NDP kicks Hargrove out of party

[CHIMO]

The NDP has expelled Buzz Hargrove, the country's most prominent labour leader, for actively promoting strategic voting and Liberal candidates in last month's federal election.

The Ontario NDP provincial executive voted yesterday to pull the membership of Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, for violating the party's constitution regarding provisions against endorsing other candidates. It also automatically revokes his membership in the federal party.

"I was shocked and surprised," said Hargrove, who has held an NDP membership card for 41 years. "I never had any warning that this was coming or being debated. I never had a chance to speak."

Hargrove has also experienced icy relations with Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton since advocating strategic voting in a provincial election.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1139699410129&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

[CanSocDem]

1. Time to shake out the stems and seeds....

...and if it is left to Canadians to define 'progressive' we might as well start with the fundamental issues of VALUES.

In the last 10 or 15 years I have become uncomfortable with the social values of my union brothers. Too often personal enrichment took precedence over the public interest. More and more of them expected the union leadership to increase their personal wealth and when the neo-cons came along and said they could do just that, my union brothers gave up their vote to the dark side.

Ol' Buzzy is probably just looking to be re-elected.......

[Bragi]

2. The message is clear: "Party First, Country Second"

I think the message here from NDP partisan headliners to anyone who wants the centre-left majority in Canada to work together to defeat the neocons is clear, and that message is:

"Party first, country second"

What's also becoming quite clear is that we are just now at the beginning of a serious debate about uniting the centre-left in Canada to defeat the neocons.

This being the case, I'd rather have Buzz on my side in this debate.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. you're welcome to him.

I have no problem with strategic voting if it's truly strategic. Problem is, it hasn't been. Buzz has been responsible for electing Conservatives by delivering votes to 3rd place Liberals in ridings the NDP should have won, such as Oshawa.

[Telly Savalas]

7. Did any prominent Liberals advocate strategic votes for the NDP

in ridings where the Liberals were running in third? If the leadership of the Liberal Party didn't mind such statements and they were concerned with keeping Harper out of power, then it seems really strange that there was silence on this.

[IntravenousDemilo]

14. And of course, answer came there none.

You don't expect any Liberal party people to answer this honestly, now, do you?

[MrPrax]

12. Nawh...it's loyality.

A reasonable expectation for any group or party...that's all. No partisanship needed.

[V. Kid]

17. Yes, not voting Liberal means your anti-Canadian. We know.

Have a cookie.

[Harper_is_Bush]

4. Wow. Now THAT is fascism!

Not allowed to support a non-NDP candidate?

Where's the freedom of speech?

And more importantly, where's the love?

What a sordid intimidation tactic.
:yoiks:

[Minstrel Boy]

5. There's a very simple rule of party membership:

don't advocate for another party.

"Fascism"? "Sordid intimidation"? Try simple party discipline. Something the Liberals might want to look into. Has David Emerson had his party membership revoked?

[Harper_is_Bush]

10. Sounds like fascist control to me

and arrogance.

What do they say to voters who vote for another party in an election? "Don't vote for us again!"

:rofl:

[MrPrax]

13. Right said...

You can't run any group without a certain level of loyality and Buzz has done this one too many times...

He should have quit the party if he had any principles--go be a lobbyist, Buzz and then you won't look like at worst, a traitor or at best, a hypocrite.

[V. Kid]

19. Wow, Godwined already! Or at least pretty much.

[daleo]

6. I wonder how many other NDPers have been guilty of this?

Seriously, I wonder how fairly such a ruling can be applied. Strategic voting is such a common reality on the centre-left, that it seems a lot of people must have advocated and practiced it over the years in specific circumstances.

Jack Layton himself encouraged Liberals to "lend him their vote", so he has no problem with the concept in principle. I know it can be argued that "lend me your vote" is just a bit of rhetoric, and I suppose that's how the contradiction will be handled.

Hargrove may be more dangerous to the NDP outside the party than within it, given his high public profile (e.g. occasional columns in the Globe and Mail). It seems like a bad idea to expel him and turn him into a political rival for that reason alone. Of course there may be more to this than we have heard - e.g. personal conflicts between Hargrove and Layton or some of either one's key supporters.

Maybe Hargrove can run for Liberal leader now? It is doubtful that he could win, if only because I think he lacks a university degree. But he could provide a lot of interest to the race and energy to the Liberals.

[Minstrel Boy]

8. Layton was saying "Lend us your vote." Hargrove

was saying "Lend them your vote."

But it went further than that. He campaigned with Martin. He hugged him and dressed him up in a CAW jacket. (And by the way, there's apparently a lot of anger in the CAW that Buzz twisted the "strategic voting" resolution he pushed through the union into a "vote Liberal" message. He's likely to face a challenge to his leadership over this.)

He's more dangerous inside the party than out. Every report of his appearance with Martin played up his NDP affiliation. Without it, he can do no more harm to the NDP than any other Liberal. And as he deftly demonstrated to Liberals last month when he told Quebeckers to vote BQ to stop the separatist Conservatives, Buzz is more of a headache when he's supposedly on your side.

Hargrove's held a grudge against the NDP since at least the early '90s. At first he said it was because the party wasn't left enough for his liking, and later that was abandoned as he cozied up to the Liberals. I think it goes back to his clashes with the Rae government. It'll be amusing to watch what he does if Rae enters and wins the Liberal leadership race.

I'm very happy the NDP's shown a backbone so early on this.

[daleo]

9. Your post had lots of good responses to my speculations.

I wonder how the media will play this? It could be a good angle to take some attention away from Harper's follies and the new Mulroney revelations. That aspect bears watching.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. apparently suspended, not expelled:

Globe and Mail:

Buzz Hargrove has been suspended, not expelled, from the Ontario NDP because of complaints that he broke the party's constitution during the federal election campaign.

...

The party received a number of phone calls and letters from members and almost all of them spelled out exactly how they thought Mr. Hargrove had broken the constitution and why he had to go, said Sandra Clifford, the president of the Ontario NDP.

“Our constitution says you can't belong to or support another party and stay as a member in good standing,” she said. “People felt that all of Mr. Hargrove's actions combined during the course of the election led them to feel he had in fact supported the Liberal party.

...

After a week of deliberations, the party decided to leave the door open for him to return to the party with just a slap on the wrist — provided he commits himself to the NDP's cause alone, Ms. Clifford said.

[Harper_is_Bush]

15. NDP dithering over Buzz, huh?

[Minstrel Boy]

16. yeah,

how fascist of 'em, eh?

[V. Kid]

18. Whats intresting is that he seems to think this is a suprise...

...he knew it was coming. And he's done things like this to the ONDP for years, including advocating such things in 1999, and 2003. Well that's all well and good it's ironic that he, using his position as a high profile NDP'er would be suprised that one day the party would think, "gee maybe we don't like our high profile 'supporters' advocating that people vote for a diffrent party and physically help them during an election campaign". All parties think that way, and please spare me the patrotic stuff, each party is in it for themselves, thinking they can run the best country for whatever reason.

In any case maybe Rae deserved it, but Buzz ended up getting a much worse goverment for the Ontario labour movement, thus hurting those he was allegedly protecting. I mean really he could vote for whomever, but is there really that many examples of partisan people, for over 15 years opposing the party they're a member of?

Furthermore it was clear he was simply trying to screw around with the NDP, as he kept appearing with Martin in campaign stops, in areas like London and Windsor, where the NDP and Liberals were the main competitors. If he was truely serious he would've shown up with the Liberals advocating such things in the 905, suburban Ottawa and rural Southern Ontario. In ridings where the NDP were competitive, in Windsor, Oshawa and London, he had to continiously "clarify" his statements, to say, no he wasn't supporting those local Liberals. Even though he'd show up with Paul Martin to campaign. Utterly bizzare at best, clearly disruptive at worst.