Avi Lewis previews his leadership vision as New Democrats express mix of unease, excitement

To Lewis, the self-declared democratic socialist, it was a chance to preview his vision of a bolder party to a room of New Democrats with mixed views on his ascent to power.

“We’re so close to the finish line and the start of a much bigger race, to bring our party back from the wilderness and into the heart of Canadian political life once again,” Lewis said in a speech to delegates gathered at the RBC Convention Centre ahead of Sunday’s result announcement. 

A Lewis-led NDP, he said, would “stay laser-focused on the cost of living crisis” as “the only party that can tell Canadians the truth about why everything is so expensive.”

“A handful of giant corporations dominate every sector of our economy. These co-operative cartels fix prices, control markets, and profit from the crisis of the cost of living.” Lewis said. “In the face of inequality at an all-time high, we are done nibbling around the edges.”

That means fighting for “solutions that are actually as big as the crises we face,” like “head-to-toe health care to fare-free transit, to tuition-free education,” Lewis declared.

Polling analyst Phillipe Fournier, editor-in-chief of 338Canada, told the Star he expects Lewis “not only should win, but should win on a first ballot.”

“Mr. Lewis has a huge advantage in fundraising, not only in the money, but also in the number of donors. He went to places that other candidates did not go,” said Fournier, highlighting Lewis’s outreach in Quebec.

“Now the question is, how big of a win, because first ballot could mean 52 per cent but it also could mean 70.”

Necessarily unapologetic to his supporters, but divisive to his critics, the party scion continued to display his maverick status ahead of the race’s end.

On Friday, Lewis took a shot at former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair in a CBC interview by asserting, “I have no intention of taking advice from Thomas Mulcair,” after the former opposition leader-turned pundit questioned Lewis’s ability to oppose Prime Minister Mark Carney‘s Liberals from outside the House of Commons.

Asked by reporters about his slight towards Mulcair, Lewis doubled down.

“I think Tom Mulcair made a decision in the 2015 election that cost us a lot, and there’s still a lot of hard feelings within the NDP about his tack to the right,” Lewis said.

“Promising to balance the budget in a single year, we all understood at the time, would mean eviscerating social spending, slashing health care and education. It was an irresponsible decision then. It cost us that election when we were on the verge of taking power federally for the very first time.”

“We represent different kinds of NDP, and that’s not one that’s part of our future,” Lewis said of Mulcair, who he added “paid the price for that decision” from New Democrats who turfed him a year later.

Four other candidates are running against Lewis, with his primary challenger, Edmonton MP Heather McPherson warning delegates Saturday that “now is not the time for us to shrink even more.”

On the ground in Winnipeg, some NDP members expressed unease while other showed excitement around a potential Lewis leadership.

Seamus Fleming, a former NDP candidate in Chatham, said that while he believes Lewis can resonate with young voters and Canadians in city centres, he’s “concerned” by some of the language the candidate has used around natural resources.

“He’s anti-extraction. I’m unsure of how he feels about forestry, fishing and mining. People outside of the big cities are very dependent on these industries, and they’re also in a very insecure place, as well, as a result of tariffs,” Fleming told the Star. “I’m worried that we could shrink our base even more, and really alienate people who built this party,” 

But Lewis’s climate action and “straight” talk appealed to others, including delegates Melita Rempel-Burkholder, 71, and David Weller, 79.

“I really like his platform. I like how he works collaboratively. And I like how he brings people along with him,” said Rempel-Burkholder, who also touted Lewis’ support for Indigenous and Palestinian rights.

Weller said that as much as he liked what Jagmeet Singh achieved in the last Parliament, “some of the campaign sloganing that he was giving” during the last election campaign fell flat. Lewis’s message and presentation-style sold Weller after he heard him talk at a housing co-op event in Winnipeg. It also didn’t hurt that his wife is popular left-wing activist and author Naomi Klein, Weller said.

Downplaying the potential effects of internal tensions, Weller said the NDP is no different than any political party.

“If you look at the Liberals or the Conservatives, they all have those kinds of tensions,” Weller said. “Am I concerned about it? Will it split the party? I doubt it.”