Thread by @JessaMcLeanNDP

So why didn’t I run again?

Because I spoke up.

I ran for Party President last minute on a platform to challenge the divestment of resources from the #NDP grassroots.

We ran to challenge an establishment slate that was bound to continue this strategy.

Over 30% of the Convention delegates agreed with us.

We exposed the rebate debacle for what it was. We challenged their handling of Convention, and their refusal to make the space accessible.

We challenged the National Director’s vision.

That was in April 2020.

The @NDP have cut off all contact since I publicly challenged them.

To me and @NDPYorkSimcoe - of which I am President.

Not one returned phone call or email. Not even when the writ dropped.

They tried to erase us.
#cdnpoli

I had run in 2018 in the by-election (same time as Jagmeet)

and again in 2019 - where we doubled the vote share.

Vetted both times.

I offered to run again, reluctantly. But again - zero contact - zero replies…until…

Organizers at Central Office started calling other Executives on our team - asking them to run.

They all said no. They all told them I wanted to run and that the Riding wanted me to run.

They cut those people off too.

#NDP2021

A few good folks at HQ tried to advocate for me.

They were reassigned.

Finally - a I get a phone call…

From the Candidate for York-Simcoe - via our 1-800 number he had to look up for himself.

It gets better - give me a moment.

So HQ acclaimed a candidate from outside the Riding - who is also an amazing human - but never told the Riding Association.

Better yet - they told him that we didn’t exist. He was told he’d have to start from scratch.

Meanwhile, we’ve had a team ready to get to work.

Your #NDP

#NDP Organizers, who know who I am - who had just finished calling through our Executive to find a candidate - told their appointed #YorkSimcoe that there would be no one there to help him.

A first time candidate was set up for failure.

But we weren’t going to let that happen…

So, like many other Ridings, our candidate was sprung on us well after writ dropped.

That is why you didn’t see many signs. We didn’t know who our candidate was.

But, deverything the NDP had done to thwart our efforts, we still got to work. We held onto our gains here.

But their treatment - the assertion that @NDPYorkSimcoe didn’t even exist after decades of work done by the volunteers on our Executive - was demoralizing.

It hurt our team greatly.

The organizers who played into this should be ashamed of themselves. You know who you are.