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The executive of the labour-based New Democratic Party
of Ontario opened the race to replace provincial Leader Howard Hampton by
imposing a $15,000 entry fee on candidates seeking the office. By
comparison, the federal NDP in 2002 required a payment of $7,500 by each
candidate for the federal party leadership, and the politically
competitive British Columbia NDP recently asked contestants for the BC
NDP leadership to pony up $3,500.
In addition to the high entry fee in Ontario,
one-third of any additional campaign money raised by a leadership
candidate automatically goes directly to the ONDP. This gives rise
to the accusation that the exercise is a money grab by the party
bureaucracy.
Not surprisingly, many Ontario New Democrats are
outraged. As of late July, over seventy members signed an open
letter of protest initiated by Michael Laxer, a Toronto party activist,
and others. The letter reads, in part:
“Some have suggested that if you can't come up with
this entry fee you are not a "serious candidate" anyway, but we
feel that this misses the point. The NDP has a leadership race about once
a political generation. This is the opportunity to allow new, and
different, voices to come forward, whether they have a serious chance of
winning or not, and influence the tone of the debate. By setting the very
entry fee at $15,000 the party insures that only those in the party elite
or those with a big pocket book can participate.”
“While it is true that the well-to-do can get a line
of credit, that is not true for many people in this province among the
middle & working class. We feel that the entry fee serves the direct
and intended purpose of excluding those who might question the direction
of the party tactically and politically. We would further suggest that a
party that claims to want to promote women, people of colour, gays &
lesbians, youth and others to a fuller participation in our political
system DIRECTLY undermines this commitment, such as it is, by setting so
high a fee to simply enter the race.”
The petitioners invite people to sign on-line
at: www.ipetitions.com/petition/ndpleadership
, to forward the link, and to join their Facebook.com group at: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20141476481&ref=nf
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As the authors insist, “We can have this decision
reversed!”
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