Avi Lewis gives remarks after being elected NDP leader on March 29.Shannon Vanraes/Reuters
Avi Lewis has been elected as the new leader of the NDP, a first-ballot victory with 56 per cent of the votes, after a nearly seven-month race during a period of turbulence for the federal party.
The 58-year-old documentary filmmaker, activist and former television host was announced on Sunday as the winner of a five-candidate contest at the New Democratic convention in Winnipeg.
But his win received immediate backlash from NDP leaders in Saskatchewan and Alberta, who said they do not support him because of his views to increase levies for oil and gas pipelines.
The NDP, which has struggled from years of declining support, currently holds just six seats after a record low share of the popular vote in the 2025 election and the loss of Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, who crossed over to the Liberals earlier this month. It remains far from achieving official status in the House of Commons.
Mr. Lewis celebrates with his wife Naomi Klein at the NDP convention.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
In his first speech as leader, Mr. Lewis, who does not hold a seat in Ottawa, sought to revive hopes for the party, pledging to bring it back to what he referred to as the NDP’s glory days.
“Canada, mark your calendar: The NDP comeback starts now,” Mr. Lewis said to roaring applause and a roomful of cheers.
“The NDP will start winning again because we will become that beacon to the 99 per cent, illuminating the darkening sky of these terrifying times with the energizing light of collective struggle.”
Mr. Lewis added in French that the NDP is also ready to take on the political scene in Quebec, where he plans to reinvigorate support for the party.
As he promised to strive for a government that “works for the many, not the money,” he stood in front of around 80 campaign organizers, along with his wife, best-selling author Naomi Klein, and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
Some supporters behind him held “Green New Deal” and “Renters Over Landlord Profits” signs, with a Palestinian flag waving while he spoke.
Mr. Lewis focused his leadership campaign on a message to provide access to safe abortion, gender-affirming care, free transit, publicly owned grocery stores and tuition-free education.
He said he wants to issue higher wealth taxes on big corporations and high-income earners, and plans a new green energy deal that would create a million jobs by investing two per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product to fight against the effects of climate change.
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He said he also strives for an export tax to be placed on oil and gas shipped to the United States.
Mr. Lewis was vocal about his support for Palestine, and repeated his calls on Sunday for Canada to describe the war in Gaza as a “genocide,” which he blames on Israel. (Israel has rejected allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.)
“We need a government that acts with moral clarity,” he told the crowd clad in the party’s signature orange.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Mr. Lewis does not represent the interests of his province, with Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck agreeing in a separate statement.
Ms. Beck said Mr. Lewis’s position on oil and gas is “ideological and unrealistic,” while Mr. Nenshi said Sunday that “Albertans deserve federal leaders who understand the importance of Alberta and our essential role in the federation.”
“Our focus is not on what the federal NDP says or does,” Mr. Nenshi said.
The son of former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and the grandson of former federal NDP leader David Lewis, Mr. Lewis received 39,734 of 70,930 valid votes cast, with his rival Alberta MP Heather McPherson in second place, receiving 20,899 votes.
He also rose ahead of social worker Tanille Johnston, union leader Rob Ashton and organic farmer Tony McQuail.
Ahead of the convention, interim leader Don Davies said the New Democrats have spent a long time talking to Canadians about how to rebuild the party.
He said the NDP needs to be urgently strengthened because many voters are looking for an alternative to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals, whom he accused of adopting a Conservative Party slant in recent months.
“There is something I’d like to clear up arising from my speech at the press gallery dinner,” Mr. Davies said Sunday. “I erroneously said, when Prime Minister Carney played hockey, that he was a goalie. I was mistaken. He’s clearly a right-winger.”
In a short social media post, Mr. Carney congratulated Mr. Lewis for his win. “I will always take a collaborative approach to how we build a stronger Canada, and I look forward to speaking about how we can work together,” he wrote.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs criticized Sunday’s result.
“At a time when antisemitism has reached a crisis, the NDP has become a hostile place for the vast majority of Jewish Canadians who want to fight for progressive values,” it said.
“We are left with a deep sense of sadness,” the group’s senior executives Rachel Chertkoff and Richard Marceau wrote in a joint statement, adding Ms. Chertkoff’s uncle had ran provincially for the NDP in 1963, but would not recognize the party it is today.
“This weekend’s convention was a stark reminder of how far the party has drifted from its roots as the voice of Canada’s working class,” the statement said. “Canadian Jews helped build that movement. Today, many are made to feel they no longer belong in it.”