Mike Harcourt quits NDP

Photo: The Canadian Press

Governor General David Johnston invests Mike Harcourt, former Premier of B.C., as an Officer of the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall Friday November 22, 2013 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Former BC premier Mike Harcourt is ripping up his membership in BC's New Democratic Party.

Harcourt says he's been mulling his departure for some time, following what he calls a series of bad decisions by the party's leaders.

He points to New Democrat opposition to the provincial carbon tax and the ouster of former leader Carole James in 2010.

According to Harcourt, the last straw was current leader Adrian Dix's sudden reversal on the Kinder Morgan pipeline, during the 2013 election campaign, an announcement Harcourt calls the dumbest move in decades.

He says, as a newly independent citizen, he won't support anyone in the upcoming NDP leadership race, adding he hasn't spoken to candidate and MLA Mike Farnworth in three years, although he supported Farnworth for leader during the party's last convention.

Harcourt, who was premier from 1991 to 1996, says the BC NDP is not ready to govern. (CKNW)