Some automatically assume that we're going to be on opposite sides. But I think that's wrong.
NDP leader Carole James to Business Council of B.C., March 2009
Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer thinks I'm a "crackpot."
Global TV's Keith Baldrey thinks I'm a "class warfare advocate."
And the Province's Michael Smyth thinks I'm "crazy."
But they agree with the views of Moe Sihota, the former NDP cabinet minister who will likely become the party's new president at this weekend's convention.
So why am I seen as outrageously wrong by my political commentator friends?
Because I believe the New Democratic Party has to move to the populist left to win the next election, not to the mushy centre with a futile effort to gain business support, apparently the opposite direction to where James and Sihota plan to go.
Here's what Sihota told Smith when asked if James' leadership is a problem.
"I don't think leadership is the issue with the NDP. I think market share is the issue," Sihota said. "For the NDP to be successful, it needs to have stronger relations with all sectors of the business community."
That corresponds with Palmer's view, as stated on CKNW May 15.
"These people are crackpots! Cause here's their strategy summarized, right?
We're going to move to the left, we're going to get our people really happy and we're going to win an election with 39 or 40 per cent of the vote," Palmer told Bill Good.
Baldrey had a similar view.
"Yes, there's the class warfare element of the NDP that thinks that's how to win power in the province because they did it once in 1996 where the vote was split big time," Baldrey said on the same show.
So am I a crazy, crackpot class warrior? Here's the problem with Sihota and James' strategy, endorsed by the punditocracy - it doesn't and won't work.
The overwhelming majority of B.C.'s business community hates the NDP's guts.
But it's not personal, the business community has its own party - the B.C. Liberals - to represent its interests.
The NDP can at best - or worst - only be a pale imitation of the real thing, a party of business.
While those advocating the NDP "increased market share" will say they want to represent "all" British Columbians, business and labour, rich and poor, working people and entrepreneurs, the truth is that neither the NDP nor any other party can successfully do that.
Politics is about choices and business, to both its credit and advantage, has made a smart decision that the B.C. Liberals are their party.
What the rest of the population needs is a social democratic party that stands up equally strong for their quite different interests, not a "me too" business wannabe.
Just look at key issues where business wins with the Liberals and loses with the NDP - like increasing the minimum wage, social assistance and workers' compensation and blocking B.C. Hydro privatization.
The NDP must honestly define the differences between itself and business - and how the NDP would fairly but firmly deal with them.
But corporations will continue to donate heavily to the B.C. Liberal Party to defeat an NDP that would take measures opposed by business.
And no amount of NDP handwringing about wanting to appeal to business will ever change that.
* Regrettably, I am no longer appearing Mondays on CKNW AM 980's Bill Good Show - see my blog for details.
READ MORE FROM BILL TIELEMAN AT WWW.THETYEE.CA
WEBSITE: BILLTIELEMAN.BLOGSPOT.COM/ EMAIL: WESTSTAR@TELUS.NET
