NDP Leader Carole James during a press conference in Vancouver, December 2, 2010.Richard Lam/ The Canadian Press
B.C. New Democratic Party Leader Carole James will be presented with an ultimatum when she convenes an emergency caucus meeting on Sunday - she will have to fire all 13 of her dissident MLAs if she tries to eject any one of them.
Members of the so-called Baker's Dozen say they will go into the meeting united in opposing Ms. James - if they attend at all.
The leadership revolt involving one-third of the NDP caucus has been brewing since the group signed a letter calling on her to step down last month.
The letter was quietly delivered to Ms. James by three members of her caucus, but two weeks passed before MLA Jenny Kwan would go public with her demands for a leadership contest.
Ms. Kwan's missive has set the stage for a faceoff this weekend. "I and my colleagues are supporting each other and anything that happens to one, we'll stand together," said MLA Doug Routley.
Late last month, the party's governing body rejected calls for a leadership convention, and Ms. James has maintained she will stay on to lead the party into the next provincial election. She accused her critics of destroying the NDP and vowed to fight back.
That didn't stop Ms. Kwan, a veteran MLA with deep roots in the party, from stepping out this week with a devastating attack on Ms. James' leadership.
In response, Ms. James called the meeting of the caucus and the party's top executives, promising to hold the dissidents accountable for damaging the party.
Ms. James did not return phone calls on Friday but former NDP MLA Paul Ramsey released an open letter to the caucus, challenging anyone who cannot support Ms. James to quit the NDP.
"Regrettably, the obvious discord in the NDP caucus has already eroded public confidence in its ability to be a competent government," he wrote.
Ms. Kwan said Friday she expects to go to the caucus meeting - attendance is mandatory - but she said she won't decide until she learns who will attend, and how it will be run. If she goes, she said, it is to deliver her message about the need for Ms. James to be replaced.
"My call for a leadership convention is a solution to the challenges we face today," she said. "This issue is about the future of our party, and I think my party is worth fighting for."
The dissidents, if they quit or are fired en masse from caucus, would be a large enough group to form their own party in the legislature, taking with them a large portion of the opposition's legislature funding.
Harry Lali, another long-time MLA, said he does not intend to quit, nor will he back down on the need for a new leader. "We are united on the principle that there ought to be a leadership convention - I don't think throwing anybody out of caucus is an option. It would make it worse."
He said the party needs to change to reflect voters' demands for elected representatives who will listen to their constituents.
"The only people who will hold me accountable are my constituents," he said. "The days of party discipline and message boxes are quickly coming to an end."
Although the internal dissent over Ms. James' leadership has been brewing since her second electoral loss in 2009, the fractures in caucus emerged after she fired MLA Bob Simpson from caucus two months ago for criticizing her leadership.
Since then, the extent of the revolt has been developing in a very public arena. Two top caucus executives quit their positions, saying Mr. Simpson was fired by Ms. James without due process. The 13 dissidents were put on display at the party's meeting of the provincial council, where they declined to wear yellow scarves that were handed out to show support for Ms. James.
Mr. Routley noted that he had kept his concerns private - as had most of the dissidents in caucus - until that event. "Identifying people on the grounds of their support or belief is a tactic used to intimidate people and bully people into conforming with something they don't want to agree to," he said.
But since he's been identified, he said, he's now free to express his opposition to the leader.