Briefly: West Vancouver-Capilano NDP candidate Sara Eftekhar told all-candidates meeting she will choose community over party when necessary. The nurse practitioner, however, would be subject to party discipline, if she becomes the MLA on Oct. 19.
The NDP candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano told an all-candidates meeting that she is not fully committed to the party’s platform.
At the Sept. 29 event in West Vancouver, hosted by the Canadian Iranian Foundation, Sara Eftekhar spoke in Farsi, pledging to oppose the party when necessary.
“Some might say I am a member of NDP, and I have to be committed to their platform and listen to whatever they dictate. How come?” said an English translation of Eftekhar’s comments. “I am an Iranian woman coming from Woman, Life, Freedom movement. I have no problem to oppose the party if there is anything not useful for the community. I have no issue to listen to my community and have an objection if an inconvenient situation arises.”
NDP candidate Sara Eftekhar on Sept. 29 (Canadian Iranian Foundation/YouTube)
Eftekhar has not responded for comment. Neither has the central office of the NDP. Click here to read a full transcript of Eftekhar’s Farsi comments in English.
In B.C., there is traditionally little, if any, room for government MLAs to show public dissent with their party, its policies and leader.
In time for the 2013 election, Sean Holman, now a professor of environmental and climate journalism at the University of Victoria, produced Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline. The 43-minute documentary explained that MLAs in B.C. are historically beholden to their leader and sometimes must ignore the will of the people who voted them into office.
As Holman reported, if a backbencher dissents, then there is a political cost. He or she may not get into cabinet and may not receive the party leader’s endorsement to run for the party in the next election.
Holman’s documentary also explained that the real business of government does not go on inside the Legislature, but in closed-door caucus and cabinet meetings and in the Office of the Premier, itself.
Party discipline has continued under the NDP since 2017. Until the 2020 election, it was necessary for MLAs to show up and vote the way then-premier John Horgan required because of the narrow minority government that required support of three Green Party MLAs.
Horgan led the party to a majority win in the 2020 snap election. Afterward, whipped votes continued. One example of the passage of politically motivated, publicly unpopular legislation took place Nov. 25, 2021: controversial amendments to the freedom of information law that resulted in the imposition of a $10 application fee to access public records.
Then-attorney general, now-premier David Eby voted for the amendments that he has refused to repeal.
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