NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, who’s hinted he needs 70 per cent support from delegates in Edmonton this weekend in order to stay on as leader but maintains he has no magic number, may not be able to count on the party’s youth wing.

Ahead of the convention, the youth wing of the NDP is urging all young New Democrats to support “a new direction, and a new style of leadership.”

“One that starts from the bottom up, that reflects the concerns, and priorities of our membership and that includes youth at the centre of our party once again.”

In a letter sent to iPolitics from the secretary of the youth wing, Stefan Avlijas, the organization decries the uninspiring platform they were forced to sell on campus’s and at events.

“We argued against the legalization of marijuana, against the inclusion of other parties in debates, against our leader’s participation in a debate on women’s issues, and defended our non-position on hydraulic fracturing,” states the letter.

“Simply put, given what we were selling it’s no surprise that our peers were just not buying it. By the time thanksgiving had rolled around we were gasping for something inspiring, but nothing came, we were abandoned and forgotten,” it continued.

The young New Democrats wrote that they weren’t consulted or brought into the discussion when it came to the NDP’s platform or “the out-of-touch materials that we were asked to distribute on campuses.”

After campaigning for the youth vote on campuses and at other events, the letter says frustration grew on October 19th when their peers chose to vote for a different party.

“We feel the responsibility for a failure to inspire our generation to the polls rests squarely with the uninspired, and problematic platform that many of us were asked to champion.

For two years, the young NDP were tasked with drumming up support for “dropping interest on credit card fees” while other parties campaigned directly on issues that mattered to youth, the letter states.

“That’s why we think in the light of such a disastrous central campaign, that we need to take a hard look at renewing not only the campaign team, but the way which we run campaigns.”

The organization asserts that it’s time for the NDP to “boldly and unapologetically stake our ground as the party of the left.”

Finally, the youth said they are “too experienced, driven, and passionate about realizing a progressive future for Canada to be simply used as window dressing for promotional materials.”

“Our generation is about to inherit incredible political, environmental, and logistical challenges and we know we can’t bet our future on Liberal or Conservative governments to get it right.”