The New Democratic Party of Canada has released its list of 60 “priority” resolutions to be debated at this weekend’s party convention in Hamilton, Ontario. – and none of them touch on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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The NDP and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict A look at what’s under debate

Approximately 1,100 delegates voted to bring these resolutions to the convention. They cover everything from healthcare and affordability to workers’ rights and foreign policy issues.

Some 350 resolutions were up for consideration, including at least one regarding Israel. A resolution from the NDP Socialist Caucus He called on the NDP to “strengthen its advocacy for Palestinian human rights by actively campaigning for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the State of Israel until Israel ends its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.”

An NDP spokesperson said delegates voted on which resolutions they wanted to prioritize last Thursday, before Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel.

The NDP foreign affairs critic told Breaking: that given everything that has happened in the Middle East since then, she would be surprised if a resolution on the conflict wasn’t added to the list at the last minute.

“I hope we have an emergency resolution on this issue,” MP Heather McPherson told Breaking: on Wednesday.

Emergency resolutions can be submitted until Thursday, Oct. 12, and are intended to address issues that arise after the usual political convention deadline of Oct. 13-15.

“Obviously, this is an issue that is a priority for many people across the country and around the world,” McPherson said. “So I would be surprised if a resolution is not presented.”

The NDP and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

McPherson issued a statement on behalf of the NDP on Monday condemning Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel and calling on the Canadian government to insist that Israel respect international law in operations in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

“What Israel is doing now looks a lot like collective punishment,” McPherson told CBC. “Israel has every right to defend itself, but it also has the obligation to comply with international law. More than 50 percent of Gazans are children.

“All of us must attend our convention… thinking about how we support our Canadian Jewish and Palestinian Canadian friends, family and community members. How we ensure that Canada is doing everything it can to call for a ceasefire to stop the death of innocent civilians.”

Israelis mourn Ili Bar Sade, a soldier who was killed in an attack by Hamas militants, at his funeral in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 9, 2023. (Fairy Parush/Reuters)

This will be the first in-person meeting of NDP members in five years. During a virtual convention in 2021, delegates supported the motions calling for “an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands” and an end to “all commercial and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine.” The NDP also wants Canada to stop selling weapons to Israel.

“There are going to be difficult conversations because we wouldn’t be a political party if we got along and agreed on 100 percent of things, 100 percent of the time,” McPherson said.

A foreign policy resolution on the debate list focuses on the anti-Sikh riots in India in 1984. The resolution, sponsored by the Brampton East riding association, calls on the party to “recognize the state-sponsored violence perpetrated against the Sikhs in November 1984.” throughout India as a genocide.”

In November 2019, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh issued a statement on the “1984 Sikh genocide” saying that many observers, “including former Supreme Court of India Justice GT Nanavati, have noted that state resources were fundamental in these premeditated murders.

A look at what’s under debate

Approximately 1,100 delegates had approximately 350 resolutions to choose from. Here are some of those that will be debated and voted on in Hamilton:

HEALTH CARE

Ensure provinces cannot use federal health dollars to provide private, for-profit health care.
Reestablish a Crown corporation to manufacture vaccines, other drugs and medical devices.
Add dental, mental, drug, hearing and vision care to the public health system.
Make federal funding for reproductive health care permanent.
Develop a national agency to coordinate and retain the health care workforce.
Increase funding for dementia research to $105 million a year.

A small glass bottle of vaccine with the words "Moderna, vaccine against COVID-19." — The NDP is calling for the creation of a Crown corporation to make vaccines, other drugs and medical devices. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

WORKERS

Increase the federal minimum wage to $20 an hour
Increase the minimum wage for child care workers to $25 per hour, expedite permanent resident status for immigrant child care workers.
Forgive up to $20,000 in debt for students who earn less than $100,000 a year; Permanently eliminate interest on student loans.
Require employee input before companies introduce artificial intelligence and make government use of AI subject to civilian oversight.
Create anti-scabies legislation, implement a plan for a four-day work week, ensure workers elect half of the members of workplace oversight boards, and legislate the right to disconnect.
Promote significant changes to the temporary foreign worker program that:
- Make being in a union a necessary precondition.
- End work permits that are tied specifically to an employer.
- Lower education/language requirements.
- Create a tribunal to review workers’ appeals when employers decide to send them home.
- Provide access to EI to temporary foreign workers and seasonal agricultural workers.

CLIMATE

Create a “climate corps” of youth to respond to climate impacts and support conservation efforts, including tree planting.
Press the federal government to end fossil fuels, set climate goals, accelerate zero-emission construction and transportation, and provide a year-end report to the public.

ELECTRICITY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Create a Public Telecommunications Crown Corporation.
Conduct a public inquiry into the offshoring and elimination of Canadian jobs by Canadian telecommunications companies; ask the government to suspend its contracts with telecommunications companies that relocate jobs.
Build an east-west interprovincial power grid to achieve 100% zero-emission electricity.

AFFORDABILITY

Wealth tax: a 1 percent tax on people earning more than $10 million, a 2 percent tax on those earning more than $25 million, and a 3 percent tax on those earning more than 50 million dollars.
CEO pay: Require large companies to disclose the pay ratio between CEOs and middle workers and increase income taxes for large companies with large disparities.
Housing: Boost the party’s current goal of building 500,000 housing units to 3.5 million, further regulate how landlords and builders provide low-income housing, create a national rental registry and a non-speculative housing program.
Restore the corporate tax rate to 18 percent.
Increase Old Age Security payments by at least 10 percent.
Add a union voice to the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy review committee and expand the bank’s mandate to consider employment and price stability in monetary policy.

Two construction workers in an elevator work on a building covered with a blue construction wrap. — A resolution up for debate would see the NDP increase its housing construction target. (Spencer Colby/Canadian Press)

INDIGENOUS JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Call on the federal government to ensure human remains are searched without delay at the Prairie Green landfill outside Winnipeg.
Declare missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada an emergency, invest in a “red dress alert system” for those who are missing, reverse $150 million cut to women’s shelters.
Domestic Violence: Require employers to agree to quickly move an employee to a different workplace if they are at risk of domestic violence.
Prioritize indigenous rights related to mineral extraction, including those used for electric vehicles.
Guarantee permanent funding for LGBTQ nonprofits and ensure that every major municipality has at least one with stable funding.

Two women in red sweatshirts hold a sign that says — Protesters calling for a search of the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of murdered Indigenous women gather outside a PC election campaign event in Winnipeg. (Travis Golby/CBC)

EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

Increase funding for refugee assistance and eliminate permanent residency fees.
Increase funding for Ukrainian survivors of sexual violence and war crimes evidence collection.
Condemn China’s provocation of Taiwan and China’s efforts to interfere in Canadian politics through espionage and disinformation.
Drive targeted support for dissident and/or diaspora communities in Canada that are subject to foreign interference or violence from foreign states.
Press the government to pursue trade deals only if they prioritize labor and environmental standards, demand more transparency in negotiations, and ratify trade deals through Parliament.
Increase foreign aid spending to 0.7 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic income and ensure that increases in aid spending match increases in defense spending.
Demand that the federal government apply its sanctions to Iranian government relatives living in Canada, list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.