Calgary – Work, home and health care. These three topics dominated his discussion at the second NDP leadership debate he held on May 11 at his BMO Center in Calgary.
Gil McGowan, Jodi Callahoo Stonehouse, Sarah Hoffman, Kathleen Ganley and Naheed Nenshi spend the afternoon discussing the future of the party, the state and the possibility of becoming prime minister in 2027. Ta.
“There are two big questions that leadership candidates need to be able to answer: what do you stand for and how do you win?” McGowan said during the debate.
All five candidates were given an equal opportunity to answer the question. Moderators Cheryl Oates and Rishi Nagar gave candidates the opportunity to make opening statements, answer questions from the audience, debate one-on-one with colleagues, and summarize their main points in short concluding statements.
From the beginning, the candidates explained why they should be the next NDP leader.
Ganley has positioned himself as the antithesis of a UCP government, and former NDP ministers were the first to jump on board.
“This UCP government is a horrible government. They don't care about governance, they don't care about democracy, they don't care about you,” Ganley said.
Mr McGowan, from Westlock County, said the party needed to appeal to a wider range of people, pointing to the disparity between voters with college education and those without.
Calahoo Stonehouse spoke passionately about protecting the province's waterways and building a better Alberta from north to south.
Hoffman noted her history of success as the province's health minister, including the construction of the Calgary Cancer Center during her term, and shared stories from her second day as minister.
“I would say building a brand new public hospital is the most NDP thing we could do,” Hoffman said, adding that he is “unapologetically NDP.”
Nenshi focused on the broader movement of the party as a whole and his role as an outsider. The leadership race was Nenshi's first experience in provincial politics, having previously served as mayor of Calgary.
direct confrontation
Most of the debate took place in face-to-face debate, with candidates alternating between answering questions and debating with their colleagues. The format required candidates to sit on the same stage and spend one and a half minutes debating a variety of questions, including “How would you spend the next three years as party leader?'' “What does it take to grow in Calgary?”
This format has created a unique dynamic in the modern world, where political and personal attacks are often indistinguishable. Karahoo Stonehouse, Ganley and Hoffman are all sitting MLAs and generally agree on the direction the party should take.
Karahoo Stonehouse and Hoffman ultimately ended up sharing a microphone after one of them died during the debate, but Ganley said he never used phrases like “That's right” in both discussions with his colleagues. used.
Mr. Nenshi and Mr. McGowan were a little different, and both NDP outsiders brought unique arguments to the table.
The debate between Mr. McGowan and Mr. Hoffman ended with Mr. McGowan throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, although he later said he had intended to be present, and tried to use Mr. Nenshi's history as mayor against him. The attempt backfired when Nenshi ran out of time to respond.
Nenshi also criticized Hoffman after he turned a question about maintaining the party's core values while appealing to more Albertans to a pointed question about mobile home park closures during his time as mayor. We had a heated discussion.
opposition party joint struggle
Despite the fact that all five candidates were in direct competition, the group spent more time attacking Daniel Smith's UCP government than each other's candidates.
“We can't do what UCP did,” Ganley said. “You can't take advantage of low oil prices to sell out your seniors, sell out your children, buy up health insurance. That's the wrong thing to do.”
The candidates also attacked the state's relationship with local governments and the federal government, with Mr McGowan pointing to his negotiating experience as Labor leader.
“Albertans expect their government to work, and working means working with other levels of government,” he said. “We are a federation, and a federation cannot function unless the different levels of government talk to each other.”
All five candidates will gather in Athabasca for their next event on May 15th, where they will host a meet-and-greet with local caucuses. The third and final leadership debate will be held at the Edmonton Convention Center on June 2nd, and the next NDP leader will be announced in Calgary on June 22nd.
