Alexa and the federal NDP

It has been a couple of weeks now since Alexa McDonough indicated that she will not reoffer for the next federal election. Her decision is as understandable as it will be disappointing to her many supporters, within her constituency and beyond.

Indeed, as a measure of her success, she will also be missed by many of her political opponents, whose begrudging respect for her is one of the better stories of the recent two federal minorities. We understand well, after so many successful years of building both the Nova Scotia and federal New Democratic Parties, that Alexa deserves a bit of a rest. And while her work for her country and province is hopefully far from done, it makes sense to offer a bit of a retrospective.

Historically the NDP, and its predecessor the CCF, pulled together the energies and conceptions of a better world of those who have led and been active in the labour movement, the farming community associated with the National Farmer’s Union, and intellectuals of various disciplinary backgrounds.

While Alexa was always quick to show respect for the achievements of these three sources of her party, she brought two other communities as separate sources of political energy - the women’s movement and the peace movement - into greater profile. When elements of the green movement and anti-globalization movement are added in, the current NDP is better understood as a coalition of forces than as a typical political party.

Effective constituency work

Alexa’s ability to mobilize the women’s movement in particular, along with her commitment to much better social services for the disadvantaged—an outcropping of her training and early work in the theory and practice of the welfare state—made her both a very effective constituency person and the sort of leader who could appeal widely to the real concerns of Nova Scotians. Not only is the current success of the NDP in Nova Scotia indebted to her work in this vein, but she turned her Nova Scotia success into a basis for the Federal New Democratic claim that they are, finally, nationally competitive, with significant levels of support in each of Canada’s regions.

Added to this is the common decency, respect for Parliament, for Canadians from all walks of life, and even for her harshest opponents that Alexa showed, setting a standard by which we may measure the political performance of others.

Moreover, her steadfastness on issues, her “no fear” confidence in advancing issues she knew deserved our attention is a fine example of the steadfastness that political change requires. Like Hillary Clinton, Alexa will not likely hold the highest political office, but she remains the sort of example of commitment and perseverance that we can all bring to our best work. And she does so, as Hillary does, without giving up an inch on the political respect that women deserve.

Always learned something important

I have had a number of occasions over the years to hear and speak with Ms. McDonough, and though we don’t always agree, as a student of politics I always learned something important from these opportunities. She is a quiet advocate of greater powers for the provinces, and rightly proud of Nova Scotia’s capacity to become a leading part of Canada while I remain convinced of the value of a strong central government.

She is an advocate of “the third way” for the NDP, making it much more like the British Labour Party, leaving some of its more socialistic tilt to its past, in an effort to win office. I think that moving to the centre means the NDP must wrestle for ground occupied by the Liberals for much of the last century.

The NDP, just like the old red-Tories, don’t compete effectively on Liberal terrain, at least not nationally. The attempt to do so means that New Democrats seem indistinguishable from their Liberal foes, causes them to cast too wide a net (leaving them unfocused), and pre-empts some of their more critical perspectives for the future of the country. If we are to have a multi-party political system in Canada, we should look for greater diversity in party competition, not less. Such diversity of platform and ideology gives a democratic system its “creative politics.”

Such disagreement aside, Alexa McDonough is well on her way to the politicians’ hall of fame. I hope she finds time, during her deserved retirement from federal politics, to continue to offer her voice to the well-being of our communities.