Adrian Dix and the sa国际传媒 New Democrats probably wished they were reading an April Fool鈥檚 Day joke, but it鈥檚 true that former premier Mike Harcourt is leaving the party.
At a time when the NDP is having trouble pushing or dragging people to run for the leadership, it doesn鈥檛 want to hear that the party鈥檚 longest-serving premier is sufficiently exasperated to tear up his membership card.
Harcourt says he is leaving not because he has changed his political outlook but because he can鈥檛 stomach some of the decisions the party鈥檚 leaders have made.
On the eve of the 2013 election, he endorsed Dix鈥檚 sudden decision to oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline, but this week he said that was the worst idea in decades.
He also cited the party鈥檚 opposition to the carbon tax in the 2009 election and the revolt that kicked Carole James out of the leadership.
Harcourt is not alone in decrying those decisions, but for a former premier to publicly disavow the current leadership is a blow to a party that is still reeling from the last election defeat.
It echoes the criticism of former premier Dan Miller, who last November lambasted the party for the Kinder Morgan decision and said it had forgotten its roots as an ally of labour.
鈥淭he NDP seems gripped by fear when it comes to taking any position on resource development,鈥� Miller wrote.
Miller, the former pulp-mill worker, and Harcourt, the former mayor of Vancouver, come from different parts of the NDP, but they deliver a message the party can鈥檛 ignore.
