In 2004, then provincial New Democrat youth co-chair Mike Palecek criticized party leader Carole James for having come "to power without a platform. She said nothing concrete in her campaign for leader and clearly had no real plan for how to move forward." So, five years later, does Mr. Palecek think that criticism is still valid? "Well, actually I think I would say I made a mistake in that analysis," he responded, in an interview on Public Eye Radio.
"I think looking back over the last five years it's fairly clear that Carole James did have an idea of where she'd go. She tried to break the link with labour and the party. She's consistently tried to move the party more toward the political centre. It's not a platform I'd agree with. But I think she did have her own ideas."
For someone with "no platform", Carol James brought the NDP perilously close to power in the most recent provincial election. There are a lot of BC Libs who would give their eye teeth to see the NDP lurch to the left.