I consider myself to be firmly in the social-democrat tent, in the tradition of J.S. Woodsworth and Tommy Douglas. Both leaders had their inconsistencies, as do all, but they represented an alternative to the type of capitalism evolving in Canada. Jack Layton too was a man of vision, but perhaps a bit more conflicted under the scourge of electability, which casts a pall upon the principles of the movement.

Rather than work to bring the electorate to where they could understand and choose the vision of the CCF and the NDP, Layton began the backwards moonwalk towards the mushy middle. This process was accelerated and demanded by the newly elected Quebec lieutenant, Thomas Mulcair, a provincial Liberal cabinet member who after some disagreements with his Liberal associates moved into the tent of the NDP. Mulcair had reportedly considered some relationship with the federal Conservatives but decided that option was just too distasteful.

After the death of Layton, and soon after winning Official Opposition status, the NDP chose Mulcair as party leader. His political blemishes and disagreements with party principles were swept aside again because of the mirage of electability. What Tony Blair did to the Labour Party in Britain, Mulcair would attempt with the NDP in Canada.

Without a doubt, Mulcair has been the best Opposition Leader in Parliament for many sessions. But then to whom is he to be compared? Gilles Duceppe, Stockwell Day, Michael Ignatieff, or Stéphane Dion? A more fruitful way to evaluate Mulcair is to ask how he rates not in comparison to others’ lack of leadership, but in his ability to represent the best of the CCF-NDP tradition.

And that is why I am voting Green this coming election in my riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

Mulcair has failed to represent the social democratic cause — you elect a Liberal as your leader and that is what you get. His greatest assets this election are a thoroughly discredited and corrupt Harper and a nobody-knows-where-he-is-at Trudeau. The real challenge comes from Elizabeth May, leader of the Greens, a party that is evolving into a coherent and national movement.

Mulcair has betrayed NDP principles by supporting a free trade deal with South Korea that includes investor protection principles binding Canadians to long-term servitude at the whims of foreign mining operations. He was not obliged to support Harper, as the prime minister had a majority. He wanted to demonstrate to international business and the World Bank that the NDP could be trusted to pursue the same policies if elected. The party was whipped into solidarity, meaning no one dared to defy Mulcair.

Mulcair is as ruthless a party leader as Harper when it comes to letting elected members think, speak and act independently. Even on matters of NDP policy, Mulcair’s divergent views rule supreme. On the question of the rights of the Palestinian nation, the de facto apartheid rule in the occupied territories and a generally recognized genocidal policy by the state of Israel, Mulcair has declared himself (and by vow of obedience all elected NDP members) to support Israel in all things, including the targeting and bombing of Gaza residential areas, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

When high-profile and greatly respected NDP MP Libby Davies dared to mention UN resolutions condemning Israel, Mulcair wanted Jack Layton to remove her as deputy leader. Davies learned her lesson and went silent until her decision not to seek re-election. Current federal candidates who have shown the slightest criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinian cause have been dumped as candidates.

The local NDP candidate for Nanaimo-Ladysmith was chosen in a tainted and flawed selection process contrary to party principles and policy. Sheila Malcolmson, who has some limited history in local politics on the islands, was given favoured status in the nomination process. Two local candidates with a long history of activism and volunteer work in the party were vetoed by Mulcair, and both candidates were refused a written explanation of this decision. The local executive refused to listen to the party base and acquiesced to this foul interference in the local selection process.

Malcolmson, when asked about a factory closure in Nanaimo, was unable to give an opinion as a local candidate without vetting her response with the political science whiz kids in the Ottawa office. She has agreed to represent Mulcair’s repositioning of the NDP as a centrist party rather than to represent the electorate of Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

One would think that a party that wishes to expand its base in B.C. would listen to people’s concerns about expanded pipelines carrying the dirtiest carbon fuel in the world. But Mulcair has committed the party to pipeline expansion west and east of Alberta for the sole purpose of providing infrastructural support to the greatest human-made ecological disaster in the world: the Alberta tar sands. It is unforgivable that the NDP would unite with the Conservatives and Liberals in condemning our grandchildren and future generations to the destruction of their earthly home and saddling them with whatever cleanup is possible.

As a final assault on the fabric of decency that was once Canada, Harper rammed through Bill C-51, the legislation to turn Canada into a security state with reduced human and civil rights. Mulcair came late to opposing this most draconian and fearful legislation, and his opposition was more conditional than that of Elizabeth May.

How can I support the leadership of Mulcair and a caucus that elevates electability over ethics and democratic principles? Perhaps the party has shifted too far to the centre in both policy and practice to be able to recover as a social-democratic alternative. If elected even as a minority government, the NDP is finished as a party that can represent and defend the working class, organized labour, the social safety net of Tommy Douglas’ medicare, public institutions such as education, and the very basis of our country — the land, air, rivers, lakes and watersheds.

As a member of the Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP association, I will vote strategically directed by both my head and my heart. I know the Green Party candidate, Paul Manly, and trust that he represents the same values I cherish. Through him I have learned more about Elizabeth May, national party leader of the Green Party. I have admired her feistiness and stamina, recognized by all MPs who voted her the hardest worker and best orator in the House of Commons.

Reading the Vision Green document, I have found policy that I can support, with the hope that the Green Party can continue to evolve as an alternative that can represent the needs and interests of the commons — the average people who are supposed to be represented in the House of Commons, not the interests of foreign banks and industries.

In Nanaimo-Ladysmith 2015, orange is the new green.