Despite rumblings from disgruntled quarters, Carole James has said she’ll remain at the helm of the provincial New Democrats for the 2013 election.

Questions regarding Carole James’s leadership will come into sharp focus when provincial New Democrats hold their convention in Vancouver later this month.

Two NDP constituency associations have filed resolutions calling for a leadership convention despite James’s announcement that she intends to remain at the helm and lead the party in the next election in 2013.

But these NDPers—from Parksville-Qualicum and Powell River–Sunshine Coast—may be in for a major disappointment.

“That’s just not going to happen,” Opposition house leader and NDP Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth stated when asked by the Georgia Straight if James will have to defend her position against challengers before the next provincial election.

In a phone interview, Farnworth claimed that what members support are rules providing for leadership reviews. “What we’re saying, what the party is saying, what she said is there…should be a leadership-review mechanism in every convention,” he said.

Some New Democrats from Parksville-Qualicum have a different take. In their proposed resolution, they state: “Many members and supporters of the B.C. NDP would like to see a leadership election as soon as possible.” They also recommend that the party executive and provincial council be directed to schedule a leadership review no later than February 2011.

In a separate resolution, members of the NDP’s Powell River–Sunshine Coast constituency association suggest that the next provincial convention in 2011 be converted into a leadership race. “Such a leadership selection process would be open to all members in good standing of the B.C. NDP and would be to either re-confirm or replace the current leader,” the motion reads.

Meanwhile, the North Vancouver–Seymour constituency association has submitted a resolution calling on the executive and provincial council to develop and ratify, no later than December 1, 2010, “appropriate regulations for the election of the Provincial leader”.

The party is holding its convention at the Westin Bayshore Vancouver from November 27 to 29.

The resolutions relating to leadership change may not even be discussed on the floor. Fred Muzin, the former long-time Hospital Employees Union president, provided the Straight with a package containing all motions, which will be handed out to delegates during the three-day convention. Muzin explained that the leadership resolutions were placed by convention organizers almost at the bottom of a section grouping all recommendations pertaining to the party’s constitution and internal affairs. Because of limited time, only the top four or five motions in each subject category are debated by delegates.

“Given that the NDP was not successful in the last two elections, it’s important that the members review how the party is being run,” Muzin said in a phone interview about the sentiments of party members. “In any organization, I think that’s normal.”

At the top of the section on party constitutional and internal affairs is a resolution that may still provide a way for disgruntled New Democrats to select a new standard-bearer before the 2013 provincial election.

The motion states that if a majority of delegates to a convention vote through a secret ballot in favour of a leadership election, such a contest will be held within one year of the convention vote. If this is approved, New Democrats will be voting on James’s performance at their 2011 convention, and possibly elect a replacement in 2012. However, the same motion states that the party’s provincial executive may waive this procedure “when there is a general provincial election that would not allow sufficient time to comply with the time frame set out”.

The resolution was a combination of submissions from constituency associations in Comox Valley, Nanaimo–North Cowichan, Prince George–Mackenzie, Prince George–Valemount, and Vancouver-Kensington, as well as the NDP’s constitution-and-party-affairs committee.

The cobbled-together version is problematic to Muzin. “I know from my riding, from Kensington, [that] it doesn’t reflect what we submitted,” he said. “We wanted there to be an automatic leadership review every two years.”

Union organizer Mike Palecek is the main organizer behind the “Take Back the B.C. NDP” group, which has been critical of James. He agrees with the suggestion from Powell River–Sunshine Coast of a leadership convention in 2011.

“I think that would give us a good bit of momentum going into the election,” Palecek told the Straight by phone. “That would basically put our leadership convention a year and a half before the election.”

Political momentum is something that James doesn’t have. The latest survey of the provincial political scene, conducted by Angus Reid Strategies in early September, showed that if Gordon Campbell were to step down, voters would likely support either Dianne Watts, the mayor of Surrey, or former deputy premier and current radio host Christy Clark for premier. James and others—including Gregor Robertson, a former NDP MLA and now mayor of Vancouver—garnered negative scores from voters who were asked to rate politicians as possible provincial premiers.