Debate watchers can expect the other candidates onstage to press Lewis on the practicality and electoral appeal of his big ideas. Leadership rival Heather McPherson, an Edmonton MP, has already tested an attack line on Lewis’s “shut it all down today” stance on fossil fuels, saying on a recent podcast appearance that it takes the NDP “out of the conversation” on energy. McPherson also questioned whether the national public grocery chains proposed by Lewis would bring immediate relief for families struggling with high food prices.