A battle is about to get underway for the soul of the federal NDP according to provincial party leader Dominic Cardy.
He is vehemently opposed to the Leap manifesto which calls for a moratorium on all future pipelines. Cardy warns that would cause widespread poverty and he has written to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley expressing support for her position of a transition to renewable forms of energy.
Journalist Avi Lewis concedes the Leap manifesto has been has been explosively controversial for the NDP government in Alberta which has rejected it. On the other hand, Lewis maintains it has resonated in other regions of the country among those NDP members who want to reconnect with the social democratic roots of the party.
The document calls for a 20 year transition to an economy entirely powered by renewable forms of energy. Lewis was one of the contributors along with his wife, author Naomi Klein. It envisions wind and solar farms in remote places, vast transmission networks, major transit expansions and green retrofits for homes and businesses.
Lewis concedes it would be expensive to do but he claims catastrophic damage from climate driven extreme weather will be even more expensive.
