This leadership race is about far more than choosing the next leader of the NDP. After the so-called Red Wave allowed the Liberals to cling to power, the party has been effectively dead in the water. The race has become a conduit for members to express their desire to rebuild the party—to renew and transform it.

And yet, the decision to bar Mugyenyi suggests the opposite: this is not a party genuinely interested in renewal. By preventing a candidate from even clearing the vetting stage, the NDP leadership constricts who is allowed to participate, which ideas may be debated, and which political tendencies are kept safely out of the spotlight.

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[–] Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This article

Mugyenyi, they say, is a proxy candidate. She acknowledged that she decided to run after her husband, Yves Engler, was denied entry into the race. The committee argued that this constituted a breach of “honesty, professionalism and integrity” and therefore disqualified her.

From https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/yves-engler-barred-ndp-leadership-9.7010236

Among other reasons listed in the NDP decision not to allow Engler's candidacy are engaging in Rwandan genocide denialism, echoing Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine and making comments "consistent with antisemitic attitudes."

[–] Nils@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

candidacy are engaging in Rwandan genocide denialism,

and

NDP national president Lucy Watson said in a statement that candidates in the leadership race need to uphold values of integrity, honesty and respect for human rights.

Seems like NDP is doing a good job then.

Should the candidates try for UCP instead? Their values seem to be aligned with some branches of that party.

also, is @op a bot? +1,4k posts, no engagement.

edit: found this post that paints a different picture of her husband https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-ndp-needs-more-not-less-nuttiness/article_e1364ffd-0245-4060-8d5a-fe582030741f.html take it with a grain of salt because it is an opinion piece.

[–] Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah I have no idea, the first article just had zero rebuttal to the couple not having independent, arm's length candidacy runs.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

I disagree with the vetting process too, I think there is something really paternalistic and anti-democratic about it. That said, there is something to be said about how Mugyenyi's candidacy was explicitly declared as en extension of Engler's campist tankie campaign.

Shenanigans beget shenanigans of course and that was a bad faith response to a bad faith decision by the vetting process. So yes, this is NDP bureaucracy shitting the bed, but from there to saying "the NDP is not interested in renewal" as Nora Loreto writes, I think that's an overstatement that does a disservice to the moment.

[–] twopi@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

There's less than two months left.