NDP leadership hopefuls say workers shouldn't be fooled by Poilievre's blue-collar message
OTTAWA — Three contenders to be the federal NDP’s next leader say they’re not giving up on the party’s traditional blue-collar base, after multiple speakers at the recent Conservative national convention touted the party’s electoral gains on their turf.
The Conservatives fell short of winning last year’s election but picked up 10 seats in NDP-held ridings, a moral victory some speakers played up to convention-goers.
Conservative MP Aaron Gunn, whose own Vancouver Island seat was part of the haul, boasted to delegates that his party had supplanted the NDP as the “party of Canadian workers.”
“(We’re) the party of tradespeople, of resource workers and of those laying the groundwork for the future of Canada’s prosperity and success,” said Gunn.
But a trio of NDP leadership hopefuls — Edmonton MP Heather McPherson, labour union leader Rob Ashton and organic farmer Tony McQuail — said on Monday that the Tories’ blue-collar boast rang hollow.
McPherson said the pro-worker rhetoric didn’t match the Conservatives’ legislative history on labour issues.
“No matter how many speeches (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre gives, his record is clear. On wages, unions and job security, he has never stood with working people,” said McPherson.
McPherson added that, just last week, she was heckled on the floor of the House of Commons by Conservative MPs when introducing a private members’ bill to ban employer-controlled company unions .
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, whom McPherson has repeatedly criticized for using the notwithstanding clause to end a three-week teachers’ strike last fall, was among the speakers at the Conservative national convention, which took place in her hometown of Calgary.
Ashton added that career politician Poilievre couldn’t credibly claim to speak for workers without having spent a day in their work boots.
“When Pierre (Poilievre) was 22, he was a young Conservative staffer working on Parliament Hill. At 22, I was a young dockworker.” said Ashton. “By the time he was in his 30s, he had a million-dollar pension. When I was 30, I was struggling to pay my bills and raise my kids.”
Ashton also noted that Poilievre didn’t mention U.S. President Donald Trump in his near hour-long speech on Saturday.
“These workers … don’t belong to the Conservatives who exploit their anger and offer nothing in return. They belong with the NDP. And I’m the only candidate who can bring them back,” said Ashton.
McQuail said that, while the Conservatives may have some blue-collar voters drinking the “Kool-Aid” right now, he doesn’t think this support will be lasting.
“Pierre Pollievre is just really good at scapegoating the vulnerable rather than addressing the system that’s been sucking wealth out of the pocket of workers and into the pockets of the rich and powerful. When blue-collar workers look at where the money’s actually going they’ll stop drinking that blue Kool-Aid,” said McQuail.
Two candidates, activist Avi Lewis and Vancouver Island city councillor Tanille Johnston, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Dan Arnold, a pollster with Pollara Strategic Insights, says it would be a mistake for the NDP to shrug off the Conservatives’ recent gains with blue-collar voters on the basis that the party’s record doesn’t fully match its pro-worker rhetoric.
“Ultimately, voters don’t just vote based on the legislative record and vote record of parties. They vote on other factors, and perceptions can play a big role in where those votes land,” said Arnold.
Arnold found in a recent study that those who identify as blue collar make up roughly four in 10 voters and gravitate toward a certain mix of political attributes. They’re more likely than other voters to say they want a leader who “understands what people like (them) are going through” and “had to work hard to get where they are.”
He added the blue-collar penchant for elbow grease could spell trouble for perceived NDP leadership race frontrunner Avi Lewis, a third-generation party scion who’s made his way in the world as a journalist and documentary filmmaker.
“Can (Lewis) project that he understands their challenges and can he connect with them at that level is the real question,” said Arnold.
Arnold noted that Conservatives hold a commanding lead with self-identified blue-collar voters, with 41 per cent saying they’re helping blue-collar people the most. Just 11 per cent said the same of the NDP, putting them dead last behind the Liberals (15 per cent), none of them (15 per cent) and don’t know (18 per cent).
Ryan Painter, a former NDP executive who now backs the Conservatives, said the party’s slide with its traditional blue-collar base has been years in the making.
“The NDP didn’t lose working-class voters overnight. It happened slowly as the party changed what it cared about and how it communicated its priorities,” said Painter. “Over time, its focus shifted from making sure people could support their families to identity issues and symbolic politics.”
Leigh Phillips, a writer and exploration geologist who has been involved in NDP politics since his teenage years, says that blue-collar support for the NDP has withered away as party activists increasingly oppose resource development.
Phillips said this mindset was exemplified by comments Lewis made at November’s leadership debate calling “manly” remote work camps associated with pipelines and other major resource projects a danger to Indigenous women and girls living nearby.
He noted that the remarks didn’t go over well in the north-central British Columbia drilling camp where he currently works.
“What (Lewis) said … basically calling all of us rapists … was definitely noticed up here — not least by Indigenous workers,” said Phillips.
McPherson has also criticized Lewis’s comments , saying they unfairly “stereotyp(e) w orkers who are doing their jobs and providing for their families.”
National Post
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