INTRODUCTION
Ducasse for leader of a renewed NDP

Welcome to the web site for my campaign to become the next leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada.

Why am I running? The answer is simple. My team and I want to restore the New Democratic Party to its place of pride in Canadian politics. This means continuing our renewal process in order to make bold changes in the party's structure, program, political language and vision.

We believe that this renewal must be based on a vision with the following five elements at its core.

A Radical, Optimistic and Pragmatic Vision

Following our founding convention in 1932, the CCF/NDP presented Canadians with a vision of a more humane and democratic society that challenged the unfair distribution of power and wealth in this country. However, the NDP has been adrift in recent years. We have lost confidence in ourselves and in our heritage. Today, in the midst of the neoliberal assault on the social and democratic gains for which we struggled so hard, we need a clarion call containing the same conviction and passion of those past manifestos and declarations -- a clarion call -- to put a lie to the myth that there is no alternative.

By presenting a clear, radical, optimistic and pragmatic vision, we can seize the political initiative rather than just positioning ourselves in opposition to other political agendas. While we continue to criticize an untamed capitalism, we need to articulate how democratic socialism provides us with a realistic alternative. We must present Canadians with a vision.

A Democratic Economy

The NDP must remain true to its history and to its members. We must stand by our principles even as we attempt to find new ways of achieving them. We must also improve our program and policies. We have said a lot about the distribution of wealth, but little about the creation of wealth. In my own work in community economic development, I have come to the conclusion that citizen involvement is critical to full employment and sustainable communities. Therefore, I am convinced that we must propose policies placing the democratization of the economy front and centre.

We want to give people and communities power over the economic levers that affect their lives. It is therefore imperative to talk about: local control of investment ; social capital (e.g. worker and community capital funds) ; cooperative development ; workplace democracy ; work-sharing ; the social and ecological responsibility of corporations ; full employment in a mixed economy (social, private, public sectors) ; fair trade ; international regulations on the movement of capital ; equitable distribution of international wealth ; investment in green technologies ; reduction of collective and personal debt, and so on.

In our view, the NDP must stand for something more than the defence of social programs. Democratic socialism is first and foremost an alternative vision of the economy.

We must draw a clear line between the neoliberal policies of the Liberals, Alliance and Tories in which people are reduced to non-participants who have little or no influence over their destinies, and our vision of a democratic economy.

We must also attack one of the root causes of this undemocratic economic order which is control of the political process by powerful monied interests. Therefore, political finance and electoral reform are crucial.

The Politics of the Common Good

The NDP's language must be capable of capturing the imagination of the whole population. Our discourse must be based on the common good and not fractured in terms of what are erroneously called "special" interests. Women, youth, the poor, the unemployed, the underemployed, the working poor, unionized and non-unionized workers, small business people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, physically challenged, ethnic and cultural communities, aboriginal people : these are the groups that have been labelled "minorities". Yet taken together they are not special interests : together, constitute the population at large and we must consider them as such. Our discourse must be a unifying one centred around the citizen.

A More Open and Democratic Party

The NDP must also review its internal structures to become a truly modern and democratic party. We must focus on the riding association and real grassroots participation of the membership. We must also : establish a federal membership that is autonomous of the provincial parties; improve our relationship with the labour movement but rethink our structural relationship with the unions; establish solid, even if informal, links to the social movements; give far for greater participation and power to the youth of this party; review our policy development process; help to build a federalist Left in Québec; change the name of this Party to the Social Democratic Party of Canada.

A Credible Winning Alternative of the Left

The NDP is called upon to become more than a good opposition party. We do not only want to be the social conscience of Canada, we want to be the socially conscious government of Canada. The NDP must set as a firm goal for itself forming a majority government in a period of ten years and should adopt strategies accordingly. Beyond making good speeches, we must position ourselves as an aspiring, competent and credible force, a party whose policies are progressive, realistic and responsible, a party with a radical yet pragmatic vision. To achieve this, the party must be strong throughout Canada. We must therefore build the Party in Québec. There can be no unifying force of the Canadian left without Quebecers.

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The party has adopted a process where all members can vote to elect the leader. For those who are members, I respectfully ask for your support in order to move this vision forward. For those who are not members but who share our values, I invite you to join us. Together, we can build a democratic society based on justice, equality, freedom, sustainability, cooperation and solidarity.

Please remember that: "To have the results you've never had, you must do what you have never done."

I thank my team in advance for all their efforts. I also wish all the other candidates good luck, in the hope that we will have a clean leadership race that focuses on ideas, for the good of the party and all those who share its values.

In solidarity,

Pierre Ducasse