The Strathcona Standard

A Thursday night NDP leadership debate featuring Campbell River’s Tanille Johnston turned ugly when protesters showed up.

  A video from the event, held in New Westminster at the Anvil Centre, shows an altercation in a hallway outside the main hall. Restricted from entering, about a half dozen people started chanting “Let members decide! Let members decide! No Democracy Party! No Democracy Party!” and waving signs, while others try to remove them from the scene.

  Police were called and escorted the dissident group out of the building. They have been identified on social media by witnesses as disqualified leadership candidate Yves Engler and his supporters.

  Johnston is one of the five candidates seeking the party leadership, and was at the event Thursday night. The Strathcona Standard has reached out to her for comment about the incident, and the debate.

  Johnston ran for the North Island-Powell River MP seat in the federal election last year, losing to Conservative Aaron Gunn by just under 5,000 votes. She continues to serve Campbell River as a city councillor – she was elected in 2022 to the role. She also serves on the First Nations Health Authority as Director of Community Programs.

  On her leadership campaign website, she describes herself as a “Proud Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ woman from the We Wai Kai First Nation. A dedicated social worker, mother, and bold new voice for the future of the NDP.”

  Her platform includes calls for a universal basic income for all Canadians, increasing selected taxes including the capital gains tax, lowering the voting age to 16, and giving Indigenous voices more of a direct influence over federal government decisions.  

  The other leadership candidates are Rob Ashton, Avi Lewis, Heather McPherson, and Tony McQuail.

Engler, who was escorted out of the building with his supporters, was disqualified from running for leadership in December. CBC reported at the time he was dismissed over comments he made which some saw as denying the Rwandan genocide, supporting Russian actions in Ukraine, and being antisemitic. He denied the allegations and said voters should be allowed to decide if they want him as leader or not.

  The federal NDP will select a new leader on March 29 in Winnipeg.