Provincial NDP leaders react to Avi Lewis’ ascension to federal NDP leadership (rabble.ca)

submitted 22 hours ago by theacharnian@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 8 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Many critics I've heard harp on the provincial-federal NDP divide come from a perspecrive that a party has to speak with one voice on every issue. In a country as large, as geographically, as demographically and as economically diverse as Canada, such whipped up parties imply they do not represent Canada well. The whipping up is also straight up undemocraric. We have MPs who talk amongst each other and vote on issues. That's how those differences are resolved democratically. Presenting this as a negative I think goes against the values of a lot of NDP members. Lewis handles this brilliantly by saying this is a sign of a growing tent and disagreements are inevitable in a democratic system.

Separate, on the energy front, he made a very good pro-worker case for his policy that I think a lot of prairie workers may buy. If that happens, it would make the provincial NDP leaders appear unrepresentative of their constituents.

[-] Teppa@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I do find it interesting hes only targeting oil and gas, ignoring all the other emitting or environmental degrading industries.

No talk about stopping imports from China, or rezoning real estate for density so we can actually utilize mass transit, or targeting our forestry and mining sectors; its like its designed to cater to a specific block of voters that will be unaffected.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Straight from Lewis'es web site:

Finally, it's time to put the weight of the federal government behind ending the apartment ban in big cities once and for all by making pro-density zoning reform a condition for receiving federal housing funds. Building a small apartment building should be as straightforward as building a single-family home anywhere in the country. Without better zoning rules, there is not enough land in our cities to meet the need for new units.

I'm sure he'll talk a lot more about this and many other planks as the NDP begins campaigning around the country. So you'd probably hear about most.

Also if you hear what he has to say on oil&gas expansion like here, he clearly says this isn't about hitting workers he doesn't care about. Quite the opposite. The conditions of this transition must be made beneficial for oil&gas workers by making new union jobs available before asking workers to abandon their oil&gas jobs. Check his answer on this Q at the link.

[-] Teppa@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Well thats great to hear about housing, thank you. I've believed Eby was the only true progressive in Canada for a long time.

As far as lopping off one of our main exports, thats pretty reckless obviously. Maybe prove the feasibility of green industries first, before we bankrupt ourselves attempting it.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

There's no talk on halting oil&gas exports. The talk is about redirecting the public money for expansion of these exports (e.g. 40B for new pipelibe) into non-boom-and-bust industries. Again I'm sure you'll catch more of this in the months to come. I find it's better to listen to what he says, not what someone said he said. Which I guess includes myself. 😄