Natasha Bulowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada’s National Observer
As five candidates vie to become the NDP’s next leader, they will have to find ways to differentiate themselves and win the support of party members at this critical juncture.
At a forum hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress, the official leadership candidates spoke about putting workers first, how to rebuild the party and took shots at corporate Canada. But the moderated conversations did not pit candidates directly against each other in a debate and most do not have clear policy stances to compare and contrast at this stage.
Candidates appear aligned on some things, including foreign policy and supporting workers, but climate change and energy policy — particularly oil and gas development — will likely be a wedge issue during this high-stakes leadership race, David McGrane, a political science professor at the University of Saskatchewan, told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.
There is, and has been for some time, tension in the party on oil and gas and pipelines and how to deal with climate change, McGrane said. The leadership contest is a battle for the soul of the NDP and the outcome will help clarify exactly where the party stands on environment and climate issues, he said.
Of the three frontrunners — Avi Lewis, Heather McPherson and Rob Ashton — Lewis has the most progressive and fleshed out stance on climate and energy, while McPherson comes from a more energy sector-supportive region and moderate wing of the party and Ashton has yet to define his position.
Lewis, a climate activist, educator and former journalist, is generating the most buzz and comes from the more progressive wing of the NDP. He was part of an organizing campaign to elect climate activist Anjali Appadurai as leader of the BC NDP. The party disqualified her in a contentious move, but the gambit helped push climate policy higher up the campaign agenda.
Climate did not feature prominently in Lewis’ remarks at the Westin Hotel on Wednesday, but after the event he told Canada’s National Observer he stands behind “everything he has ever said” on climate change and was unequivocal that there is absolutely no room to expand fossil fuel production or lift the west coast oil tanker ban.
However, he doesn’t think it’s necessary to lead with climate change messaging, because “every single solution to the everyday emergency of the impossible economy can be a climate solution, too.” That included the cost of living crisis, which is at the top of his priority list.
His vision of a green new deal involves a full green industrial strategy including things such as heat pumps manufactured and distributed under public control and public housing built to net-zero emission standards — all of which will also help people save on energy bills. Many political watchers say Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pivot to the right has created room on the left for the NDP to come out swinging with proposals for public ownership and sweeping reforms.
Lewis is campaigning on a wealth tax, a national public option for groceries, a national cap on rent increases, full coverage health care and a green new deal.
Lewis has a history of pushing for strong positions on climate change within the NDP. He worked with his wife Naomi Klein and a broad coalition of environmentalists, labour unions and Indigenous rights activists to draft The Leap Manifesto, which proposed bold economic and policy changes to tackle climate change and wealth inequality with a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. The political manifesto made a splash at the NDP’s 2016 convention and faced strong opposition from then-Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s camp.
On the flip side is Heather McPherson, MP for Edmonton Strathcona, who was the only NDP MP to support the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
McPherson launched her campaign with an endorsement from Notley and most of her rhetoric on oil and gas is similar to that of the Alberta NDP and “in the mainstream” of the party when it comes to this issue, McGrane said. Her husband, Duncan Purvis, is senior legal counsel for Enbridge Pipelines.
When asked how the oilsands — which is stalling out Canada’s efforts to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions — factors into Canada’s climate targets, McPherson did not take a stance on oilsands production. She said her job is to protect workers at a time when companies are laying them off and refusing to decarbonize their operations.
“We know that oil and gas is not going away tomorrow. We know that it needs to increasingly be a smaller piece of our energy pie,” McPherson said in an interview with Canada’s National Observer after participating in the CLC event. She has opposed coal mining in the Rockies and believes carbon capture has a role to play in the oil and gas sector but said companies should not get public subsidies to make it happen.
However, McPherson dismissed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s push for a pipeline to northern BC as “a harebrained scheme” and ploy to stir up more conflict with Ottawa, adding the recent talks of reviving Keystone XL won’t do anything to help workers or improve Canada’s energy sovereignty from the US.
At this early stage, longtime labour leader Rob Ashton’s comments seem to align, generally speaking, with many unions who are often in favour of new fossil fuel projects because they want to maintain unionized jobs in those industries, McGrane noted.
Ashton, the clear outsider, entered the race with a splash with his message that Canadians are in a class war and only recently weighed in on climate and energy policy. Ashton said if he was prime minister, and a pipeline to BC’s coast received Indigenous support and all environmental conditions were met, he’d be open to a discussion about removing the west coast oil tanker ban.
Asked whether he supports expanding oilsands production, Ashton said “I want to protect what we have” in terms of jobs and added it’s a hard question to answer at this stage but that “our platforms and our visions will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.”
On fossil fuel exports, Ashton said if Indigenous nations and all levels of government are all onside and environmental targets are met “let’s look at it.”
“But on the flip side … we can’t keep burning the world down,” he said, nodding to Canada’s enormous potential for wind and solar energy and emphasizing the need for a just transition.
If climate becomes a fault line in the race, Ashton may have to define himself more clearly on these issues, McGrane said.
“I don’t really see a frontrunner at the moment,” McGrane said. At first, it looked like there would be a two-way race between McPherson and Lewis: the former seen as more moderate and the latter bringing a populist critique of corporate rule and oligarchy with inherent ties to the climate crisis.
“[Ashton]’s kind of a throwback to the old [Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]: Workers, first, workers, second, workers, third,” McGrane said. Always in his work boots, often letting a curse word slip during interviews, Ashton is a dockworker turned union president and that authenticity could help him differentiate himself from the other candidates.
McGrane added that any polling that comes out on the leadership race will be “absolutely useless.” The two main indicators of success will be endorsements and donations but it’s too early in the race to make any determinations of those factors, he said.
There are two other candidates currently in the running.
Tony McQuail, an Ontario-based organic farmer and self-proclaimed underdog in the leadership contest, wants to ensure that the planet is not left behind during the race.
“If we don’t look after the environment we have nothing to work with,” McQuail told the packed room at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. Tanille Johnston, a city councilor and social worker from Campbell River, BC, emphasized the party’s need to be inclusive and proposed offering free memberships to grow the party.
Political activist and author Yves Engler did not attend the forum on Wednesday night. Engler told CBC News he has not submitted his candidacy documents to the NDP leadership race organizing committee.
