EDMONTON—The federal New Democrats are searching for a new leader after a stunning vote to oust Thomas Mulcair at the party’s Edmonton convention on Sunday.

At a time when the party is debating its direction in Canadian politics after a devastating electoral loss last year, 52 per cent of the party’s rank-and-file at the convention voted for a leadership race.

“There’s a lot of hope and optimism in our party,” Mulcair said, flanked onstage by his fellow NDP MPs, after the vote. “The disappointment from the election obviously is something we’re now going to be able to leave behind us with a change at the helm.”

“And that’s fine.”

The floor of the convention seemed shocked at the outcome. Mulcair failed not only to get the 70-per-cent endorsement generally accepted to be required to survive, but was unable to secure the 50-per-cent plus one the party’s constitution requires for him to even try to make a case for his continued leadership.

The man who, just eight months ago, had a shot at becoming Canada’s first New Democrat prime minister, is now pledging to stay on until his successor is chosen, either in 2017 or 2018.

Charlie Angus, the NDP’s caucus chair, said the mood was sombre when Mulcair spoke to his colleagues backstage.

“People hugged Tom. A lot of people were crying,” Angus said. “We’re very close, as a party.”

But Angus said party activists brought a lot of energy to the convention, and that Mulcair was not able to channel that energy into support.

“Tom wasn’t really present for a lot of the convention. People didn’t see him,” Angus said.

“I think New Democrats wanted to be reassured. They wanted to say, ‘Tom’s our guy, we’re over last fall but where are we going in 2019?’ And that doesn’t just happen from a fiery stump speech.”

In a speech to delegates directly before the vote, Mulcair asked the party’s rank-and-file to “stand with him” in a last-minute appeal to keep his job.

“(Canadians) are counting on us to fight for them and stand up to well-connected and powerful interests. We can’t let them down. We can’t get distracted. We have to push forward,” Mulcair told the crowd.

“If you keep standing with me, then together, we will never stop fighting.”

NDP Convention Results

Delegates instead stood up for a change in leadership.

The undercurrents at the Edmonton convention, at times, looked unfavourable to Mulcair’s chances.

A debate on the Leap Manifesto, a far-left call to action backed by outside activists and artists, took up a considerable amount of air. The manifesto, which advocates for a transition from fossil fuels and a moratorium on new pipeline infrastructure, pitted the federal left wing against Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s administration.

While Leap advocates said that wasn’t the intention, Notley’s government — including the premier herself — were not shy in denouncing the manifesto. Mulcair was forced to walk a delicate line between the two sides, suggesting that he was open to the manifesto’s ideas while not ruling out oilsands development.

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Delegates voted to debate the ideas behind the manifesto at the local level for two years, and have that debate inform their 2018 policy convention. The vote angered some delegates from Alberta, who are said to number about 400 of 1,800 delegates — and the decision was far from unanimous.

While Mulcair enjoyed some union support, the convention opened with a speech from Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff, who told journalists he would not support Mulcair in the week leading up to the convention. Union leaders did not appear to whip the vote, with some allowing members to vote their conscience.

In a statement Sunday afternoon, NDP National Director Karl Bélanger said the party’s federal council will begin immediately to determine steps toward a leadership convention.

“This convention has shown that New Democrats are dynamic, energized and strongly invested in renewing the party,” Bélanger wrote. “The next chapter begins today. New Democrats will now move forward, united, together.”

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