Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

Politics, tech, media, culture and more, from a Canadian point-of-view

  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Science and Tech
  • Living
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
You are here: Home / Politics / Manly candidacy denied: WTF, NDP?

Manly candidacy denied: WTF, NDP?

07/03/2014 by the editor 1 Comment

By Alison@Creekside

Manly banner with "Candidacy Denied" added
Dear Mid Islanders, Friends and Supporters

I would like to thank you all for your support and encouragement for my bid for the nomination to be the NDP candidate for the new federal riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith. It is with regret that I write to tell you that the federal NDP has refused to allow me to stand as a candidate.

“The local riding executive approved my candidacy for the nomination but the NDP National Director, Ann McGrath, has not approved me and the federal NDP executive will not let me stand as a candidate.”

That would be this Ann McGrath, three months ago:

NDP’s new national director promises open nominations

[McGrath] said her party won’t repeat the mistakes of the federal Conservatives and Liberals, whose grassroots members have complained of interference in local nominations by senior party officials.”

Yet they turned Manly down.

Really, NDP? This guy spent his 16th birthday campaigning with Tommy Douglas!

He made the 2009 doc You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule, frequently pillaged here at Creekside in the past, on his own dime after being turned down for funding by CBC and NFB.

He shot that footage you’ve all seen of the three 3 rock-toting Quebec police provocateurs at the Montebello protest back in Aug. 2007, and the magic disappearing act of the Toronto police at the G20 while a few black bloc rampaged through downtown in 2010.

Since then he’s worked in his community for healthcare, First Nations rights, and marched to end violence against women.

His 2013 doc Troubled Waters exposes the dangers to public watersheds in Canada from private ownership, privatization, P-3s, groundwater contamination, and international trade agreements. Great film — well worth your time — and inspirational as so much of what he documents is farmers and treeplanters leading the way to protection of our water.

He’s a well-known grassroots community guy working for the public good in his community long before his attempt to represent it in the next election.

So what exactly about this guy isn’t good enough for the NDP?  Ah, here we go …

That’s his dad, 79-year old former Vancouver Island NDP MP Jim Manly, onboard the Swedish ship Estelle bound for Gaza in 2012 with humanitarian aid, shortly before it was boarded in international waters by an Israeli security team and all 30 crew members were arrested and detained in Israel.

So Paul wrote a letter, an entirely reasonable letter: My father, Jim Manly, must be released immediately, and was also quoted in the news:

It would be nice to hear some politicians speak out in support of a retired Member of Parliament who has stuck his neck out to help people in a less fortunate part of the world,” Paul said. “It’s kind of shocking that nobody’s said anything.”

And there was also this: Son of detained ex-MP says NDP has lost its way

As Paul noted in a letter to his supporters about being turned down by NDP Ottawa:

I have not received a written reason for this refusal and was told I will not receive a written reason. I was told verbally on the phone, that the reason was in relation to ‘what I said and did when my father was in Israel.’ There was also concern that I was running to make Israel and Palestine an election issue.

“Israel and Palestine is an issue my parents are focused on, it has not been a focus for me except for the week when my father was seized illegally in international waters and held incommunicado in an Israel prison. This was not going to be an election issue on my platform.”

He ends by quoting approvingly from the NDP policy book on Israel and Gaza.

So WTF?, NDP. You may not owe Paul Manly an explanation, according to your own nomination rules, but you sure as hell owe the rest of us one.

I see a note on his FB page from CBC’s Rosie Barton asking him to get in touch. Hope he does.

Update: The Star and CBC both have stories about this now. Nothing new in them except the CBC quotes from NDP Brad Lavigne’s book on “bozo eruptions” and the Star gets his name wrong in the dek and says Manly alleges he was blocked “due to his comments on Israel”. Fuck you both.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Ann McGrath, British Columbia, Canada, Gaza, Israel, James Manly, Nanaimo-Ladysmith, NDP, Palestine, Paul Manly, Thomas Mulcair

Subscribe to BoB by e-mail or RSS

Trackbacks

  1. I voted strategically. I shouldn’t have. says:
    10/20/2015 at 12:09 pm

    […] I had no enthusiasm for the candidate. I would rather have seen the Green, Paul Manly, in Parliament. In fact, he had the stronger NDP credentials; his father, Jim Manly, is a former Vancouver Island NDP MP, and Paul originally tried for the NDP candidacy. But he was denied it because his father had once sailed on on a ship to Gaza and was arrested and Paul thought perhaps someone should speak up in his defence — like, say, his NDP MP. But that turned out to be too much for the aborning leadership of Thomas Mulcair, and so Manly the son could not be the candidate. […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Google+
  • Living
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
Fire sale sign

Fort McMurray: Shopping time!

By Brady Tighe We’re now officially in the aftermath phase of the northern Alberta wildfire crisis. The fire is long gone, and everyone with a home to return to is back in its … [Read More...]

Nathan Cullen

Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking

By Alison@Creekside The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, … [Read More...]

Trudeau on quantum computing

The Trudeau gush fest is getting old

By Jim Henshaw There have been several bewildered as well as angry accounts coming out of the USA lately about how little media time has been spent covering the Democratic Presidential Primary … [Read More...]

Rick Meyers in Nanaimo Pride Parade

My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade

By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don't want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, … [Read More...]

Stephen Colbert on Late Night set

Triumph of the drama nerds

By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]

From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon

Originally published on Our Rape Blog, the author's account of the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. By Mary Fraughton Have you ever played Hearts? It’s a card game. For our purposes, … [Read More...]

First Nations defending Lelu Island

The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

From Creekside: The B.C. provincial government is trying to green light the construction of a massive LNG terminal on Lelu Island in the Skeena Estuary -- Pacific Northwest LNG, backed by Malaysian … [Read More...]

Google

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

RSS CBC News



Recent Posts

  • Fort McMurray: Shopping time!
  • From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon
  • Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking
  • The fish hotel
  • Hatred on an Alberta golf course
  • The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”
  • My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
  • Our selective sympathy
  • The Water Bomber, The Frogman and The Great Canadian Novelist
  • Komagata Maru: The story behind the apology

Tags

9/11 Afghanistan Alberta bad behaviour books British Columbia business Canada Canadian military Canadian politics CBC celebrity computers Conservatives crime environment family film G20 Globe and Mail internet Jason Kenney journalism Justin Trudeau law Liberals Maclean's music National Post NDP newspapers oil sands online media Ontario Quebec RCMP religion sports Stephen Harper television theatre Toronto U.S. Vancouver women

Archives

The Video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in