Avi Lewis spent much of his first news conference as federal NDP leader downplaying divisions with provincial wings of the party, as disagreements over energy policy threaten to overshadow his task of rebuilding.
The filmmaker and activist decisively beat out four other candidates by taking 56 per cent of votes in the first round of a ranked-ballot contest at the party’s convention in Winnipeg on Sunday, but on Monday addressed provincial leaders skeptical of his leadership.
“We don’t have to agree on every little thing in order to do big things together,” Lewis said, referring to policy disagreements with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck.
Lewis’s opposition to new fossil fuel developments is the primary point of disagreement with the provincial leaders in the Prairies, where the energy sector is a major employer and economic driver.
‘My door is open’ to smooth disagreements with Prairie leaders, new NDP Leader Avi Lewis says
Beck wrote in an open letter that she declined a meeting request from Lewis over his energy policies, which she wrote jeopardized “$13.6 billion in economic activity annually in Saskatchewan.”
Reiterating that his “door is open” to Beck, Lewis said his leadership victory gave him a mandate to pursue the policies he campaigned on.
He said the NDP seeks to halt expansion of oil and gas infrastructure, not “shut it down.”
“The energy economy is extremely unstable,” he said, pointing to the oil price spikes caused by the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.
He argued that a reliance on fossil fuels is exacerbating a cost of living crisis for workers.
“We want to get off the boom and bust roller coaster,” he said. “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.”
This fossil fuel skepticism has spooked Nenshi, who posted online that Lewis’s victory “is not in the interests of Alberta.”
He said his provincial party believes both “in more pipelines and in reducing emissions.”
Lewis has a warmer relationship with the Manitoba premier. Kinew hosted the new NDP leader at a lengthy meeting at the Manitoba legislature Sunday afternoon, saying he would be a “great voice for the country.”
Disagreements on energy policy remain, however, with Kinew previously suggesting a new pipeline from Western Canada and potential expansion of the Port of Churchill to increase shipping through the Arctic.
“That’s something that we in the federal NDP do not think serves Canadians,” Lewis said.
With the federal NDP currently holding just six seats in the house — its smallest-ever caucus — Lewis is hoping to win over the provincial wings by rebuilding from a disastrous 2025 election and a recent floor-crossing from Nunavut MP Lori Idlout.
“We can support our provincial sections best by winning more seats and rising in the polls and reaching more Canadians,” he said.
But that rebuilding won’t involve Lewis seeking a seat in Parliament any time soon, he said.
“When the caucus and I feel that the party is at a point where I’m needed in the House of Commons, I will look for the first available winnable seat,” he said. “And that moment is not now.”
