New Democratic Party members selected Avi Lewis as the new party leader, with a majority of votes on the first-round ballot. Now, the complex task of rebuilding the movement continues. With a House of Commons NDP caucus of 5 MPs as of the time of writing, Lewis and his new team will need to continue the organizing that took place during the leadership campaign, uniting over 100,000 existing and new party members that participated in voting for a new party leader.
The 2026 NDP Convention and leadership vote, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from March 27 to 29, also saw the election of a new party executive; some have already voiced concern about the lack of equity among the new executive team. I would like to see Lewis’ leadership team and the new federal executive act swiftly and take a different approach from the previous leadership, to ensure equity is at the forefront of the party in all aspects from governance. This means strengthening Electoral District Association (EDA) organizing, as promised during Lewis’ campaign. It also means stronger equity and earlier candidate searches, as well as turning NDP equity values into effective, intersectional, and tangible policy proposals.
Party renewal was one of the major policy planks of Lewis’ leadership campaign. The NDP sorely needs to build class solidarity, invest in year-round grassroots organizing, and empower local EDAs. However, party renewal was only part of the policy package proposed by Lewis. Tax justice, an AI and jobs policy, and public healthcare, non-profit housing, a public-option for groceries, and other bold ideas headlined his working-class platform. During the convention, party members adopted a resolution to introduce a preamble into the party constitution that the NDP is “the party of working people.” While this too signals a new direction that party members want to see, with new leadership reflecting working-class values, there is still much to be done to fully realize real renewal. These signals, though, are encouraging.
While diminished in Parliament, the NDP also have an opportunity to further differentiate themselves with a left turn away from the governing Liberals as they drift rightward under Prime Minister Mark Carney. The Liberal’s positions and values have been further obfuscated by MP floor-crossings. MP Marilyn Gladu, a staunch social conservative, and her defection to the Liberal Party was warmly received by Carney as an additional seat that helped to tip the balance from a minority to a majority of seats in the House of Commons for the Liberal government. For voters opposed to Conservative policies and conservative values, this warm reception begs the question: what does the Liberal Party of Canada stand for? Some would argue that this signals the principle of holding on to power without values, however, many others cannot find a clear answer.
This is an opportunity for the NDP, under Lewis’ leadership, to seize. Embarking on a front-and-centre media tour, Lewis has already engaged with online audiences, traditional media, and live events across the country. His focus on NDP policy ideas, like ending surveillance pricing, introducing public grocers, and taxing the rich have already provoked the right-wing. Lewis and the NDP would do well to maintain that focus; while housing continues to remain unaffordable amid a popping market bubble, proposals like “homes for the many and not for the money” where rent is capped and tenants are protected, building a million public non-for-profit homes, and a goal to actually end homelessness would surely resonate as the crisis worsens. Expanding public healthcare, expanding childcare, investing in living wages for workers in the care economy are critical policies for Canadians that are ignored by the Carney government. While these have typically been NDP policies, Lewis’ campaign and leadership, in a few short months, has so-far been effective at reflecting those principles.
Society prospers when the collective power of many is emboldened. The NDP under Lewis’ leadership have presented a path forward for Canada’s working class. That path is not linear and will not be won using the same tactics and top-down approaches that have been tried and have led to the NDP’s current position. In a time of sharpening inequality, uncertainty, and a right-ward shift, the NDP can be the party of equity, togetherness and unity, as willed by NDP members and everyday Canadians. I look forward to the day, when socialist governments and policy prevail across Canada, to say, “yes, it happened in our lifetime.”
