Family feuds in Ontario NDP as Horwath rushes to clamp down on dissent

Ontario NDP infighting is all over the news this week, as we saw sharp divides between Andrea Horwath's office and others in the party. Long-time Ontario NDP'er and front-bench critic MPP Paul Miller was booted to the backbench this weekend, after a dispute between himself and Horwath boiled over

The MPP from Hamilton East—Stoney Creek [said to Horwath] “Don’t you tell me to shut up.” It didn’t stop there. Horwath said something else that couldn’t be made out and Miller said, “Are you threatening me? Don’t you threaten me.” Even veteran MPPs from the other parties were taken aback by the family squabble that included Miller telling Horwath he “had enough from her and her office.” “What are going to do — throw me out of caucus?” Miller is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the controversy over the shady selection of Adam Giambrone as Ontario NDP candidate Scarborough-Guildwood continues to simmer, as the issue dominated media coverage of the NDP provincial council over the weekend.

“You are all cowards,” said 90-year-old Joy Taylor, who along with other riding executive members has maintained that several ineligible members were allowed to vote, giving the two-person race to Giambrone, a last- minute entry ...After party secretary Darlene Lawson’s report assured delegates everything about the nomination was above board, a call for an independent probe into the results was ruled out of order. “I am very disappointed,” Viresh Raghubeer, president of the NDP’s Scarborough-Guildwood Riding Association, told the Star. “We are confident that things need to be investigated further and we needed further proof as to what happened at the nomination meeting,” he said, later adding, “whenever you try to speak about democracy (in the party) you are demonized.” ...Looking tiny sitting on an overstuffed couch at the Sheraton Centre, Taylor appeared near tears. She remains convinced that the vote was rigged given she could not confirm the names or addresses of most of the last-minute voters. “What I did in good faith as an honest member of the NDP has fallen by the wayside. It is swept under the carpet,” she said, adding she didn’t take on this fight for notoriety. “I did it for the love of the party. . . . I can’t tell you how highly, highly disappointed I am. I weep today." ...“This is a massive betrayal,” Wendy Whittham, a member of the Scarborough-Guildwood riding executive."

While Andrea Horwath is telling long term NDP members and MPPs to shut up and silence any real debate in her party, I'm proud Premier Kathleen Wynne has opened up the Liberal Party policy process to every Ontarian. PS: Why don't you take a look at my Common Ground policy while you're there?