NDP federal leadership candidate Nathan Cullen is hoping a mixture of fear, humour and co-operation can lead to a successful run at the top job. Adding a splash of philosophy, he thinks he can take on the Conservative party too.
Cullen held a meet-and-greet at Roberts Creek Elem-entary School March 13, and had you been listening in, you might have thought it was a comedy show.
The self-described resolver of conflict left several residents gasping for air as he tossed out anecdotes for 30-odd minutes before taking questions.
"My small town of Smithers, 5,000 people, now we're up to 23 churches and all of them sort of start from the Dutch Reform and go to the right," he said to the roughly 50 people packed into the school's library. "I love them. We get along great. Me and the Dutch are solid. They don't vote for me at all, but it's OK."
He shared the story of being a perpetual underdog in the race to unseat a Tory MP in his riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley during the 2004 election. An MP who "seemed to be obsessed with the issue of gay people wanting to get married, and guns.
"Heaven help us if gay people ever actually wanted guns because then he would have lost his mind," Cullen said to laughter and applause.
But the B.C. member of Parliament also shared his plan to win over the voters of Canada who, in his words, are generally not partisan, but thoroughly political.
If Cullen had his way, riding associations across the country would be given the optional opportunity to hold a nomination and choose one candidate from the Green, Liberal and New Democrat parties.
That candidate could then take on a reigning Conservative incumbent, Cullen said.
"These guys are not our parents' Conservatives," he said. "I am prepared to put country ahead of party."
But a leader must also find humanity in their opponent, he stressed, declaring the first thing he wanted from Stephen Harper was the chance to have dinner and meet one another's families.
Should Harper's inner humanity go unnoticed by people like Cullen, the risk, he said, is that opponents could become enemies.
"At the end of the day, we're both fathers. We love our families; we're both in politics. We might have a lot in common," Cullen explained. "That's about it, maybe."
But this strategy that Cullen feels has resonance with a frustrated group of progressive electors who may have lost faith in the system is more than a playbook to defeat Harper - for Cullen, it's a means to a necessary end.
Scandals and suppression tactics are turning off Canadians, he stressed, even admitting the role his own party has played in the trickeries.
He pointed to the NDP's campaign to keep Green leader Elizabeth May out of the debates, with party members saying, "Don't give Elizabeth any air, don't put her in the debate. That'll make her look relevant."
But Cullen thinks running joint nominations in Conservative ridings can change that atmosphere.
"You want to do a joint nomination that works for you, works for the riding, great. You don't, great. But win," he warned. "Because if you don't do something like this or some version, then you better have a plan to win because we've got to win. We've got to win."
