I will hold my nose , again . Anything but the anticanada .
But my donation is going green .
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