Tuesday, January 31, 2012

MLA Birdsall endorses Nash as next Federal NDP Leader


Pam Birdsall
The MLA for Lunenburg is throwing her support behind Peggy Nash as the future leader of the Federal NDP party. Pam Birdsall says she chose the Toronto MP because she believes she has all the qualities of a leader.
"She's one of those people, in my mind, who can bring people together, a real consensus builder and I think that's exactly like Jack (Layton) was. He was a man that worked with his team and any of us who knew Jack and knew the way he worked, that was what he was known for and Peggy is very much like that."
Birdsall says Nash would have no problems bucking heads with Prime Minister Stephen Harper because she's a former hard-nosed labour negotiator.
"She was the first female labour union negotiator in North America, you know I mean, that speaks volumes if you know what labour negotiation is all about. So, I mean this is someone who doesn't just say oh well, ok, whatever you say and I think that's a real quality of being able to be not easily provoked and calm under pressure."
Queens MLA Vicki Conrad also announced her endorsement of Nash. The party's leadership convention is slated for March 23-24 in Toronto.