OTTAWA – Voting began today in the NDP leadership race, with a March 28 deadline for party members to cast their votes.
A party official says 100,000 members are eligible to vote in the election.
In the 2017 leadership race, which was won by Jagmeet Singh on the first ballot, the party had just under 125,000 members eligible to vote.
During the 2012 leadership contest, won by Tom Mulcair, the party had more than 128,000 members eligible to vote.
There are five candidates in the current race: union leader Rob Ashton, social worker Tanille Johnston, filmmaker Avi Lewis, Alberta MP Heather McPherson and farmer Tony McQuail.
Lewis is far and away the fundraising leader in the race. Interim financial returns filed to Elections Canada show his campaign has raised more than $1.2 million from more than 10,000 contributors.
McPherson saw the second largest share of donations — about $560,000 from 3,800 contributors, based on her interim returns.
Ashton has raised just shy of $357,000 from about 2,000 donors. Returns for the Johnston and McQuail campaigns are not yet publicly available.
The Liberal party said nearly 400,000 members were eligible to vote in the 2025 leadership contest that made Mark Carney prime minister. That contest was just two months long, following Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down as prime minister.
The Conservatives had 675,000 voting members for their 2022 contest when Pierre Poilievre became leader.
The results of the NDP leadership contest will be announced March 29, during the party’s annual convention in Winnipeg.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2026.
