While the NDP caucus considers what to do with Howard Epstein, Epstein is in turn rethinking his position with the NDP. In an interview with The Coast last Friday, Epstein openly mulled over his future with the party. He says he is considering leaving the party and sitting as independent in the legislature.
The proposed downtown convention centre is one factor in a constellation of issues that is causing the Halifax MLA to rethink his relationship with the NDP. In our Friday interview, Epstein revealed that the convention centre would cost $160 million, and the proposal was for the province and city to each pay $57 million, with the remaining $46 million to come from the federal government. We broke that news Monday.
Reaction from Epstein’s NDP colleagues was swift. It’s “unacceptable for Mr. Epstein to make those comments public,” Infrastructure minister Bill Estabrooks told Metro. “Caucus solidarity and responsibility to us as colleagues was breached,” he told the Chronicle-Herald.
As Tuesday progressed, there was plenty of speculation that Epstein would be kicked out of the NDP caucus for his perceived slight of telling the taxpayers how much they would be paying for the convention centre. The caucus holds its weekly meeting today, Wednesday.
Epstein has been active in NDP politics for three decades. He is widely regarded as intelligent, dedicated and a crucial part of the party’s electoral success. But, since Darrell Dexter formed the first NDP government last year, Epstein has been increasingly marginalized.
As a former executive director of the Ecology Action Centre, Epstein was the logical choice for minister of the environment, but Dexter instead appointed former fisher Sterling Belliveau of Shelburne to that position. Adding insult to injury, Dexter locked Epstein out of cabinet altogether. Earlier this year, Epstein was further alienated from his party when the government relaxed mercury standards that had been written into the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act.
And over the past few weeks, as the convention centre issue has taken centre stage in internal NDP debates, rumours have been flying in political circles that Epstein is mulling over leaving the party completely. When asked directly of that possibility Friday, he didn’t deny it:
“I have been talking very frankly with my colleagues, urging them not to put any money into the convention centre,” said Epstein. “If the decision goes against the view that I have, then I’ll certainly think about what to do, but a very serious decision like leaving [the caucus] would only be taken in the context of much wider considerations. It wouldn’t be a one-issue matter. If I were to ask myself that question, it would be based on multiple factors.
“I would have to decide where best to place my efforts. I mean, I’ve been a member of the NDP for a long time, 30 years, I’ve won five elections provincially, people vote for me because I work hard on issues they think are important, and I would have to assess, I guess, how progressive and hopeful our new government is, or is likely to be.
“So it wouldn’t be a one-issue matter. When I ask myself, as people do, ‘What are you going to do next?’ or ‘What’s your future like?’ then they ask that as a complex question, not as a simple question.
“People have been very good to me,” he continued. “But there’s a reason I get elected; I get elected because people can look to my public record over the years—as a lawyer in private practice, as someone who does pro bono work, as the executive director of the Ecology Action Centre, as a former city councillor. I mean, we know each other.”
Estabrooks appeared to be ready to announce provincial support for the convention centre this week, but Dexter has said that it needs more discussion before an announcement is made. Is Dexter slowing the process for fear Epstein will leave the party?
“It beats me,” answered Epstein. “I don’t know what the cabinet discussion has been. This has been actively debated, believe me—there are strongly held opinions, and people are looking at this in a lot of detail, and are generally not shy about saying what they think. This is not an easy decision.”
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This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.
Premier Dexter would be well advised to invite Mr. Epstein into his cabinet and make him a Minister.
If Epstein would be forced to leave the caucus the political damage would be enormous for the Dexter NDP.
I think the damage is already done, especially for Epstein. It’s been one broken promise after another it seems with these guys; but it is never their fault. Either the previous government or the consultants said so and so, or my assistant did not fill out my expense claim right (he just put the receipts I gave in)…
I’d feel a little more sympathy for him if once upon a time, 5 years ago… on Hollis Street …. he didn’t look at me like I was an idiot when I had the audacity to ask him to clean his dogs business out of my garden. . . . which he didn’t. I even offered him a bag but wound up doing it myself.
He’s not all that.
Dexter’s friends are Tories.
His colleagues are NDP.
Big difference.
Mr Epstein can afford to walk because the next election is 3 years away and he’ll get a nice MLA pension of $40,000 a year if he quits/loses. By then the voters will be ready to turf the right wing NDP party and the country folk will still be without emergency services on weekends as they look at the half empty Ramia development.
No matter what happens with Epstein the convention center funding can now be classified as a scandal.
Right wing NDP Party??? LOL
Yeah, the city can’t use the $15 million in tax dollars for a development that will cost them $2.5 million a year…
And the downtown doesn’t need the hundreds of new residents this project will create.
And we really need to save the view of the woodside oil refinery from one specific location of Citadel Hill…
And we should predicate our entire existence on what tourists who come here one or two days a year, vs. the residents who are trying to make a life for themselves here…
And tourists will stay away in droves from Halifax because we are building an 18 story building – which in any other city would be a low rise, or mid rise at best…
This whole thing is laughable! No surprise Epstein is leading the charge into nonsense…
How sad. When Howard was kept out of cabinet, my ‘silver lining’ view was that Darrell was taking a “Tommy Douglas” approach – fiscal responsibility for the first couple of years, then move into the more socially progressive programme aspect, moving Howard in during a cabinet shuffle.
The loaning of millions to the Irvings, this conference centre, all lean to seeing Darrell’s government as “Hamm II”. Ramona Jennex is being given latitude to bring in some great non fiscally expensive changes – that will help the NDP’s long standing base – people with very little money. (no expiry for gift cards, easier and free registration of birth certificates, etc) I live near her riding, so I notice her changes more. Those and the protection of fragile environmental lands done early on alone feel as if we have an NDP government. The wave of other changes seem to be indicating we really don’t.
ANY NDP government worth the name of the party that is responsible for our social programme baset needs to know how to keep the progressives as well as the pragmatists getting support and being listened to.
Howard is the hero on this one.
This is an outrage to be paying 160mil at the taxpayers expense.
Obviously if we’re given a number like 160mil, you can bet by completion it will be at least 200mil.
I’m glad Howard had the gonads to let us know, since the game with these major decisions seems to be smoke and mirrors until the ink dries and then it’s too late.
This seems to be the case for the municipality and the province.
As far as I’m concerned I don’t think we need a convention centre… we already have one.
What we need much more is a stadium
Does the present WTCC earn it’s keep?
You can bet this will be yet another boondoggle for which the taxpayer will be on the hook for many years to come.
I would love to know 1)Who’s idea is this, on what grounds, and 2) who voted in favour of this wreckless spending?
Their are two councilors who I’m sure support this move, reason 1123 why HRM doesn’t work.
I hope neither of these two are looking for the mayor’s chair, come the next election.
All this to make a couple of developers happy.
Not exactly good and effective representation now is it??
A Politician with some balls fantastic! Let’s hope Howard gives up the provincial ring and goes for Mayor
The contrast can’t be more stark. The 57 million the province is looking to flush down the toilet with the new convention centre comes just one week after the O’Neill report calls on the province to deregulate tuition… Charge students more cause we are too busy giving money to dumb corporate ideas…
The NDP selling out their base. They knew perfectly well the kind of report O’Neill would produce (shameful neo-liberal solutions). O’Neill is just cover for their future austerity cuts. In this case Howard is doing the right thing, in light of the O’Neill report this figure shows that the money is there it’s just that governemnt has F$%&ed priorities
The contrast can’t be more stark. The 57 million the province is looking to flush down the toilet with the new convention centre comes just one week after the O’Neill report calls on the province to deregulate tuition… Charge students more cause we are too busy giving money to dumb corporate ideas…
The NDP is selling out their base. They knew perfectly well the kind of report O’Neill would produce (shameful neo-liberal solutions). O’Neill is just cover for their future austerity cuts. In this case Howard is doing the right thing, in light of the O’Neill report this figure shows that the money is there it’s just that government has F$%&ed up priorities
It’s a 160 million dollar convention center in a basement. From now on, it should be called the Rank Rec Room. It’s a wonderful companion for the Twisted Sisters.
The nice thing about Epstein is that, like him or dislike him, he’s identifiably core NDP. If you *like* him it’s because he’s pro-labour and environmental and for public transparency and so forth. If you *dislike* him it’s because he’s pro-labour and environmental and for public transparency and so forth. There’s not much doubt about where he stands.
About the best you can say for his colleagues is that they present McNeil or Baillie with a bit of a quandary when one of them assumes power – because the Dexter government is doing *exactly* what those 2 parties would do. I can just see the Liberal and PC attack ads: “Down with the convention centre! Stop padding developers’ pockets!” Yeah, right.
I guess Harold will do what’s best for Harold. Not once in this interview was he quoted as saying he needs to consider what his constituants would like. You know, the same constituants that not only cast a vote for Mr. Epstein but also the NDP Party.
I read this article twice and noticed a lot of “I” and “Me” in quotes attributed to Mr. Epstein. Not exactly hallmarks of being a team player.
Whenever an elected member of Gov’t crosses party lines or chooses to sit as an independant there should be a mandatory by-election in that riding. At least that way the voting public can make a conscious decision to support an individual or a potical party.