The Last Leader

A leadership review confronts Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath. The vote was moved up to Saturday morning which heavily favors Horwath. Leadership reviews are a necessary function in political party. Officially she remains free of a leadership convention if she garners more than 50% simple majority. The major contention is that there are no potential leadership candidates.

There are no lack of better leaders waiting for the NDP. Jagmeet Singh, Cheri D'Novo, being two of the strongest candidates for the job. The old no potential leaders in the wings is usually the spin of the incumbent's ensemble.

If Horwath clings to her concept of leadership then its guaranteed that the NDP will split. There may not be the creation of what is called a pure socialist movement in a return to the days of the CCF. The political climate is not right for that. Socialism needs severe updating. For a reform movement it hangs on to old ideas and the time of  Samuel Gompers.

One of the reasons that Horwath did so badly is that she didn't prepare the ideological distance between her party and the provincial Liberals. As a result most people felt, well why not vote Liberal?

Secondly, her internal communication skills are abysmal. Political Party leaders need a network of people within the party to convey their message to and the needs of the membership in return. At the riding level, the local riding party officials existed in a gap. This can be demonstrated by her handling of the Scarborough riding byelection about ten months before the government collapsed. She imposed a candidate, one Adam Giambrone into the campaign. This caused such a schism that Giambrone didn't gain any traction, and the riding fell to the Liberals yet again. When the general election occurred, the anger within the riding membership didn't show up to help.

If she wins the leadership review, the Ontario NDP are doomed.

Update

Oh ya, they are toast. The Ontario NDP political credibility just shot out the window.