THE B.C. Liberals said on Saturday said that NDP Leader John Horgan’s handpicked NDP candidate in Surrey-White Rock, Bryn Smith, has a long history of anti-capitalist and anti-Israel views.
The question for Horgan is does he support the need to ‘nationalize more industries’ and does he agree that the NDP “cannot compromise” with “enemies to a progressive agenda”, the BC Liberals added.
Smith on Capitalism:
- “…we need to critically support the NDP in spite of our criticisms of it. …there’s also a lot of potential there that I believe can be tapped.”
- “…I see the NDP as that vehicle, more so than basically anything else out there. And I think that if we have that as a vehicle, we can use it as a platform to begin building towards issues that we need resolved, such as, …beginning to nationalize more industries. So overall, this is why I see the NDP as an appropriate vehicle for radical change. This is why I see the NDP as the platform for myself, which I you know, I’m seeking the nomination.”
- “The idea of a nonexistent middle class has permeated so deeply into the Canadian fascination and imagination, that we almost have to undo that. For a lot of Canadians, it’s, you know, well, you’re kind of in this nebulous middle class instead of just right, do you own property or not? Do you own a business or not? Do you own capital or not? That’s where the real differences come from.”
- “I would say that, in the case of Jeremy Corbyn, he suffered not only from the smear campaign, he also suffered from treachery from within a lot of levels. … the lesson is almost never compromise, never compromise. Because there are enemies to a progressive agenda, just about everywhere, and you cannot compromise with them. They do not believe in the same things that you believe. So at the end of the day, all you can do is insulate yourself from them [and] cut them out.”
- Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4fGoyMYZn4&
Smith on Israel:
- “What I struggle with is the NDP brass’ continued support for Israel on foreign policy. …now would be the time to go all out and say how you really feel about anti-imperialism and that sort of thing. So I guess my question is what can we do to bring the NDP more in line with the Canadian people? Because they continue to support Israel to their own electoral detriment because the majority of Canadians aren’t as committed to Israel as our government is.” (Bryn Smith, Youtube, May 10, 2020)
- Signed letter by Mr. Smith criticizing Canada for siding with Israel https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/palestine-canada-and-un/