Photo: Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald Federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis spoke to supporters during his stop at the Spice Trail on Sunday.
Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By: Michael Oleksyn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Prince Albert Daily Herald
New Federal New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Avi Lewis concluded his tour of Saskatchewan with a stop in Prince Albert on Sunday.
Lewis, who was elected in March at the NDP leadership convention in Winnipeg, hosted a meeting with supporters at the Spice Trail.
Lewis had stops in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and other locations before arriving in Prince Albert. He said the attendance at the events in Saskatchewan showed enthusiasm.
“It’s been really gratifying to see the energy at our base,” Lewis said. “It’s not part of the mainstream story about the NDP (where) the headlines are all like ‘the party is on life support,’ you know, ‘NDP circling the drain’, whatever, ‘lost party status.’
“We have tremendous energy at our base. It’s just happening under the radar.”
Lewis arrived in Prince Albert from Saskatoon, where he spoke to a crowd of 400 people at Roxy Theatre.
This is his first tour as Federal NDP leader. Lewis said grassroots organizers conceived of it, organized it, and fundraised for it.
He said the concept came together at the grassroots after the leadership campaign ended.
“Our leadership campaign was relatively polite by most standards, but things get passionate in leadership races and people say stuff and emotions can run high,” Lewis said.
He said that the idea came from people involved in the campaigns of the people he ran against for leader, including Heather McPherson and Rob Ambrose, following the letter from Provincial NDP Leader Carla Beck.
“They came together across those differences in the campaign, started a new organization. and started a campaign to get the leader to Saskatchewan first,” Lewis said.
The itinerary set out started at Cowessess First Nation, Pasqua First Nation and Star Blanket First Nation before stopping in Saskatchewan’s largest cities.
“For a party like ours, that is trying to build power from below and be a party of the 99 per cent against the elites, the 1 per cent who run our economy for their own benefit, this is how it’s going to happen,” Lewis said.
Lewis added that Canada has different regional economies and realities but the NDP has great grassroots organizations everywhere.
“It doesn’t make sense for us as a party to try to control everything from above, but actually to build the energy from below. Then my job is to surf that energy and connect up people across the country.”
The meeting included a meet and greet portion where Lewis talked to local residents.
In March, Lewis declared his opposition to new fossil fuel development, a position that puts him at odds with the provincial branch of the party in Saskatchewan.
Beck called the stance ideological and unrealistic, saying it ignores the realities faced by workers in the province and puts jobs at risk. At the meeting in Prince Albert local volunteers put together a pamphlet called “Jobs Come First: A New Deal for a greener Canada.’
“I think that’s a really constructive response to the fact that we ran on really clear policies that were there from day one and talking about a Green New Deal and actually building under public ownership, because the market is not doing this, building new green industries that we really need in this country that can slash people’s household bills and slash emissions at the same time,” Lewis said.
Lewis gave the example of a heat pump in every home in Canada.
“If you give industry a subsidy to make heat pumps more affordable for people, two months later, the price of a heat pump has gone up by the amount that the government is subsidizing. It happens everywhere,” he said.
He also gave the example of Electric Vehicle (EV) subsidies.
“We need the government to actually govern and set up an industry under public ownership using Canadian steel and our own resources to create unionized jobs, to create a product for people that is desperately needed to cut people’s heating bills, which are really high these days,” Lewis said.
Lewis said that we can stop using fossil fuels for heating in homes at the same time.
Lewis said that some parts of the NDP proposal are practical things that people in Saskatchewan can see the appeal in. However, he added that fossil fuels are a big part of
Saskatchewan’s economy, which means Green New Deal message “maybe doesn’t resonate here.”
However, Lewis remains optimistic.
“We have a huge mandate from the membership of the party, who voted for these ideas in electing me leader, and they (local activists) translated them into ways of communicating the ideas that work here locally,” Lewis said. “This is a great solution for a national party.”
The federal NDP haven’t held a seat in Saskatchewan since 2019, when incumbents Georgina Jolibois (Desenthé-Missinippi-Churchill River) and Sheri Benson (Saskatoon West) both lost to their re-election bids. Former NDP MP Erin Weir (Regina-Lewvan), who was removed from the NDP caucus in 2018 after being accused of harassment, also lost his seat in 2019.
“I think the significance of coming to Saskatchewan in the first trip as leader is that just because we don’t hold any federal seats in this province, doesn’t mean that we’re not going to ignore the parts of the country that were previously considered not a priority,” Lewis said.
“The reason that we have a base-building model and we’re focusing on grassroots organizing is we want to unleash the power of our base to make us competitive everywhere. That’s in the suburbs, that’s in the rural areas, that’s in the provinces that have gone all conservative, and we’re determined to do this differently.”
He said that in an election they will identify ridings that will be able to help them regain party status in the next election.
“We have a longer-term project to build up the party everywhere at once and that’s what this tour is all about,” Lewis said.
He said that so far he was happy with the results.
“As an experiment, it’s a bang-up success because we’re having huge crowds and real energy. and seeing people actually get out and do the work, knocking on doors together, organizing,” he said. “If we can do this across the country, we’re going to have incredible success.”
Lewis spoke before the meet and greet portion of the event and later hosted a question and answer. There were also speeches by Prince Albert riding representatives Jordan Sherstobitoff, Rob Procyk and Troy Parenteau before Lewis’ question and answer.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca