Much is being made of the western provincial NDP leaders’ lack of enthusiasm about the ascendance of Avi Lewis to lead the federal New Democrats. 

This is to be expected. But it would be a mistake to assume their disapproval is a sign that Lewis will not be able to breathe new life into the moribund party. The provincial and federal arms of the NDP have often had an uneasy relationship. Friction — particularly over natural resource development — is pretty much a given.

Lewis campaigned on no new deals for pipelines, offshore oil or liquefied natural gas projects. That platform doesn’t sit well with NDP leaders in fossil fuel-producing provinces like Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan. But this is nothing new. 

You may recall the nasty falling-out Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley had with her federal counterpart Jagmeet Singh — and her BC counterpart, John Horgan — over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which was unpopular in NDP ridings outside Alberta. Notley called Singh’s opposition to the project naive and went so far as to say, “I hope at some point in the future he will take a more mature approach to his leadership." Ouch.

Singh’s lack of appeal, though, may not have been due to the times he expressed strong and consistent stances, but rather the opposite. When the NDP held the balance of power, Singh was criticized for being too willing to prop up the Trudeau........

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