EDMONTON—The head of one of Canada’s largest unions says the NDP should oust leader Thomas Mulcair to make way for “renewal.”

Robyn Benson, the president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, says New Democrats should vote for new leadership at their Edmonton convention tomorrow.

“I think the party should be looking for new leadership … I think that we need renewal,” Benson told the Star.

“I think that Mr. Mulcair has had his opportunity. I think he’s a good Parliamentarian. But I think that Canadians are looking for something different. I certainly am.”

Benson stressed that is her personal opinion, not the union’s official position. PSAC has around 15 delegates at convention, but Benson said there are more attending with their local riding association.

“I’ve shared my opinion with the delegates, but they’re entirely within their own realm to make their own decision,” Benson said.

PSAC is one of the country’s largest public sector unions, with approximately 170,000 workers across the country. Many of their members live in the National Capital Region, which saw well-liked NDP MPs like Paul Dewar and former PSAC president Nycole Turmel defeated in the last election.

Approximately 1,800 New Democrats are in the middle of a three-day policy convention in Edmonton. While the party’s activists have been debating policy and taking part in workshops, the question of Mulcair’s leadership has been the dominant theme.

Mulcair is scheduled to make one last pitch to delegates at 10 a.m. Sunday morning, directly before they cast their votes on whether or not to launch a leadership review.

Benson said she’s not advocating for anybody in particular to replace Mulcair. Rather, she said she thinks Mulcair is not the right person to take the party in a new direction.

“This is all about what we should do in the future, this isn’t about we’re going to pick a leader tomorrow. I don’t think anybody is in that position,” Benson said.

“But I think tomorrow we should vote to look for renewal, and we should work toward a new leader and a new … party platform.”

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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is scheduled to speak to the convention later today, at a time when the relationship between her government and the federal NDP appears strained.

On Thursday, Notley renewed her call for new pipeline infrastructure to take oilsands bitumen to new markets. On Friday, the federal party began discussing the merits of the Leap Manifesto—a call from prominent Canadian activists and artists to radically change Canada’s approach to climate change.

Among other recommendations, the manifesto opposes any new pipeline infrastructure. The convention is expected to vote on a resolution Sunday to debate the manifesto at the local riding level, and to have it inform the party’s next policy convention in 2018.

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