Former Interim leader Don Davies, listens in as Avi Lewis, the new leader of the federal NDP, speaks at the press conference in Winnipeg on Monday.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
Federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis says his vision for rebuilding the party includes an end to the expansion of oil and gas pipelines despite opposition from his provincial counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Mr. Lewis, who beat four other candidates and claimed a decisive first-ballot victory with 56 per cent of the votes on Sunday, is vowing to rebuild the federal NDP. The party lost its official status last April, leading to then-leader Jagmeet Singh’s immediate resignation. Don Davies served as the interim leader.
The party holds just six of the required 12 seats needed to achieve official status in the House of Commons. That’s down from a record 103 in 2011, when then-NDP leader Jack Layton led the party to Official Opposition status.
Mr. Lewis, 58, told reporters in Winnipeg on Monday that he plans to move the New Democrats further to the left. The documentary filmmaker, who is married to author Naomi Klein, has deep roots in the party. His grandfather David Lewis helped create the party and was the federal leader from 1971 to 1975. His father Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP from 1970 to 1978.
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Mr. Lewis said he plans to ease fossil fuel expansion and pursue green energy initiatives, higher wealth taxes, free transit, publicly owned grocery stores and tuition-free education.
But Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck denounced Mr. Lewis’s plans, saying he does not represent their provinces’ interests.
“Our focus is not on what the federal NDP says or does,” Mr. Nenshi said. Ms. Beck added separately that Mr. Lewis’s position on oil and gas is “ideological and unrealistic.”
She said his ideas would negatively affect workers and industry.
Mr. Lewis declined to comment on how he would address the distancing of provincial counterparts from his position on the oil and gas industry.
He clarified that he is not seeking a complete end to the sector.
“We’ve been expanding oil and gas production in Canada relentlessly over past decades and many, many Canadians have believed for a long time that we don’t need to keep expanding it,” he said.
“That’s the specific call: To stop increasing production of oil and gas in this country.”
He said workers must be protected from the volatility of the energy sector, describing it as a “boom and bust rollercoaster.”
A transition toward green energy and away from fossil fuel consumption is the only solution, Mr. Lewis said. “And every time that anyone talks about starting a transition, the conversation is buried by this bad-faith narrative that we’re calling for shutting it all down tomorrow, which we’re not.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, both of whom run conservative-leaning governments, were quick to tie NDP leaders in their provinces to the new federal leader and his rhetoric.
Mr. Moe, on social media, said that he believes Ms. Beck is “desperately trying to distance” the provincial NDP from Mr. Lewis and his “radical policies to shut down our oil industry, nationalize just about everything, and destroy our economy.”
Ms. Smith said the same for Mr. Nenshi on her social media, pointing out that the Alberta NDP is tied in its constitution to the federal NDP. “Their extreme views are a danger to jobs and affordability.”
But Manitoba’s NDP Premier Wab Kinew and British Columbia’s NDP Premier David Eby said they look forward to working with Mr. Lewis, including on his energy initiatives.
Vancouver-based Mr. Lewis, who does not hold a seat in Parliament, ran unsuccessfully as a federal NDP candidate in the city during last year’s election and in 2021.
He said he will weigh his options before jumping at the first opportunity to nab a seat, declining to answer what riding he is eyeing.
Vocally supportive for a Palestinian state, Mr. Lewis has repeatedly called for Canada to recognize that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
He responded on Monday to criticism from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which has accused him of harbouring harmful anti-Israel sentiments.
Born and raised in a Jewish family, Mr. Lewis said he comes from a long tradition of Jewish anti-Zionism and stands by his belief against war in the Middle East. “I believe there is a significant number of Jews who feel the way I do,” he said.
Israel has rejected allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.
Borrowing a sentiment from Mr. Kinew, Mr. Lewis said he is willing to work with those who disagree with him on parts of his platform “in order to do the big things together.”