I decided to put more thought into rejoining the party to be able to
vote for the new federal leader
after receiving an invitation to join from the Avi
Lewis campaign and noticing him following me on mastodon.

Back in my
university days, and for quite a few years after that, I was very
active in the Ontario NDP (which at that time included federal party
membership), actively working on campaigns, both provincial and
federal, serving on constituency association executives in both
Sudbury and Kanata, and attending provincial council meetings and
conventions. As well I was an Ontario Waffle
supporter and Left
Caucus member.

I left the party
partly due to disillusionment, due to it’s move away from social
democratic ideology towards left wing populism, and partly in order
to be freer as a blogger to criticize the party without feeling
disloyal.

I have consistently
voted NDP both provincially and federally except for two occasions. Once I voted CPC(M-L)
as a protest vote after Stephen Lewis tried to force the Waffle out
of the Ontario NDP. The other was a strategic vote against the Mike
Harris government, when I voted for Marianne
Wilkinson, who I had supported municipally in Kanata and who had
left the Ontario Conservatives to run as a Liberal due to Mike
Harris’s policies, and who might have actually had a chance to
defeat the Conservative candidate.

However I have no
desire to become active in party politics at this time and I have
always felt leaders should be chosen by party activists (even if they
are only active during election campaigns) and I have been quite
critical of the recent practice of political parties using leadership
campaigns as recruiting tools.

Back in my day, when I was politically active, political parties were
run by party activists, the ones who attended meetings, canvassed
during elections, called voters and put up signs. These were the
people that voted for the parties policies, chose the candidates and
elected the leaders.

Nowadays political parties have decided that it is expedient to use
nomination meetings and leadership votes as a way to recruit new
members. Whoever can recruit the most new members tends to win
nomination votes and leadership candidates that can sign up the most
new members tend to win leadership contests. It is no longer long
term members choosing party candidates and leaders but new members
that tend to make the difference when it comes to these decisions.
And during election campaigns the policy is not taken from the party
policy book but dictated by the leader.

(Source: THE
FIFTH COLUMN: On Democracy)

So, despite the temptation, I have decided to remain an independent
voter and commentator.