Lewis wins NDP leadership, speaks against resource economy
Avi Lewis won the NDP leadership race last month. / TWITTER PHOTO
New federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis faces an immediate challenge winning over voters in rural Canada as several provincial New Democrats distance themselves from his stance on jobs and natural resources.
In an op-ed in the Globe and Mail, NDP strategist Brian Topp wrote that to succeed, Lewis “is going to need to find a way to appeal to working-class voters in urban, rural and northern Canada.” But he said tensions are already emerging over Lewis’s economic agenda, including calls for “Out with Canada’s resource economy.”
Topp noted Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck responded to Lewis’s victory by issuing a letter refusing to meet with him until he reconsiders his approach to job creation and resource issues. In Alberta, Naheed Nenshi stressed he is not a member of the federal NDP and urged others to consider doing the same.
The warning signs come as Lewis attempts to unite a weakened federal party around a more activist message. Topp compared that strategy to protests in Minneapolis against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling it “a determined, community-based, and inspiring example of a fired-up mass popular resistance.” He added: “And it worked. Mr. Trump blinked once again.”
Lewis’s platform also targets electoral reform, tax changes, expanded public ownership and shifts in defence spending. Topp said international left-wing movements have succeeded with similar appeals and that “the federal NDP is now hoping to light those kinds of fires here.”
Still, he cautioned Lewis must avoid division at home, warning some supporters “want to take a blowtorch to the NDP’s provincial cousins” and could spark “the wrong kind of fires within his own party.”
On rural issues, Lewis’s platform included:
Defend and improve reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care in many parts of Canada, especially rural and remote areas
Lower telecom prices across the country, including a network of public telecom service providers —inspired by the success of Saskatchewan's publicly-owned SaskTel —to guarantee universal, affordable and high-speed connectivity, including in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
Implement a national rent cap, legislate new tenant protections
Work with Indigenous leadership on a national 'For Indigenous, By Indigenous Housing Strategy' that allocates resources adequately to urban, rural, and Northern Indigenous housing projects.
