Former colleague of Tommy Douglas says NDP falls far short of its original promise

by Val Scott

	Tommy Douglas.

Let me begin by sharing with you a few notes regarding my activist political background before I introduce you to what my passion is today, an intercession of spirituality and politics which I have come to describe as "forgiveness politics," and how that particular type of politics (in my mind, a combination of J.S. Woodsworth, T.C. Douglas, and M.K. Gandhi perspectives) may be applied to your immediate family as well as to your close professional associates, and, most particularly, I would emphasize, through your registered non-profit Stephen Lewis Foundation.

My earlier political background (1957-1973):

• 1957-61 - Joined the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and then actively participated in the formation of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Instrumental in choosing the new name.
• 1959-72 - Active volunteer campaign manager, organizer and fund raiser for the CCF-NDP. Held several elected positions within the Ontario party.
• 1962-72 - Federal candidate in five consecutive federal elections (in York Centre and York West). Has the ironic distinction of having won more aggregate votes than any other candidate in the history of the CCF-NDP - win or lose, averaging 24,624 votes per election, or approximately 36 per cent on each occasion - while coming in second each time.
• 1966-72 - Elected and re-elected Trustee for Ward 1 of the North York Board of Education (with 59 and 65 per cent majority votes, respectively). Elected Vice Chairman of the Board (1970-71 and re-elected 1971-72).
• 1973 - Upon leaving Ontario for B.C., allowed my membership in the NDP to lapse and, at the same time, consciously withdrew from all forms of partisan politics. I felt that I had paid my dues in full up to that time.

My spiritual/political interests since 1973 can be described as generally Gandhian.

In the Fall of 2005 I organized and sponsored a two-month experimental online Citizen's Forum on Evolutionary Politics program with approximately 50 like-minded participants who agreed that "The purpose of this forum is to explore and discuss ways in which we can express a political voice that is in keeping with our highest spiritual ideals, and that nurtures each other, our communities, and our local, regional, national and planetary citizenship."

Out of that has evolved the idea of "forgiveness politics."

In the winter of 2005-06 a federal election was called. I found myself inspired to offer a hand to help elect our local NDP candidate, Michael Crawford, who, in my opinion, would be a worthy successor to our former NDP MP, Nelson Riis, who was defeated by a Reform (now Conservative Party of Canada) candidate in an earlier election -- but mostly, I must confess, because I wanted to have a good first-hand experience of how the voters in my riding were actually feeling about representative democracy at this stage of our country's history.

I was an experienced NDP canvasser, so I offered to take charge of a number of polls around where I live in Kamloops, all of which Michael Crawford and the NDP were able to win pretty handily, but, unfortunately, only with a very low voter turnout. What I learned most from this doorstep experience, however, was that there was hardly any genuine voter enthusiasm -- surprisingly, much less than I experienced 34 years ago in Ontario and earlier.

In short, I had never experienced Canadians this dispirited before - a sad fact which set me off thinking and reflecting more deeply on what might be the real cause of this problem. And most particularly with the NDP, which, to me, seems to have been a party that has consistently fallen far, far short of its original promise, when it was founded 46 years ago at the time it replaced the earlier CCF with Tommy Douglas (the father of Medicare and our country's most admired citizen) as its first leader. In addition, I note that Canada's Green Party vote potential has recently risen to around 8 per cent, primarily because, in my opinion, the NDP has been perceived to be quite out-of-touch when it came to addressing Canada's major environmental concerns in recent times.

So, I asked myself, what's going on -- and most particularly with the party I so enthusiastically helped found in 1961? And the answer I kept getting was that it was most likely because the party's leadership [NDP] had lost its passion for genuinely new ideas, and, most especially, spirit-centered ideas -- ideas which call for a whole new kind of spiritual/political approach.

(And nowhere was this more true than when we, as "homo sapiens," saw that we were, in truth, spiritual beings undergoing a uniquely "human" experience. Which, I suggest, is where our fear-based confusions mostly emanate from. And most particularly when it comes to addressing the so-called "War on Terror," on the one hand, and seeing how spirituality can and will effectively intersect with politics, on the other.)

Hence these spiritual/political priorities since the 2006 federal election - priorities which I would now like to share with you in some detail.

Here's the first part, dealing principally with the 9/11 Truth subject:

• On December 7th, 2006 ("Pearl Harbor Day"), I organized and facilitated a DVD showing of "9/11 Press for Truth" at the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops, featuring the documented coverup exposed by the 9/11 families, and most particularly by the "Jersey Girls," 9/11 widows who were primarily responsible for forcing the Bush Administration to hold a 9/11 Commission in the first place. The public showing was a resounding success, with about 200 people in attendance in a 220 seat auditorium, along with quite a bit of local media coverage.
• On January 8th and 9th, 2007, with the help of Michael Crawford, our local NDP candidate, I had brief meetings with Alexa McDonough, the NDP's Foreign Affairs Critic at the time who was in Kamloops for some party-sponsored events, and passed on to her a package made up of a copy of Barrie Zwicker's latest book, Towers of Deception, plus a covering letter and two DVDs: "9/11 Press for Truth" and one called "9/11 Mysteries - Part I: Demolitions," which she thanked me for and indicated that she would be getting back to me shortly on this matter. She unfortunately never did, even after an email reminder.
• On January 21st, 2007, Jack Layton came to Kamloops for Michael Crawford's "official" re-nomination meeting and fundraising dinner, both of which I attended. I had a very pleasant personal exchange with Jack, who was obviously knowledgeable about what most likely took place on 9/11 as well what was written in Barrie Zwicker's most recent book and told me that he would be viewing copies of the same two DVDs that I passed on to Alexa on his lap top computer during his flight home the next day. I never heard back from Jack, either, in spite of a further follow-up inquiry.
• All along I was aware, however, that Connie Fogal of the Canadian Action Party seemed to be the only leader of a Canadian political party who was actively willing to speak out on the subject of 9/11. I got to know Connie a bit following the 2004 federal election. After the David Ray Griffin event in Vancouver during the month of May 2007, featuring his most recent book titled Debunking 9/11 Debunking, an event which drew a well-informed crowd of about 950 people, the way was paved for the founding meeting of a Vancouver 9/11 Truth Conference in June, at which Connie Fogal (along with Barrie Zwicker and other key 9/11Truth figures) was one of its featured presenters, and at which I was able to get to know Connie and her work on behalf of 9/11 Truth much better, and most certainly more appreciatively.
• Which then led to Connie's package and presentation of August 15th, 2007, titled AN INVITATION TO JOIN US IN "GOING BEYOND THE SHAME AND BLAME GAME" ON 9/11 to "all Republican and Democratic presidential candidates for the 2008 U.S. election; to leaders of all registered federal parties in Canada; and to about 70 open-minded individuals who might be attracted to the approach CAP was offering through this kind of initiative.

All presentation materials were kindly provided by Ian Woods, Publisher and Editor of Global Outlook, 'The Magazine of 9/11 Truth,' to help trigger a world-wide healing conversation through a '9/11 Truth Quiz' (see reproduced separate green sheet for your convenience)." All of which was followed up with a further communication from Ian Woods dated October 12th, 2007, which included a copy of the Mike Youds September 28th, 2007 article from The Kamloops Daily News.

• During this time I also was privileged to spend some quality moments with author/activist/feminist Linda McQuaig and Afghanistan MP Malalai Joya at breakfast meetings during their recent visits to Kamloops.
• As for feedback from the American presidential candidates, there has not been to this date anything formal received from any of them. However, I have noted from media reports that Republican Congressman Ron Paul, and Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich, have been willing to actively participate in citizen discussions on the subject of 9/11. Which, I suggest, is perhaps as much as anyone might realistically expect, given the still prevailing North American political climate.
• Meanwhile, the key 9/11 Trutharticulator continues to be Dr. David Ray Griffin, who now has no less than seven scholarly books to his credit on 9/11. As you see, momentum at this level is continuing to build.

Jack Layton.

Now, to the second part of this communication, dealing principally with spiritual/political attitudes and approaches which I am hoping will be both powerful and practical enough to transform our very species on this planet in some major way, and, at the same time, hopefully, also address the so-called Naomi Klein issue.

I have been reading several challenging books during the past six months, the most notable of which are Al Gore's The Assault on Reason; Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism; and most especially David Ray Griffin's Debunking 9/11 Debunking (Second Edition), books which very much speak for themselves in their own unique ways.

I have also been diving into several other books the past while, books which go into considerable detail and depth on subjects having to do with the Bilderberg Group; the Council of Foreign Relations; the Trilateral Commission; and other institutions of a similar nature. I have also exposed myself to several documentary films, videos, and DVDs in the same vein, which focus on who are supposedly "running the planet" today through the mechanisms of self-appointed oligarchies and “illuminatis” of various types.

So, you could say, I am no stranger to "conspiracy theories," which, I assure you, I am not the least bit personally attracted to but which I nonetheless do try to take into account in some open-minded way.

It is literally impossible to bring about any kind of lasting social/political/spiritual changes on our planet - especially of the healing kind -- unless one is also willing to take total responsibility for telling ourselves, as a homo sapiens species, the complete truth about the kind of world WE have created. Who else? Because nothing less than that will work (the "key point" I alluded to earlier on). Most especially since deep forgiveness and taking full responsibility in Ho'oponopono shamanic terms go together - whether or not we "believe" it or even like it. In short, genuine forgiveness and taking full responsibility for all so-called homo sapiens thoughts in the world go hand in hand.

Now to the matter of how this kind of approach may be practically applied at virtually no monetary cost.

I respectfully further suggest that if Dr. Hew Len's shamanic ho-oponopono approach as outlined on his web site, LINK turns out to be authentic, something truly miraculous could take place in our world.

With this in mind, I look forward to a new kind of spiritual/political activism, both in Canada and in the world at large -- that is beyond the NDP‘s current approach to Canadian politics and social political discourse.

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