Meet the New Dissidents

And the first day of MPP school for the Class of '22

Jun 16, 2022

ABOVE THE FOLD

It’s a moment of reckoning for the NDP.

After losing nine seats, including some traditionally-held ridings in the last election, the Orange ship is rudderless now that leader ANDREA HORWATH has resigned. Now, the soul-searching begins, and includes grassroots organizers who formed New Demo Chat, a weekly forum that operates outside of the party apparatus and against top brass in the hopes of creating a truly democratic system.

I caught up with some of the founders, JESSA MCLEAN, local riding association president and ex-candidate from York—Simcoe, and JAY WOODRUFF, disability advocate who serves on the riding association executive in Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. Here’s our chat (edited for clarity and length):

Tell us how New Demo Chat got started and what the group is all about. JM: It was a way to just connect riding associations to each other and to the wider public — and there wasn’t any support from central to do that.

We banded together and started a weekly Wednesday evening Twitter chat, you know, using the hashtag and trying to draw in other riding associations and talk about stuff riding associations were talking about — it’s the actual local NDP workers that run the campaigns and and do the stuff in-between elections.

But as we grew as a group and shared stories, it’s morphed into — as Jay described it earlier — as the social worker of the NDP. For the volunteers, we share our knowledge or our resources or sometimes commiserate — to help each other navigate through what is a really unnecessarily complex political system that is really inaccessible to a lot of people unless you are already on the inside.

Why was there a need for a group like this? JW: There was a lack of connection. The party didn’t have any accessible way for riding associations to get in touch with each other. When I first got involved with New Demo Chat, it was because I was a riding association president and I wanted to connect with others because I was new. The party wasn’t offering any real help. It became a mission of connection. Riding associations are left to themselves. New Demo Chat became that resource.

There are so many things in place to prohibit community and most of the spaces are controlled by the party. So it’s not really a safe space.

JM: It’s also important when things go wrong. We’re siloed off from one another. The most recent Twitter Space made it clear that there’s a lot of abuse of power within the party, like in any political system we operate in, it’s very authoritarian. People think we’re a grassroots party — but in reality, when it’s laid bare, folks understand that there’s five or six people calling all of the shots. It requires a lot of control because members are not happy. But if everyone thinks it’s just happening to them, and they can’t really connect to one another, it’s really hard to fight back.

It was born out of necessity, but now it’s fuelled by anger.

What are some of the biggest beefs local members have? JM: There’s major complaints that usually send people our way. So, there’s target and non-target ridings. If you’re a target riding, you’re tightly controlled — the activists among us are usually shut out. Then the non-target ridings are completely ignored, resource-wise, communication-wise, and representation-wise at convention and [provincial] council.

Convention is the only time the members are consulted on policy. That’s not very democratic. We pay money to go to convention and then we’re afforded maybe three hours over the weekend to stand in line at a mic and maybe speak on one issue. That’s it. People don’t feel a part of the party, they don’t see themselves in the messaging.

The ODSP policy is the best example of that. [When the NDP changed course during the campaign and promised to double social assistance rates, instead of their earlier pledge to raise them by 20 per cent.] If they had listened to members, if they hadn’t marginalized their own people living with disabilities committee, they would have had that knowledge at their fingertips. But they ignored their members.

How can the party empower the grassroots and riding associations? JW: It’s not just about a personnel shake up at the top. There are people who have created a very toxic and manipulative and abusive system. Instead of dealing with it when people come out, they double down — they don’t say, ‘We made a mistake.’ They’ll dig in and they will go on the assault. It is not just about ‘LUCY WATSON [the party’s executive director] — we don't like her.’ It’s the system she uses, the things she allows, the way she allows things to be done. That is a current power structure that exists within a very toxic system. So how does it get better? You have to get rid of the people and the system, because if you only get rid of the people, the system is still there, it doesn’t matter who’s in place. Those systems are the things that are directly hurting people.

Toronto—Danforth MPP PETER TABUNS is poised to take the helm, temporarily, until a permanent leader is picked to replace ANDREA HORWATH. What do you think of him? JM: He definitely would not have been our first choice. We’re pretty leftist, a lot of us, that’s why we’ve been ostracized. For the most part, he doesn’t share our politics. He’s very prudent and pragmatic, which some people might be like, ‘Oh, that's a good thing’ — and that’s likely why they chose him. But the members need someone who is actually willing to look at the party critically and act critically and be willing to admit mistakes. I’m not sure he’s the person to do that.

What’s your message to Tabuns and the future leader? JM: What they need to do is to get rid of all the staffers that have harmed members, blocked candidates contrary to our Constitution, and marginalized our equity committees. They’ve got to set up a trust, there’s no trust right now between members and party central.

The NDP did not respond to a request to address the concerns raised in this interview.

MAKING HEADLINES

— STICKER SHOCK: “When the Ford government axed licence plate renewal fees, it caused confusion for some vehicle owners, who didn’t realize they still need to renew their plates online, and can face fines of up to $1,000 for not doing so.” Here’s an explainer.

— POLICING POLICE: “Toronto police officers used more force against Black people, more often, even accounting for types of arrest, whether a person was armed, local demographics and other factors, Toronto police have found in a landmark report.” The Star has the story.

— IN THE FEDERAL ARENA: “The federal Conservative Party is investigating allegations that [former Ontario PC captain] PATRICK BROWN’s leadership campaign has been reimbursing the membership fees paid by individuals who agreed to join the party.” More in the Globe.

— MINING: “Miners and First Nations from northwestern Ontario helped lead a discussion at a major mining conference this week about First Nations’ consent in mining projects,” the CBC reports.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— BRADLEY METLIN has moved on from government to join Santis Health as a senior consultant on communications. Metlin was most recently director of communications to the Associate Transportation Minister STAN CHO.

— DARREN ELIAS is also out as the Green Party’s press secretary.