The death today (23 February 2018) of James Laxer brought back memories of the times I met him during the 1971 NDP leadership campaign and the convention in Ottawa, April 21 to 24.
Laxer was the leader of the 'Waffle' faction of the party; when accused of waffling, he said that he'd rather waffle to the left than to the right. He attempted to move the party back to democratic socialism from the liberal-with-a-heart social democrat stance that it was (and still is) taking. I wholeheartedly supported this movement.
I wanted to attend the convention, but I had started a management job in a department store early in 1971. The personnel manager, a friend and fellow NDP supporter, had guided me in fudging my résumé. I asked him about getting the time off to attend, and he advised me to tell the manager (a conservative) that I wanted to visit a friend rather than attend the convention. I did that and was granted the time off. It wasn't entirely a lie, as I did also want to visit a friend who was singing in a hotel lounge in Ottawa.
I went to the convention as an alternate delegate, but, since I wrote a column for a weekly newspaper, I registered as a member of the press. This gave me a seat at the press table, front and centre by the podium.
Being front and centre on the convention floor also meant that I was in full view of the TV cameras. When I got back to Sudbury, the personnel manager warned me that the store manager had seen me on TV. Luckily, I didn't hear any more about it.
The leadership election itself produced some surprises.
That Frank Howard was eliminated on the first ballot was no surprise. That Ed Broadbent was eliminated on the second ballot was a surprise. He had been expected to come second and was considered to be the only candidate with a chance of beating David Lewis. He tried, perhaps too hard, to bridge the gap between the Waffle and the party establishment, but fell into the chasm between them.
it took four ballots for Lewis to be elected leader, with Laxer the last one to be eliminated,