Avi Lewis wins NDP leadership, will lead party into uncertain future

WINNIPEG — Left-wing firebrand Avi Lewis cruised to a first-ballot victory as the results of the NDP leadership vote were announced on Sunday morning.

Lewis — an unapologetic eco-socialist running on a sweeping platform of public ownership and decarbonization — finished with 39,734 of 70,930 first-round votes. Edmonton NDP MP Heather McPherson finished a distant second with 20,899 votes.

Lewis promised to uphold party unity in his victory speech.

“Folks, this is a momentous result. But even more momentous is the unity of our party,” said Lewis.

Lewis invited his four fellow leadership candidates and the six members of the party’s federal caucus to join him onstage in his first official act as leader.

Social worker Tanille Johnston, labour union leader Rob Ashton and organic farmer Tony McQuail rounded out the field, with 5,159, 4,193 and 945 votes, respectively.

Sunday’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after a pro-Lewis slate swept NDP executive elections , putting the Lewis-led democratic-socialist wing in near-total control of party infrastructure.

While Lewis has never held elective office — running federally for the NDP in British Columbia in 2021 and 2025, and finishing third both times — he was the clear favourite heading into this weekend’s leadership convention in Winnipeg. He raised an impressive $1.4-million in donations through the six-month campaign, an NDP leadership race record and more than the other four competitors combined.

Lewis’s big win throws the NDP’s traditional voting coalition into flux. The worker-focused party has historically punched above its weight in resource communities with high concentrations of blue-collar labourers. Lewis’s campaign pitch to phase out fossil fuels and transition hundreds of thousands of resource workers into the “green” jobs of the future will no doubt be a tough sell in these places.

Lewis has acknowledged as much at campaign events.

“‘Transition’ is the last word workers hear before they get fired,” goes one oft-repeated line in Lewis’s stump speech.

The result also puts into question the federal NDP’s longstanding ties to its provincial sections, especially the provincial NDP parties in the four western provinces, which are all either in government or the official opposition.

Unlike the other Canadian parties, the NDP has a federated structure formally affiliating the national party with its provincial wings. Members of the Alberta NDP voted overwhelmingly at the party’s convention last year to allow provincial members to opt out of joining the federal party.

Likely in anticipation of Lewis’s win, Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi released a new energy platform on Friday, promising to back the construction of new heavy oil pipelines and the development of natural gas.

When the UCP government creates chaos, Albertans are the ones left paying for it. It’s time to show Albertans, and the rest of the country, what our energy sector can look like under strong, steady, competent leadership. It’s time to build Alberta’s energy future. ⬇️…

— Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) March 27, 2026

Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew had a clear message for the federal NDP in convention-opening remarks on Friday: “Winning matters.”

Veteran NDP strategist Jordan Leichnitz said she’s not sure where, on the electoral map, Lewis will be able to pick up seats with his brand of anti-establishment protest politics.

“Avi has certainly generated enthusiasm, but it’s not totally clear how his brand of movement politics will translate into seats in a first-past-the-post system,” said Leichnitz.

All five leadership candidates took the convention stage on Saturday night in support of a resolution to change Canada’s electoral system to proportional representation.

Lewis is expected to speak to the media on Monday.

National Post rmohamed@postmedia.com

• Avi Lewis vows to unify NDP but stands by attacks on Mulcair, former Alberta minister
• Avi Lewis could be set for a big NDP leadership win, but remains polarizing within the party

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