Despite criticism from the labour movement and the environmental wing of the B.C. NDP, Premier David Eby received a strong endorsement by New Democrats during the party’s convention this weekend in Victoria.
Just over 82 per cent of the 743 NDP delegates voted against having a leadership race, effectively accepting the status quo of Eby at the helm.
“To everyone in this room — the members who are the beating heart of our movement — thank you,” Eby said in his speech to the delegates before the voting results were announced.
“We are also a broad church. I can see that in this room. Labour organizers, Indigenous leaders, farmers, community activists and business people.”
The convention, however, revealed tensions among the NDP faithful.
Delegates raised concerns about the NDP government’s willingness to fast-track resource projects, its support for public sector unions, and its ability to reach young people.
“Young people have been lost by the NDP,” said Jäger Rosenberg, who is running for party president.
Rosenberg, who joined the party at age 13, worries that young people who feel frustrated in the face of the affordability crisis are turning to the B.C. Greens, who are newly energized under a new leader, and the B.C. Conservatives.
To get them back, he said, the party must offer an “alternative to the maple MAGA fascists who are trying to take over this province. We need to be offering a vision and we need to be offering hope.”
It’s the first time the party has gathered since last year’s election, which the NDP almost lost to the upstart B.C. Conservatives.
Sussanne Skidmore, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, acknowledged that the eight-week B.C. General Employees’ Union strike was a difficult time for public sector workers.
“The government has some work to do in repairing those relationships,” she said.
In his speech, Eby acknowledged the tension between the party and the labour movement on the heels of the strike.
“I don’t need to tell our friends in the labour movement that we won’t always see eye to eye on everything,” he said.
“We will always defend your right to get a fair deal where they are best achieved: At the bargaining table.”
The NDP government is in the midst of negotiating with the B.C. Nurses’ Union and other public sector unions.
There was also disagreement among party members about the NDP’s commitment to the environment and climate change.
That bubbled to the surface when debating the future of the forestry industry and a resolution to accelerate the North Coast Transmission line.
Several delegates raised concerns about taxpayer dollars subsidizing the fossil fuel industry.
The North Coast Transmission line would double the electricity that can flow between Prince George and Terrace and is needed to power LNG projects and critical mineral mines.
Jordan Crawford, a delegate who lives in Courtenay, says he’s “past concerned” when it comes to Eby’s promise to fast-track resource projects.
“LNG is not a transition fuel. It’s as bad as coal,” Crawford said. “I can’t support this. And I can’t support a leader who’s staking his entire position on this.”
Crawford says the NDP under Eby has “abandoned” climate change goals and risks losing support to the B.C. Greens under Emily Lowan, the climate activist who was recently elected party leader.
The North Coast Transmission line is one of two projects that Prime Minister Mark Carney declared a nation-building project.
David Eby won’t rule out early election call if North Coast Transmission Line bill fails
Carney was in Terrace this week to announce that the transmission line and the Ksi Lisims LNG facility are the latest B.C. projects that will be fast-tracked through the major projects office.
Eby last month said he would not rule out calling an early election if the legislation to support the North Coast Transmission line fails in the legislature.
During debate, Eby stood at the microphone, among delegates, and spoke in favour of accelerating the project.
Eby told the crowd there’s an opportunity for the government to seek a public equity stake in some of these major resource projects “so that everybody benefits when we support these companies, not just the private company.”
He later clarified to media that the government does not intend to seek public equity stakes in Ksi Lisims LNG or LNG Canada and the North Coast Transmission Line will be publicly owned by B.C. Hydro with First Nations along the route obtaining equity stakes.
The resolution to support the transmission line passed with overwhelming support.
The party also focused on election readiness, ensuring the party has a healthy war chest.
Eby says that’s to ensure the party is “ready” for an early election if the B.C. Conservatives want to try to take down the government over the North Coast Transmission Line.
“(It’s) the last thing we want to do,” he said. “But we do need to be ready.”
