Lorne Nystrom - Biography

Biography

Born in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, he has run for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) three times.

Nystrom placed third at the 1975 leadership convention for the party, losing to Ed Broadbent.

In 1992, he was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

In 1995, Nystrom was considered a leading contender for the leadership during the campaign, finishing first in the one-member, one-vote primary system. But at the delegated convention he finished third on the first ballot, behind Svend Robinson and Alexa McDonough, and was dropped. Although Robinson had finished first on that ballot, he conceded to McDonough before the second ballot as he felt that Nystrom's support would have gone almost entirely to McDonough, giving her the victory. (Reportedly, a number of Nystrom's labour delegates voted for McDonough, fearing a Robinson victory and reasoning that McDonough would be better placed than Nystrom to defeat Robinson on the final ballot.)

Nystrom ran for the NDP leadership again in the 2003 leadership election, placing third. He was defeated in the 2004 elections by the Hon. Andrew Scheer, who went on to have a very successful career, serving as Speaker of the House of Commons. Nystrom lost by a margin of 861 votes. He won the NDP nomination again in 2005, but was once again defeated by Scheer in the 2006 elections, this time losing by a much wider margin of 2,740 votes.

As of 2012, Nystrom is a board member of Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and contributed to Thomas Mulcair’s campaign for leadership of the federal NDP.