NDP DIDN'T DIG ENOUGH

The sudden resignation of NDP candidate Dana Larsen from the election
race should shake the NDP to its core. Not because one of its players
turns out to have had an embarrassing past, but because that past was
so obvious. The video clips depicting Larsen smoking a mouthful of
joints, taking psychedelic drugs and driving while apparently high
have been in the public domain for years, and would not have been
difficult to uncover.

Given that the candidate, a co-founder of the B.C. Marijuana party,
was a longtime advocate for marijuana legalization, a little digging
might have been in order.

Also embarrassing was Julian West, the candidate for Saanich-Gulf
Islands on Vancouver Island, who has announced his resignation after
it was discovered he had skinny-dipped with a group of teenagers at a
1996 environmental event.

The fact that that digging was apparently not done suggests a lack of
organization on the part of the NDP. That, or a lack of caring.

The federal Liberals are alleging the NDP knew about West ahead of
time.

The party has known since the last election that the government was
unlikely to last for a full term. It has known for weeks that the
moment of reckoning would likely come this fall. It had ample time to
complete a careful and thorough selection process. But, it seems, it
did not.

The object of the nomination process -- even in unwinnable territory
-- is to ensure the party's values are well represented in every
corner of the country. In that objective, the NDP has failed. And now
it's suffering embarrassment at the national level.

If the NDP wants to be considered a viable option to lead Parliament,
they have to start behaving like a party worthy of office.