Hampton Going Nowhere “Soon”

by Barry Weisleder / January 2008

Ontario New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton was unapologetic about the party’s dismal results in the October 10 provincial election (see November 2007 Northern Lights), but he did signal that he intends to step down as leader in less than a year.

Hampton told the ONDP Provincial Council on November 24 that he’s “not going anywhere soon”, that is, not until after the next federal election, which many expect will take place in early Spring 2008. But business media reporters present somehow got it wrong. Evidently, they failed to hear the word “soon”, along with the ensuing explanation.

Likewise, they neglected to report the contents of the spirited discussion that then occurred amongst the nearly 200 delegates. Remarks sharply critical of the NDP campaign's 'status quo' stance on public funding for Catholic separate schools (in the face of opinion polls showing that up to 70 per cent of Ontarions favour an end to public funding of all religious schools) were loudly applauded. So were criticisms of the party establishment's focus on Liberal broken promises, as well as its stifling control of financing for local NDP constituency campaigns.

The discussion continued at a lunch time Socialist Caucus forum, attended by over 25 delegates and observers. There the consensus was that both Hampton's leadership and his departure are neither the main problem nor necessarily the solution. As potential candidates to replace Hampton now jockey for position, NDP Socialists pose the need to turn the party decisively to the left. This includes projecting the demand for a unified, secular school system and for public ownership of energy resources and basic industry to plan production to meet social needs and to foster a sustainable environment.