The federal NDP leadership contest has been decided, and I’m delighted to say that the winner is Avi Lewis.
As the contest was reaching its conclusion, it was clear that the winner in all likelihood would be one of the two front runners – either social activist Lewis or the establishment-backed Member of Parliament from Alberta, Heather McPherson.
Lewis raised significantly more money in donations than did McPherson or the other candidates, and he was by then the odds-on favourite. However, the NDP establishment was dead set against him and did everything possible to prevent his success.
McPherson wished to see the party continue in the same conservative, safe manner that resulted in its worst outcome ever in the 2025 federal election where it was reduced to just seven seats. As an Alberta MP, she was the beholden to the oil and gas industries. She seemed to offer very little in terms of a vision and her campaign was anything but inspiring. Turnout at her events was order of magnitude lower than at Lewis events.
In the end, Lewis received 39,734 (56%) of the total 70,930 valid votes cast. McPherson was in second place with 20,899 votes (29%).
Avi Lewis grew up in a political family. He is the son of the late Stephen Lewis, the former Ontario NDP leader and provincial leader of the Opposition in the 1970s and Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s. His mother is the well-known author and journalist Michelle Landsberg.
His grandfather was David Lewis, who began his political career in 1935 as National Secretary of the CCF, and remained instrumental in the party throughout the next decades and as it transitioned in 1961 to become the NDP with Tommy Douglas as its leader.
David Lewis followed Douglas as federal NDP leader in 1971, and the following year led the party to one of their best outcomes ever, reducing Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals to a minority government. During that election campaign, Davis voiced the opinion for which he became famous — calling Canadian corporations “corporate welfare bums.”
An award-wining filmmaker, broadcaster, and political activist, Avi Lewis is perhaps best known for the LEAP Manifesto — a project that he spearheaded with his wife, acclaimed author Naomi Klein — which boldly lays out a roadmap to transition Canada to a carbon-neutral future.
That focus has now expanded to what CTV News refers to as the seven pillars of Lewis’ campaign platform: party renewal, tax fairness, the digital age, affordable housing, health care, public options “to stop price gouging” and his “Green New Deal.”
If the NDP establishment had succeeded and Heather McPherson had won, I predict it would have led to a further decline in the federal party’s fortunes.
Now that Avi Lewis has won, I predict we will witness a new, revitalized, re-energized federal NDP that will grab the attention of Canadians with bold new initiatives.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (March 31, 2026): 432.69ppm
One year ago (March 31, 2025): 427.42ppm
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