Bob Strachan, a Carpenters’ Union leader and MLA for Cowichan-Newcastle, was the unanimous choice to lead the BC NDP. While some criticized the NDP for abandoning the CCF’s call to replace capitalism with a more humanitarian democratic socialist society, the party leaders didn’t hesitate to campaign proudly and call themselves socialists. And while that terminology has mostly fallen away, even today the constitution of the BC NDP offers a clear commitment to making life better for everyone through “the application of democratic socialist principles to government and the administration of public affairs.”
The foundational roots of the BC NDP
