NDP leadership contenders pitch their vision to party membership at first forum

OTTAWA — The five official candidates for the federal NDP leadership met for the first time Wednesday night in Ottawa at a forum hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress.

Each candidate was given 10 minutes to introduce themselves to labour leaders and the broader party membership and outline why they should be the next NDP leader.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, conducted interviews with each candidate asking them about their message to workers, why they are running and what their Day 1 priority would be.

The friendly event was a lead-in for the first debate between the candidates, which was formally announced for Nov. 27 in Montreal.

Rob Ashton

Rob Ashton, a 30-year dockworker and president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, said he is looking to rebuild trust with working-class people and elect NDP MPs in ridings they haven’t historically done well in.

“Somewhere along the lines, we lost their trust, and we have to go into places where we might be uncomfortable going into, to have uncomfortable, hard conversations with Canadian,” Ashton told forum attendees.

Ashton said that if he becomes leader, Day 1 will involve getting together with electoral district associations and letting local organizers tell leadership what they think is wrong with the party, which suffered its worst electoral outcome in April.

“They’re going to be hard conversations. They’re going to be tough conversations but they’re conversations that have to be had. That’s Day 1, probably Day 2 too,” Ashton said.

Part of Ashton’s campaign is tapping into working-class anger about having a hard time keeping up with the cost of living, and saying Liberals and Conservatives aren’t doing enough to help.

“We’re in a class war. It’s the ruling class versus the working class. We all have to understand that, we have to be loud about it. We’ve got to rally the troops,” Ashton said.

Heather McPherson

Heather McPherson brings the most parliamentary experience to the table, serving as the Edmonton Strathcona MP since 2019.

She said people need to see that the NDP has solutions for cost-of-living challenges and build stronger local riding associations if they want to regain their political footing.

“There’s a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done. So that so the New Democrats are able to fight the fight that we need to be fighting for Canadians right now,” she said.

She said this rebuilding involves developing a co-ordinated effort with current caucus members, provincial NDP branches, labour leaders and local riding associations to build a strong organizing base for all candidates.

“I don’t need to win with 62 per cent of the vote. I need to get more New Democrats elected. We need to win more seats,” McPherson said. “We need to get more people elected as New Democrats because when more New Democrats win, that’s how we actually make change for Canadians.”

When asked about her proudest parliamentary achievements, McPherson said the list includes “fundamentally changing the conversation about the genocide in Gaza,” and tabling a bill on establishing a national ADHD framework for Canada alongside her son.

Tony McQuail

Tony McQuail, an organic farmer in Huron County, Ont., said he knows he’s the “underdog” in the leadership race and is fine with being told he probably won’t win.

McQuail said he wants to build a coalition of parties, including the NDP and Green Party, with the goal of not opposing each other in elections in order to get more progressive MPs elected.

“For democracy to work at its best, everybody has to be at the table,” McQuail said. “But we haven’t been doing that. We’ve been stuck in the corporate capitalist consumer society because that’s what serves the elites.”

McQuail said society needs to shift away from a consumer-driven economy and toward one that focuses on ecological sustainability.

“We have to make wise and sensible transition programs, because jobs are going to disappear and disappear no matter what we do,” he said. “But we can either do it with effective planning and support, or we can just throw people under the bus.”

McQuail said he believes this can be accomplished by setting up a cross-party progressive voter coalition to get more disillusioned people involved in politics.

Avi Lewis

Avi Lewis, a journalist, activist and documentary filmmaker, said if he adds NDP leader to his lengthy resumé, he will bring forward big ideas to solve affordability challenges.

This included introducing publicly owned grocery stores and telecommunication companies to a marketplace he said is controlled by a handful of private companies.

“We provoked a debate on this subject. Not everybody agrees, but I think the NDP has got to be moving forward ideas, not just the right words,” Lewis said.

“It is a time of desperation when fascism is rising, not just in the authoritarian government south of the border, but around the world. And the seeds are planted in economic desperation that the system is creating.”

Lewis said the party can reconnect with voters by offering straight talk and tapping into the public consciousness the way right-wing politicians have successfully done.

“Authenticity is actually working in politics right now, but we’re seeing that authenticity on the far other side,” Lewis said.

Tanille Johnston

Tanille Johnston, a social worker and Campbell River, B.C., city councillor, said the NDP needs to be a place where people see themselves as welcome in order to rebuild.

If chosen as leader, Johnston said she would do away with party membership fees in order to make the NDP open to everyone.

“If we want more people to come to the table, open up the door, arguably put in a ramp, widen it, make it super accessible so that we can have all people welcome at the NDP table,” she said.

Inclusion was central to Johnston’s message at the forum and she said people have to be able to see themselves in the party in order to support it.

“If you can’t see yourself in that leader as a student, as a minority, as a person that maybe identifies as an equity group or anything other than your average Canadian, you need to be able to see yourself in our party,” she said.

Johnston said she’s made accessibility a central part of her time in politics, working with Elections Canada in the last election to ensure there were ballot boxes in all remote First Nations communities in the North Island—Powell River riding.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press