Conservatives in Alberta always said the Alberta NDP was just a branch office of the federal NDP: A vote for Rachel Notley was a vote for Jagmeet Singh.They also said the NDP couldn’t organize a party in a brewery and that they were commies anyway.Upon the latter point, four years of Rachel Notley and a succession of policy failures from which it will take Alberta years to recover would later provide all the validation necessary: Guilty as chargedHowever, upon the matter of their corporate identity, the puffy-cheeked NDP response was consistently stiff-necked denial.They were their own masters dammit, so if you didn’t like how the federal NDP was enabling the Trudeau Liberals, you could still vote with a clean conscience for Notley and all who sailed with her. Not actually the pledge of corporate loyalty that Mr. Singh wanted to hear, but the best Alberta’s socialists could do with what they had.Now we find that even upon that claim, the jury is still out. Or at least, a King’s Bench judge remains to be convinced.Five years ago, Caylan Ford was running for the UCP. She believes that she was defamed at that time by organs of the NDP — among them, the weaselly Progress Alberta propaganda sheet — and misrepresented as racist, white supremacist and all sorts of other things that nice people won’t vote for.Who does she sue? Not us, said one. Not us either, said another. And so on, around a group of 14 potential defendants.In a decision on Ford’s shotgun $7-million defamation suit against the New Democrats Association of Canada — and multiple other defendants, including and particularly the provincial NDP — the judge has ruled: “The problem facing the Plaintiff is that her grievance, broadly speaking, is with the Alberta NDP, which is an unincorporated association. It is common ground that an unincorporated association does not have the legal capacity to sue or be sued.”These arrangements — a party that is unincorporated with an umbrella organization that is a legal entity — are not unprecedented. What is unique about this case however, is that the provincial NDP is responsible to a trust that apparently has no trustee. The irresponsible then, in the hands of the non-responsible. One's first thought is to wonder how it even functions? The second is that perhaps that leaves the Federal NDP Association, which is a legal entity, vicariously liable for the actions of its provincial namesake?Anyway, such is the problem for Ms. Ford. And so by order of King’s Bench, the Alberta NDP has 30 days to find somebody in their organization who was around at the time the alleged defamatory remarks were made to carry the can for them in the case, indemnify that person against the possibility of a hefty penalty if Ms. Ford wins, and then to inform Ms. Ford’s lawyers where to send the claim. If they do not, under the law, a judge has the power to pick somebody for them.And that is why the federal party, of which every Albertan member of the NDP becomes a member when they sign up, could yet be on the hook. For until such time as the provincial NDP entity, whatever it is, gets its legal status sorted out, the national party, reluctant and protesting, remains on the docket.A vote for Notley was a vote for Singh? Sure, say the UCP. And perhaps if Ms. Ford can’t sue the party of Notley because it isn’t a legal entity, she can still sue the party of Singh.It is a mess.What is worse from the NDP point of view, it is an unnecessary mess. Much as it may amuse conservatives to crack jokes about the NDP, for all our sakes this is not the sort of thing that should bedevil a serious political organization. No wonder the 2015 to 2019 years were a time of chaos, confusion and galloping debt.Conservative grass roots parties are legendary for their wearying constitutional conclaves. On the other hand, the final product is usually street legal. The Alberta NDP however, by whatever means it was put together, appears to have avoided this happy outcome.And thus, we return to the UCP jibes.Yes, they’re commies alright.And yes, they look pretty tight with the federal entity.And couldn’t organize a party in a brewery?It appears they couldn’t organize their own party, anyway.To think these people had the keys of the Alberta car for four years...
