Over the weekend, Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) held its leadership election, with members voting via ranked ballots. Avi Lewis won a conclusive victory, capturing 56 percent support. A new direction will be set for Canada’s social democratic party, which has been in decline since 2015 and recently hit rock bottom in the 2025 federal election.
There is no doubt that Lewis’s campaign tapped into the desire for change among party membership party and his first ballot victory is a clear sign of where the party’s base wants it to go. His rallies were often jam-packed, with lines outside the venue, and he kept up a robust media schedule and strong social media game. The CAD$1.2 million his campaign raised is the most ever in a NDP leadership contest.
The grandson of a federal NDP leader and the son of an Ontario NDP leader, Lewis comes from a family that has profoundly shaped the Canadian left — both for good and ill — for nearly a century. At times, figures within his family were central to pushing back against radical currents, helping to marginalize the left flank of the party from within. Aware of this legacy, Lewis seeks to rebuild the NDP into an unabashedly democratic socialist force in Canadian politics. But now the hard part begins.
A commanding victory gives Lewis plenty of room to maneuver within the party he leads, but it does not transcend the structure and constraints of Canadian politics, which have brought the NDP to its current nadir — worse than previous electoral wipeouts in 1958 and 1993. In the electoral debacle of 2025, the NDP was seen as propping up an increasingly unpopular Justin Trudeau in order to secure gains on dental care for lower-income Canadians, sick days for federally regulated workers, $10 per day childcare, and labor reforms such as anti-scab legislation.
As Trudeau was tanking the Liberals in the polls and the Conservatives were surging, the NDP was only making modest gains. Now, with Prime Minister Mark…
Auteur: Gerard Di Trolio
