manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
that was issued by a
coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
of environmentalists,
Indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
,
labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, and faith leaders, authors, and artists in September 2015 in the context of that year's Canadian federal election campaign. The document proposes broad changes to Canadian society and economics to respond to
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
, and colonialism.
The Leap Manifesto launched with the backing of approximately 100 prominent signatories and attracted more than 10,000 signatures the day of its release. Polling indicated that a majority of supporters of most major political parties supported the principles of the manifesto. However, the manifesto was largely downplayed by those parties, although it did cause significant turmoil within the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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when it was adopted for riding-level debate in 2016. The organizers behind the manifesto launched an organization to promote the manifesto's vision in 2017, called The Leap, which operated until 2021 and was a key convenor of Canada's Pact for a Green New Deal in 2019.
Platform
The Leap Manifesto includes 15 points under the slogan of calling "for a Canada based on caring for each other and the planet, moving swiftly to a post-carbon future, upholding Indigenous rights, and pursuing economic justice for all." The points include:
# Fully implementing the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or DOTROIP) is a legally non-binding resolution passed by the United Nations in 2007. It delineates and defines the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including th ...
# A shift to a "100% clean energy economy" by 2050
# A moratorium on new fossil fuel infrastructure projects
# Support for community-owned clean energy projects
# A universal program for energy efficiency and retrofitting, prioritizing low income communities
# High-speed rail and affordable, nation-wide public transit
# Re-training and resources for workers in carbon-intensive industries
# A national infrastructure-renewal program
# An overhaul of the agricultural industry, prioritizing local production
# A moratorium on international trade deals that infringe upon democratic rights
# Immigration status and full legal protection for all workers, including immigrants and refugees
# Investment in expanding "low-carbon" sectors of the economy, including through the development of a national childcare program
# A "vigorous debate" on the implementation of a
universal basic income
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...
# An end to austerity and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, paid for with cuts to military spending and robust progressive, wealth, and corporate taxation
# An end to corporate funding of political campaigns and examination of voting reform
History
2015 coalition and launch
The creation of the manifesto was led by prominent activist and author
Naomi Klein
Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...
, who wrote an initial draft before convening a summit in Toronto in May 2015 with a team of collaborators including Klein's husband, documentary filmmaker
Avi Lewis
Avram David "Avi" Lewis (born May 1967) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, former host of the Al Jazeera English show ''Fault Lines'' and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) current-affairs programs ''CounterSpin'' and ' ...
, and journalist Martin Lukacs. The purpose of the summit was to bring together dozens of representatives from various sectors, such as labour unions, environmental organizations, and Indigenous rights advocates, from across the country to read, discuss, and re-shape the draft through a collaborative process. Although Klein, Lewis, and Lukacs are frequently cited as authors of the manifesto, Klein has insisted that it was largely informed by input from the summit, stating that " e finished draft bears no resemblance to the first draft, which I think speaks to the fact that this was a genuinely collective process."
Those involved in the process noted that it was non-partisan and that the work was inspired by the perceived unwillingness of Canadian political parties to engage meaningfully with the climate crisis, particularly in a way that also addressed issues of economic inequality and racism. Lukacs stated that the timing—leading up to the 2015 Canadian election—was purposeful, as "we felt that none of the political parties was offering that kind of vision for the country. A vision that was in line with the urgency of the overlapping crises that we are facing." In her 2017 book ''No Is Not Enough'', Klein wrote of the effort:
The goal was to come up with a vision so concrete and inspiring that voters could, practically speaking, do two things at once. They could go to the polls to vote against what they didn't want (the disastrous government of the day); and they would still have a space, even if it was outside electoral politics, to say yes to a vision we hoped would reflect what many actually do want, by adding their names to our people's platform or otherwise voicing public support.
The manifesto was launched on 15 September during the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
, where Lewis' documentary This Changes Everything, based on Klein's book of the same name, was being screened. Initial signatories included environmentalists
David Suzuki
David Takayoshi Suzuki (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at th ...
and
Maude Barlow
Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is a founding member of the Council of Canadians, a citizens' advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue ...
; then-president of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...
Paul Moist
Paul Moist is a former national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Canada's largest trade union, having served from 2003 to 2015.
Career
Moist first joined CUPE as a teenager in 1975, working first as a lifeguard, then as ...
; Indigenous rights advocate
Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Melina Laboucan-Massimo (born 1981) is a climate justice and Indigenous rights advocate from the Lubicon Cree community of Little Buffalo in northern Alberta, Canada. Growing up with firsthand experience of the effects of oil and gas drilling o ...
; former
Ontario NDP
The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...
leader
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s.
During many of those years as leade ...
; actors
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...
,
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...
,
Ellen Page
Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award nomination, two BAFTA Awards and Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and a Satellite Award. Page publ ...
, and
Sarah Polley
Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian actress,Howell, Peter (September 24, 1999)"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft she can thumb her nose at Hollywood" ''Tor ...
; writer/director
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema (born 20 August 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.
Early life
Rozema was born in King ...
; musicians
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
,
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
,
Gord Downie
Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its forma ...
,
Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Early life
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sist ...
, and
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...
; and writers
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...
and
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...
, among others. Within a day of its release, organizers reported that more than 10,000 Canadians signed on to the manifesto, and within three weeks the number of signatories had reached 25,000 along with dozens of organizational endorsements.
Despite this public momentum the manifesto was largely ignored by the major Canadian parties during the federal election. Organizers were clear that the manifesto was not focused on any one party, with Lewis stating that they would be happy to talk with any party and that ultimately the party they hoped to influence was whichever one was in power. However, Lukacs has written that there was some hope that the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(NDP), which had its roots in the socialist
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...
(CCF) and has traditionally been seen as the progressive standard-bearer among major political parties, would take the opportunity to embrace the manifesto, or a discussion of its ideas. In reality, NDP leader
Tom Mulcair
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
distanced the party from the manifesto and instead ran a moderate, "pragmatic" campaign that included promises to balance the budget and effectively perpetuate austerity.
2016 New Democratic Party convention
While the manifesto was largely ignored during the election, in the aftermath of that campaign it became more tightly linked with the NDP. Early in the election campaign Mulcair and the NDP were leading in the polls; however, they ultimately lost seats and finished third. Many analysts from inside and outside the party blamed the NDP's moderate campaign for these results, and by February more than a dozen NDP riding associations from across the country adopted resolutions for the party to embrace the Leap Manifesto as a means of party renewal. This made the manifesto a significant point of debate at the party's 2016 national convention, which took place in April in Edmonton, Alberta, where the year before a New Democratic government had been elected for the first time. The convention included a resolution that the NDP recognize the manifesto as a "high-level statement of principles that speaks to the aspirations, history and values of the party," and that its specific policy proposals be discussed at the riding level across the country to be adapted to local needs.
Some commentators noted that the NDP, and its CCF predecessor, had a long history of principled debates about manifestos, including the Waffle Movement in the 1970s, which sought to return the NDP to its socialist roots. However, unlike the Waffle, the Leap Manifesto originated from outside the party. Although leading up to the 2016 convention it had significant grassroots momentum within the NDP, the Alberta NDP organized staunchly against, taking issue particularly with its proposal for a moratorium on the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure and a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels from the Canadian economy. Then premier
Rachel Notley
Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019, and has been the leader of the Opposition since 2019. She sits as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for E ...
and president of the
Alberta Federation of Labour
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is the Alberta provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress. It has a membership of approximately 170,000 from 29 affiliated unions.
The AFL was founded in 1912, when mining workers and ...
Gill McGowan were vocal opponents, citing the centrality of the oil industry to Alberta's economy—and the industry's desire for new pipelines—as reasons to reject the manifesto.
The 2016 convention also included a leadership review that would determine the future of Mulcair, and in advance of the convention he softened his stance on the Leap Manifesto. However, in the course of the convention Mulcair failed the leadership review, being demoted to interim party leader, while the Leap resolution passed in a tense vote.
In the aftermath of the convention the NDP put a summer deadline on riding-level discussions of the Leap Manifesto, which some, like Lukacs, argued was tantamount to sabotaging the resolution. The party focused on organizing a leadership race to choose a successor to Mulcair, and no candidate formally championing the manifesto ultimately entered the race; Lewis was encouraged to run by some, but ultimately declined. In 2017 some party members helped launch the Courage Coalition, a grassroots effort aiming in part to promote progressive reform within the NDP, and which stemmed from organizers who helped pass the Leap resolution at the 2016 convention. The group helped organize an effort alongside Leap organizers to revive the discussion of the manifesto within the NDP ahead of its 2018 convention in Ottawa, which also included key organizers from the campaigns of
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
in the United States and
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
in the United Kingdom, but the NDP, under new leader
Jagmeet Singh
Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal ( ; born January 2, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019.
The Leap
In 2017 the team that drove the development of the manifesto launched an organization called The Leap to push forward implementation of the manifesto's vision. The organization largely focused on organizing outside of party politics, instead supporting the development of local groups dedicated to implementing the principles of the manifesto—one such group in
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
created a 10-point local manifesto and worked towards organizing a slate of candidates for the municipal election—and working with different partners on a variety of projects. One such project is a collaboration with Friends of Public Services and the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW; french: Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes TTP}) is a public-sector trade union representing postal workers including letter carriers, rural and suburban mail carriers, postal clerk ...
called Delivering Community Power, which seeks to place
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
at the center of a national
renewable energy transition
The energy transition is the process of downshifting fossil fuels and re-developing whole systems to operate on low carbon energy sources. More generally, an energy transition is a significant structural change in an energy system regarding ...
, including the establishment of
postal banking
Postal savings systems provide depositors who do not have access to banks a safe and convenient method to save money. Many nations have operated banking systems involving post offices to promote saving money among the poor.
History
In 1861, G ...
and an electric vehicle fleet.
The Green New Deal
The Leap was also involved in organizing around the
Green New Deal
Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...
, a proposed economic stimulus program to address the climate crisis alongside inequality, in both the United States and Canada. Organizers with the American
Sunrise Movement
Sunrise Movement is an American 501(c)(4) political action organization that advocates political action on climate change. When launched in 2017, the movement's goal was to elect proponents of renewable energy in the 2018 midterm elections, fi ...
cited Naomi Klein's work, including on the Leap Manifesto, as a key influence in the genesis of American policy proposals, and the Leap collaborated on the two-part "Message from the Future" campaign designed to popularize the vision of the Green New Deal. The Leap was also instrumental in convening the Pact for a Green New Deal in Canada, a coalition pushing for the development of a Canadian-specific version of the proposal.
In March 2021 The Leap announced that it was winding down its operations, due in large part to funding and operating difficulties in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around the same time, some key members of The Leap team including Lewis, Klein, and Lukacs, helped launch ''The Breach'', a new independent media outlet with a focus on issues central to the Leap Manifesto.
Reception
Critical reception
Since its launch the Leap Manifesto has attracted criticism from many politicians and pundits. Premiers of western provinces were vocally critical from the outset, including Notley, British Columbia premier
Christy Clark
Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...
, and Saskatchewan premier
Brad Wall
Bradley John Wall (born November 24, 1965), is a Canadian former politician who served as the 14th premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018. He is the fourth longest-tenured premier in the province's history. His so ...
, each of whom considered the manifesto a threat to western extractive industries. Some columnists expanded this to the national level, with Barrie McKenna, for example, calling the manifesto "a prescription for economic ruin." While analysts from the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is an independent think tank in Canada. It has been described as "left leaning".
The CCPA concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is es ...
released a backgrounder alongside the manifesto outlining how its proposals could be funded, some more moderate commentators warned of potential consequences for measures like raising new sources of taxation revenue. Former New Democrat and co-founder of
The Waffle
The Waffle (also known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada) was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little elect ...
,
James Laxer
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, was also critical of the manifesto, arguing that it prioritized the climate crisis, and in particular the shuttering of extractive industries, ahead of the economic concerns of the working class. Lawrence Martin, meanwhile, compared the association of the manifesto with the NDP to the Waffle, and suggested that it was moving the party backwards and into unelectability, "returning to... days when it didn't even pretend to be a serious contender for the prize of governance."
Many commentators were more moderate in their assessments. Aaron Wherry wrote in
Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
that "many of the anifesto'sconcerns are probably widely held," and that " ny of the specifics are basically within the realm of acceptable thought."
Linda McQuaig
Linda Joy McQuaig is a Canadian journalist, columnist, non-fiction author and social critic. She is best known for her series of best-selling books that challenge the dominant free-market economic ideology of recent decades. Her books make the c ...
, who had previously run for the NDP, urged national engagement with the manifesto, writing that "reports of the manifesto's scariness have been greatly exaggerated; its call for a transition from fossil fuels to green energy is solidly based in science and widely accepted." Crawford Killian, writing for iPolitics, asked " en did stating the obvious become 'political suicide'?"
Popular reception
Polling data about the Leap Manifesto was published in April 2016 and showed widespread support for the document among the Canadian public. Data showed that more than half of Canadians were aware of the manifesto and that there was an even split between those who supported and those who opposed it. A majority of supporters of the NDP, the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, and the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
were in favour of the manifesto, and it also enjoyed plurality support among supporters of the
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...
; however, two-thirds of
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
supporters were opposed to the manifesto. An April 2019 poll about the Pact for a Green New Deal, meanwhile, of which The Leap was a key organizer, found that 61% of Canadians were in favour of the proposal.
See also
*
Green New Deal
Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...