Avi Lewis Elected NDP Leader On First Ballot In Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada’s New Democratic Party elected documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis as its leader on the first ballot on Sunday, ending a leadership race that Radio-Canada says lasted six months and concluded with a conference in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba.

Radio-Canada reports that the party’s chief elections officer said about 71,000 members cast their votes, and that Lewis received 39,734 votes, about 56% of the total votes cast.

Democracy Now!

The same Radio-Canada account says Member of Parliament Heather McPherson finished second with 20,899 votes (29% of total votes), followed by social worker Taniel Johnston with 5,159 votes (7%), then labor leader Rob Ashton with 4,193 votes, and farmer Tony MacNeill with 945 votes.

Radio-Canada adds that Lewis is 58 years old, born in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, where he grew up and studied, and a resident of British Columbia on the Pacific coast.

Democracy Now! describes Lewis as “the new head of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party,” elected “in a landslide last month,” and says the NDP has only five seats in Parliament.

Democracy Now! also frames the moment as part of a broader political shift, saying Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a majority for his Liberal government following three special elections in April.

In the same Democracy Now! segment, Lewis acknowledges that “the NDP has a lot of rebuilding to do,” while arguing there is “wide-open political space” in Canada for a populist left-wing agenda.

The leadership win comes after what Radio-Canada describes as “catastrophic results” for the NDP in the last general elections in April, when the Liberal Party of Canada formed a minority government and the NDP won only 7 seats out of 343 in the House of Commons.

Radio-Canada says then-leader Jagmeet Singh lost his seat and resigned, and that the number of NDP MPs fell to 6 earlier this month after one of its MPs representing Nunavut joined the governing Liberal Party.

Radio-Canada

In the same Radio-Canada account, Lewis’s victory is described as a “turning point” because it places the NDP as the third opposition party in the House of Commons in terms of number of MPs.

SNRTnews similarly says the NDP was the “biggest loser” in the latest parliamentary elections won by Liberals led by Mark Carney, and that the NDP won only seven seats in Parliament compared with 24 seats in 2021.

SNRTnews adds that the party suffered another setback after MP Lori Idlott decided to join the Liberal Party, and it says it is likely the NDP will lose one more seat soon as Montreal MP Alexandre Bouleris intends to run in the regional elections representing the Québec Solidaire party.

Democracy Now! ties the party’s struggle to a wider political environment, saying last year Canada’s Liberal Party “soared in popularity” as President Trump intensified threats to make Canada the 51st state and impose tariffs.

Democracy Now! also says Lewis takes over as the NDP has only five seats in Parliament, and it places the leadership moment alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney’s majority after three special elections in April.

Democracy Now! presents Lewis’s leadership as rooted in a democratic socialist platform that aims to prioritize affordability, address the climate crisis, and fight “the Trump administration’s attacks on Canada.”

“March 31, 2026 - 9:23 AM The film director captured about 56 percent of the votes, in an election that saw roughly 71,000 party members participate”

SNRTnews

The program says Lewis was elected “in a landslide last month,” and it quotes him saying, “I think young people in particular are really responding to a vision where life just doesn’t have to be so grindingly unfair,” adding, “We need nonmarket solutions to a time of market failure.”

Radio-Canada reports that under Lewis’s leadership the party will push for “clear left-wing policies,” including “establishing state-owned grocery stores run by the government,” while also noting that the party base is calling for change after the April general elections.

In the same Radio-Canada account, Lewis’s victory speech says Canada needs “a government that works for the majority, not for money,” and it says he looks forward to speaking with BC NDP Premier David Eby upon his return to the province.

Democracy Now! also places Lewis’s personal history at the center of the moment, saying he is a longtime activist and filmmaker whose late father Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP in the 1970s.

Democracy Now! further says Stephen Lewis was “a human rights advocate, broadcaster, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and special U.N. envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa,” and it states that Stephen Lewis died of cancer at the age of 88, just two days after Avi's election victory.

In a memorial context, Democracy Now! quotes Avi Lewis saying, “the last thing he saw with open eyes in this life was our victory in that race and the passing of the political torch.”

While the NDP leadership race concluded in Winnipeg, Democracy Now! describes the political backdrop in Ottawa as Prime Minister Mark Carney securing a majority for his Liberal government following three special elections in April.

The program says it is in Toronto that it speaks with Avi Lewis, and it frames the moment as occurring after President Trump intensified threats to make Canada the 51st state and impose tariffs.

Radio-Canada

Democracy Now! includes a video message released by Prime Minister Carney, quoting him saying, “Security can’t be achieved by ignoring the obvious or downplaying the very real threats that we Canadians face.”

Carney’s message continues with a description that “The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” and it lists industries “in autos, in steel, in lumber” as workers being “under threat.”

Democracy Now! also quotes Carney saying, “Businesses are holding back investments, restrained by the pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us,” and it says Canada Strong is “our plan to build Canada by Canadians for Canadians.”

Radio-Canada’s account of the NDP leadership does not quote Carney directly, but it situates the NDP’s electoral context in April when the Liberal Party of Canada formed a minority government and the NDP won only 7 seats out of 343.

SNRTnews similarly ties the NDP’s defeat to elections won by Liberals led by Mark Carney, and it says the NDP won only seven seats in Parliament compared with 24 seats in 2021.

The sources converge on Avi Lewis’s election as NDP leader, but they emphasize different angles of the same political story.

“- Home - Policy - Federal Policy New Democratic Party members elected documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis as the leader of their left-leaning party on the first ballot today, Sunday”

Radio-Canada

Radio-Canada foregrounds the mechanics of the vote, stating that “about 71,000 members cast their votes” and that Lewis received “39,734 votes, about 56% of the total votes cast,” while also listing the vote totals for Heather McPherson, Taniel Johnston, Rob Ashton, and Tony MacNeill.

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! instead foregrounds the political meaning and the personal narrative, describing Lewis as “the new head of Canada’s progressive New Democratic Party,” quoting his views on “nonmarket solutions,” and centering the death of his father Stephen Lewis, who “died of cancer at the age of 88.”

SNRTnews highlights a different framing of the party’s trajectory, calling the NDP “the biggest loser” in the latest parliamentary elections and saying the party recently suffered another setback after MP Lori Idlott decided to join the Liberal Party.

SNRTnews also says it is likely the NDP will lose one more seat soon because Montreal MP Alexandre Bouleris intends to run in the regional elections representing the Québec Solidaire party, a detail not present in the Democracy Now! or Radio-Canada accounts provided here.

Radio-Canada describes Lewis’s leadership as a “turning point” and says he will push for “clear left-wing policies,” including “state-owned grocery stores,” while also noting differences between the federal NDP and provincial NDPs in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Democracy Now! similarly describes Lewis’s platform as democratic socialist and says he vows to prioritize affordability and address the climate crisis, while also quoting him about “wide-open political space” for a populist left-wing agenda.

Looking ahead, the sources describe both policy direction and political constraints for the NDP under Avi Lewis.

Radio-Canada says Lewis’s victory speech included that Canada needs “a government that works for the majority, not for money,” and it adds that he looks forward to speaking with BC NDP Premier David Eby upon his return to the province, as well as with other provincial NDP leaders whom he described as premiers-in-the-making.

Radio-Canada also says Lewis did not disclose specific policy measures, but it reports that he acknowledged differences between his federal party and the provincial NDP parties, including differences between the federal NDP and the NDPs in Alberta and Saskatchewan regarding energy policies.

Democracy Now! portrays Lewis’s agenda as a democratic socialist platform that vowed to prioritize affordability, address the climate crisis, and fight “the Trump administration’s attacks on Canada,” while also quoting him saying “I think young people in particular are really responding” to a vision where life “doesn’t have to be so grindingly unfair.”

Democracy Now! also quotes Lewis saying, “We need nonmarket solutions to a time of market failure,” and it frames his leadership as taking over when “the NDP has a lot of rebuilding to do,” with only five seats in Parliament.

SNRTnews adds a political risk dimension by saying the NDP recently suffered another setback after MP Lori Idlott decided to join the Liberal Party, and it says it is likely the NDP will lose one more seat soon as Montreal MP Alexandre Bouleris intends to run in regional elections representing the Québec Solidaire party.

In parallel, Democracy Now! presents Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government as having “more latitude to advance his political agenda” after special elections, and it quotes Carney describing threats from the U.S. trade approach and listing “autos, in steel, in lumber” as industries where workers are “under threat.”