Tammy Robert: The NDP has to pick a leader, and a direction

The cast of characters vying for the NDP's leadership demonstrates just how unresolved the party’s identity crisis really is.

By: Tammy Robert

The New Democratic Party stands at a crossroads.

Again.

It feels different this time. Almost like it’s about to determine whether it can or even should survive as a meaningful force in Canadian politics.

This past weekend’s Saskatchewan NDP convention in Saskatoon provided a fascinating window into this transformation and the growing influence of western Canada’s political machinery on its federal parent’s future. With more than 600 delegates in attendance and a new, rather odd mantra of “government-in-waiting” since their near-miss in the 2024 provincial election, the Saskatchewan NDP is reportedly enjoying a surge in donations. It also seems to be displaying something like the desire to live, a feeling which it has not seen from its membership in years.

But while some provincial NDP parties are showing signs of health, things are much more uncertain at the federal level.

As the federal NDP prepares for its March 2026 leadership convention following its worst electoral defeat in history, only two clear figures have emerged to embody competing visions for the future: Edmonton MP Heather McPherson, the NDP establishment’s standard-bearer, and climate activist Avi Lewis, the progressive left’s chosen champion. Together with B.C. labour leader Rob Ashton, and Tanille Johnston, a municipal elected official from Vancouver Island and the first Indigenous woman to seek the NDP leadership, all four declared federal NDP leadership candidates campaigned hard at the Saskatchewan convention. But Lewis and McPherson seem the early favourites, and it’s not close.

Saskatchewan is playing an outsized role in the race. Three of the four federal leadership candidates have campaign managers with significant Saskatchewan ties, including McPherson advisor George Soule, a former Saskatchewan NDP chief of staff, and Ashton campaign manager Deanna Ogle, a former provincial party vice-president who quit in protest of what she claimed was the “undermining” of then-provincial leader Ryan Meili.

The race itself is critical for the future of the party. In a recent piece for The Line, Mitch Heimpel nailed the broader picture when he asked, “Are they the party of the union hall or the faculty lounge? Because trying to be both stopped working.”

That’s the central tension threading through this entire leadership race, and if anything, its cast of characters demonstrates just how unresolved the party’s identity crisis really is.

McPherson, surrounded by influential advisers including former Alberta premier Rachel Notley and veteran strategist Brian Topp, represents continuity with the NDP’s traditional labour-focused, western Canadian foundation. McPherson’s political trajectory is a textbook example of traditional NDP values translated into modern electoral success. The 52-year-old Edmonton native has won three consecutive elections in Alberta’s most progressive federal riding. She even supported the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion — a position that puts her highly at odds with environmental activists in her party, but aligns with western Canada’s economic realities.

If Ashton drops off the ballot early in the process, campaign insiders have indicated to me that they feel his support would flow to McPherson, further consolidating the western vote.

Lewis, grandson of NDP founder David Lewis and husband to author Naomi Klein, embodies the party’s desire to capture the imagination of urban progressives and young voters who view climate action as the defining issue of their generation. The 57-year-old filmmaker and climate activist entered politics as an outsider, losing consecutive federal campaigns in two of British Columbia’s wealthier ridings before positioning himself as a leadership contender. His Dipper pedigree runs deep but his approach represents a sharp departure from his family’s pragmatic political tradition. His collaboration with pop culture political figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez positions him as a face of international youth progressive activism.

For young NDPers, who view incremental change as insufficient to address anything right now, Lewis offers the promise of the transformational politics they feel are necessary to meet the scale of today’s geopolitical challenges. But his inexperience shows; reports from convention attendees say that as Lewis made his way through the convention centre, as part of his spiel he highlighted his co-authorship of the Leap Manifesto as evidence of his ability to build consensus.

That’s stunning. He was speaking to members of a provincial party that nearly imploded in part over that manifesto. Has he forgotten?

When asked, Lewis also stated, from the front of the room, that he doesn’t support the mission of Reclaim the NDP — a fledgling project urging NDP members to reroute donations away from the federal party and back into the grassroots engine of local electoral districts.

The geographic and demographic tensions within the NDP’s federal leadership race reflect broader challenges facing centre-left parties across Western democracies. What are they for? Who do they serve? The federal party’s challenge lies in reconciling western pragmatism (McPherson) against the expectations of eastern urban progressives (Lewis) who view the NDP as insufficiently radical compared to grassroots movements on climate change, housing, and economic inequality elsewhere.

This tension reflects a deeper truth about western Canadian political culture that all candidates will need to navigate. Western Canadian New Democrats tend to function more like tree-hugging, somewhat schizophrenic conservatives: environmentally conscious but fiscally pragmatic, suspicious of Ottawa but committed to activist government, progressive on social issues but protective of resource-based economic opportunities.

Some might consider these positions conflicting. Hypocritical, even. But it is the party, as it exists today. The choice facing New Democrats will answer a fundamental question about the party’s purpose in contemporary Canadian politics. Retreating to its Western Canadian roots and focusing on practical opposition work seems like the more plausible pathway, but if there’s one thing Canadian Dippers know how to do well, it’s aim high.

The answers to these questions will be delivered, not in March 2026’s NDP convention hall, but in the years of political combat that follow on Parliament Hill. What we know for sure is that the New Democratic Party that emerges from this leadership contest will look much different from the one that entered it, whether as a renewed political force capable of challenging government… or as a cautionary tale about the perils of ideological complexity, if not confusion, in modern-day Canada.

Tammy Robert is a Saskatchewan-based public relations expert, political blogger, and commentator known for her analysis of Saskatchewan politics and governance. She is the author of Our Sask and has contributed commentary to CBC, Maclean’s, and various media and publications.

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