February 15, 2000 
 
PRE-CONVENTION MUSINGS . . . 
 
I have never been all that interested in politics.  However, with all this recent 
front page ink that the NDP Leadership convention has been getting, one obliviously 
has gained interest in the topic.  Thinking back to even before this whole leadership 
ordeal popped up, one can't help but remember BC's own little ‘Watergate' scandal, 
so to speak.   
 
Glen Clark, the former leader of the New Democrats and our former Premier, has gotten 
more than his fair share of media coverage.  Who can forget when some guy decided 
to do a little work on Mr. Clark's house?  I'm sure all of you have heard about that 
one too many times, and we all know how that ended.  Honestly, like the rest of B.C., 
I really had no problem with Glen Clark when he first got elected.  Upon hearing 
about his little endeavor with the Greek gentleman, like everybody else, I thought 
he should step down.  Cabinet ministers started dropping like flies, but Glen Clark 
and his stubborn self would not just let it be and accept his fate.  After he finally 
stepped down from his post as Premier, it seemed painfully obvious that the NDP would 
have absolutely no chance at winning the next election.  The press earmarked the 
Liberals to form the next government with a majority.  Well, the NDP appointed Dan 
Miller in the interim.	A question immediately arose when Miller tells the public 
that he has no intention of running for the permanent position in the upcoming election. 
 Honestly, I don't think he would have had any chance of winning anyway. 
 
"Who will be NDP's candidate (meaning, of course, leader) in the upcoming election?" 
 A few people stepped up to the plate, willing to give it a swing.  First, Corky 
Evans and Joy MacPhail decided to be the first up to bat.  Not that far behind, Ujjal 
Dosanjh, the Attorney-General, jumped at the opportunity to run for leader of the 
New Democratic Party.  He obviously strives to become the next Premier of B.C.	Gordon 
Wilson, a name we have not heard for a while, popped up when Clark had his episode 
and he was quick to join the leadership race. Gordon always seemed like too much 
of an opportunist in my eyes.  He saw an opportunity to form a party and he did, 
only to disband it.  He saw an opportunity to be the leader of another party (NDP) 
and in turn, the chance to be premier, and he jumped at it.  I think that Gordon 
will fail in this endeavor, just as he had with his former party.   
 
Of course, since then, Joy decided to call it quits and jumped on Ujjal's bandwagon. 
 Len Werden, an obvious outside chance, used this as almost momentum to jumpstart 
his run.  Does anybody see why Werden is even in this whole mess?  No one thinks 
that he can win.  What could possibly be his motivation?  A personal vendetta against 
Dosanjh?  An endeavor to ruin Gordon Wilson's reputation further?  In my humble opinion, 
Len Werden just wants to stir things up and mess with the NDP.	He was even the one 
who said, "If we have widespread problems, we should just start over."	He said the 
party should consider cancelling the convention completely.  Perhaps it is the WWF 
fan in me, but I have the strangest gut feeling that Len is going to defunct and 
join the Liberals. This is probably coming off as a wild, completely against the 
grain prediction, but it is mine and mine alone.  No one can take that away from 
me. 
 
People in the press today have learned that they should predict early and predict 
often.	Looking in the papers this past little while, both have held true.  The press 
has anointed Ujjal Dosanjh as the odds-on favourite going into this weekend's affair. 
 Corky?  Can you even imagine a Premier with the name Corky?  Even though he has 
been picking up steam lately, and is the second most popular candidate, I don't see 
a Premier Corky any time soon.	Gordon Wilson, the newbie to the party, may be able 
to give Ujjal a run for his money, but even so, his chances are slim at best.  Len 
Werden?  Let's face it, he doesn't even have a snowball's chance in that place downstairs 
at winning this thing.	Len is wasting his time, unless my above-mentioned prediction 
comes true.  The way I see it, which is the way most of the press sees it, Ujjal's 
got this one bagged up. 
 
Over the past little while, one hot topic has been the mass membership sign-up.  
Many opposed to the party, and even those within the party, have accused the NDP 
of handing out memberships to people who never agreed to do so.  The majority of 
these ‘members' are Indo-Canadian.  The way that the leadership will be decided is 
each riding has one delegate for every 30 members it has.  Many say that Ujjal had 
signed up these ‘members' so that he could send more and more Indo-Canadian delegates 
to the convention.  That way, he has a lopsided chance at winning the leadership. 
 Well, since then, the party has hired Ken Georgetti and Strategic Communications, 
an outside polling company, to review the recent recruitment of 11,000 new members. 
 Also, because most of these recruits are Indo-Canadian, the NDP has hired Punjabi-speaking 
investigators.	Well, the accusations were true, and some memberships are illegitimate. 
 As of right now (evening of February 15), no delegates have been taken away just 
yet.  As I understand it, the NDP is holding a meeting tonight and some sort of decision 
or resolution to this ordeal will be issued, hopefully clearing up this mess. 
 
I've never had a chance to attend a leadership convention prior to this one.  I haven't 
even attended any political function, regardless of size.  Each and every one of 
us, who is a part of this "Tupper Reports" shindig, knows that this is the opportunity 
of a lifetime.	Our attendance at the convention, this report we are putting together, 
and all the exposure we may be receiving could really open doors for not only myself, 
but the rest of this group as well.  Even before the convention, doors already seem 
to be opening for us.  Tupper alumnus and VTV anchorperson, Mi-Jung Lee, upon hearing 
of our endeavor, extended an invitation for Joseph and two others to be interviewed 
on her show.  When Joseph first asked me to join this esteemed group, and contribute 
my thoughts and musings, I jumped at the chance.  I never dreamed that my attendance 
would get me any exposure on television.  It just comes to show just how something 
that seems like small potatoes can grow to something much more significant, much 
more grandiose.   
 
Whatever happens this weekend, I think the NDP as a whole has accomplished what it 
set out to do.	With all of the hype and media coverage this leadership convention 
has received, the memories of Glen Clark as an NDPer have been pushed aside.  Keeping 
the NDP fresh in our minds will affect our voting patterns without a doubt.  That 
may just work in the favour of Ujjal Dosanjh, should he be the one who in fact wins 
the leadership.  The NDP has kept themselves in the public eye this whole time, and 
may just make the difference when the public hits those voting booths on election 
day.