Cardinal on the rise in Edmonton, but what's his true story?

Lewis Cardinal is busy, period. But as he frankly puts it, he’s used to it.

Early this year, Cardinal announced that he would be running for the federal New Democratic Party in the next election in the Edmonton-Centre riding. Combine that with the fact that he is the president of his own consulting business, attempting to get his Ph.D. in education and the board for over 20 organizations, and one can only wonder how he finds the time to balance all of these priorities.

But Cardinal believes that fighting for the people is worth the 60-80 hours per week it takes to keep a federal campaign afloat, as well as keeping his under endeavors balanced.

Born in High Prairie, Alberta in 1962, near Sucker Creek, Cardinal moved to Edmonton with his father and brother in 1971. Most of this aboriginal family still lives in that area. He graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in downtown Edmonton before getting three undergraduate degrees from the University of Colorado, a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, an honours degree in English and a BA in film studies. In 2007, Cardinal lost his bid for Councilor of Ward 4, but by an extremely slim margin.

Cardinal finds in ironic about himself that he never wanted to get into the world of politics. His family line is full of political forces in the Alberta area dating back to Treaty 8, but he never wanted to be a part of it. He believes that his strong values instilled in him by his role models drove him to take on the voters.

“People say it’s no wonder you are here but I tried to stay as far away from politics as I could, I really did,” he said. “But I remember my grandmother and grandfather saying you can’t stand by and let these things happen if you know they are wrong.”

And Cardinal believes too much is going wrong in today’s society for him not to take action as a Member of Parliament. He feels that issues of housing and homelessness, and education funding are going unnoticed in Edmonton.

The driving question of how these problems will get addressed is one of the reasons why Cardinal chose to run with the federal NDP’s in the next election. Not only did the NDP’s ask Cardinal to run for their party, but so did every other party on both the federal and provincial level. All though he lost in the civil election in 2007, it seems he impressed a lot of people.

“I found that the NDP parallel my own value systems. The tradition of my people, my warrior ethic, my personal commitment parallels the values of the NDP. They care about the little person. They care about the underdog and they support social infrastructure that we need for our community to survive.”

So with his party chosen and his goals outlined, Cardinal must face the competition, which is no easy task. Conservative MP Laurie Hawn is the current elected member for Edmonton-Centre. Hawn, former Lieutenant Colonel of the Canadian Air Force has had a few federal elections under his belt and is the appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Peter MacKay.

So bluntly, it would seem like Cardinal is the long shot here. Hawn is more experienced, known on the national level and has been around the block a couple of times. Many believe that Cardinal’s inexperience on the federal scale is his biggest downfall, but he doesn’t seem to be worried about it at all.

“Politics has been in me for a very long time, I just came to the realization that I love public service,” Cardinal explained.

His love for public service cannot be a fabrication, because he is truly dedicated to the community through his involvement. Some of is works include the Edmonton Solution to Homelessness, he is on the board of governors for the Bissell Centre, help found the Racist Free Edmonton, and he also sits with the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, and that’s only naming a few.

As he explained his work with these organizations, his phone would ring many times, going unanswered. All his missed calls in that short a time span only goes to show how involved he really is.

Cardinal explained that he has a large role in over 20 organizations, which can become very politicized. Therefore, all this hard work with these organizations has prepared him for the next step.

With his job set out before him, and an election always on the brink with Canada’s minority government, Cardinal knows what’s next, and it’s extremely simple. Get out there and listen.

“I’m going out a few times a week, knocking on doors, and letting the people know that I’m out there. The secret to door knocking is listening to what the people have to say,” Cardinal said.

Campaign Manager for his federal run, Brain Stokes, believes that’s listening is one of Cardinal’s strongest qualities.

“He is very pragmatic, and part of that is he listens to people very well and will make sure to weigh in what they have to say,” Stokes said. “He is a great leader because he takes into account what people have to say.”


And if you would like to follow Lewis Cardinal a little more closely, find him on Facebook to see what he's currently up to.