The major non-leadership issues were what stance would the party take in terms of Quebec sovereignty and whether policy initiatives calling for the nationalization of the oil, gas, and mining industries would pass.

[2] It was formed in 1969 and was led at the convention by University of Toronto economist Mel Watkins, an NDP vice-president, and James Laxer, a candidate to replace Tommy Douglas as federal leader.

The first contentious issue on the agenda dealt with natural resources industries, such as the oil, gas, and mines, as it became the centre of a major showdown between the Waffle and the labour movement forces.

[5] Sidney Green, Manitoba’s Minister of Mines and Resources in the NDP provincial government, spoke in favour of the moderate resolutions committee motion.

[10] He was countered on the convention floor by university professor Peter Usher, a Waffle member from Ottawa, who moved to refer the committee’s motion back for redrafting to push for nationalization of all resource industries.

[13] The next day, while giving his final leader's report, T. C. "Tommy" Douglas launched the party establishment's opening salvo against the Waffle and their Quebec resolution.

[11] He further rejected the notion that non-Quebecers could not partake in that province's internal debates and stated that he would "do everything I can to better the conditions of those people in Quebec who have been betrayed by successive governments.

"[11] He reiterated the intent of the compromise motion by stating that if "the overwhelming majority of the people of Quebec want out of Confederation, it will be time enough to call in the lawyers.

"[16] To counter this, Richard Comber, the Waffle's Quebec leader, and Laliberté proposed a resolution from the floor to form a new alliance between the two Canadian founding nations.

[18] He led the charge against the Waffle, speaking from the floor, and surrounded by approximately 600 supporters, stated: "You would be doing an immense disservice to the party and this great country if this convention binds itself to any resolution that questions the desire of the people to live in one united Canada.

"[13] Another leadership hopeful, Ed Broadbent, tried to bridge the two polarized factions, by attempting to introduce a compromise amendment to Lewis' motion that said: "There should be no questioning of the fundamental right of Quebeckers to leave Confederation if the decision is democratically arrived by the people of Quebec.

[19] Both MacDonald and Gudmundson were vying to succeed Allan Blakeney, who was stepping down as president because he recently was elected as the leader of the Saskatchewan NDP.

[19] David Lewis' campaign manager, McGill University professor Charles Taylor easily won re-election as a Vice-President.

[22] He served as the National President of the CCF during its final years, and was one of the main organizers behind bringing labour and democratic socialists together to form the NDP in 1961.

[23] During the leadership campaign, he did not travel around the country, as the other candidates had to, since he did most of his electioneering in the fall of 1970, and declared his intentions formally in December 1970, as a direct result of this work.

[23] Ed Broadbent was a newly elected Member of Parliament, for the Oshawa–Whitby electoral district, and was the first candidate to declare candidacy for the leadership when he did so in June 1970.

[25] Entering the race in November 1970,[25] he turned forty years old during the campaign, and like the other candidates, was essentially a generation younger than David Lewis.

[23] At the time, he had served in the Commons for 14 years, one of the last CCF MPs left from the 1957 federal election, representing the Skeena electoral district.

He came from a family that had been keen supporters of the Communist Party of Canada, until 1956, when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made public Josef Stalin's reign of terror.

[13] The party organizers divided the approximately 1,700 delegates into 20 polls, similar to a federal electoral district vote, with returning officers that carried the ballot boxes to the voters.

[29] The media attention that the Waffle, and its candidate, James Laxer, received, before and during the vote, partially explains the closest federal NDP leadership election up to that time.

[30] Lewis' perceived heavy-handed tactics in dealing with the Waffle at this and previous conventions had made him enough enemies to make the leadership campaign interesting.

[31] As well, Lewis was involved in most of the internal conflicts within the CCF/NDP during the previous 36 years, so the many members that felt his wrath as the party disciplinarian during this period, plotted their revenge against him.

[31] At his first press conference after winning the leadership, Lewis stated that he was not beholden to the Waffle, as they were soundly defeated on the floor, and he made no promises to them.

[33] In the 1972 federal election campaign, the NDP finally made a breakthrough, winning 31 seats in the House of Commons, including one for John Harney, and holding the balance of power.