If you’ve seen the website saying Edmonton Strathcona Member of Parliament Heather McPherson is considering running to lead the federal NDP and thought the wording seemed oddly ambivalent, there’s an explanation.
The website at Heather4Leader.ca (with a French-language mirror site at appuyonsheather.ca) was put together and published by a group of Ms. McPherson’s supporters, former colleagues, and friends who would like her to run, the MP’s constituency assistant said yesterday.
But while Ms. McPherson is pondering running to replace Jagmeet Singh, said Gale Davy, it wasn’t her who floated this particular balloon. “They did ask if it was OK to do a site and Heather said sure,” she explained. “That was a while ago, so we were taken a bit by surprise when it showed up.”
“Pretty much everyone for whom she’s ever worked, everyone she’s ever worked with, and everyone who’s ever worked for her are supporting her and urging her to run,” Ms. Davy added. “My understanding is that the group that did this website include all of the above.”
“So, yes,” she said, “Heather is seriously considering a run for leader, but she’s been a bit busy with all her critic roles – foreign affairs, defense, international trade.” She was also in Toronto yesterday for the Pride parade as part of her duties as heritage critic.
“She’s also was doing work on Bill C-5,” Ms. Davy added. “People are very worried about it.” She predicted Ms. McPherson won’t make her decision about seeking the leadership until after the party publishes the rules and the timeline for the contest.
Ms. McPherson has been the Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona since 2019 and is at the moment once again the only NDP MP in Alberta.
She proved her staying power in the 2021 and 2025 federal elections, and if you’re of the view that at this critical juncture in its history the federal NDP needs to choose a leader with a seat in the House of Commons if it hopes to stay relevant, Ms. McPherson would only have five potential competitors, if you don’t count Interim Leader Don Davies.
The website has a photo of Ms. McPherson in her favourite denim jacket, as befits an Alberta politician, and doesn’t say much beyond that “Heather McPherson is considering a run for party leader — and a growing number of us already know she’s the leader our party needs. Sign up now. Let’s make it happen.”
There’s a form you can fill out and a button you can press to “Join Team Heather.”
A heading above the form says, “Support New Leadership,” which one way or another the NDP was going to have to do anyway since Mr. Singh announced he was quitting on April 28 after losing his own seat in Burnaby South and watching the NDP’s seat count in Parliament plummet from 24 to 7. His resignation took effect on May 5.
“Heather knows the NDP’s best days are still ahead,” the website says. “She understands the party’s job isn’t to replace grassroots movements. It’s to be worthy of them.”
Whether or not what’s left of the NDP movement, such as it is, would go for a New Democrat who backed the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project in 2019 remains to be seen.
More recently, Ms. McPherson has staked out positions calling for Canada to recognize Palestinian statehood and end all trade in military materiel and technology between Israel and Canada. As the NDP’s defence critic in Parliament, she boldly proclaimed earlier this month that the F-35 program “has become a boondoggle.”
With the cost of the controversial U.S. designed and built aircraft nearly doubling, construction of facilities in Canada way behind schedule, a shortage of pilots, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canadian sovereignty, she said in a June 10 news release, “it’s evident the F-35 is no longer the right choice for Canada.”
Since by now it’s painfully obvious that just propping up the Liberals and trying to get them to push through a few vaguely progressive policies wasn’t a great strategy for the NDP, staking out some positions that are dramatically different from both the Liberals and the Conservatives isn’t going to hurt the party.
And if Prime Minister Mark Carney and other NATO leaders are serious about spending 5 per cent of their countries’ GDPs to prop up the U.S. arms industry, there won’t be any money for social programs anyway. So that’s a pretty good argument for what’s left of the NDP to set out a progressive platform that defends health care and other programs. No one else is going to do it.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to have a national party in Parliament led by a leader from Alberta who’s not just another cookie-cutter conservative, a category that arguably includes both Mr. Carney and seatless Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the Stornoway Squatter.
Meanwhile, speaking of Edmonton Strathcona, that riding’s last Conservative MP, Rahim Jaffer, says he wants to run to be mayor of Edmonton in Alberta’s October 20 municipal elections.
Mr. Jaffer was Edmonton Strathcona MP from 1997, when he was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Canada at the age of 25, until 2008, when he was defeated by Ms. McPherson’s NDP predecessor as the riding’s MP, Linda Duncan.
During that time he was a Reform, Canadian Alliance, and Conservative MP – although we all understand that was the same crowd and the same party, just different branding.
Mr. Jaffer’s time in Parliament and some of the things he got up to afterward were colourful and controversial, including having an aide impersonate him in a media interview, facing drunk driving and cocaine possession charges in Ontario (later controversially reduced to careless driving), and attending a notorious business meeting in Toronto said to have included “busty hookers” on the guest list.
But that was then and this is now. Mr. Jaffer, now 53, told The Edmonton Journal on Wednesday that “I don’t have any skeletons in the closet. They are all out there if anybody wants to look at them. We all make mistakes, and I stumbled.”
Well the NDP tried having a Quebec leader and then an Ontario/BC one without great success so perhaps trying an Alberta one now makes sense. It would be interesting and remarkable to have three Federal party leaders with significant connections to Alberta, two to Edmonton. Perhaps the city may become the next Montreal politically. Lastly, a western NDP leader would probably not be good news for the CPC who act like they own the west and frankly take their support in this part of the country for granted at times.
While I have some reservations about Jaffer and he seems to be long shot at this point, he could make the race for mayor more lively. The main contenders so far are two current councilors at a time when voters are really not very happy with the incumbents. Jaffer has business experience and while not at the Carney level, has more credibility in this area than the two main candidates. So he could be a dark horse candidate. In the past he has tried to portray himself as a moderate conservative, so whether he is successful or not he may take support away from one or both of the two main candidates. I feel his problems are far enough in the past now that they will not hurt him too much, but he will still have to work hard to succesfully reintroduce himself to Edmonton voters.
Mr Jaffer stumbled over a busty skeleton?? Huh! Who’d of thunk it…….lol
Re: Heather Mcpherson; I think she’d make a great leader of the NDP . Having listened to her in the HoC (not the QP gong show) , I’ve always found it easy to follow her rationale. You can be strong and pleasant without the smarmy smugness of some other politicians, especially certain mysogonist ones. Good luck to her if she does decide to go for it.
She’s fantastic. She would win.
It would be neat if Heather centered her campaign on the F-35 program as a symbol of the military industrial complex and the rush of vassal state politicians to feed this pork barrel.
On the subject of F-35’s, the Pentagon is slashing its request for F-35’s by half next year.
https://www.investors.com/news/lockheed-martin-pentagon-air-force-f-35-request-lmt-stock-ouster-oust-stock/
Ronmac: It’s a flying brick. DJC
Alberta seems to produce politicians that are either first class or sleeze-oozing sleeze buckets. All or nothing, take your pick. I think we know who’s who in this zoo.
Stornoway Squatter – Classic! Never has a man been more aptly named! Kudos!
JE: Not my line. Seen on social media. DJC
Mr. Jaffer (and innumerable others) having been elected to government for being popular rather than encompassing moral rectitude embodies exactly why Aristotle warned against democracies. I don’t care about who politicians boff in their private lives. I *do* care about their willingness to follow the law (unless they are breaking an unfair one as protest) because a politician that does not, not only lacks leadership qualities, they encompass chaos and a willingness to chuck aside rules when they think they can get away with it. It’s a mindset that is dangerous to those they serve.
**********
On to the NDP.
The smart play here for the NDP is to claim the base layer of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs including healthcare and housing, which, after proper taxation, are the road to fair wealth distribution in a society. They need bang the drum so loudly the disenfranchised to the middle class hear it as well and start marching for reform. If they truly believe in those human rights then they will fight for them at every turn and stop trying to look pretty while they compromise their principles.
Principles are fixed for a reason. If they’re not, they’re hobbies. The NDP lost sight of this particularly during Mulcair’s tenure and even before that when Layton thought he had a shot at being the PM.
Build it and they will come.
****
On to defense spending:
We need to build up a defence-based resistance armed forces not a bucket of offensive-armed poker chips tossed on the table at the whims of NATO, the USA and the EU.
Rahaim Jaffer, you have got to be kidding me right? Didn’t he continue to present himself as a federal official after his defeat federally, in his business “dealings.”
FA: Well, he continued to use his out-of-date business card. DJC
I joined and support Heather for 2 reasons: 1 – NO F-35’s; 2 – She condemns the genocide being committed by the Zionist regime occupying Palestine.
Heather McPherson’s bid for leadership of the NDP does sound more like a someone-as-to-do-it kind of pitch, a forlorn hope if nothing else. But at the very least, it should be nothing like the last time the NDP went through a leadership trial. A completely underwhelming panel of candidates, bored everyone to death, that is until Jagmeet Singh appeared on the scene. After that, the destruction of the party was more than apparent. One wonders if it was the LPC who engineered Singh’s leadership for the purpose of ruining the NDP once and for all?
In any case, the fascinating story is the return of Rahim Jaffer. The question is which Rahim Jaffer will be there? The laziest MP ever Jaffer? Or, the Staffer Jaffer stand in? The comedy never stops with this guy.
While I respect McPherson’s efforts at pushing Canada to take a stronger stand against the Gaza genocide, her backing of Alberta orthodoxy on tar sands development (MOAR pipelines!!!) makes her a non-starter outside AB and SK.
Sorry Heather!
Sub: I am reliably informed that Ms. McPherson’s support of TCPL is based on a single ambiguous response along the lines of, well, I guess it’s OK, to a reporter’s shouted question. I am looking into this and will get back about it in a later post. DJC
I will be interested in what you dig up. I’m a former ~ 40-year NDP member/donor/volunteer in the BC interior who gave up after the provincial party’s serial betrayals on energy & environment policies and now is politically homeless. (Haven’t switched to Green because of their terminal flakiness, esp. federally.)
It’s too bad that Andrew Weaver turned out to be such an obnoxious dud, because his example will get trotted out whenever someone suggests that it would be good for more scientifically-trained folks to get into leadership positions on the Left: “See, look how one of them sciencey folks ended up”. (Strangely, the same tried-once-and-never-again argument is never applied to other tradespeople like, say, lawyers.) Someone who is a genuine materialist – as in understanding the functioning of Earth’s life support systems and their finite capacity for supplying human wants – could be rather refreshing.
As a delegate to the federal NDP convention in 2018, Heather McPherson voiced her support for AB Premier Notley’s pseudo climate plan based on fossil fuel expansion, with TMX as its centrepiece:
“I think what Rachel Notley is doing in Alberta is remarkable. I think that the way she is diversifying energy in our province is great. I think the way they are stepping away from coal and moving toward a cleaner environment that way is fantastic.”
“Some New Democrats call for halt of Trans Mountain expansion as Alberta, B.C. premiers battle” (Globe and Mail, Feb 16, 2018)
Team player Rachel Notley later returned the favor by initially refusing to publicly support federal NDP candidate Heather McPherson in Edmonton Strathcona.
“Rachel Notley not sure she’ll vote NDP in federal election” (CBC, Oct 04, 2019)
“What was Rachel Notley suggesting when she said she’s not committed to voting for Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats?” (Alberta Politics, 2019)
A year later, newly minted NDP MP Heather McPherson unequivocally voiced her support for TMX, despite her party’s and leader’s misgivings.
“Alberta’s lone NDP MP supports Trans Mountain expansion, despite party line” (Globe and Mail, Nov 8, 2019)
“Heather McPherson, the newly elected Edmonton New Democrat who will be the only non-Conservative MP between Winnipeg and the Rockies in the next Parliament, hopes she’ll never be forced to pick between her party and the Trans Mountain pipeline.
“Ms. McPherson won her seat in deeply conservative Alberta in part due to her support for the Trans Mountain expansion, a project that is popular within the blue-collar ranks of the provincial NDP, but is firmly opposed by the federal party’s leader and caucus. NDP members outside Alberta are largely hostile to pipelines, especially in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.
“Ms. McPherson said she remains a supporter of the Trans Mountain expansion, which would triple the capacity of the line between oil facilities outside Edmonton and an export terminal in the Vancouver area, but hopes she’ll never be forced to vote on the issue in Parliament.”
“Unlike Singh, McPherson does not oppose the construction of the pipeline and says fossil fuels will still play a role in Canada’s energy future.
“‘It’s important to remember is that this pipeline is already there,’ McPherson said. ‘The pipeline has been approved and it’s going forward, and that’s great for Albertans, it’s great for Albertans’ jobs.’
“But rather than focus on divisive and sometimes awkward issues within her party, such as pipeline politics, McPherson said she wants to talk about things that unite New Democrats, like tackling climate change.
“‘There’s an awful lot that we agree on.'”
“‘Give me a call’: Lone NDP Alberta MP open to working with Liberal cabinet — but won’t cross floor” (CBC, Nov 01, 2019)
A somewhat obtuse argument, pipelines and fossil-fuel expansion being central to Canada’s climate discussion.
Incidentally, in the same CBC article, McPherson also addressed the issue of “Western alienation” — political-speak for AB’s O&G industry’s perpetual outrage that Ottawa does not cede to all its insatiable demands.
“Western alienation, McPherson said, is a real and growing concern, and Ottawa needs to do more to counter it.
“‘Albertans feel that they haven’t been heard by Ottawa. We saw that time and time again. The Conservatives take Alberta for granted. The Liberals are obviously very unpopular in Alberta.’
“McPherson said she fears some provincial leaders are throwing fuel on the Western separation bonfire. She said the vast majority of Albertans are proud Canadians.”
Heather McPherson is my MP and while I like her as a person and MP I don’t know if she’s ready for prime time. Ottawa has a bad habit of chewing up and spitting out opposition leaders so hopefully she does what’s best for herself and her family.
Speaking of which, here comes Rahim Jaffer in an effort to suck off the public teet once more. Yes, his days of boozing, snorting and sleeping around are well documented but perhaps his greatest sin, that DJC left out, was that he allegedly was just never around to do his job for his constituents. One would certainly hope that this Hefner wannabee had some time to grow up but I severely doubt it. As they say, you get what you pay for. But of course this is Alberta and the Conservative career double standard is alive and kicking. If you’re a left leaning politician you’re expected to fall on your sword for your political sins, but if you’re right leaning all will be forgiven in a few years. Hell, give it a decade and your patience may be well rewarded by being parachuted into high office. Like the Premier’s chair.
“And if Prime Minister Mark Carney and other NATO leaders are serious about spending 5 per cent of their countries’ GDPs to prop up the U.S. arms industry, there won’t be any money for social programs anyway.”
There are reasons why this is so and neither Mark Carney the Goldman Sachs golden boy, nor billionaire Donald Trump are going to explain to voters the economic impetus that is necessarily driving greater military expenditures; where, spending additional money on social programs is simply inimical to the globally dominant economic belief system. For example,
“Economically, global capitalism faces what is known in technical language as “overaccumulation”: a situation in which the economy has produced — or has the capacity to produce — great quantities of wealth but the market cannot absorb this wealth because of escalating inequality. Capitalism by its very nature will produce abundant wealth yet polarize that wealth and generate ever greater levels of social inequality unless offset by redistributive policies.”
https://truthout.org/articles/global-capitalism-has-become-dependent-on-war-making-to-sustain-itself/
See also,
https://mronline.org/2021/01/13/american-capitalisms-endless-military-drive/
Happy Canada Day Alberta!!
Thomas Lukaszuk just gave (true) Albertans a great Canada day gift…..Surprise: a pro-Canada team beat the separatists to a referendum.
Huzzah!!!!
It pays to know the laws of the country/province you’re in.
Unlike Marlaina’s plan that just totally coincidentally is supposed to take effect on….
…July 4th……
Uh huh!
I will be first in line to sign the YES vote to stay with Canada.Thank you, Thomas Lukaszuk!
I’m not of the view that the next NDP leader must be one of the seven MPs recently elected in 2025’s extraordinary national contest but, if that were really true I’d naturally root for Gord “Last-Dipper-Standing-on-Vancouver-Island” Johns, Member of Parliament for the cost-to-coast riding of Courtenay-Alberni on the Big Island. He’s as hardworking as any MP would have to be to regularly visit all parts of this sprawling riding like he somehow manages to do even as the riding was added to on its densely-populated southeast corner by the last boundary adjustment.
Johns was a one-term municipal councillor for the District of Tofino where there must be something in the sea air that inspires local politicians from this remote, sparsely populated region to take on greater challenges than the sleepy, mist-shrouded West Coast town affords: our NDP MLA and BC cabinet minister was the mayor of Tofino—or “Tough City”, as the locals affectionately call it. For Gord the calling includes not only the bustling east coast of the Big Island, one of the fastest growing regions in the province, but also the entire country as NDP parliamentary critic for small business, tourism, and veterans’ affairs.
In 2015 Johns defeated Harper yes-man John Duncan, longtime Reform-a-CRAP-a-Con Alliance, and CPC MP, seldom seen in either that capacity or during a single hiatus after his 2006 defeat by the NDP’s Catherine Bell in this notoriously swingy riding where he was re-elected in 2008, serving until the HarperCons were routed by the resurrected Liberals. Johns won the newly-created riding with 38% of the vote, again in 2019 with 41%, re-elected in 2021 with 44%. Apparently constituents—including not a few expat Albertans— have been increasingly happy with Gord’s representation, I think because of his obvious work ethic, his natural affability and a bag of issues which most people can get behind: protecting the marine environment, advocating for tourism and veterans’ affairs and, I suspect, because he isn’t a fire-and-brimstone kind of orator—and, believe me, Gord can orate at length without the audience dropping off.
Nevertheless I could tell he was worried about 2025 when he was welcomed by a full community hall on our little Island (I’m not aware that the Liberal candidate ever visited; if the Greeny came, it must have been a subdued affair—or maybe I don’t get out much past high-tea time; the People’s Party candidate didn’t attract enough bodies for a game of scrub; and of course the CPC candidate who was leading the polls for most of the campaign was, as ever, a no-show). Gord was up front about the challenge ahead including that add-on piece of the riding which, he said, was fairly conservative, but halfheartedly denouncing tactical voting that he knew was going to happen in the circumstance of stopping Poilievre’s CPC from forming government and the honey-dripping moon of a surprisingly popular centre-right Liberal leader.
Like I said, it’s always a toss-up which party, Dippers or Cons, will prevail around here, depending largely on what Green, Liberal, and PPC supporters do. Gord intoned, “We should have proportional representation so we don’t have this phenomenon of “loaning votes”, or tactical voting, an expression he got from me (he’s debated this with me at length) when, in previous campaigns which he won I implored Greens (of which there are a lot around here) to cast tactically for the NDP to thwart CPC candidates. If he was resigned to the plain sense of the tactic, he didn’t show it, only his usual plea to get out the vote. His mention of pro-rep fell quite flat o n the crowd—as I keep telling people, pro-rep is a dead letter, especially in BC after voters rejected the alternative electoral system three times in a row. Nice try, Gord! (I myself do not endorse pro-rep even though it is party policy—no worries: dissent is allowed, the hint is in our party’s name, after all.)
In 2025 Gord Johns received 40% of the vote—down somewhat from 2021 but pretty darn good in the circumstance that saw most Dippers voting tactically for the Liberals in order to stop the CPC. I haven’t yet perused the entire slate in detail, but there are some ridings where the NDP was already the tactical choice to that end, but the Liberal won it anyway—showing the rather poor understanding of tactical voting among some of the biggest supporters of pro-rep (which is one of the reasons I prefer the status quo First-Past-the-Post). Oh, the irony!
Grant that the entire communitarian spectrum has shifted rightward these past few decades —and the Liberals, too (I don’t include them or far-right libertarians in the communitarian spectrum between social democrat and blue Tory)—dragging Dippers along with it, kicking and screaming. And grant that some Dippers have espoused policies—particularly petro-policies—we normally associate with the partisan-right. For an historically ideological party like the NDP, seeing Rachel Notley endorse TMX, or John Horgan buckle on two 2017 election promises (shutting down the Site-C Dam on the Peace River and glad-handing with Justin Trudeau as RCMP tactical units arrest their CGL pipeline through Wet’suwet’en traditional territory without treaty), or any Dipper equivocation about military spending is too much to take. Yet, apart from some hair-on-fire ideologues, I don’t think those were particularly existential problems for the NDP. Notley’s single term appears to have laid a good foundation for another Dipper government in Alberta—possibly in a couple years; Horgan’s Green-allied minority in 2017 was re-elected with a strong majority (the beginning of the end for the once-mighty BC Liberal regime, scion of a long right-wing tradition in BC), the first back-to-back BC NDP governments under the same leader; his successor hung onto a slim majority in 2024 , the first trifecta for the party. If the party has moved closer to the centre, it appears not to have hurt it much.
And I hold that position despite the prophets of Dipper doom which the recent thrashing has inspired because, by Ockham, it doesn’t mean the demise of the “Conscience of Parliament” or of Tommy Douglas’ legacy of universal public healthcare.
CPC leader Poilievre famously lost his seat of two decades while his party’s 20-point+ lead in pre-election almost instantly evaporated when JT stepped down, but NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s defeat in his own riding was not that by any stretch. Sure, Singh’s politcal tactics might have been questionable, but he got the Dental Plan done—pretty good for a caucus with only 7% of HoC seats, even if some find it only vaguely progressive. Singh was a victim of circumstance just as his party was in 2025.
What is the NDP’s probable future? How much does it depend on the next leader? If, say, Poilievre wins his by-election seat —especially if by a shorter margin that his sacrificial MP—Dippers might feel less inclined to vote tactically like they did in 2025, presumably because a PP win would be a net-negative for the CPC. It’s possible this term will go the full four years, but even if it falls a year or more short, presidunce Donald F tRump —if he’s still in office—will be a spent cinder and not remotely as influential on our electorate as he was in 2025. Those are just two simple reasons to expect a resurgence of the federal party whenever we vote next.
Keep the length of term in mind: there’s lots of time for the NDP to regroup and canvas for funds—and therefore there’s no reason a leader has to come from the 7-seat caucus in this 45th Parliament, with plenty of time for a leader to get a by-election seat. Prime Minister Carney has proved, via PP (and unlike Alberta’s nasty Smith&Parker Gang) amenable to getting party leaders into the HoC. How popular will any Canadian party of the right be if it keeps aping tRumpublicanism? There could well be three or four Dipper governments in Western Canada by the next federal election. The prospects are bright, not dark like so many seem to wish.
Heather MacPherson is a keffiyeh-draped fireball. In my view the NDP (and Greens) lose support by banging on about Gaza or pro-rep or gender-rights. Next time the thing we need most is seats and I’m not sure Ms MacPherson is that kind of leader. But neither am I that Gord Johns is—not that he’s incapable: the man is nothing short of amazingly busy—but he’s probably too busy being accessible to his many constituents in a fast-growing region.
The opportunity is here, right now, to take our time and find the right NDP leader. There’s no rush. Interim leader Don Davies (probably a blessing he is effectively excluded from leadership candidacy) can hold the fort down until then. It’s not time for parliamentary antics.
Happy Canada Day everyone!
I commend Ms. McPherson for her stand for Palestine, but where was her opposition to the F 35s before it became de rigueur to criticize them? To say she backs tar sands development is a bit of an exaggeration, but don’t we have to admit now that she was right and TMX is a good thing to have?
Where I would question Ms. McPherson’s thinking is advocating for NATO to add Ukraine and for Canada to send troops to Ukraine to fight the Russians!
https://www.newpathway.ca/zelenskyy-asks-trudeau-to-help-ukraine-clear-path-to-nato/?fbclid=IwAR3ydFxBLjvbiiqdrsdH-oMK6sMZ5h9C2XwikLZJbZf1HgViCkFX05OCiaQ
And of course she stood and applauded a Nazi in parliament – as foreign affairs critic she should have known better…
I think part of the federal NDP’s problem is that the issues that most animate their supporters, including unions — health care, public education, worker rights and labour relations, social security — are primarily or exclusively provincial jurisdiction. Provincial New Democrats have either formed government or been official opposition in almost every province — Québec being the most prominent exception — whereas they have almost always been in third or fourth place at the federal level, have only once been official opposition, and have never formed government.
They need an issue that will mobilize activists and civil society allies to fundraise, volunteer and campaign hard. In my view, there needs to be a laser focus on poverty and wealth inequality in this country.
They need a bold vision to put an end to food banks and homelessness within a decade. There is a role for the federal government in this, through tax policy, federal income supports, and other programmes. Issue sets like equity, diversity and inclusion can be framed within this broad strategy by connecting the dots between discrimination and economic class.