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LETTERS: False sense of support

Editor: Re: Divisions over church, state , Oct. 11 editorial.
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Editor:

Re: Divisions over church, state, Oct. 11 editorial.

The issue with the recent election of Jagmeet Singh as leader of the federal NDP is not an issue of any division over church and state or any drawing of basest human emotion but one of political party rules when it comes to the election of a leader and the election of that leader’s party to a majority so that they become the governing party and their leader becomes the prime minister.

What you and other media reporters – note that I did not use the term investigative reporters – publish is a straightforward, face-value ‘reporting,’ and you all fail to investigate the makeup of the party membership that were allowed to vote for the leader in the leadership campaign.

Note, the NDP, like other parties, allow members who are 14 to 18 years old to vote, when only registered voters in any province or territory or at the federal level over 18 years of age can vote. So you have a false sense of support for a party leader…..something that, of course, dissipates within four years but the party rules remain the same.

Second, people who cannot vote in a provincial or federal election (general or byelection) due to failure to meet the qualifications of naturalization can vote for a political party leader, so there could be thousands of people who have emigrated to Canada and any of its provinces or territories who cannot vote in a provincial, territorial or federal election but can vote for a party leader.

Net result? A false sense of support for a party leader such as Singh.

You can eliminate about 30 per cent of his support in the recent NDP leadership campaign vote.

One thing is for sure, he does not have the groundswell support of the late Jack Layton – a message for the federal NDP.

Getting elected as a party leader does not necessarily mean substantive support in an election, whether provincial, territorial or federal.

Just ask the BC Liberals in February 2018 when they hold their leadership election and face the next provincial election.

G.E. MacDonell, Abbotsford