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VICTORIA — The New Democrats opened their convention in the provincial capital Friday on a note of triumph, with President Craig Keating boasting how the party had swiftly adapted to the new era of fundraising in B.C.

“For the first time in the living memory of most New Democrats we are no longer carrying a debt,” reported Keating.

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But the financial statements tabled at the convention disclosed a telling detail. The reported $2 million cash surplus for the first full year of the new fundraising regime almost precisely equalled the annual allowance from the province of B.C.

Without the taxpayer bailout — which John Horgan disavowed before the election and implemented afterward — the NDP’s cash on hand would have dwindled to a mere $353.

The weekend convention saw delegates approve a makeover of the party structure. Individual constituency associations were deregistered and their funds consolidated into the central apparatus.