Photo credit: modified; original by Ivtorov CC BY-SA 4.0
Background
Somewhere around mid-2021, I began to speculate about the future of BC Premier John Horgan, who is also the MLA where I live. After repeated bouts of cancer and continually incompetent performances from his government, how much longer would he last as Premier?
Rumours of his retirement started swirling as the calendar flipped to 2022. In late June, Horgan confirmed that he was stepping down as Premier, but would stay on until the BC NDP managed to hold a leadership contest.
Before the 2014 BC NDP leadership race that Horgan won by acclamation, David Eby was considered a front-runner but decided not to run after his then-fiancée became pregnant. Throughout Horgan's tenure, Eby was widely regarded as the BC NDP's "heir apparent", so it was no surprise when Eby announced his candidacy this time. But what was somewhat surprising was that one by one, every other potential leadership candidate announced that they wouldn't be running and were instead supporting David Eby. It was looking like another BC NDP leadership "race" was going to end by acclamation.
Things were quiet for about a month. But on Twitter and through the grapevine, I started hearing that there was a movement brewing to throw support behind a relatively unknown candidate who would be a "climate champion". Anjali Appadurai, a "climate activist" who had previously run for the federal NDP in Vancouver, announced her candidacy at the beginning of August.
No longer on an easy acclamation path, David Eby expressed frustration. And thus the idea for this song was born: David Eby crying about not getting his way. That's when I started writing this song 😀
At the time, I was highly skeptical of Appadurai's chances of winning. Eby had the support of 48 of the 57 BC NDP MLAs, so even if she could somehow pull off a win, how would she get the party to follow her vision?
To be eligible to vote in the party leadership contest, new members had to sign up by September 4th. As that deadline passed, it became clear that the Appadurai campaign had been very successful in signing up new members. Likely due to disillusionment with the centrist approach the party had adopted to secure power, party membership had dropped drastically under Horgan, and this influx of new members supporting Appadurai scared the BC NDP shitless. Party brass was so scared that they started planting the seeds to disqualify her even before the September 4th deadline by changing the rules during the campaign and applying them retroactively.
Lo and behold, the BC NDP disqualified her. Kudos to her and her team for making it as far as they did, but I still maintain what I said before her candidacy: the BC NDP is a centrist party. There's no "changing it from the inside". The party will move to the centre because it's been a successful electoral strategy. Sure, it's been a failure as far as policy and performance go, but who cares as long as they keep getting elected, right? 🙃
Downtrodden BC NDP supporters: you have no say in what happens to your party, but fear not! At least now you have a song you can sing!
Lyrics
It's our party, and we'll cry if we want to Cry if we want to Cry if we want to You would cry too, if you wore an orange hue Nobody knows where our Johnny has gone So Eby's left holding the bag Why's the party empty and bland It's causing the voters to gag It's our party, and we'll lie if we want to Lie if we want to Lie if we want to You would lie too, if you wore an orange hue Rig that election, the race is too tight Bye Anjali Appadurai The Green Party's evil Thuggees Nearly defeated our guy It's our party, we'll deny if we want to Deny if we want to Deny if we want to You would deny too, if you wore an orange hue [Interlude] Eby and Johnny and Adrian Dix (Adrian Dix) Three lying peas in a pod It's time that we minimize The entire NDP squad It's their party, and they'll cry if they want to Lie if they want to Deny if they want to You would cry too, if you wore an orange hue Oh, it's their party, and they'll cry if they want to Lie if they want to Deny if they want to You would cry too, if you wore an orange hue