[CliffFletcher]

I don’t know that it’s ideological purity that has put NDP loyalists’ noses out of joint so much as the fact Nenshi has never been active in the party.

To most of the voting public, a party is just a brand that gets slapped on candidates. But to party organizers and candidates, it’s an organization that they pour blood, sweat, and tears into. They’ve paid their dues raising funds, holding endless meetings in community halls, crafting policy, knocking on doors, and doing the grunt-work of operating a party. For years. Sometimes decades.

In that light, it’s understandable that the prospect of an outsider stepping in and becoming the head of the whole thing a year or two before an election rankles.