Prince George, B.C. – Where will the federal NDP go from here?

That’s the question many political observers are asking just one day after party members ousted Tom Mulcair as leader at their national convention in Edmonton.

UNBC political science professor Dr. Gary Wilson says one thing that seems fairly obvious is the NDP is at a crossroads.

“Yes, I think after any election where you don’t do as well as you thought you would do, that the party could be at a crossroads.

“These type of leadership campaigns also bring out different factions within a party as we’ve seen with the ‘Leap Manifesto,’ they’re speaking of a left wing faction within the party as opposed to the more centrist, more pragmatic types that were in the ascendancy under Mulcair.”

But is the ‘Leap Manifesto’ – which proposes among other things an end to pipelines and a swift shift away from fossil fuels – the ticket to power?

“I don’t know. Many people said the Sanders campaign was not sustainable but it’s certainly showing a lot of sustainability,” says Wilson. “Even in the U.S. political context. So it’s hard to say. The NDP has to find a constituency and build on that constituency.”

He adds this sort of internal debate is a normal part of party politics.

“I mean we’re seeing this with the Conservatives now and we’re going to be seeing it in the run up to their leadership campaign.

“But it’s a good thing, it’s a healthy thing for parties to look at themselves again and figure out what their values are and what they did wrong and how they need to regroup to move forward.”