THUNDER BAY -- Both candidates who vied for local seats under the NDP banner in the federal 2015 election lamented their leader’s loss at the party’s convention in Edmonton on Sunday.
Neither former Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty nor Thunder Bay-Superior North candidate Andrew Foulds attended this weekend’s convention but they had both expressed strong support for Thomas Mulcair to stay on as leader.
Only 48 per cent of party members voted to keep Mulcair at the helm in his leadership review.
“It’s a little unfortunate that now we’re going to be embroiled in a leadership campaign, same as the Conservatives are,” Rafferty said.
“My fear of course, is that (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau is going to be able to slip things past the Canadian public with the two opposition parties looking elsewhere and not concentrating on Justin Trudeau.”
Foulds expressed “tremendous respect” for Mulcair and admiration for the leader’s willingness to take responsibility for a campaign that ended in reducing the NDP’s Parliamentary seats from 103 to 44.
“One of the strengths of our party, frankly, is the democracy that exists within our party certainly both here locally and nationally. People were disappointed with the result and clearly at the convention, people were looking for change,” Foulds said.
“The reality is, now we have to move forward. We have to choose a leader and we have to come up with a platform that inspires Canadians and in essence, leads us into the next election competitively to form the next government.”
The Leap Manifesto
The next steps will be introspective. The NDP’s membership voted to hold a 2018 debate on including the Leap Manifesto in its platform. Accepting the manifesto is would be a step to the Left for the party including advocating for a universal basic income, re-evaluating international trade agreements and focusing on local economies over centralized development strategies.
Its divisive content within the NDP relates to its stance on climate change. The document prescribes a shift in energy production and ownership as it recommends a sharp decline in resource extraction, particularly in the oil and gas sectors.
Rafferty stood behind Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley, who advocated for what she called a balanced approach between environment and economic development at the convention. He said accepting the manifesto as policy would be a “mistake” for the NDP’s fortunes in Northwestern Ontario and across Canada.
“Not to be too blunt about it but it’s a bunch of Toronto armchair quarterbacks who put it together, who quite frankly, many are not even members of the NDP, have never given money to the NDP and certainly could never get elected as an NDP member,” Rafferty said.
“We’re not just talking about oil and gas. We’re talking about mining and extraction industries in general. If that’s the general mood of NDP and NDP members, I think two things: one is, the future of the NDP in Northern Ontario might be at risk in terms of the fairly large support we do enjoy; and the second is, I don’t want to see the economy of Northern Ontario impacted the same way Alberta has.”
Foulds has yet to take a position on the Leap Manifesto and said it’s too early to say whether he will run in the next election but he welcomed the discussion as a matter of process.
“What I think it has done is absolutely spurred debate and I think that’s healthy within our party to have those healthy debates and conversations as to what the future should look like,” Foulds said.
“It’s not an easy thing but it’s a good thing. It’s pushing the discussion particularly on social justice, particularly on the environment but what it says is, we’re seeing a resurgence of centre left parties throughout the world. It does give me a great deal of hope for the future and forming the next government.”
