Quote:
Originally Posted by Firebot
Alright. I agree, let's see what they can do to combat the out of touch ideological mess they have created for themselves and get back to being a worker's party.
Well it was a good 8 minutes. 
Here's a few links to see why he is not the answer and is actually the biggest problem for the NDP.
https://theleap.org/our-team/
https://canadians.org/sites/default/...umn16-leap.pdf
https://macleans.ca/news/canada/avi-...eap-manifesto/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...ticle29629853/
Born Avram David Lewis
Toronto, Ontario
He's downright obsessed with the Leap Manifesto and one of the founders, to the point where he preferred having the Alberta NDP collapse than mind his tongue about destructive policies against other provinces that are led by the NDP. Avi Lewis is one of the main reasons why I believe the Alberta NDP needs to cut ties from the federal NDP for being completely out of touch and harming their chances.
The guy is pretty much unelectable and had to go out in NDP friendly Vancouver land to try to get elected. He tried his hand at West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country and failed, and tried Vancouver Centre and failed. Both are hard hitting workers first areas of course.
So a Torontonian criticized by his own party for his Toronto centric views, residing and failing to get elected in Vancouver (and failing in such a gimme area twice, both as 3rd choice) is the saviour of the NDP to fight for...checks note...become the workers party again?
Frankly, if people like you are vouching for people like Avi Lewis as the salvation for the NDP, the NDP doesn't need enemies. |
Hi Firebolt.
First off, it is easy for me to like Avi more than the other 4 people running because he is the only one with policies thus far. When everyone else is just showing up with vibes (or fear or AI) then I like to see the guy who is showing up with something prepared. It helps that I like a number of things he is saying thus far.
For example, when he talks about the automotive companies that took public money bailouts and are now shuttering their Canadian factories and laying Canadians off so they can focus on appeasing Trump and America.... his solution is to seize the land, factory, and equipment and reopen the factory to make Canadian EVs. I think that is a strong populist idea - they took our money and ran away, we should take their stuff in compensation and put it to use. It is also a very pro-labour idea as it would reopen factories, create local jobs, and build local products.
Also, I think the public grocer is a great idea. Standing up public owned grocery stores with a public own distribution network and contracts with local farmers who are getting squeezed by corporation farmers that are trying to restrict their seeds or take their land.... I think there could be great benefits on multiple levels and it is very pro-labour as well as populist. The grocery store mega-corps active in Canada do not need to be making record profits at a time like this.
However, the vote is in March and I am looking at the other options too (hence why I posted Rob's kickoff video too). I have said nothing about anyone being a savior or salvation or whatever but I did want to kick this conversation off and frame it impartially in my first couple of posts and then put in my opinion in a separate post to break the ice and try to draw in more people to do the same.
I disagree with your assessment of Avi running in "NDP friendly" Vancouver.
Vancouver Centre has never elected an NDP, ever, but they did vote CCF that one time in '48.
West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country has also never elected an NDP. For either of those ridings to be friendly or safe they need to have elected his party at least once in their entire history.... So in both cases he attempted to flip a seat to his party that his party has never won and you think that is some kind of "gotcha"?
So while you are putting a lot of work into tearing down my current favourite (even if your facts are not that great), perhaps you could instead talk about what you would rather see to build the party up? Who is the leader that you would support? Would you vote for Heather McPherson because she is from Alberta and has Notley's endorsement? Here is her kickoff video to round out the 3 front runners.