Comments about Avi
Avi Lewis won the federal NDP leadership this weekend:
You know, I grew up in a CCF family. So part of me still wants the NDP to succeed.
But a much larger part wants Canada to survive as the United States falls into fascism. To do that, Canada needs Carney to be our Prime Minister, likely until at least 2035.
So if the NDP must fail for that to happen, then so be it.
Avi Lewis is a nice guy with a particularly solid back-story. But I think his leadership is not going to be strong enough to help Canada. He doesn't even have a seat, FFS.
He has never even won an election - municipal, provincial, or federal.
And he says he won't be running for a federal seat any time soon - traditionally, when a seatless leader is selected, one of the party's elected members falls on their sword so the new leader can run in a safe seat.
And he says he won't be running for a federal seat any time soon - traditionally, when a seatless leader is selected, one of the party's elected members falls on their sword so the new leader can run in a safe seat.
It doesn't surprise me that Lewis can't ask any of his six remaining MPs to do that for him. I wonder if there are any safe NDP seats left in Canada now?
His policies are progressive, yes, and some are worthy of support I think. But many also strike me as insular, trite, parochial. I shake my head at his stubborn negativity toward Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with his apparent inability to appreciate how Canada's priorities have changed now because of our risky situation with Trump, with NATO, and with the Iran War.
Fred Delorey
Danielle Smith is doing Grievance Theatre again
Smith seems to be determined to create provincial "grievances" so she can bash Ottawa and gin up a YES vote on the Albexit referendum, isn't she. Don't the people of Alberta ever get tired of this?
AI madnessHis policies are progressive, yes, and some are worthy of support I think. But many also strike me as insular, trite, parochial. I shake my head at his stubborn negativity toward Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with his apparent inability to appreciate how Canada's priorities have changed now because of our risky situation with Trump, with NATO, and with the Iran War.
Fred Delorey
....My gut tells me it’s an unmitigated disaster. Avi Lewis isn’t just left-wing; he’s arguably the most radical, far-left extremist to ever take the helm of a major Canadian political party. We’re talking about a guy who literally wants to nationalize our grocery stores, completely defund the Canadian military, and aggressively shut down our entire energy sector by next Tuesday. He's the Leap Manifesto come to life.Evan Scrimshaw
...As federal leader, his extreme views will instantly infect the brand of the entire integrated party. Every time he attacks the resource sector or champions a fringe socialist policy in Ottawa, Conservative and Liberal premiers are going to gleefully hang those quotes around the necks of every provincial NDP leader in the country. He isn’t just going to sink the federal party; he is going to drag the successful provincial wings down with him.
But then again, the world is changing rapidly, and usually in crazy ways. Maybe Canadians can be convinced that they desperately want Canada Post managing their produce aisles. Maybe the electorate is finally ready for a platform where your weekly ration of locally sourced lentils is delivered by a government-appointed bicycle courier.
I remain deeply unconvinced...
...If the NDP were a pressure group or a charity or a think tank, a thoroughly socially progressive movement designed to push the Liberals left on Palestine and poverty reduction and keep them from moving right on other key issues, I’d have a lot of time for them. But they’re a political party whose success could help the Conservatives, so it’s clear that this matters to our politics. And there’s no clear answer to what they think. In picking Avi Lewis, they’ve suggested that they think they’ve erred in being too moderate, but nowhere does that show an actual path forward....David Climenhaga
...Avi is not a perfect representative of a bold progressive start either. Avi’s not AOC, and he’s not Zohran. Both of them represented ideological positions left of their respective opponents, but they also represented generational change and a fresh start. Avi’s not that - he’s an activist with a longstanding record that can and will be used against him. He’s been an asshole to Shannon Phillips and the Alberta NDP, he was a driving force behind the 2016 convention vote on the Leap Manifesto that sabotaged the Notley government and was an anchor around the party, and his maximalist views on politics have earned him about as much good will with western New Democrats - you know, the people who are actually somewhat electorally successful - as I had with those who were Team Trudeau in December 2024. He doesn’t represent generational change given he’s 58, nor can he credibly claim being anti-establishment, given he’s the third person in his family line to lead the NDP either federally or in Ontario.
Is Avi going to be a party destroying fiasco? Probably not, but he’s not their saviour either...
.... If the only reason the NDP existed was to prop up the Liberals and feel good about it – as indeed seemed to be the perception of a growing number of voters throughout Mr. Singh’s blundering tenure – why not just vote Liberal? Back on April 28 last year, a hell of a lot of them did.Nora Loreto
Much of the lost working class – including many union members – went over to the increasingly MAGAfied Conservatives.
So who says a guy who advocates state intervention to support tenants’ rights, lower grocery prices, assured access to reproductive rights, fair taxes, and free post-secondary education won’t do better than the branch of the party that wanted to continue Mr. Singh’s approach, only more competently?
Well, who knows? The NDP is in such bad shape today that it might be hard for any leader to pull the party out of the muck. But who’s to say that a leader who proposes real change won’t do better at keeping the NDP in play than one who wanted to remain closer to the mushy middle of Canada’s political Overton window?...
...Many of the headlines from this past weekend focused on discord between provincial leaders and Lewis’ vision. This will undoubtedly be one of the more difficult terrains that Lewis has to traverse. During his speech, with a wide-smiled Kinew looking on, Lewis said that he looks forward to reaching out to BC Premier David Eby. Someone laughed out loud from the crowd. Indeed, Lewis’ supporters should be critical of the centrism of the Eby government, Lewis’ own sister-in-law included.
When Lewis took the stage when the results were announced, Kinew rushed to the stage and scooped up Lewis’ hand before interim leader Don Davies could. Already though, the knives were out from other provincial leaders.
Kinew wasn’t just on stage to demonstrate that, unlike his non-Premier provincial homologues, he supports Lewis. Kinew was showing that he understands that an NDP with a left populist flank can help a Red Tory like Kinew more than it will hurt him. By offering Lewis full support, Kinew showed the press that there is room in the NDP for disagreements, while not alienating Manitobans who are frustrated with Kinew’s radical centrism.
Carla Beck and Naheed Nenshi, who mostly should be ignored until they can demonstrate that they’re effective (which they have not yet demonstrated), could learn from Kinew’s strategy. Rather than loading up and firing pre-written fuck-yous about Lewis to the press, they should embrace the change. It will make them look dynamic rather than crusty, and Kinew is showing them how to do it. It’s the most basic pro-tip in politics: don’t do the opposite of what the successful, popular guy is doing.
There’s no doubt that this division will be used to discipline Lewis (as I have previously written). But Kinew is a key ally for Lewis, Red Toryism and all, and their relationship will be one to watch....
It seems pretty clear to me that the actual leader of the NDP in Canada now is Wab Kinew.
Danielle Smith is doing Grievance Theatre again
Smith seems to be determined to create provincial "grievances" so she can bash Ottawa and gin up a YES vote on the Albexit referendum, isn't she. Don't the people of Alberta ever get tired of this?
— Global News | Breaking, Latest News and Video for Canada (@globalnews.ca.web.brid.gy) March 30, 2026 at 9:23 PM
This is ridiculous. 1) Good luck opening that Pandora's Box. 2) Alberta already appoints provincial court judges, which handle the bulk of criminal cases. 3) The premise here is utterly false. Federally-appointed judges aren't parachuted in. They come from the province and communities they serve.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) March 30, 2026 at 8:08 PM
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I have lost the plot on AI -- when I read this email chain, I thought "what TF are these people doing, and why TF are they doing it?"
And how will the rest of us survive it?
Brittlestar's Sucker-Punch Spring
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Brittlestar's Sucker-Punch Spring
I just saw this tonight and had to share it immediately.
Because it snowed a lot here today...again.
And its supposed to snow again tomorrow....
Now, if Avi went just a wee bit further to the left, and picked up a policy from the UK Communist party, he would actually have a real chance of stealing votes from the Liberals and the conservatives, and be a real force again in Canada. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/communists-will-fight-recognition-womens-sex-based-rights-across-trade-unions-party
ReplyDeleteNot much of a honeymoon from Ottawa insiders, press and pundit class.
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget, that publicly built and operated affordable housing used to be Liberal policy in the last century.
Please settle down on the grocery store issue. Remember when there were no food banks. Now they are big and professionally operated.
A modern food bank, a national disgrace, is starting to lean pretty far in the direction of a grocery store.Not many changes need to be made. J.W.
Yes I agree with many NDP ideas - they did good to get dental care, school lunch, pharmacare, etc implemented and Canada should be grateful they kept Trudeau in office instead of dooming us to Poilievre.
ReplyDeleteBut I think they will end up regreting not voting for Heather this time.
Any decent Canadian would support better hea
ReplyDeleteAny decent Canadian would support health care.
ReplyDeleteAnd whilst it was the NDP that held Trudeau accountable it shows us that a robust three party system is desirable and more effective than the two party state of many countries.
That said , in other times, it could have been the Greens that held the balance of power!
The NDP is going down the same bob sled race to the bottom to join the Greens; both consumed by identity/gender politics.
My social democratic /pragmatic beliefs have been shattered by the antics of first the Greens and now the NDP both which offer no answers to Canadian or world problems.
Like the vocal mouthpieces at Conservative events the well healed NDP executive and their Green counterparts offer impractical solutions that offer nothing more than what will empower themselves!
Pragmatism , alas, is a word likely to be removed from dictionaries?
TB
"I shake my head at his stubborn negativity toward Alberta and Saskatchewan"
ReplyDeleteSay what? Avi has not said ANYTHING bad about Alberta or Saskatchewan. THEIR NDP LEADERS have said bad things about HIM, but he has steadfastly refused to say anything negative back. They say he's bad for the NDP, he says everybody doesn't have to agree about everything and says he hopes the people getting on his case are elected. This is some serious blaming the victim here.
When we say "Avi Lewis has been negative towards Alberta and Saskatchewan", what we mean is "Nobody is allowed to be realistic about climate change or the economics of the ongoing energy shift, lest Albertans and Saskatchahoovians get upset". And that's bullshit.
Let me break down some things for you. We are currently experiencing a spike in oil prices, and it will last a while because the Iran war will very likely not end quickly. But it is the last spike, the last oil boom for Alberta, unless maybe Israel starts throwing nukes. And that "a while" is like a year or two, maybe three. The broader picture going forward in the medium number of years is very different.
Over 50% of the cars China sells are now EVs. That goes up by at least 10%/year; by 2030 it will be basically all of them. The fleet shifts more slowly, but its gasoline powered fleet will be mostly gone by 2035. But China is not ignoring things like trucks and buses; buses are AHEAD of cars, trucks a couple years behind but growing very fast. China is currently ramping up its exports of these things, to Asia, Latin America, everywhere except North America; Chinese EVs are cheaper than ICE cars. Europe is limiting its imports, but Europe is slightly more sedately managing the shift to EVs itself, and will probably be pushing harder given the lessons they've been learning about the perils of importing your energy. By 2040 at latest, ground transportation will be mostly electric. That is a huge chunk gone from the demand for oil. Prices will go down as a result, and tar sands crude will be priced out of the market because it is among the most expensive to produce. This will be a gradual but accelerating process.
This means no pipeline proposed today in Canada can possibly break even before it stops being used. Probably it can't even be built before the use case is gone. And it means the Alberta oil patch has ten years or less of viability.
Liquid Natural Gas is worse. Natural gas in general will continue to be used for a while, but LNG will be dead in a few years. LNG is mostly used to generate electricity, and it's a recent, expensive add-on people started to use as demand for natural gas increased. The production and installation of solar and to a lesser extent wind is growing exponentially, and it's not a small exponent. We're already at the point where growth in renewables is offsetting energy demand growth; when you go the next year where renewables grow 30% more and the economy grows 3%, and then the next 30% more and the next, demand for fossil fuel power generation starts to shrink. And LNG will go first, before coal, before normal pipeline natural gas, because it's expensive and supply is unreliable. Nobody wants to import expensive LNG when they can set up cheap solar + battery instead.
So, LNG pipelines will be obsolete very soon. No proposed gas pipeline for LNG makes economic sense, no proposed LNG export facility makes sense, including David Eby's here in BC. This is not just a sunset industry, the sun is already half below the horizon. It's ridiculous that we're still talking about doing this stuff.
But, the media consensus is that we pretend the status quo is still viable, so Avi Lewis coming along and saying we need to face reality and give people jobs doing things that will still be useful by the time they're finished doing them . . . that's being negative to Alberta and Saskatchewan.
No, it isn't--people like Avi Lewis are Alberta and Saskatchewan's ONLY FRIENDS. Everyone else is just enabling self-destructive behaviour.
More generally, I will say that I'm something of an Avi Lewis fan. Billionaire wealth is growing even faster in Canada than in the United States, and Avi Lewis is the only remotely noticeable politician in the country saying it's time we took some of that dough back.
ReplyDeleteAs to Carney, he's very good at foreign and trade policy. But he's really not very good at domestic policy. When it comes to the domestic economy, he thinks like a banker and acts like he believes in the old neoliberal market austerity (plus corporate welfare) stuff, and we've had 45 years of track record showing that model is crap.
Mamdani, for example, surprised most people. He engaged many who had avoided politics and voting. All the ridiculous negative hype from the pundits are signs that they are very afraid of Avi.
ReplyDeleteA small taste of what's to come:
"We have shoved Canada Post so far into the market mindset that every few months we have a national conversation about why isn't Canada Post making money. Does the ambulance service make money? Do the police services make money? We're talking about a fundamental public service."