Recently we ran a story on city NDP MLA Dawn Black throwing her support behind candidates running for civic spots in the city. Today we publish a story on NDP MPs Fin Donnelly and Peter Julian's phone endorsement campaign in the city.
To say we think this is an unfortunate turn of events is an understatement. Yes, we're not so naive about politics to not realize that there have been left and right coalitions of candidates running in the city for years: Some form slates that are clearly right of centre, others seek endorsements from the New Westminster and District Labour Councils - clearly left of centre. And some run as true independents and try to avoid partisan branding.
But this latest development turns "local" politics into an open provincial and federal battleground - something that is not conducive to solving very local problems with cooperation and non-partisan teamwork. Again, we're not so naive to think that politicians aren't married to specific ideologies - in fact, that's often what gets some folks involved in politics. But, thankfully, at the city level those allegiances are not usually front and centre in the decisionmaking process.
Residents of New Westminster need to know that candidates are running to help make this city a better place to work, raise their kids and build a good life. They need to know that decisions on where the roads should go and schools are built are based on common goals and not part of a larger partisan political battle.
We fear that this latest round of endorsements from federal politicians just creates another reason to question our elected representatives' motives - as if there aren't enough reasons already.
City politics needs truly independent thinkers who can see beyond provincial or federal platforms of any political party.
The last thing we need is more fuel added to the left versus right firefights in our city council chambers or on our school board.
