Is There a Future for the NDP?

By Ray Rivers

March 22, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

OPINION

All but wiped out as a political force in the last election, the NDP are looking for a saviour to take them out of the backwoods.   So they are choosing a new leader by the end of March to replace Mr. Singh, who lost his party’s official status and even his own riding in last year’s election.

Federal MP, Heather McPherson

Former journalist and filmmaker, Avi Lewis.

There are five candidates offering lots of choice with a diversity of experience and background.  And the front runners appear to be current Edmonton area federal MP, Heather McPherson and former journalist and filmmaker, Avi Lewis.

Lewis, like Justin Trudeau is the son of a political dynasty, his lineage traces back to Stephen and David Lewis and tangentially to the origins of the CCF, the precursor to the NDP.   He is a strong progressive, an author of Canada’s Green New Deal and the radical Leap Manifesto, which just about tore the party apart on the issue of energy policy.

Lewis has made promises that would take the party further to the left.

Lewis has made promises that would take the party further to the left of where it had been even with Mr. Singh.  Clean energy, an end to fossil fuel extraction, more equitable income taxation, free public transportation and public housing are among other planks in his campaign.  The NDP under Lewis would likely find it hard to support Mr. Carney’s Liberals on many fronts, particularly as Carney may have won as a Liberal but is perceived as governing more as a Conservative, having embraced many of the opposition leader’s proposals.

The NDP has traditionally been the most progressive of political movements – socialist if you like.  The CCF led the way to universal health care, Mr. Singh’s marriage at the hip with Justin Trudeau gave us our current child care, dental care and pharmacare programs.  It is arguable whether any of these would exist today were it not for the NDP and their ability to influence the government of the day.

McPherson: a moderate who came into office in 2019 and survived the purge of NDP candidates in the last federal election.  She supported the TMX pipeline despite her party’s official policy, and was an active foreign affairs critic.  

McPherson is a moderate who came into office in 2019 and survived the purge of NDP candidates in the last federal election.  She supported the TMX pipeline despite her party’s official policy, and was an active foreign affairs critic.   Having a seat in Parliament is an advantage even though the NDP has lost its official party status.

McPherson’s campaign seems mainly focussed on rebuilding the party and without the kind of earth shattering proposals of Avi Lewis.   She presents more like former leader Mulcair than Tommy Douglas.  Her leadership is likely to be somewhat Carney-light compared to Mr. Lewis who is significantly to the left.  The chance of either of them getting to PM seems pretty remote, from today’s starting point.

Most likely the future for the NDP will be influencing and not governing.  In that role it’ll be in good company.  The Bloc Quebecois’ sole function is advocating for what it believes will benefit Quebecers most.    The Greens were formed to promote pro-environment policies, an issue that has almost vaporized in this new Trump era.

And to the extreme right is the People’s Party, headed by former Conservative Minister and leadership candidate Maxime Bernier.  Though yet to gain a seat in Parliament that party’s positions, which can best be described as populist and reactionary, include sharply curtaining immigration, ending dairy supply management and withdrawing from the global climate accord.

For a Lewis not to be able to speak French is astonishing.

The saddest thing about this NDP leadership contest is that none of the candidates can communicate effectively in French.  It’s been almost half a century since Canada first declared as bilingual and yet, of the federal party leaders, only Pierre Poilievre is fluent,  though Yves-François Blanchet, Elizabeth May and Mark Carney are considered to be functionally bilingual.

The bottom line is that Canada will be largely unaffected in the short run by whoever wins the NDP leadership race on the 29th of March.  But Avi Lewis promises to be much more interesting and would definitely liven up federal politics were he the winner – and were he able to win a seat in Parliament and become fluent in Canada’s other official language.

Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking.  Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington.  He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject.   Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa.  Tweet @rayzrivers

Background links:

NDP Race –      McPherson –       Lewis –       Leap Manifesto –      Lewis Policies –     Language –