NDP Leadership Debate FIXED AUDIO

Hi, my name's Rob Ashton. I'm a dog

worker from Vancouver. And I want to ask

you something. You here struggling with

rent. Who here is struggling with the

cost of groceries? Who's worried about

the state of the planet that our kids

are going to inherit?

And honestly, who's just playing tired

being screwed by liberals and

conservatives?

Me, too. That's why I'm running for the

NDP. I've had enough of the Bolton

system when the ruling class profits off

our backs.

We're being hit from all sides. Forget

about finding a place that's affordable.

Groceries cost a god

grocery cost a damn fortune. Sorry about

that. And even working two or three jobs

isn't enough anymore.

That's what happens when a system is

built for the rich and protected by the

politicians who enable them.

I spent my whole life

shoulder-to-shoulder with the people who

keep this country running, organizing,

fighting back, and building power from

the ground up. And here's what I

learned. When we stand together, we're

powerful. We built this country, we keep

it moving. And together,

together, we can take it back. That's

the kind of leadership the NDP needs

now. And that's the kind of leader I am.

Thank you, Rob. Next, we have Heather

Mcverson. Thank you very much. Thank you

all so much for being here today and and

I want to take us a moment to thank the

organizers as well. Like what a what a

great thing to see such a beautiful full

room of new Democrats. This sews my cup.

Um I'm coming to you from Regina. I left

Regina this morning to to come here for

the debate. And I, you know, I want to

talk a little bit about about what's

happening in Toronto, what's happening

across this country. You know, in

Toronto, we have not elected a new

Democrat since 2015.

And and you know, that has to change.

That has to change. And let me tell you,

every election, what do the Liberals

tell people in Toronto? You've got to

vote for us or the Conservatives win.

every election.

You know what? I got elected in

Edmonton. I got elected in Alberta by

beating conservatives. I know how to

beat conservatives. So, so in the next

election, when folks come to you and

they say, "We got to vote for the

liberals. We vote for the Liberals to

stop the Conservatives." That's not

going to be the answer. The answer is

going to be we vote a Democrat to beat

the Conservatives. That's who beats the

Conservatives. That's what we're going

to do in this next election. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And next up, we have Tony Nquel.

>> Hi, I'm Tony McQuail. I've been farming

for over 50 years. I've been an E

Democrat for over 45. And I'm tired of

wonderful policies that never really get

to see the light of day. Our campaign is

running on four Rs. Representation,

regeneration, redistribution, and

redesign. But representation is the

first R. Because until we figure out a

way to beat the first pass the post

system, we're going to be in the same

boat that

the United Farmers and the Independent

Label and the CCF and now the NDP and

the Greens are in, which is that we

don't win because we're told we can't

win because First Pass the Post makes

that possible. And it's been keeping the

elites in power. The timer isn't working

now for me. So, I've got a

But uh so what we have to do is

recognize that changing the system and

figuring out strategy and tactics that

let us build a green progressive

movement that really then speaks to

people in terms of a real opportunity

and choice so that instead of people

voting strategically they vote for us.

>> Thank you very much. All right, Abby

Lewis.

That's all. So yeah, I have Janelle

Johnston. I apologize.

Oh, it's me. Sorry, I was worried my mic

was gonna die. Um, so I don't have to

tell students this, but I'm I'm just

going to say it. Students right now are

graduating into impossible rent,

crushing tuition, and jobs that don't

pay, even if you can at least get a job.

But I'm here to say that it doesn't have

to be that way. It it does not have to

be that way. We're being put in a

position by the government that we're

under right now. I'm running on free

postsecary education, eliminating

leading student debt, a guaranteed

livable income, and a living wage. I

want a Canada where students can choose

to study based on your passion and not

based on capitalism. I'm committing to

ending fossil fuel subsidies and moving

that money into public transit, green

housing, and unionized jobs.

If you felt ignored by politics, my cam

is my campaign is about putting the

working class back into the center of

the NDP.

We are going to prove that you do not

have to choose between climate action,

good jobs, between indigenous rights and

prosperity, or between your values and

survival.

This is about prosperity for all, and

I'm so excited to be with you guys this

evening.

>> Thank you for staying on time. Backed

up,

we have Abby Lewis.

>> Hi everyone. How you doing?

Since day one, our campaign has been

focused on the everyday emergency of

just getting by in an impossible

economy. And it's hardest for young

people. AI is already stealing your

future. The price of everything is out

of control. Food, shelter,

transportation, education, and we know

why it's happening.

That's why they're calling for public

ownership in the economy, a public

option in for groceries, a Canadian

green new deal with a million green

jobs, including a huge youth climate

corps, an electric bus revolution and

free transit, unionized jobs across all

of these sectors. 92% of Canadians

believe Wopos are driving up prices.

These are incredibly popular policies.

This is how we win. By making it clear

what we stand for, by offering solutions

as bad as the crisis we face, by

trusting each other and rekindling hope

in the MAP. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much. A brief reminder to

candidates, we you'll have one minute to

answer each of the following uh which

we'll have one minute each question

followed by a threem minute of open

debate per question. And our first theme

tonight is affordability. Politicians

often use affordability as a buzzword,

touting that they'll make life more

affordable by working but workingclass

Canadians are still living paycheck to

paycheck while students, people living

with disabilities, and seniors are being

left behind. What is unique about your

plan to truly address the cost of living

crisis and make the NDP the only choice

for voters in the next election? We'll

start with Heather McFerson.

>> Thank you very much. Listen, that's

true. You know, the deal is broken. The

deal that said that if you worked hard,

you know, if you if you had a good job

and you worked hard, you'd be able to

afford a home, you'd be able to raise

your family, you'd be able to live with

dignity in this country. That's broken.

And so for me the the the the one of the

key pieces we need to look at when we

look at affordability. What's one of the

things that every single one of us has

to pay for? Housing. You know my very

first policy that I brought forward was

on housing. And what we need is to

declare a national housing emergency. We

are seeing across the country you know

in every community small and large where

people are not able to get housing they

are not able to afford housing. How many

young people in this room think they

will ever be able to afford to buy a

home? You know we have a good solid

housing plan. You can visit our our um

website at heathermfirsten.ca to learn

more. But it's looking at making sure we

take we take the rates out, making sure

that housing isn't an investment. It's

actually a place where people can live.

That's what we need to do. There's a

whole bunch of stuff we can do on

housing, and I'm excited to get started

on that.

>> Rob Ashton.

>> So, who are down our streets here in

Toronto or anywhere else in this

country? What do we see? We see food

bank lineups down the block, but when

they get into the shelves are empty. And

why are the shelves empty? It's because

we can't afford it to fill those shelves

up like we usually do. That's the

problem we're we're in today. The prices

of groceries have went up 20% over the

last few years. Companies are making

record profits. The only people cashing

is the CEOs, not the working class. So

what do we have to do?

We have to cap the prices on essentials,

groceries, cell phone bills,

telecommunications, that stuff. Why?

Because we're in an immediate crisis.

And that's an immediate solution for the

members of the working class. We have to

cut down on price cap uh price uh

gouging

and collision that these corporations

are in to drive prices back up to steer

from us so that they can fill their

pockets.

Thank you.

>> Thank you very much, Abby Lewis.

>> Well, look, it's an NDP leadership

debate, so we're going to find a fairing

out of common ground. I think unimpoos

to that, and we're sick of corporations

price gouging and and and press fixing

and colluding in the background. I think

what distinguishes our campaign is a

frank uh uh affirmation that public

ownership is a solution. and short price

caps in the short term. But when we have

a moment of market failure where the

market is failing to deliver the basics

of a dignified life, food, shelter,

communication, transportation at a at a

price that people can afford, the

government must intervene. So like the

public option for groceries, we've

started costing it out and working with

experts. For 300 million dollars a year,

we can have 50 warehouse Costco plus

local, 50 publiclyowned grocery stores

with humanized label. I heard blue fcw

wouldize those folks and prices that are

30% or more cheaper. When the government

steps in, the corporations remember that

they can't get away with it any longer.

And the public is ours. It ought to be

beautiful. It ought to be something that

we really feel connected to. There's an

emotional layer, too.

Well, thank you very much to Neil

Johnstone.

>> Yes. So, Common Ground absolutely and

fully support public options. I think

they're amazing. Where I want to go a

little bit further is ensuring that when

we're thinking about these things and

we're implementing them, we are not

forgetting our remote communities. So,

we have a Costco and Komox that does

save people money, but that Costco

doesn't help people in Port Alice. It

does absolutely nothing for the people

of Port Alice. And there is no public

transit that's going to get you from

Port Alice to Costco to go shopping. So

we need to break down all these barriers

across the board and not forget about

our remote communities. We need public

transit so people can move about their

community and keep themselves healthy

and well. And we need those public

options to all to be supported by

breaking down interprovincial food trade

barriers. We have to make the food that

we're bringing to these organizations

cheaper while it gets there. Let's feed

ourselves with Canadian grown food and

Canadian soil because we can. and you

have an amazing agricultural industry.

Let's use it.

>> Thank you very much, Tony McQuail.

>> In terms of our campaign, the first

thing we said a minority NDP government

would do would be bring in a citizens

assembly on proportional representation.

is

the second priority is a citizen

assembly on the principles of a fair tax

system. Our economy and our tax system

have been designed to concentrate with

and if we're going to have the resources

and money to invest in things like a

universal basic income and promoting a

living wage. These are things which will

help deal with the issue of cost of

living by putting money directly in

people's pockets. But we have to have a

tax system that is prepared to go after

those who have been concentrating wealth

for generations.

And that's what our political system

under first pass the post has allowed to

happen and it's what our tax system and

our economists have encouraged. So this

is all meltving.

Thank you very much. We're gonna now

I'll just remind folks we're opening up

the full floor floor to three minutes of

debate if we could hold our applause. I

know it's tough, but then that'll let us

have more time with the candidates. So,

thank you very much and I'll open the

floor to the candidates. Well, I mean, I

wanted to just say the the public

transit piece makes so much sense and we

need that across this country. And that

happened because we've had, you know,

Liberal and Conservative governments

failing to invest in the infrastructure

that we need in this country, failing

for decades to actually build that out.

You know, when Mark Carney talks about

big nation building projects, public

transit needs to be one of those

projects.

>> Yeah. Not even not even buses, but let's

talk about rail. Let's talk about other

methods of transportation that doesn't

just move people. Let's complement our

other services like Canada Post and

build structure that our other public

services can use that aren't a a one

service only deal.

>> Yeah. Postal bank here. Yeah.

>> Also, not only for the fabulous public

service and you can complement it with

the credit unions that we already have

in our country. You got it.

>> You know, public transit is one of the

most important things in this country

because we do not have a national public

transit plan. You know, a number of

years back in northern BC, we had the

Highway of Tears and we had many, many

sisters, indigenous sisters that were

murdered because they had no way to get

to

point A to point B on the Highway of

Tears up in northern BC. If this country

actually had a national transportation

system in place that was affordable for

Canadians, that may not have happened

back then. And this is what an NDP

government does for this country. It

cares and it puts good things in good

places to protect our people.

>> But before we can do that, we got to win

our support. And I think we've had the

great policies for a really long time.

And now the question is, how do we win

these things? We win these things by

building power, by trusting our base, by

unleashing the power of organizing, and

by making really clear positions. This

is a time when we need moral clarity.

when a genocide is still going on every

single day in Gaza where five people

have been killed by Israel every day

since the so-called ceasefire took

place. This does have relevance on a

question of of affordability because we

need to be able to tell the truth to

people in clear language that they can

ex understand. That's when they'll start

embracing these policies. That's when

we'll start to win. People don't know

what the NDP stands for for too much of

the time. We got to cut flu with code

talk and the transportation has to be

through Rob, right? Not just a formal

100%.

>> Getting back to consensus. Okay.

But that whole question of where are our

priorities is so critical and militarism

is one of the places where we have to

ask why are we spending money on ways

that we can kill each other when we can

already wipe ourselves off the planet

with nuclear weapons.

>> Absolutely. Yeah. So, our campaign has

called for an immediate embargo on

selling Canadian uh weapons systems and

support to the United States because

there are clearly now

a road country in terms of international

law and international peacemaking

connecting that to people's daily lives.

>> Yeah. Because militarism is the way you

keep spending money on stuff the adult

read and don't spend money on stuff

redoing you. You don't have the indies.

Was going to get there, Abby, but

>> I'm worried about protection. So, we're

guaranteed to an affordable lifestyle.

>> Thank you very much, candidates. And and

now we're going to move on to one of my

favorite topics, housing. Solving the

housing crisis is complex. It often

requires cooperation between different

levels of government, and new housing

can't be built in a day. How does your

housing plan speak to voters who need

solutions? Now, we'll start with Heather

McFerson. Thank you. Housing is one of

my favorite topics. Thank you so much.

So, so listen, we've got to take the

investment out of housing. We've got to

make it so that people are not using

housing to to make money, that they are

using housing to live in. You know,

let's get rid of the rates. Let's make

sure that there is tenant protections

across this country, that there is a

renters's bill of rights for everyone.

You know, in in Alberta, we have no

renters's protection at all. And and

what Doug Floyd is doing here in Toronto

is appalling. We can hold the money

coming from the federal government. We

can tie strings to that money and make

sure that it is only going to provinces

that have a renters's bill of rights.

Let's build co-op housing. Let's invest

in nonprofit housing. Let's look at the

countries around the world who have put

housing first, who have who solved the

housing crisis because you know what

housing is? Housing is a determinant of

health. It is a it is a human right. It

is something that across this country

people are not able to access. You know,

right now in in in Sedbury, I was there

a little while ago. In Sudbury, the

fastest growing population of folks

ambassadors. Thank you very much. I have

Rob Ashton next.

So, back home in Vancouver, I got a

21-year-old daughter that lives with me.

Her name is Madison. She knows that she

won't be able to afford a house in this

world unless something changes. She

can't. Of today's rents, for one

bedroom, you're looking at over $2,000.

She knows that it's going to be almost

impossible for her to rent a place by

herself. In Toronto alone, we're short

at about 200,000 plus affordable homes.

Housing has stopped being a place to

live and has become a way for the rich

to get richer and that has to stop.

We're the only party that actually cares

about Canadians when it comes to

affordable living. You know, I want to

build homes for people, not for some

rich developer just to make more money

off our backs. And that's got to stop.

But if we keep putting the ruling class

in power,

we're never going to make those positive

changes.

It's the working class that's going to

make this change. And we are the party

of the working class, especially when

it's led by me.

>> Thank you very much, Avi Lewis.

>> Nicer love.

>> That was a good That was a move. That

was innovative last night. I love that.

Um, you know, liberals and conservatives

have tried to incentivize our way out of

a crisis. And again, we have to be

really cool. The market is not going to

solve a crisis that the market created.

rule.

So, we mood to be talking about the

public developer in playing public

construction companies to build all of

this non-market supporter of co-op

nonprofit housing. It's got to be

public. It's got to be all in the public

sphere. We corporate ramblers right now

are using algorithmic pricing tricks to

synchronize rents across many, many

buildings. Burn that That's got to

be gone. I need a government that's

prepared to stand up to the powers the

financialized powers in the housing

market. You know, in countries that do

build beautiful public housing, it's

embraced and celebrated and supported by

the entire population. So like in

Finland where there's community hubs and

collective spaces where people can

connect with their community, take care

of each other, make food together, take

care of each other's kids, public

housing should be beautiful. After a

generation of austerity is and

falling apart, we need to fight for

beautiful public housing.

>> Thank you very much to Johnston.

So for me, a big part of housing is how

we do it. You're going to find again

that we kind of agree on how we want to

approach housing. It's got to be public.

It's got to be co-op. It's got to be

varied. But it also comes down to what

those rooms look like. How wide is that

doorway? Is it only accessible by stairs

or is there an ele is there an elevator?

How high are the the countertops? How

how many rooms are there? Is it going to

fit my my auntie and her six kids? Or is

it built for with two rooms and only

enough for like two single people to

survive in? We need to build a diverse

housing that's going to work for

everyone and housing that doesn't do

further damage to the planet. Let's make

sure we're insulating super well. Let's

make sure they're all coming with heat

pumps. Let's make sure there's solar

panels on those roofs. We can build

housing better than we ever have. And we

can do it in such a great way that

families can call them their homes and

be proud of where they're living and we

can do it in an affordable way. Just

snippet about housing that was uh

something that I take a lot of pride in

owning out of the city of Campbell

River. I sit with six conservatives and

myself as the lone progressive at that

table and we have over 40 units of

housing that we built for our

homelessness population. I take great

pride in bringing that to Campbell

River. Thank you. Next we have Tony

Mikler. Well, I I've been waiting for an

NDP federal government for 45 years. And

this says we need solutions now. So,

until we rebuild the base, the

foundation, the writing associations,

and our connections to people across

this country, don't hold your breath on

all these wonderful ideas. In our our

stuff, we're calling for working with

cooperatives, working with nonprofits,

building housing. But in terms of our

four Rs, which is redesign and

regeneration,

we need to be looking at also how do we

take building stock that exists in our

communities and make it into affordable

housing and how do we make the land

around it something that is regenerative

and a place where people can garden so

that affordability for food becomes a

little closer to home. And so we need to

to do that. And I would say you need to

start working now building that

community that will buy or create co-op

housing, work with nonprofits, but also

build that community that can rebuild

the support for the kind of housing

everybody's been talking about up here

because until we do that, there isn't

going to be a federal government

investing it. We stole real estate from

the indigenous people. That's how the

real estate market in Canada got going.

>> Thank you very much. All right, you know

the drill. We've got 3 minutes. Open

floor.

>> Well, bad. So, look, we'll have to put

in rural rate control programs into this

country and across the country in every

city in our provinces in our

territories. We have to stop rent

evictions. That's the one of the bigger

cancers in this in our housing crisis is

people that can afford the rent they're

in and then they kicked out. So the

landlord, the rich corporate empire

landlord can re redesign and remodel and

double the rent. Interjections.

>> This is when I swear, but I'm not going

to. It's It's gross. And we've got to

end it. Why do we have to end it? Is so

we can start taking back from these

corporate empires. We have to end them.

We have to make sure that renters are

protected in this country. would have to

make sure that we control

control the prices.

>> How do we do that? We have a national

cap on rent increases. It's a rule of

simple thing. As long as the federal

government's power is the power of the

curse, housing transfers for provinces

freeze until there's a national cap on

rent increases. And that includes

between tenants. It's no land owning

units or on existing units. or when you

move out of your place, the landlord

doesn't get to triple the rent for the

next person coming in. A national

capital on rent increases tied to the

word of inflation so that vents don't

bought a little faster than inflation.

That's something government can build

with our And why do we have to build up?

Because housing is a right. It's not a

privilege.

>> One thing I want to just point out as

well, you know, if there was ever a

reason why we need a strong new

Democratic party, it is for this. You

know, Mark Carney promised twice as much

in during the April election to spend on

housing than he delivered in the budget

this fall. You know, that's the stuff

that we see from this Liberal government

is that they they think that they can

tell us that they're going to invest in

housing. And when it comes right down to

it, you know, Tony's right, 5% on

defense spending and half half what they

promised on housing. If we actually

believe that housing is a human right,

we have to treat this as the national

emergency it is. That allows us to

mobilize resources. That's the thing

that we can do to get really going on

housing and really come up with

solutions.

>> Well said.

>> I want to pop back to something that

Tony mentioned um around indigenous land

and housing. If you want to see housing

move, partner with your nations. If you

want to build housing fast and in a good

way, partner with your nations. Right

now, we do not have governments that are

going and building relationships with

nations and saying, "What do you want on

your books that you want to get done?

How can you help us get out of this

economic crisis?" We're walking up to

them saying, "Hey, hey, we've got this

project that we want you to do and we

want you to do it on your land how we

want to do it. Are you game?" Like,

that's not how this works. If we want to

move fast in our economy, if we want to

build housing like crazy, we need to

build relationships with our nations

across the country. And that starts with

showing up, owning our place in the

impact that we've had in their community

and moving forward together in

partnership.

>> Y absolutely.

Well, housing is nation building in a

way that pipelines, nuclear reactors,

and mining are not.

>> Well, thank you very much. I think we're

starting to get wound up

and we're ready for some rapid fire

questions. I I I made the observation

that that a leadership debate of this

kind is is a lot like a family meal. So,

let's let's get down to uh let's get

down to some details real quick.

Candidates, you'll each have 10 seconds

to answer each uh rapid fire question in

the following order. Tony, Heather,

Tenil, Rob, Abby. Remember that.

>> Remember who you're after. You got 10

seconds each.

>> Who am I? Tony,

>> where is your favorite place the

campaign has taken you and that you've

never been before?

>> Tony,

>> well, I stayed home because part of my

redesign is not traveling and using up

fuel.

>> Heather,

honestly, I was in Prince Albert this

week. I was in Prince Albert and PA is

awesome. We had such a fun time. There

were tons of people who came out. You

know, that's what building this party is

about. It's it's going into all of these

communities and talking to new

Democrats.

>> I'm going to the Maritimes hopefully

tonight on a late night flight. I got

nine stops in 72 hours.

>> What?

>> Subbury, Ontario.

Amazing place of an amazing workers in

there. People that fight for everything

they've got. The new flyer bus factory

or Winnipeg. Canadian steel company

Mandor Luna Rookers making electric

buses for the electric bus revolution we

need across this country. A beautiful

place.

If you were running for NDP Leo or doing

any job you've done previously, what job

would you be doing right now, Tony? I'd

be baking cookies with my grandkids.

B.

>> Okay. I've always really wanted to be a

beekeeper. I would uh I would be a

beekeeper. Tony, you can teach me how to

deal. I'd be a lawyer.

>> Rob,

one of the Backstreet Boys.

>> I didn't get the meal of a fantasy job.

So, I think there's rering.

I think I start a YouTube channel and

try to capture recapture the manosphere

and bring some langu.

The last of the rapid fire. What is your

most used emoji? Tony,

>> I'm too old to use emojis

and that I I have figured out the heart.

Heather. Oh my goodness, that's a tough

one. I think it's this one. The guy that

goes

If I take out the orange heart, it might

be an eggplant.

No,

spicy.

wrong.

>> I saw mine, but I'll go with the

laughing face.

>> And I'll be

>> This is the first line.

>> As as the rich get richer, the NDP's

legacy of strength. Back to serious

questions here. As the rich get richer,

the NDP's legacy of strengthening

Canada's strong social safety net is

needed now more than ever. What

differentiates your plan from the other

candidates to ensure all Canadians can

live with dignity? Heather Heather

McFersonson.

>> They always get me starting. So listen,

the the the thing that I am most worried

about with our safety net right now is

the attack on our public health care

system. You know what is happening in

this country across the country is is so

dangerous. There is the biggest attack

on our public health care system since

Tommy Douglas and the NDP bought forward

Medicare. And that is something every

single one of us needs to be concerned

about. And I and I and I got to tell

you, the federal government is doing

nothing nothing to protect our public

healthare system. You know, the Canada

Health Act says that we need to have

universally accessible, publicly

delivered singlepayer healthcare. We

cannot we cannot let conservative

premers across this country wreck our

healthare system. It's what makes us

Canadian. It's something we all need to

be fighting for. That's my biggest worry

right now in our social safety net.

>> Rob,

>> you know, if you look around the

country,

our

our unemployment rate rose to 6.8% in

December. People lose their jobs and

it's hard for get for them to get on to

employment insurance. The ruling class

has made it almost impossible for our

for us to live our lives when we're in a

tough time. In a city as wealthy as

Toron,

no one should be one layoff or one or

one illness away from a disaster. But

that's how the ruling class has set this

country up.

It's to punish us for being members of

the ruling of the working class. This is

what we have to end. One in five

Toronatonians

lived in or near poverty.

Let that sink in for a second.

And if you have a disability and you try

to get on to our disability program in

this country, good luck. And if you do,

you got 200 bucks a month. So our plan

is to raise it, and this is not even

close to enough. Our plan is to raise it

up to $1,000 a month when we form

government.

Abby Lewis.

>> I think what differentiates our plan

from from the others is the level of

ambition, the clarity and and and how

specific it is and also the strategy

that rather than fighting neighborhood

actions or criticizing a broken status

quo, we are asserting a little vision of

what we are entitled to as human beings

in a country of Welsh in left. And that

means eyes, teeth, mental health,

medicine, they're all part of our

health. Those should all be part of our

singlepayer healthcare system. We have

to fight for it all. Investing in the

care economy, more than three million

people, mostly women, 75% women, working

in healthcare, education, long-term

care, and child care. We don't have a a

functioning social safety net with care

because we underpay and undervaluing

those precious workers who hold our

society together. They need a massive

wage and they need it now. And we're

going to pay for it with a bunch of

different taxation measures. But 100%

Canadian support a tax on Guff a 1% tax

on a 1% just that measure 25 to30

billion dollars a year. We're going to

vote forward. We need to win those

things because we're going to vote for

the whole thing instead of incremental

proposals.

>> The the old Johnston.

Um, a guaranteed li little basic income

will provide Canadians with the dignity

to survive. It's a minimum standard that

we have to have in Canada. It also

serves as a a protection tool. It's

going to lift people into a place of

safety, which is so vital in in Canada

today. I fully support a wealth tax. Um,

but I I would I would love to see it get

a little bit bigger. So, not just a 1%

for the 1%, but perhaps the more you

make, more you pay. um would be

phenomenal to to make that happen. Um

there

safety is so

vital

to our ability to be Canadians and and I

I so when I'm saying this I'm I'm I'm

thinking about our lack of bold response

to what is happening in other countries.

If we as Canada are going to be a

country that says we stand up against

genocide within our own borders,

we have to do that when that work is

happening in horrific ways outside of

our borders. And we're not doing enough

for it and and we have to be better in

that. So safety inside of ourselves, but

safety safety outside of our borders as

well.

>> Thank you very much. And finally, tool.

45 years ago, we could have been

incremental in the environment and in

terms of creating a healthier, more

equitable, distributive economy. That

time has passed for both the environment

and our society. So, we're calling for

both a progressive wealth tax, so it

might start at 1%, but it's going to get

higher, and a much more progressive

income tax. because I've been doing my

income tax since I started having a job

in Canada and uh it always burns me to

see the way it drops off. I thought just

a little bit higher than I'll ever make.

Uh so we've got to have an income tax

that lets us have the resources to put

in a universal basic income and that

lets us support a healthy health care

system. But we are not going to have

governments that enforce the Canada

Health Act unless we also change how we

organize and how we build. Thank you

very much, Tony. And now we'll set it

the clock to three minutes and we'll

open the floor to debate.

>> Okay. Verse say yes, it is a progressive

pads. The way you get to $4 billion a

year is by 2% on people worth $25

million and about 3% on people worth $50

million or more. and let's go to Florida

for people who have $100 million. How do

you spend 100 million bucks on your life

anyway? And we're not even talking about

the about the the billionaires who lot

of attacks a lot higher than that. I

think we all support the progressive

principle.

>> Okay. Well, the other thing that we need

to do is help people understand the

difference between a billion and a

million because when you write it, it's

an M or a B. When you do it in zeros,

it's three zeros. But if you had a

million seconds to live, we'd all be

dead in 11 days. If you had a billion

seconds to live, we'd have 41 more years

ahead of us. That kind of puts it in a

little different perspective. When I

first ran in 1980, Google says there

were maybe five billionaires in Canada.

Now they say there's over 70

billionaires. That's a 1,400%

increase. And you know what? I don't

think living's gotten that much easier

for most people.

>> AI is contributing bigly to that. Making

more billionaires. Yeah, real easy with

AI. I want to touch on the Canadian

Health Act. That that act has been

stripped of all accountability. It's

it's a it's a check that's written and

tossed off to the provinces and

territories with great expectations and

no ability to actually hold anybody

accountable. Either way, provinces are

having a hard time and territories

having a hard time holding the federal

government accountable and the federal

government doesn't really hold the

provinces and territories accountable.

So, we need to fix that. That Canada

Health Act has to have structure in it

and we have to be able to keep ourselves

federally accountable to how we're

funding that. I'm a big champion of

Mercer patient ratios across the

country. We're doing it in BC, but

there's no reason why a nurse in BC

should be able to have a patient ratio

and and a nurse in Ontario shouldn't.

That's that's not fair. So, we need to

bust that open and we need to pay our

fair share as the federal government

into our public health care system

because we are not not contributing

enough. Absolutely not. And you know,

the other thing I think we talked about

and I think you'll find that we all

agree on many of these things, but but

it is fixing our taxation system. You

know, the fact that there are loopholes

in our taxation system you could drive a

semi through are making inequality so

much worse in this country. And the

other side of that is wages. You know,

we need to have a national minimum wage

strategy. We need to have the ability to

increase our wages. You know, people's

wages are not keeping up with the cost

of living. So, so we can talk about how

much everything costs, but we also have

to talk about workers are not getting

paid what they deserve in this country.

And that needs to change as well.

>> The one thing that we haven't nobody up

here has touched on in the social safety

net yet is people with addiction issues.

We'll have to have wraparound and care

for for people out with with addiction

issues. That means housing

because that's brings dignity to your

life when you have a house.

That means treating people from step one

until they don't need it anymore. And

maybe they'll need it for the rest of

their lives. mental health therapy,

addiction, um counseling, whatever type

that's out there that can help somebody.

And there's many different types because

I'll tell you what I'm tired of. I'm

tired of our system failing our family

members. I'm tired of our health system

failing our friends and watching them

die.

This is a fight that we have to take on

nationwide in every community and in

every corner. Well, then we need drug

testing because 15,000 people have died

since since the emergency was declared.

It's a it's a last casualty event. We

did test both those drugs and have harm

reduction.

>> All right. Thank you for pushing

support.

>> We're going to move on to our second

theme which is jobs. CA candidates will

have one minute to answer each question

followed by a three-minut debate uh as

per our uh theme. So my question is,

youth across Canada have been hit the

hardest by the job crisis, by this job

crisis. For example, in Ontario, youth

unemployment uh is at 17.8%

a near record high. What is your plan to

fix the job market for young Canadians?

We'll start with Heather McFerson.

>> So we've got a great plan on fixing the

crisis that is youth unemployment. One

of the things that we wanted to do is

look at a yearround program. You know,

we've got the the the half the halfbaked

plans that the the Liberals come forward

with like the Canada Summer Jobs

program. Let's have a program that's

year round where young people get actual

real work experience where they get

experience in things like our green

economy in trades in the care economy.

That that is wellunded, well supported.

you know, let's make that tied to a

mentorship program so that once they're

done 18 months within that program, they

can they can transition into a

mentorship program into their career.

You know, the other piece for us, we

looked at we looked at, of course, we

want free university. There's 24

countries in the world that have free

university. We should have that in

Canada, but let's expand it to

apprenticeships so that if folks want to

go into the trades, there's a grant

program for that. We can we can help get

young people started. These are the

things that are good for our Canadian

economy, not just for young people, for

all of us.

Thank you very much. We're doing great

for time. All right. Next, we have Avi

Lewis.

>> Yeah. the the youth employment crisis as

part of the general employment crisis

and it's about to get bigger as we now

have a minister of AI sales in Canada

and we'll need to pause AI development

in Canada and pause those data centers

or I don't talk about the moratorium on

them because they're stealing those jobs

first and foremost of course we need

full postsecary education where they're

fighting for it for for a long time to

cancel student debt as well it was one

of the best ways to keep people in

undignified exploitative employment is

graduating with all of that debt. We're

calling for a Green New Deal, a Canadian

Green New Deal, to spend 2% of our GDP

addressing the climate emergency. A big

part of that would not be the

performative concession's climate corps

that the Liberal government finally

conceded in the last budget, but a real

billion dollar a year's climate corps

that would put tens of thousands of

young people to work on the land doing

housing retrofits, watershed

remediation, fire prevention, and

actually building careers and learning

skills in addressing the existential

emergency of the climate breakdown.

>> Thank you very much.

Next we have Tony McQuip.

>> We have two Rs, regeneration and

redesign. And I guess redistribution

comes in here as well.

Imagine the $30 billion a year that are

currently given in subsidies to the oil

companies. And imagine instead that that

was offered out to community groups and

organizations across the country from

sea to sea to sea. million-dollar grants

would do 30,000 communities. $500,000

grants would do 60,000 communities. And

imagine that that was tied to a youth

employment program in regenerative and

redesign work where young people would

be helping in their own communities

address a housing problem or a re

renovation of a existing building that's

vacant. Could be a grocery store, could

be an old factory, could be, you know,

turning it into apartments or doing

regeneration of a landfill site or

naturalizing the roadsides. That could

be an powerful and important program.

>> Thank you very much, idiot, for taking

us staying on time. Next, we have Rob

Ashton. When I look around this room

tonight, it's probably a lot of young

people that either don't have jobs

because they can't find them or the jobs

that they find are minimal wage, low

dollars, probably pretty crappy safety

rules.

The guaranteed no pension.

Toronto has the highest youth

unemployment rate in Ontario.

Our youth when they come out of school,

massive debts. So yeah, everybody up

here is going to agree no more tuitions.

Not for our young ones. It should have

been like that 100 years ago.

When young people are going into the job

market today, they're seeing precarious

work environments. They're not seeing

the jobs that have been out there for a

lot of our generations that are up here

right now. Well, when you go to that

job, you're there for 30 or 40 years.

And when you're ready to retire, you're

retiring with an actual pension that

lets you retire with dignity. And we're

not seeing that anymore for the next

generation.

>> Thank you very much, Tamo Jasty.

I think everybody out here also knows

that I've been uh slaving away the free

tuition thing for like 20 years. So, I'm

really hoping we can get that across the

line. I grew up in the student movement.

I was embedded in student politics all

the way through school. tuition freezes,

free postsecary, saving the first

nations, University of Canada, like all

these different campaigns were things

that I worked on back in back in student

politics and and most of them are still

relevant, which is extremely

heartbreaking because it's it's been a

second and we should be further ahead.

We need to we need those AI protections

ASAP. That stuff is crazy. It's going to

destroy our planet and it's wrecking our

jobs. The other thing we need to be very

mindful of and look to curb is

automation. Automation is the other

thing that's seeking to destroy our

opportunity for jobs. I'm not saying no

automation ever, never, but we have to

be very smart about how we use these

tools. Very smart about automation and

very smart about AI.

Thank you very much. And now we have

the I feel like I' I've forgotten. No,

they have all answered. Uh you know the

drill. 3 minutes open floor.

So let him what we're looking at was

when did you start creating jobs and

industries in this country that can give

young people the next generation jobs

that they can build a life on something

that will give them the ability to live

in this country

with lesser issues than they're worrying

about now. And the good jobs promise

guarantees a good job that everybody

wants.

We're going to produce homes which puts

people to work, Canadians to work. We're

going to tie public funding to good

wages, training, job security.

We're going to get companies that are

building stuff in construction to add

more apprenticeships, as many as the

unionized uh construction trades groups

can actually handle on a job site.

But the most important thing in this

discussion is that we're going to we're

going to strengthen labor laws. We're

going to strengthen labor laws so young

workers aren't trapped in gig economies

and contract work forever.

And we're going to make sure that young

workers have an ability to know the laws

when it comes to health and safety rules

when they go to their workplaces.

>> Go ahead, Evan. No, you go ahead.

>> Well, I was going to say when you talk

about gig workers, you know, the fact

that so many people in this country

can't access the the employment

insurance program because it actually,

you know, it doesn't reach the people

that work in the gig economy. doesn't

work reach so many workers that are that

are working part-time or working

multiple part-time jobs. You know,

that's why we also need to revise and

fix our EI system to meet the needs of

of what our economy looks like right

now. What jobs look like for for people

in our in our in our communities. That's

that's another important thing we have

to do.

>> I want to I want to turn a little bit to

the question of public ownership. How do

we ensure that that that that young

people actually get good paying jobs,

get into the to the trades and get into

situations where they can actually get

into unionized jobs, only public

ownership is going to do that for us. We

have we have so weakened the public

sphere and the corporations are so

strong that if we keep subsidizing

corporations to create work, young

people are always going to be the first

fired. And in an age of AI, they will

only be hired in the first place. Public

ownership is absolutely essential. And

when we're talking about the dignity of

young people today, I teach climate

justice. People, young folks are scared.

They have a sense of claustrophobia

coming into this scary world. We need a

political party and a government with

low clarity to name genocide to stand up

to the United States when it overthrows

another country seizes its oil industry.

This is my further seconds.

>> I haven't gone yet. who has to if we're

going to build the green progressive

movement that could actually get elected

and actually deliver some of this stuff,

we've got to spread our arms wide so

that people understand when we're

talking about work, we're talking about

unionized and non-unionized and waged

and unwaged in our society. Can I have

the last 10 seconds?

>> Steal work. Sure.

>> We've got to win to do any of this.

We've got to win. It has to all work.

And I need three memberships to open up

our NDP doors so wide. So we could build

our party and go slay in the next

election. So we can do any of this stuff

that we just talked about. Absolutely.

>> We'll have room for questions of that

nature towards the end of the agenda.

But for now, to address the climate

crisis, we need to transition to a green

economy. But workingclass Canadians want

want and deserve that that transition uh

protect good jobs. Many worry about

instability from the trade war and job

displacement with from AI. Each of your

campaigns has put forward different

plans to mandate job instability and to

manage job instability and the green

transition. How will you convince

workingclass Canadians that your plan

protects their livelihoods and proves

that new Democrats can be trusted to

manage the can manage Canada's economy

during this period of of upheaval.

Heather

>> and I'm first again. Um listen, I'm from

Alberta. You know, we have lived a boom

bust economy for generations and it

sucks and it sucks for workers. It is

terrible. And then and then you know

what I'm seeing right now across the

country is this this this abdication of

protecting workers rights by this

federal government. You know when Al

Steel got $500 million and then laid off

a thousand workers right before

Christmas. You know there needs to be

strings attached to that stuff. There

needs to be protections for workers. You

know, the last p people to get laid off

are the workers, not the first. You

know, we've got to come up with a plan

that brings workers with us. Folks don't

believe us. When we we when we say

things like a just transition or

whatever, workers don't believe us. They

think that means they're not going to

have a job. So, we've got to have jobs

ready for them. We've got to have a

plan. You know, I look at what Danielle

Smith did in Alberta when she shut down

renewables. We should be investing in

renewables. Let's take the billions of

dollars of oil and gas subsidies and put

them into renewable energy across this

country. That's that's that's a solution

that the gas so it's time Abby Lewis.

>> Yeah. We have to be willy,

straightforward, and clear. We must get

our fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

Not just to address the climate

breakdown, but to address the fact that

we can't go through another boom and

bust, as Heather said, and we're headed

for another one now with the United

States taking over Venezuela's oil.

Look, the biggest enemy for oil and gas

workers is the industry itself. They

figured out how to make a barrel of oil

with half of many as many workers in the

last 10 years. And Heather's right about

another thing. You don't can't ask

anyone to transition into a slogan or

into a promise. Those jobs have to be

waiting. That's why we need a Green New

Deal on an emergency basis to build

those new industries. Heat pumps in

every home, an electric bus revolution,

pallet lines, not pipelines, a 21st

century grid with Canadian steel and

unionized jobs. We need to build those

new industries immediately so that

workers in the oil patch can see the

potential. And they're not just going on

our word because nobody can speed their

family on a slogan no matter how good it

is.

Tony Mloud

reput up a 10 kilowatt microfit solar

array in 2011. Those things can be build

and put up in a matter of months.

Pipelines and nuclear plants do not have

that kind of time frame and they can

implore local workers. We're certainly

need a local grid, but we also have to

say, do you really think these

have been taking you where you want to

go? I have 4Ds as part of my thing. And

that that's I said that for 45 years of

watching these people preach growth and

stability at us. Growth of environmental

destruction and stability for the rich

can get richer. Let's call out

delusional thinking which is what the

liberals and conservatives are working

with. Denialist behavior which is what

they give us and then very destructive

policies and decisions both

environmentally and socially. We should

be calling them out and not letting then

have the good management and good

leadership award because they aren't

taking us where we need to go. How come

it says one second there and it's buzzy?

We're still used to the technology here.

Rob Ashton, everybody's swearing now.

But man,

>> yeah, that beep came about 40 seconds

late. So So

let's not beat around the bush. The

union members that I represent, we move

coal.

One of our terminals ships out a bit of

US thermal coal. And thermal coal, for

people that don't know, that's the stuff

you burn to make heat. By 2030, the

federal government says that thermal

coal will be banned for exports in this

country. So what does that mean? That

what does that mean for my workers? That

means we had to sit down with our

employer to find a new product, a

Canadian product to ship out through our

terminals. And so we've done that. So

that terminal is in the progress of

building an a pot ash facility so that

we can get off the thermal coal. Because

the key to this message is that a

transition into a green economy must

bring workers along with it. No division

in the working class.

to Neil Johnston.

>> Awesome. Yeah, I was just reading it

says um that your plan protects their

livelihoods. I just want to offer that

this is our plan. The feedback has to

come from the working class. It has to

come from the uh from the people and

feed into us. It's not my job to dictate

to you how we do this best. is about

bringing us together to have these

discussions to make sure we're

understanding every nuance across every

profession and industry so that when we

make these changes we are bringing

everyone along together. Everyone is

feeling heard, supported, and excited

about transitioning because the word

transition is scary for a lot of people.

For most people, it means they're going

to lose their job or it's going to get

shrunk down to something that's

meaningless that doesn't it's not

feeding their passion anymore like it

used to. So we have to make sure that we

are integrating those folks into this

work and opening our doors and making

sure that we're hearing clearly. So

bringing the working class back into the

center of the NDP, leading on our values

collectively together in doing this work

because it is such a momentous amount of

change that we want to make in this

country and we can absolutely do it.

This is all tangible stuff. We just need

to collectively come together as new

Democrats and change Canada for the

better.

We'll switch to the open debate. Three

minutes. The floor is yours. Sat the

only government swear. Go ahead.

>> There you go.

>> All right. So, the only government that

actually knows how to actually give

money to employers and how to net

benefit for workers was the Nova Scotia

NDP. In 2011, they got into a deal with

the municipal government, the federal

government, the provincial government,

Unifor, as well as Irving Shipyard to

give them a little bit of cash, but jobs

were tied to that. In 2011, they had

about 300 workers in that shipyard.

Today, I was just there, 3,000 people

working in that shipyard, revitalizing

that community. our party, workingclass

party knows how to do business better

than the ruling class.

>> Well, and I think that's one of the

things when we talk about the the the

nation building projects, you know,

these build big projects. We've got to

make sure that we are using Canadian

labor, Canadian materials, and that

those projects, you know, aren't aren't

pipe dreams.

I just see what I did there.

But in fact, our actual concrete things

that our communities need like highspeed

rail, you know, like investing in the

renewable energy that we need across

this country, big nation building

projects, our hospitals, their care

facilities, those are nation building

projects that we should all be working

on with Canadian labor, with Canadian

materials. And you do that, can we build

child care while we're at it? Yes. The

open globe would just love to go back to

their job if we can have some support to

help care for our tiny humans. If we

really wanted to have an immediate

injection into our economy, we would we

would stand up child care facilities

across the country for free and just let

people go back to work. It'd be uh

absolutely amazing.

>> Those care jobs are lowcarbon climate

jobs. The climate was mentioned at the

beginning of this question. Is this this

may be the only chance we get to talk

about it? We'll have the biggest nation

building opportunity in world history in

addressing the climate emergency. It's

in our lungs every summer. We have

industries that are waiting to happen.

and heat pumps, electric vehicles. The

vast majority of Canadians think Canada

could be an electric vehicle superpower

and it should be mass transit. That's

why we're for an electric bus

revolution. These are ways of making

triproofing our economy of returning

independence to the Canadian economy and

we can do it under public ownership,

create green jobs and show people that

we can make this transition exciting

thing, Tony. But we also have to look at

how we do it in a redesigning fashion.

Because having driven into Toronto

tonight, you don't want all those

vehicles as electric vehicles, friends,

or they're going to be too damn netty

batteries and not a good planet to live

on because we produced them. We've got

to redesign to use less energy and fewer

resources and build stronger

communities. And that's why I'm a

holistic management certified educator

and we talk about the importance of

knowing context or your local community

when you're designing something. And

that's why the point of working with the

people in the community to work on what

they need whether it's the workforce or

the the uh healthcare workers whatever

we need to build from the ground up.

>> You all thank you very much. Now, I know

everyone in this room watches question

period, but preparing a question period

isn't a piece of cake. It takes a lot of

patience and practice. For today's

question period segment, each candidate

will ask another candidate a question of

their choosing. The responding candidate

will have 30 seconds. The candidates

were told in advance who they are asking

a question to and who was asking a

question to them. But they do not know

the question that will be asked nor do

we.

We will start with Tamil J who will be

asking question to Heather McFersonen.

Okay. So it's cool because you kind of

you you went here a little bit earlier

and so there's a lot of talk of military

spending threats from Trump and that

Canada needs to be defense ready. So, as

leader, how do you balance progressive

internationalism with investments in our

military?

>> Well, I'll tell you what you don't do.

You do not spend 5% on military spending

at the same time that you cut $2.7

billion for international development

spending. I'll tell you what you don't

do. You don't appease the guy down south

when he invades another country and

breaks international law. You don't you

sure as don't share it on like we

saw Pierre Polyv do. You know, we need

to be the country that stands up, stands

up for human rights. That's who we are.

That's that's our that's our legacy. You

know, the the new Democrats are the with

a morally defensible foreign policy.

Thank you very much, Heather. Now, uh I

have next is Avi Lewis asking Tony

McQue. That was it.

>> Tony

Ay, time Liberals have betrayed

Canadians by promising electoral reform

and then rocking it back. Justin did it

in 2015 the last time. You and I agree

that there's an incredibly urgent need

and I've said that if we ever have the

balance of power in a career way again I

go in with long demand and that is

proportional representation the reform

that leads to all the others but in the

meantime what are your concrete ideas

for dealing with the failures of first

pass the post. Well, Abby, I've been

calling for building a green progressive

coalition. And you know, in our

parliamentary system, if by some miracle

the NDP, the Greens, and the block ended

up with 51% of the seats, they'd have to

figure out what they would do as a

government. I've been saying figure it

out three or four years before the

freaking election and then create a

platform that you'll run on and only

have one candidate per writing on that

platform so people can vote

strategically for that platform and not

liberals and conservatives.

>> Thank you very much. Next up I have

Heather McFerson asking to Neil

Johnston. So

uh so you know we all agree on tuition

fees uh eliminating tuition fees and you

know I've tabled every every parliament

I've been in I've tabd the Canada

Education Act which actually makes

tuition the priority of the of the

transfer the federal education transfer.

So for me we're we're proposing

expanding that to include

apprenticeships indigenous training for

culturally appropriate pathways

additional support for apprentices

needing travel or specialized tools.

would you support the transition and

what other ways would you like to see us

expand post-secary education and and

training for young people?

>> Yeah, totally. And I think so when I say

postsecary education, I literally mean

everything. I'm not separating out if

you do a trade or if you not if you're

going to a college or a university. I'm

not separating those out. If you want to

pursue higher education, you should be

able to pursue that in whatever faculty

you're interested in. like it. We will

build such a stronger economy if you can

choose the pathway that's right for you

where your passion lies. That is the

best way to build a stable economy.

You'll we will thrive with with really

happy workers all over the place if we

can reduce those barriers and allow

schools graduate without a mountain of

debt. Thank you very much. Tony McQuilly

asking Rob Ashton. Well, Rabb, the NDP

is in a pretty weak place at the moment.

And how would you see rebuilding the

base which I think of as the riding

associations across the country, rural,

urban, east, west? How how would you see

really revitalizing and rebuilding that

foundation? Ground level rank and file

leadership. We have to be less of a top-

down organization, more of a bottomup

organization. We have to have channels

of communication between EDAs across

this country and head office or central

or whatever you call it nowadays. And

it's the stuff that gets passed at our

conventions.

That's the stuff that we deal with.

That's the stuff we fight about. That's

the stuff we push forward. And if

something happens for some reason that

we can't take that resolution all the

way, we have to have the ability to

communicate it with EDAs.

>> Thank you very much, Rob Ashton. You

have a chance to ask Avy Lewis.

>> This is fun.

So, the North Coast Transmission line

will support the mining of critical

minerals required for electrification

and unlock $50 billion for BC's economy

and workers. BC NDP recently passed

legislation allowing the project to

proceed with an ownership stake for

First Nations. As a federal leader, will

you stand in the way of that project or

will you support the BCNDP's plan to get

it built alongside First Nations?

>> Well, it depends on what it's most for.

Um, you know, we have a we have a big

country and a lot of regional

differences and if that project is for

uh public ownership for mining for

critical minerals, if that's an

indigenous real co-production and not

like a cover story, that's one thing. If

it's to fuel LG, it's another thing. you

know, uh, we got to talk to each other

in the provincial sections and the

federal party. I picked up the phone and

called Wob Canoe and had a great call

with Nahed Nenshi this week. Um, when we

need to sweat things out between the

federal party and the provincial party,

we're timed out. We have our distances

respectfully.

>> Thank you very much. I know I've cut uh

almost all I think all of you off at

some point. So, uh, I hope this question

will give you a chance to complete some

of your thoughts. Our third theme is the

future of the NDP. Candidates have one

minute to answer each question followed

by three minutes of open debate per

question. From Tobico to Scar Bro, North

York. Come on. I wanted to hear some

Scarbo. Yeah. Yeah.

From Tobico to Scar Bro, North York to

Toronto Island. Toronto is made up of

many different communities. Before Mark

Carney was leader was elected leader of

the Liberal Party, polling showed that

the NDP would win between four to six

seats in Toronto. As we all know, we

didn't win a single seat. How do you

plan to win a seat in Toronto? We'll

start with Heather McFerson.

>> Okay, listen. Here's what we need to do.

We need to be working on the success

that we are seeing from the incredible

MPPPs in this city. Dolly, I'm looking

at you. Um, you know, honestly, the

provincial party, the provincial parties

across this country are doing well.

They're doing great. You know, we are

the official opposition in Alberta and

Saskatchewan. um Ontario and Nova Scotia

and we are government in Winnipeg and in

sorry Manitoba and British Columbia. So

let's work with the provincial parties

on that. Like let's work with them.

Let's support them. Let's work together.

Let's not let's not pick fights with

each other. Let's not give each other a

cudel to hit each other over the head.

You know, we've got to be working

together. And we've got to be showing up

and talking to people about the things

that matter to them. And that involves

making sure that riding associations

riding associations have the freedom and

the ability to use the messaging that

works for their riding because what

works in downtown Toronto, maybe that's

not the same thing that works in Tanal's

writing. You know, we need to give

people the the the ability to do that.

>> Thank you very much, Tamil Johnston.

>> Yearround organizing. It's every day,

not just election day. We lose momentum

so fast as a party. The election's over

and then we're just and we wait and wait

and wait and wait and wait and then we

start organizing and we come in like a

title wave. But we could be that

incremental wave all year long and waves

break down the biggest rocks in the

world. So we can we can do that work but

it has to be every single day. We have

to lean into our campus clubs, our

student unions, our different advocacy

groups in the in our various cities, our

pride collectives, your nations. your

nations will come out for you, but you

have to build those relationships. And

again, that's everyday work. That's not

just election day work. And we have to

bridge the divide between the federal,

provincial, and territorial parties. We

have to work collectively. I know U of's

got a rockstar crew that goes out

proincially and door knocks. Our crew

federally,

we can do better. So, we we need to fix

that and we can, but we need to

relationship and trust to do it. Thank

you very much, Tony McQuill.

>> Well, I would hope to win a seat in

Huron Bruce when it says you personally,

but that's a real long shot, but that

means talking to people and connecting

with people at the grassroots, but

that's how you would win in Toronto is

you have to go out and as Tanal says,

keep working at it. Not it's got to be

something you're doing all the time.

It's got to be something you're doing

with any provincial organizations that

you have. It's got to be something

you're doing be by having potlucks and

spaghetti dinners and inviting people

who aren't new Democrats to those and

talking to them about what we could be

doing on their behalf as a federal

government, which we don't see the

liberals and conservatives doing. So

it's building and it's building by

connecting people to people and it's

showing them and and sharing our history

and sharing the story of Rob and the

steel and the uh doc you know the ship

builders show telling the story of why

we have a health care system and why we

have pensions so people don't forget our

history value it and want to preserve

it.

>> Thank you very much. Next we have Rob

Ashton.

The last election I spent a lot of time

on the ground talking to union members

and people I know that aren't in the in

the union families

and everything that I got from them

was they for they didn't think the NDP

was on their side anymore because we

forgot how to communicate with the

working class. We forgot to go to

schools. We forgotten to engage campus

clubs. We forgot to pack the old soap

box around so we can put it on the

ground and stand on this. But I'm afraid

it's hollow.

>> But to stand on this, to have our voices

heard above theirs because the ruling

class, the Conservative Party, has taken

our playbook. We have to take it back.

We have to show working people that we

hear them when we get them. We have to

show them and we're going to fight like

hell for them. That's what we have to

do. We have to show up year round, not

just during campaigns like everybody

else has said.

And we have to root the party in

lunchrooms, in classrooms, and in

hospitals.

>> Thank you very much, Avi Lewis.

>> Uh yeah, we have to we have to uh

unleash the power of EDAs. We could have

343 community organizing hubs that are

organizing not only around the year. The

federal party in the last generation has

more or less abandoned suburban and

rural seats. And we have to campaign

absolutely everywhere. Dolly, you

represent what used to be called Scrub

Rest. my dad's overriding proincially.

That means addressing suburban

communities and rural communities where

they're at. And part of that means

reimagining the working class. I can't

wait to see Rob's work boots in the cast

of Commons. That's going to be a

beautiful thing. and lots more people

building lots more things. And we need

to be talking to people in the

precarious economy, in the gig economy,

in the care economy, in the retail and

service sector, communities of color in

suburban Canada, all the working class

of this country. And we have not been

speaking to those folks in the last

generation because we have been focused

on what we call winnable ridings. Every

writing's got to be a winnable writing.

When we unleash our base, we will be.

Thank you very much.

Now,

now we'll have three minutes of open

debate.

>> Yes to yes to going to raw guidings,

please. Because that's where I'm from.

Uh I I feel like our rural remote

communities get written off as too hard,

too far away, too complicated, too

nuanced. They're not going to help us

win seats. And that's not true. That's

so not true. Our rural and remote

ridings are so excited and amped to get

into this next election. I know some

folks here today that are from those

suburb communities that are ready to

rip. Like there we are so feisty out

there and ready to help that we are a

total asset in the next election and we

need to work collectively with our urban

centers to harness that and use it and

we need to start now. Last thing, last

thing I'll say is the the subsidy when

you get over 30% of the vote in your

writing, that subsidy, the majority of

that needs to go back to that EDA. It

cannot sit centrally. We need to make

sure our EDAs that are running these

candidates and winning elections for us

are financially supported to do the work

they need to do. And you know, we did

that in Edmonton Strath Kona. We

actually brought in a model where we

where we used some of the resources that

we had in our writing and we were able

to bring on regional organization. You

know, that's what we need. We need

regional organization that's happening

year round. We need to be making sure

candidates are selected early. The the

way new Democrats win is we knock on

doors. We we do the work and we meet

people and we need time to do that. You

got to nominate those candidates soon.

Um, you know, this is a way that we can

actually start using using the members,

using the writing associations, using

our candidates to really grow our

movement, to grow our movement in every

corner of this country.

>> We need to be sure that we help our

riding associations develop cross

linkages with others. In the 1980s, we

did a field mouse drive where we got

together the executives from several

rural writings and did membership work

together. So, we've supported each other

and built the membership and making sure

that that membership money, a

significant chunk of it goes back so

that membership work becomes a writing's

best fundraising. But last minute, Rob,

>> hold on minute.

>> I'll I'll split it with you. So, look,

we need to elect a leader that knows how

to lead a rank and file uh party. Bottom

up leadership. And that's what I've done

for the last 10 years. The rank and file

tells the leader what to do. The leader

takes care of it.

That's how this party grows. That's how

we become even bigger when we listen and

we move forward. A leader news knows how

to earn trust the hard way. But I would

go further. I think that one of the

problems in our party in the last

generation has been too much power

concentrated in the leader's office and

that the base has been seen as a force

to control rather than the power in the

energy the renewable source of energy of

the party. And I think power should be

decentralized from the leader's office.

And a lot of these things that we're

talking about are easy to talk about in

principle, but our constitution is a

very democratic document. And it says

that the highest decision-making body is

the convention of all the members. We

need to make that true at convention.

Y'all, y'all have been so polite to one

another. It's hard to imagine any of you

in the House of Commons these days um

will point out that the the question did

circulate around how how to win a seat

in Toronto, not because it's the center

of the universe, but because of the

audience here and the organizers, but I

will say that you all answered our next

question, which will give you a time to

elaborate on your answers. Uh Canada's

NDP underwent a review of the 2025

campaign and a report of the review was

recently released. How will the

experiences of candidates, many of which

are here, active supporters, even more

of which are here, and riding

associations, change under your

leadership, Heather McFersonen.

>> So, so that changed under, you know, in

Edmonton, Strathcon, that changed when I

first got elected. That was that was a

key priority that we made right off the

hop is that we were going to to send our

volunteers to other writings. We were

going to work with other writings to get

more New Democrats elected. It has been

my priority since I was elected well

before I thought I would be putting my

name for it for the leadership. We all

have an obligation to start building out

our party. It's the reason that I have

door knocked in and almost every

province in this country. You know,

whether it is in Windsor, whether it is

in Skina Valley, like I have been

working to build the party for as long

as I've been elected and and well before

that as well. And I think we all need to

be doing that. That's the work that we

all need to be doing and we've got to be

supporting the writing associations. You

know, one of the things that I did at

the very beginning of this race is I had

a a Zoom, a town hall Zoom, 400 new

Democrats from across the country joined

so that they could give us feedback on

our plan to rebuild our party. Take a

look at it on my website, but it is a

awesome stepbystep.

>> Very much per That's a time. uh to Neil

Johnston.

>> One of the first reachouts I did when I

was planning to run for leadership was

to previous candidates that ran in the

last federal election.

>> Yeah.

>> I felt exactly what it was like to be a

candidate in that election. Running in a

rural writing that's 56,000 square

kilometers huge as a as a new candidate

getting messaging from the central party

and having to manage that that messaging

in such a conservative writing was

really challenging for me. It was quite

an isolating feeling uh running as a

candidate and I wanted to hear from

other candidates what their experience

was because if I was going to be leader

that's key to understanding how we can

mobilize better where we fell short and

I mean as heartbreaking as a lot of

those conversations were there's

solutions to that we can acknowledge and

support the experts that those

candidates are in their writings the

EDAs choose their person that's the

person that represents them the best and

and we as a party needs to collect

collectively respect that and uplift

that and create solid communication

channels in order to support them with

the types of messaging and and materials

that they need in Q to rocket in their

writing.

>> To Neil, we're trying to get you on a

plane in about a mile and a half south.

>> Tony McQuail, as somebody who's been a

candidate federally five times and

proincially twice, I've become

increasingly concerned that the party

centrally seems more interested in

raising funds than raising

consciousness.

So, our campaign is not going to be

sending you a whole lot of fundraising

stuff in the leadup to the January 30

$33,333

hurdle. We're going to be holding a

series of workshops and one of the

workshops will be on how to strengthen

local riding associations. What are our

weak links? What do we need to be

focusing on? And that'll be context

specific to each of you. I hope if you

think you're in a really effective

writing association, Heather, maybe

folks from yours uh will come out and

share what you're doing because it's the

ID ability to share, to cooperate, to

collaborate, to support each other that

will help us build the grassroots

movement at the ground level that can

reach out to our neighbors who aren't

new Democrats yet and bring them in and

tell them the story. And that's how

we've got to build. But that's I'd

invite you to that workshop. Rob asked

it.

The leadership race comes down to a hard

truth. We lost the trust of the working

class. Full stop.

Not because we stopped our ideals or we

stopped believing in our values, but

because they stopped seeing us fight for

them.

That's it.

If we're going to rebuild the NDP, we

have to get back to the basics. A party

rooted in workplaces, not in boardrooms.

A party rooted in schools,

a party rooted in its membership, and a

party rooted bringing people in.

I've spent my entire life

dealing with people different views,

different backgrounds.

I'll guarantee a strong opinions.

But how do we get how have I led this?

How have I led my union? It's by

listening first and building people's

trust.

and by standing beside them every single

day.

>> Thank you very much, Abby Lewis.

Start with something specific. Um, if

I'm honored to be elected as leader of

the federal NDP, I promise that no

federal NDP candidate will be cancelled

for having views that are supportive of

Palestine.

Our

our our special sauce is that we can

articulate a vision of dignity for

workingclass people across this country.

We can communicate it clearly. We can

describe it in detail and then we can

organize our asses off to win it. And

that's how we're going to come back.

That's how our experience as members, as

candidates, and as leaders will change.

But we have to trust our members. We

have to actually unleash their power.

And that's what we've done on our

campaign. We've had a distributed

organizing approach that has built a

massive machine across this country.

We've had thousands and thousands of

donors from hundreds and hundreds of

communities at a low level. That's how

you build from the base up.

>> Trust the members.

>> We're going to open up the floor to

three minutes of debate on the matter.

>> Quite simple. Stop sending 5,000 emails

a day.

>> Yeah,

we're going to have an app. Right, Rob?

We're gonna have an app, right?

>> Apps might be a good idea.

Get We still got to email and ask beg

y'all for money. Come on. But what we

have to do is we have to go back to

sitting down with you. We have to go

back to to walking into a grocery store

and saying, "Hey, how you doing?

>> By the way, my name's Rod Ashton."

walking into at a coffee shop and

sitting there for 10 hours and just

letting people coming up and having a

conversation so they get to know you to

build that trust.

That's how we rebuild this party. Even

if it turns into an FU match with that

person sitting across from you because

even that's an exchange of views.

>> It sure is. It is an exchange of views.

But listen, it it brings up to mind like

I just I just I told you guys I just

came back from Saskatchewan and and it's

one of the things, you know, we talk

about organizing all year round. Like

let's not forget we've got this

movement. We've got organizers in every

corner of this country. You know,

sitting down and having meetings with

folks and having, you know, 50 New

Democrats in a room in Regina last night

was was so fun. Like it's so good for

our movement. It's so good for our

party. And we we can't forget that the

the the members make the party and

they're there and they want to be

engaged. You know, we need to be we need

to be channeling that. We need to be

working with our provincial parties,

making sure that every single member

that is working on on the provincial NDP

uh work is also working with us, that

we're working together. We're lifting

each other up. I think that's really

important.

>> I swear we do it with the ideas. When we

lead with ideas and we inspire our base

and we set people on fire, that's when

they come out and that's when they want

to work and we trust the base. We have

this regional organizing group in

Victoria. I didn't even know any of

them. And I walked into the room this

week and there were 250 people there and

half of them weren't already members.

You got to give people power to

organize.

>> We have to reach beyond our membership,

too. Like I get it like we're hammering

you with emails like crazy because we

kind of have access to your email

addresses, but everybody votes. And so

many people that I know from care

industries, from not forprofits, from

social service organizations are

terrified to be registered with a party.

Do they vote NDP? 100% they do. Will

they donate to the party? Yes, they

will. But you won't find their name on

our membership list because they're

terrified. They're terrified that we're

going to end up with a liberal or

conservative government that's going to

destroy their job and come after them as

a human being. So, we have to reach

beyond our members. We got to go to

libraries. What a beautiful public space

to meet people and engage with. Our

librarians are phenomenal.

>> Friends,

I get very uncomfortable when I hear all

the we're fighting for you. I want to be

working for you. But even more

importantly, I want to be working with

you because that's how I have found

building organizations in communities

and building some organizations across

Canada is when you work with people and

empower them to feel a part of it, it

works. Thank you very much candidates.

We are now moving to closing statements.

You each have one minute and we'll

start. I'm just making sure the clock's

ready for for this. We'll start with Avi

Lewis.

>> It is an honor to stand with my

colleagues on this stage. We have our

differences, but we make them we make

each other better by debating them. And

honestly, it has been absolutely

thrilling to be part of this race. I've

crisscrossed the country watching crowds

get bigger and bigger as we go on.

Watching small donations roll in from

large numbers of people in communities

across the land. seeing lifelong Andy

peers renewing people renewing their

memberships for the first time in a very

long time. Meeting people like I did

last night in the Nino uh who knew next

to nothing about the party and they left

with a brand new membership and new

friends and their first volunteer shift

already booked. People are hungry for

change in this country. They're ready to

be trusted by us first before we ask

them to trust us back. They need to find

their own voice and agency. And people

are so ready for that moment. People are

hungry for hope. Our campaign is

lighting that fire. We're showing that

the NDP can make itself clear. We can

advance populist solutions and a

confident vision. This is how we win.

This is how we come back.

>> Thank you very much.

>> Thank you very much. We still got Root.

We just want to make sure we can get

through our candidates. She'll have a

great round of applause for everyone,

I'm sure. Heather McFersonson,

>> thank you very much. Listen, when I look

at our party, what I want to see is

every single person across this country

who who wants to take care of their

neighbors, every single person who who

wants to have a good public health care

system, every single person around this

country that that wants to lift up their

communities, they should see themselves

as part of our party, as part of our

table. They should feel welcome. That's

my goal because you know what? We all

stood up here tonight. We all stood up

here and we we have a lot of the same

ideas. You know, we're we're new

Democrats. We believe the same things.

We believe in taking care of each other.

But you know what? Unless we win unless

we can win more seats and elect more New

Democrats, none of the things we're

proposing can happen. We have to be able

to win. That has to be our unabashed

goal. Because when we win, when new

Democrats win, we don't use our power

for our friends. We use it to get things

for Canadians. We make life better for

Canadians.

>> Thank you very much, Heather. Tenil

Johnston.

>> Oh, that's me. Sorry, it's kind of hard

to hear. Um, I just want to say thank

you so much for hosting us. This has

been absolutely amazing. What I get

asked often is how I separate myself

out. What am I going to offer that's

different? Um I don't know if physically

you can tell, but I'm from a different

generation than my cool humans up here.

Um I've I've got I've got a wicked

amount of energy. If you haven't picked

that up yet, I love to do this all day

long and I'm going to do it all day long

for the next 72 hours because that is

the type of energy we need in order to

build the steam behind our people across

this country. We have to be everywhere

all day long. There's no rest for the

wicked right now. Like this is our time.

This is our moment to seize it, inspire

people across Canada, and build our

momentum so we absolutely slay in the

next election. So, Gayla Kesla, thank

you.

>> It was all so civil until that comment.

But I agree we are from a different

generation. Tal

that. Next up is Tony McQuwell.

>> Perhaps from another different

generation. But um

my friends, my friends, we're going to

have to throw our arms wide so that the

99%

understand that we are with them and for

them. We are also going to have to be

realistic about dealing with the log jam

that we faced and that we faced ever

since we got the vote after the second

world or the first world war which is

our first pass the post system. We have

to develop a strategy because if we

don't provide something that makes

people think we can win they don't end

up voting for us. And so that's that's

something that I I believe we have to

face realistically and that means

creating an understanding of a green

progressive platform. And I call it

green progressive because you know

they've had over a hundred years to

smear socialism and democratic socialism

and national socialism. We have to talk

to people so they understand we're

talking about something that works for

people and the environment.

>> Thank you very much. And last up, Rob

Ashton.

We live in one of the richest countries

in the world.

We can have a quality of life that gives

us hope that our children will have a

better one than we did. That's the

Canada that I believe in. And that's the

Canada I'm fighting for.

I believe in an NDP that speaks plainly

and shows up everywhere

and isn't afraid of a fight.

an NDP that stands proudly with working

people and fights like hell for them.

See, I'm not a career politician.

I'm a worker. I spent my life

organizing, listening, and taking on the

real ruling class to win real change.

Because call me crazy, the only reason a

government exists is to make life

easier, not harder. And I'm done

watching the workers be on the menu. I'm

done with the ruly class eating us

alive. The MVP was founded to give

regular people a voice. That make that's

what makes us different and that's what

unites us that we want to rebuild trust,

win seats and put people back where they

belong in the halls of power

very much. I had to get the French in.

Just a very quick reminder that the next

national debate will take place in

February in British Columbia's Lower

Mainland with the announcement of the

next leader of the NDP's convention in

Winnipeg at the end of March.

>> All right.

Two.