NDP blasts Engler for 'misleading' media about leadership race status

OTTAWA — The NDP says that Montreal-based activist Yves Engler is misleading party supporters and the media by running an unsanctioned leadership campaign and soliciting donations from Canadians.

Éric Hébert-Daly, who is the NDP’s chief electoral officer for the leadership race, said he had serious concerns about how Engler had been conveying the status of his campaign to members of the press.

“It has recently come to my attention that Mr. Yves Engler has been sharing with the media that he has not yet been approved by the Leadership Review Committee … to stand as an official leadership candidate. I would like to clarify that we are not in receipt of an application from Mr. Engler, and as such, he has no current standing within the leadership contest,” wrote Hébert-Daly.

“While we have not been sharing the status of candidacy to date in order to respect privacy and confidentiality, it is not acceptable to be misleading about approval status,” he said.

He added that, to avoid confusion, Engler and others testing the water for a leadership run have been “strongly advised” to wait for official approval before accepting campaign contributions or “making any public pronouncements.”

Hébert-Daly said that taking contributions before receiving approval was against the leadership race rules , which require all donations to be processed through the party.

Engler said in an earlier email that he was doing “everything in line with NDP and Elections Canada rules” and expected to be onstage for the first official leadership debate in November. He added he’d raised more than $80,000 thus far, which would put him on pace to easily pay the $100,000 entrance fee, and collected more than twice the required 500 signatures, with all age, equity and regional criteria met.

He added in a follow-up email on Monday that, per the rules, he had until January to turn in his nomination papers and would do so at the time he considered “most opportune.”

Engler also said he planned to attend a Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) hosted candidates forum later this month.

“We expect to be invited to CLC forum whose rules for participating are not outlined in candidate package,” wrote Engler.

As of Monday, three candidates had officially entered into the race : Edmonton MP Heather McPherson, filmmaker Avi Lewis and labour leader Rob Ashton.

Engler is a self-described social agitator with a recent harassment arrest on his rap sheet, running on a radical platform of anti-capitalism and degrowth .

He put X’s “community notes” function to work over the weekend by posting fake endorsements of his policy platform from socialist icons J.S. Woodsworth, Tommy Douglas and Karl Marx (all long dead).

“NDP 2026 (Engler’s platform) is a blast from the past with an eye on the future,” read the apocryphal blurb from Woodsworth.

McPherson told the National Post last week that she wouldn’t stand in the way of Engler jumping into the race.

“Mr. Engler can do what he does. I fundamentally disagree with him on a number of issues, but that’s neither here nor there. He can put his offer forward,” said McPherson in an interview.

Matthew McKenna, a spokesperson for Elections Canada, said that it wasn’t against the law for Engler to raise funds in advance of his candidacy being approved by the NDP.

“There’s nothing in the Canada Elections Act that prevents any individual from raising money for any reason,” said McKenna.

McKenna did caution that Engler could still face legal penalties for incorrectly reporting such contributions in his annual tax returns.

The donation page on Engler’s leadership website directs visitors to give via Interac e-Transfer, and clearly indicates that donations are not tax-deductible.

Donors must also attest that they’re Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

National Post rmohamed@postmedia.com

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