NDP SMOKE OUT

Are The Ndp No Longer Pro-Pot?

I didn't expect much when the text of Jack Layton's keynote speech
from NDP convention in Halifax showed up in my inbox Sunday evening.
I wasn't disappointed.

Trying to convince the party faithful that the NDP can win the next
election doesn't make for the most scintillating prose.

There wasn't much to take away from the weekend for those watching on
the CBC or CPAC. Party higher ups saw to that. The NDP in danger of
becoming boring? We may have well reached that point.

The only story making any headlines, a move to drop the New from New
Democratic Party, never came to a vote.

Fun-loving Jack's treading carefully on this one. But if the plan is
to perform major brain surgery, to change the party's mindset, why
not ditch the old label and start anew without the New?

Perhaps it's just a question of logistics ie: too close to an
expected runoff in the fall for the NDP to seriously consider the
question - for now.

Whatever. The NDP seems keen enough about cleaning up its image. All
of a sudden, the party of conscience is musing aloud about phasing
out taxes for small business.

Unlike the previous NDP convention where Layton called for an
immediate troop pull out from Afghanistan, there was no boffo moment
at the Halifax confab.

But for part of the party's traditional base, the motley-crew of
activists pushing issues like decriminalization of pot, the weekend
was a watershed moment.

The NDP has officially, it seems, severed its ties to its radical
fringe, killing a motion calling for an end to marijuana prohibition
even before it got to the convention floor. It never came to a vote
on the convention floor, hung up by a procedural oversight, or
shenanigans by party brass, depending on your perspective.

No more hippy dipping for the Dippers. We're a serious party now.
Focussed on winning.

The grumbling among the pro-pot crowd in Halifax got louder over the
treatment of former NDP candidate Dana Larsen.

Larsen, some of you will remember, ran for the NDP in West
Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country last time out.

Larsen was bounced after an embarrassing video surfaced on the CBC of
him bonging up a storm, partaking in the earthly delights of the tree
of knowledge, as it were.

Seems Larsen continued his pro-pot activism within the party, signing
up support for that aformentioned motion to end pot prohibition for
the Halifax gathering, post political daze. His End Prohibition group
boasts some 800 party members.

Only, he says he was stripped of his observer status by convention
organizers before he could get in the front door . And left to wander
on the sidewalk outside to tell his story when he arrived in Halifax
last Friday.

The NDP convention Facebook event page quickly filled with posts
condemning the party's decision. Larsen's lobbying efforts around the
pot prohibition issue - he helped cover some delegates' travel
expenses - are reportedly what got him the boot, seen by party brass
as vote buying.

The new NDP? Seems like so long ago that Layton was shooting his own
pro-pot video on Pot-TV. Back then, in 2003, the NDP leader was
calling on young people and drug reformers to join the party. What a
difference six years in Ottawa makes.