This weekend, NDP leader Claudia Chender was quick to congratulate the newly elected national NDP leader, Avi Lewis.
In choosing Avi Lewis, the NDP firmly closed the door on the era of Jack Layton’s more moderate approach to New Democrats and away from being a party that supports blue collar workers to being one that opposes all new natural resource projects.
The NDP leaders in Saskatchewan and Alberta took decisive action to distance themselves from Avi Lewis, calling his policies “ideological and unrealistic,” and “not in the best interests” of their province.
Even NDP Premier Eby in British Columbia was deliberate in his comments that their province needed to speed up approvals and grow their economy and they would “stand firmly against those who put that progress at risk.”
Since other NDP leaders have expressed their concern with the new extreme-left direction of the NDP, our PC caucus gave Claudia Chender the opportunity to clarify where she stands.
PC MLA Colton LeBlanc presented a motion giving all members of the Legislature the opportunity to oppose the new NDP leader’s policies of defunding the military, opposing all new natural resource projects, and raising taxes.
Claudia Chender’s NDP opposed that motion and chose to embrace these new radical policies.
Former national NDP leader Tom Mulcair has questioned how practical such an idea is when the federal government often struggles to deliver mail and other basic services.
It's disappointing to see Claudia Chender's NDP choose their political cousins over prosperity for Nova Scotia.