Avi Lewis: NDP's Leftmost Leader

0:00It's March 29th. This is Vancouver News Today. Local news powered by AI. AB Lewis just snagged the NDP leadership, beating out four rivals including MP Heather McPherson and Union leader Rob Ashton to replace Jagmead. Singh. At 58, he's never held elected office, twice losing federal bids, but he's stepping in as the new Democrat sitages seven seats after. Last year's election wipeout, now down one more from a liberal defection. Born into political royalty, his granddad David led the federal NDP in the 70s. Dad Steven ran Ontario's branch and later hit the UN as Ambassador. Lewis built his rap and broadcasting, hosting shows on much music, CBC, and Al Jazeera's fault lines, plus docs like the take with wife Naomi Klein. Finally, he's taught media and geography at Rutgers and UBC. Reactions are mixed, especially over the elite manifesto he pushed in 2015 with Klein,

1:01calling for a hard pivot from fossil fuels to renewables, no new pipelines, and taxing for equality. It fired up climate fans but split the party. Alberta's ex-environment minister Shannon Phillips blamed it for tanking oil support and old leader Tom. Mocare says his anti-resource stance kills votes in working towns. Now Lewis faces big hurdles, grabbing a house seat quick, rebuilding from rock bottom, improving the NDP matters nationally with Trump vibes looming. From the South, polls show the party still fading since Jack Layton's official opposition run over a decade back. He's the leftmost leader yet, further out than saying, so watch how he rallies the base while chasing broader appeal in the shifting game.