Well, this is not your father’s NDP, is it?It was no surprise when earlier on Saturday, the NDP gave Naheed Nenshi the nod to lead them on to victory in 2027.At least, that’s the prophetic script. The UCP will of course have other ideas and to some degree, having a well-organised opponent on the left ought to deter some of the UCP’s irreconcilable malcontents who, biding their time, still dream of knifing the premier.But who exactly is Nenshi leading? How is the NDP going to look after the new leader has finished with it? And what obstacles might he be facing?Who is he leading, then?Certainly, the Alberta NDP’s roots in the party of Tommy Douglas are still evident.Douglas was for nearly ten years during the 1960s the NDP’s first federal leader. At that time, it was the party you voted for if you had a union card. And while it’s hard to imagine Douglas, the part-time Baptist minister, finding much to talk about with today’s voice of Alberta labour Gil McGowan, the specific and considerable role of labour in the party apparatus is clearly defined in the party constitution.But the NDP is more-white collar than blue-collar these days. Yes, they still have their welders and their pipefitters but they have more teachers and health-care workers.Then there’s this odd urban Gen Z culture — the young professional woman living alone with only a cat for company in a downtown high-rise apartment. The beardy guys with the shoulder bags who dress like loggers but work in IT… Economically, they’re in the wrong party but the vague air of disapproval of everything that socialists affect, appeals to... what? Perhaps a vague sense of not having their expectations met?And so, especially after what must be conceded to be a spectacularly successful membership drive, the demographic has changed — urban, public sector, work-station based.Nenshi has shown before that he can connect with this internet generation. This should not be a problem for him. His people are now much more the people who shower before work, not after.But how will the NDP look, come the next election?Western Standard columnist Bill Marriott pointed out yesterday that Nenshi is likely to recast the image of the NDP “because the old school brand of socialism is so passé compared to his new personal brand of ‘purple progressivism.’ ”There's wisdom in that. The help-your-neighbour brand of prairie socialism has not been in vogue for some years. These days it’s about achieving power and dividing the spoils.Even wiser would be formally severing the official connection with the federal NDP. The UCP made much of the corporate entanglement between the provincial and federal wings of the party. Particularly, they accused federal leader Jagmeet Singh — generally derided for his enablement of the Trudeau Liberals — of being Rachel Notley’s ‘boss.’It was only to be expected that Notley would say he was no such thing. However due to the opacity of the situation, in the matter of Caylan Ford’s defamation suit, action has been commenced against both ‘branches’ of the NDP.This may take time to settle. For now, the Alberta NDP might consider a little ‘western separation…’ And by the way… the New Democratic Party hasn’t been ‘new’ since 1961. It wouldn’t be absurd if the party of Nenshi urged the proletariat to drop that and found the party a new name — an evolution that might well suit the new leader’s sense of personal significance, anyway.Third, what obstacles face Nenshi?One thing about both the NDP and parties on the right, is that unlike the federal Liberal party, they are equally a haven for true believers.If there is such a thing as a Liberal conscience, it is seldom allowed to hinder getting elected; they will say and do anything. Rather as the Douglas-McGowan conversation would be short, so too would one between the highly nationalist Laurier and the post-National Justin Trudeau.So, there is in many ways something charming about people who vote for what they believe in knowing they will lose — and dig deep into their pockets to pay for the privilege of a clean conscience.‘True believers’ is being kind of course, and can only be used when there’s not the slightest chance of the flat-earthers controlling government.What is far less charming is when these extremists do get control of an electable party. And it will be Mr. Nenshi’s most challenging business to see that the NDP’s ‘wokest’ social justice warriors do not control the party he leads, pushing it to support policies that roughly two thirds of ordinary people will not.He will have his hands full.There are, after all, spoils to be won and divided.
Well, this is not your father’s NDP, is it?It was no surprise when earlier on Saturday, the NDP gave Naheed Nenshi the nod to lead them on to victory in 2027.At least, that’s the prophetic script. The UCP will of course have other ideas and to some degree, having a well-organised opponent on the left ought to deter some of the UCP’s irreconcilable malcontents who, biding their time, still dream of knifing the premier.But who exactly is Nenshi leading? How is the NDP going to look after the new leader has finished with it? And what obstacles might he be facing?Who is he leading, then?Certainly, the Alberta NDP’s roots in the party of Tommy Douglas are still evident.Douglas was for nearly ten years during the 1960s the NDP’s first federal leader. At that time, it was the party you voted for if you had a union card. And while it’s hard to imagine Douglas, the part-time Baptist minister, finding much to talk about with today’s voice of Alberta labour Gil McGowan, the specific and considerable role of labour in the party apparatus is clearly defined in the party constitution.But the NDP is more-white collar than blue-collar these days. Yes, they still have their welders and their pipefitters but they have more teachers and health-care workers.Then there’s this odd urban Gen Z culture — the young professional woman living alone with only a cat for company in a downtown high-rise apartment. The beardy guys with the shoulder bags who dress like loggers but work in IT… Economically, they’re in the wrong party but the vague air of disapproval of everything that socialists affect, appeals to... what? Perhaps a vague sense of not having their expectations met?And so, especially after what must be conceded to be a spectacularly successful membership drive, the demographic has changed — urban, public sector, work-station based.Nenshi has shown before that he can connect with this internet generation. This should not be a problem for him. His people are now much more the people who shower before work, not after.But how will the NDP look, come the next election?Western Standard columnist Bill Marriott pointed out yesterday that Nenshi is likely to recast the image of the NDP “because the old school brand of socialism is so passé compared to his new personal brand of ‘purple progressivism.’ ”There's wisdom in that. The help-your-neighbour brand of prairie socialism has not been in vogue for some years. These days it’s about achieving power and dividing the spoils.Even wiser would be formally severing the official connection with the federal NDP. The UCP made much of the corporate entanglement between the provincial and federal wings of the party. Particularly, they accused federal leader Jagmeet Singh — generally derided for his enablement of the Trudeau Liberals — of being Rachel Notley’s ‘boss.’It was only to be expected that Notley would say he was no such thing. However due to the opacity of the situation, in the matter of Caylan Ford’s defamation suit, action has been commenced against both ‘branches’ of the NDP.This may take time to settle. For now, the Alberta NDP might consider a little ‘western separation…’ And by the way… the New Democratic Party hasn’t been ‘new’ since 1961. It wouldn’t be absurd if the party of Nenshi urged the proletariat to drop that and found the party a new name — an evolution that might well suit the new leader’s sense of personal significance, anyway.Third, what obstacles face Nenshi?One thing about both the NDP and parties on the right, is that unlike the federal Liberal party, they are equally a haven for true believers.If there is such a thing as a Liberal conscience, it is seldom allowed to hinder getting elected; they will say and do anything. Rather as the Douglas-McGowan conversation would be short, so too would one between the highly nationalist Laurier and the post-National Justin Trudeau.So, there is in many ways something charming about people who vote for what they believe in knowing they will lose — and dig deep into their pockets to pay for the privilege of a clean conscience.‘True believers’ is being kind of course, and can only be used when there’s not the slightest chance of the flat-earthers controlling government.What is far less charming is when these extremists do get control of an electable party. And it will be Mr. Nenshi’s most challenging business to see that the NDP’s ‘wokest’ social justice warriors do not control the party he leads, pushing it to support policies that roughly two thirds of ordinary people will not.He will have his hands full.There are, after all, spoils to be won and divided.
