The NDP Keffiyeh Protest that never really happened.
The NDP Keffiyeh Protest that never really happened.
Why didn't Marit Stiles participate in her own protest?
On April 26th, Leader of the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park and Leader of the Ontario NDP Marit Stiles issued an ultimatum. If Doug Ford’s PC caucus members did not stop blocking unanimous consent to lift the keffiyeh ban instituted by Speaker Ted Arnott, Marit Stiles promised that she, her party, and the community would show up on May 6th to openly flout the ban inside the legislature.
With only independent MPP Sarah Jama having defied the ban up to that point, incidents of anti-Palestinian racism perpetuated against students at the Halton District School Board, and the Milton by-election turning the keffiyeh ban into a salient political issue for every candidate, it’s not shocking Marit Stiles would jump into the fray.
Indeed, the issue rose to public prominence in the first place because an NDP staffer was blocked from entering Queen’s Park while wearing their keffiyeh. Marit Stiles raised the issue with Ted Arnott in protection of her staffers; I wish more politicians spoke out in defence of their underpaid and overworked staff, and it appeared that was exactly what Stiles was planning to do.
Thus, with the political wind at her back, and a fresh opportunity for the Ontario NDP to flex their organizing muscle, Marit Stiles marched onwards to May 6th. Surely the Ontario NDP would not miss the shot on goal they had set up so elegantly for themselves? Surely, when the day arrived, Marit Stiles understood the political importance as Leader of the Opposition in holding to her ultimatum?
Surely?
It appears not. On May 6th, a grand total of two NDP MPPs (Kristyn Wong-Tam of Toronto Centre, and Joel Harden wore keffiyehs, out of a caucus of 28 members. Green MPP Aislinn Clancy did not don a keffiyeh, but did walk out in solidarity when Harden and Jama were expelled that day by Arnott. Rather than the Ontario NDP caucus all protesting in solidarity, they let a couple of their colleagues take the brunt.
Ted Arnott barely softened his stance that day, allowing keffiyehs to once again be worn on the grounds of Queen’s Park, but not inside the legislature or viewing galleries. This concession, in effect, was no concession at all, and far from Marit Stiles’ stated goal.
By May 7th, Jill Andrews, NDP MPP for Toronto—St. Paul’s, had managed to find and wear a keffiyeh of her own, although Harden and Wong-Tam did not bring their own keffiyehs that day. The Ontario NDP, and Marit Stiles as Leader, have been largely silent on the keffiyeh issue since.
It’s hard to overstate just how poorly Marit Stiles bungled her ultimatum. She made a threat that if Tory MPPs did not fully revoke the ban, her caucus and the community would all show up wearing keffiyehs, flouting the ban by showing solidarity and strength in numbers, daring the Speaker to eject all of them. And on the day that ultimatum was due, her threats were proven empty and meaningless.
After all, when attempting to discover what rally the Ontario NDP had planned outside Queen’s Park on May 6th, what time Stiles was asking the community to appear for her ultimatum, I was shocked to realize her office had not bothered to plan any rally at all.
Beyond the lack of community engagement, it was clear that Marit Stiles was unable to even deliver on caucus support for her protest. NDP Caucus Chair Jeff Burch of Niagara Centre stated outright to the Toronto Star that there was an internal debate over the issue within the NDP caucus, but the extremely small percentage of caucus that participated on May 6th made it clear that Marit Stiles has no ability to lead her party.
No leader of any political party can survive their own caucus refusing en masse to support her actions. As a leader, Marit Stiles’ political success lives and dies based on whether her caucus has her back, and actively supports her in public. How is anyone supposed to take a political leader seriously, when not even their own party will back them up?
If she did not have the support in caucus to deliver the May 6th protest ultimatum, then she made a critical error in issuing a threat she knew she could not deliver upon. If she actually believed she did have caucus support when she delivered that ultimatum, and didn’t realize until later that her caucus would not provide her support, that is perhaps an even greater error, because it would mean her instincts are horribly wrong.
Ultimately, however, the most pathetic failure for Marit Stiles was not the lack of coordination with the community, and it was not the failure of most of her caucus to back up her threat. No, Marit Stiles’ worst failure in this dysfunctional not-protest was when she didn’t even bother to wear a keffiyeh herself.
As I wrote above, I wish more politicians spoke in defence of the staffers who fuel their political ambitions. This entire ordeal at Queen’s Park came to prominence because Marit Stiles was upset one of her own staffers was affected by the keffiyeh ban. And yet on the day she told Doug Ford and the mass public to be ready for, she didn’t stand up for her staffer the way she said she would.
I do not know whether Stiles did not wear a keffiyeh because she thought it would look awkward if most of her caucus didn’t join her. I do not know if it is because she herself is not as supportive as she claimed, and just didn’t want to wear one. In the end, it doesn’t really matter.
Marit Stiles said she was going to stand up for her staffers, and then she left them in the lurch. That is ultimately what upsets me the most about this entire affair. I do not respect politicians who refuse to protect their staff when rival politicians attack them. I do not respect people who make commitments and then spurn those commitments without a word of explanation.
The Ontario NDP allowed the energy of the moment to pass them by as they stood aimlessly. They accomplished nothing other than showing they are completely incompetent at solidarity and collective action. Any long-term support they could have gained has now dissipated into the aether.
I do not believe that Marit Stiles’ NDP are capable of winning the next election. She has made it clear she only knows how to lose.