Former New Democrat activist says investigation against her is an 'attack'

For Jessa McLean, a once-dedicated New Democrat activist, an Ontario NDP investigation into her conduct is simply an "attack."

Late on Wednesday night, the former riding association president, federal election candidate, and contender for party president was told by a senior party executive that the party was looking into a complaint against her.

In the notice ONDP vice-president Susan Barclay sent to McLean — which she posted on Twitter and shared with QP Briefing, despite its "confidential" label — Barclay plus two other VPs asked McLean to explain an "alleged" antisemitic tweet, her repeated online criticism of the party's internal leadership, and an accusation that she's inappropriately leveraged the NDP's likeness.

As well as an attack, McLean says the investigation is the party's attempt to "silence" her.

McLean is one of the founders of NewDemoChat, a Twitter-based group for left-leaning political activists. Since its founding in October 2020, NewDemoChat has connected activists via a shared Slack, online discussions and other means. The online community tends to discuss many-a-political-topic — including, frequently, the Ontario NDP.

McLean also hosts a podcast called Blueprints of Disruption, which she started earlier this year to discuss NDP politics and issues.

"It's because I speak against the party regularly," McLean told QP Briefing on Thursday about why she feels she's being investigated. "I air their (the Ontario NDP's) dirty laundry and that's always been a problem for them, and they've always been hostile to me, in response to it."

The Ontario NDP wouldn't comment on the investigation, citing its intended confidentiality.

McLean was a lead NDP activist in her riding of York-Simcoe over the last several years, which included a few spent as president of both the federal and provincial riding association. In 2019, she was the federal NDP's candidate in the riding twice — in a by-election and the general election a few months later. She then ran unsuccessfully for president of the federal party, and later the provincial party, on platforms of embracing socialism.

McLean had been interested in running as the NDP's candidate in the 2021 federal election, but said her candidacy was stonewalled.

Relations between the Ontario New Democrats' central leadership and its York-Simcoe riding association soured to the point that McLean — while still its riding president — didn't campaign for the party in the 2022 election.

York-Simcoe was one of north of a dozen Ontario NDP riding associations that clashed with the party's decision-makers leading up to and during this spring's election. The party lost a quarter of its seat count on June 2, leading Andrea Horwath to resign as leader after 13 years.

McLean has long been advocating for the Ontario NDP to veer further politically to the left, as well as for its longtime decision-makers to be removed.

"I think going into this leadership race, they (the Ontario NDP) want me as far away from it as possible," McLean said.

In their investigation notice, the three-party VPs reference several of McLean's tweets that are highly critical of current and former top executives and staff. By name, McLean called out Horwath, Janelle Brady, Lucy Watson, Michael Balagus, and Anne McGrath in tweets.

McLean called for the party to "clean house" in post, and to "fire (Watson)" in another. She was asked in the investigation notice to square her comments on Twitter with the Ontario NDP Anti-Harassment Policy, which states that the party "will neither tolerate nor condone behaviours that are likely to undermine the dignity of an individual or a group, or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment."

McLean said that although the party policy is written to allow for "broad application of what hostile is," that her tweets didn't violate its "spirit." Her comments pale in comparison to how she's been treated before by party brass, she said, adding that the policy's "selective use... is what's most at issue here."

Another of McLean's tweets referenced in the investigation notice is the one the three vice-presidents say was alleged to be antisemitic, which is seen below.

"It is alleged that your retweet of the image in this tweet was antisemitic and in violation of the (Ontario NDP Anti-Harassment Policy). It is alleged that the image refers to Galatians 4:16 in the New Testament Bible and that the excerpt is frequently referred to by those who promote the antisemitic view that Jews infiltrated the Galatians to betray Jesus," the party's investigation notice says.

McGrath, the director of the federal NDP, had written to McLean previously asking her to remove the post. McLean said she ignored McGrath, but deleted the post later when someone close to her explained how it could make Jewish people uncomfortable.

Emma Cunningham, who is Jewish and who co-founded NewDemoChat with McLean, came to McLean's defence on Thursday.

"As soon as Jessa was told which tweet was antisemitic, she took it down immediately, and took the opportunity to learn more about the deicide trope," Cunningham wrote in an email to the Ontario NDP's anti-harassment account.

Like McLean, Cunningham is a former NDP activist and former riding association president. She resigned from her riding association role after the party nominated Steve Parish, the former mayor of Ajax, who had lobbied to keep a local street named after a Nazi officer, as a candidate for this spring's election. The party cancelled his nomination weeks after nominating him.

The third reason listed in the investigation notice sent to McLean is regarding her role with NewDemoChat, as well as in setting up an online "Free the NDP" petition, which features party-made imagery, and calls for Watson's resignation as provincial director.

Watson "has been instrumental in undermining party democracy through centralization of control, marginalization of riding associations, members, interfering with equity committees, and manipulation of the vetting and nomination process," the online petition signed by 256 people says.

McLean says she had no involvement in crafting the petition, but that NewDemoChat "shared the hell out of it" because she agreed with "100 per cent" of what it says.

Jay Woodruff, a member of the federal NDP executive, is listed as the petition's creator. He's also expressed his beef with the Ontario NDP's central leadership publicly. Woodruff is not being investigated by the party, McLean said.

Irwin Elman, an Ontario NDP candidate in the last election, came to McLean's defence on Twitter on Thursday. McLean said two members of the party's executive, whose names she didn't want to reveal, also reached out to her saying they would defend her. Cunningham asked in her email that the party take a different tack toward McLean.

"It’s when members feel unheard that things get nasty," Cunningham said. "That was certainly the case with me."

The three party VPs investigating McLean said in their notice that they'll be making recommendations to the provincial director, Watson, who will decide with a party committee if they should take "corrective or disciplinary action" against McLean.

On Thursday, she hadn't fully decided how she planned to deal with the investigation, aside from refusing to cooperate with the vice-president's requests, including keeping it confidential. She doesn't care if they cancel her NDP membership either, McLean said.

"I only care about the outcome in so much that they think twice about doing this to another member again," McLean said. "In the same way that we wanted to teach (Doug) Ford a lesson in using the notwithstanding clause, I hope the response makes them understand that folks will just not take this garbage anymore."

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said McLean felt her 2018 provincial candidacy was stonewalled, when in fact it was her 2021 federal candidacy. This story was updated to reflect that at 9:18 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 11.