MP Olivia Chow attends the NDP nomination meeting for her late husband Jack Layton's Toronto-Danforth riding on Jan. 9, 2012.
Olivia Chow says she was been warmly received as an NDP observer at the Liberal policy convention – but not so warmly that she is ready to say the parties could co-operation during the next federal election.
"There's a lot of red," Ms. Chow, the MP for Trinity–Spadina in Toronto and widow of NDP leader Jack Layton, said in a telephone interview Friday from the floor of the Ottawa convention centre, where she has been invited to watch the proceedings.
"I picked an orange scarf that has a pinch of red in it to respect the color scheme. Tomorrow I will wear complete orange."
Most political parties allow observers of other stripes to attend their conventions. The aim is to create an air of openness. But it does allow their opponents to wander freely among their members – and to point out the shortcomings of their hosts.
The Liberals have been very welcoming, Ms. Chow said. "People are very nice, I've got hugs, people are decent folks," she said. "I've gotten six or seven photos taken so far."
But that doesn't mean the two parties could work together to mount a united offence against Prime Minister Stephen and his Conservatives during the next election campaign.
"We believe in a new way of doing politics," Ms. Chow said of the New Democrats.
In the NDP "democracy means respecting voters, i.e. floor crossers should [sit as]independents," she said, a reference to the defection this week of Lise St-Denis, the MP for Saint-Maurice–Champlain, to the Liberals from the New Democrats. "So there are many differences," she said.
The Liberals have said this convention will be part of a renewal phase – one that is needed after they were reduced to 34 seats in the spring election. And Ms. Chow said she was just about to enter a panel where the topic of discussion would be the "roadmap for renewal."
"I have been around for quite a while," Ms. Chow said. "I remember a lot of old Liberal conventions. It feels similar. I will see if there is a renewal or not. But it has that same old feeling."