Background
On May 12, 2009, the 2009 British Columbia general election was held. The NDP remained in opposition to the governing Liberal Party, and the results were largely unchanged from the 2005 election: only three seats changed hands, and the popular vote changed by less than a percentage point. It also marked the party's second loss with Carole James as leader. Despite the loss, James announced she would continue as party leader. [4]
In July 2010, Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun reported that some party members were quietly dissatisfied with James's leadership and that she could face a challenge at the next party convention, then planned for fall 2011. [5] That October, MLA Bob Simpson criticized a speech that James gave to the Union of B.C. Municipalities as having little to offer and lacking in specifics. In response, James expelled him from caucus, saying his comments were out of line. [6] Though Simpson had expected a reprimand, he expected "a slap on the wrist" and was surprised to be kicked out of caucus. [6] In media appearances shortly afterwards, Simpson expressed concern that "the NDP is not moving in the polls despite a government being on its knees"; [7] [8] fellow MLA Michael Sather admitted that he "frequently" dealt with complaints from constituents about the leadership. [9] One week later, on October 15, Norm Macdonald resigned as caucus chair in protest of the expulsion, criticizing James for doing so without consulting caucus beforehand. [10]
On November 19, caucus whip Katrine Conroy stepped down after five years in the post, saying she felt she no longer had the "trust, confidence and support of the leader and caucus." [11] Conroy's press conference was attended by three other MLAs: Jenny Kwan, Lana Popham and Claire Trevena. [12] James was defiant, charging that her critics were putting their concerns ahead of the party and province, and said the party must "grow up" and stop in-fighting. [12] The following day, on November 20, the NDP's governing council met, and rejected a resolution to hold a leadership convention in December 2011 by a vote of 97 to 18. James characterized the vote as "a message sent to everyone - including every member of caucus - 'Get on with the work we have to do.'" [13] However, the meeting also exposed the rift in caucus: supporters of James had passed out yellow scarves to wear, to serve as a powerful visual endorsement of James' leadership, and thirteen MLAs refused to don the scarves. [14] Doug Routley, one of the dissidents, later said that he and most others had kept their concerns private until then, and were upset by the demand for public obeisance. [15] The thirteen dissidents — dubbed the "baker's dozen" in the media [15] [16] [17] — were Conroy, Kwan, Macdonald, Popham, Routley, Sather, Trevena, Robin Austin, Gary Coons, Guy Gentner, Leonard Krog, Harry Lali and Nicholas Simons. [18]
On December 1, Kwan released a statement calling for a leadership race, saying that "Carole James is dividing the party by staying on as leader … the B.C. NDP needs to have a leadership race in order to revitalize itself and to unify the party." [19] The NDP quickly scheduled an emergency caucus meeting, with James saying "Every MLA will be held accountable for their behaviour." [20] In response, the baker's dozen delivered an ultimatum that they were a united front: if any one of them were ejected from caucus, the rest would leave. [15] On December 5, the planned caucus meeting was postponed. [21]
On December 6, James announced her resignation as leader, pending the selection of an interim leader. [22] Dawn Black was unanimously nominated by the provincial caucus to be the interim leader on January 19, 2011. [23]
