OTTAWA — A bid by NDP leadership hopeful Heather McPherson to strike a deal with rival Rob Ashton in an effort to stop perceived front-runner Avi Lewis was rejected last week, the Star has learned.
McPherson had proposed that the two campaigns encourage supporters to rank each other second on leadership ballots — a strategy aimed at rallying support against Lewis in the party’s ranked voting system — said two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions, including one on the Ashton campaign, who were granted anonymity to speak freely.
The rebuffed offer, made days before voting began, sheds light on behind-the-scenes manoeuvring within the leadership campaigns as the high-stakes contest nears its conclusion at the end of March.
It also provides a glimpse of the efforts to rally ranked-ballot support against Lewis and his democratic socialist campaign, which has topped party leadership race fundraising records with more than $1.2 million, while rattling establishment critics who charge he would undermine provincial New Democrat wings.
In an email to supporters this week, McPherson campaign manager George Soule suggested the race is a “neck-and-neck” battle between the Edmonton MP and Lewis, who have “shared values but very different visions for the path forward.”
The cross-endorsement pitch to Ashton appears to have been part of an effort to bolster her support in that competition.
But Ashton, the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, was already inclined to reject the offer and was later advised that any agreement would not give him a strategic advantage, said the two sources.
Instead, it would paint Ashton as part of the “establishment” and reduce his appeal to a sizable chunk of supporters, including those who are fans of Lewis, the sources said.
Aly Koa, a spokesperson for Ashton, said in a statement to the Star that the leadership race “belongs to members, not to conversations between campaigns.”
“It’s clear that members want change,” Koa said. “Rob represents the kind of change that can unite the party and bring back working-class voters who drifted away because they no longer saw themselves reflected in the NDP.”
McPherson’s team did not comment when reached by the Star.
The Lewis campaign didn’t comment directly on the situation, saying only that “we trust in the wisdom of the members to decide the future of our party.”
“We are proud to be running a positive campaign that is inspiring people across the country by offering solutions as big as the crises we face,” a spokesperson said. “Avi is thrilled to be sharing this race with four other amazing candidates, Heather, Rob, Tanille (Johnston) and Tony (McQuail), who have each brought unique perspectives and ideas to the contest.”
Another way McPherson’s campaign has tried to rally support has been by invoking fears of a Prairie backlash to Lewis’s opposition to fossil fuel development, although Ashton has levelled the most direct public attack against Lewis among the leadership contenders. Lewis has rejected those accusations.
Dredging up memories of Lewis’s ”Leap Manifesto” in a recent email to supporters of the McPherson campaign, former Saskatchewan MLA Cathy Sproule recalled being nicknamed “Grim Leaper” in 2016 by then-premier Brad Wall, as provincial Conservatives routinely weaponized the energy transition road map against the New Democrats.
Ten years later, it’s happening once more, Sproule said. On the first day of the Alberta legislature’s sitting this year, Premier Danielle Smith deflected attacks from the NDP’s Naheed Nenshi by bringing up Lewis.
“Ten years. Different province. Different premier. Same playbook,” Sproule wrote. “When the federal party loses touch with Prairie realities, conservative premiers use it against us.”
