Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not?
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
Filmmaker Avi Lewis has been elected as the NDP’s new leader, defeating his four rivals on the first ballot with nearly 40,000 votes.
This victory signals a shift toward the party pushing big, unabashedly left-wing policies like government owned and operated grocery stores as grassroots pushed for change after a devastating election result last year.
Read more:
- Energy policy key as NDP leadership candidates make final pitch
- Almost half of former NDP voters don’t recognize names of leadership candidates: poll
Avi, union leader Rob Ashton, social worker Tanille Johnston, Alberta MP Heather McPherson and farmer Tony McQuail have spent the last six months campaigning for the job.
Avi will be tasked with trying to lead the federal party out of the political wilderness, as the NDP only has six seats in the House of Commons, limited visibility in question period and no committee seats.
About 100,000 New Democrats were in the voting pool for the leadership race and the party’s chief electoral officer says there were nearly 71,000 votes cast.
McPherson placed second with just shy of 21,000 votes, followed by Johnston, Ashton and McQuail.
Lewis begns his speech Sunday with a call for unity in the party, bringing his leadership rivals on stage along with the NDP caucus to hug it out.
Lewis has said that he is not in a rush to enter the House of Commons and plans on starting his leadership by strengthening the grassroots before seeking elected office.
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