The NDP elected filmmaker and activist Avi Lewis to be its new leader at the national convention on Sunday. Lewis takes leadership after the NDP lost official party status in the 2025 federal election and a poll by Abacus Data revealed that 52 per cent of Canadians do not see the NDP as relevant in today’s politics.
Upon being elected, Lewis said he would use the momentum of the convention to build an NDP comeback.
Unions and workers continue to have a stake in the NDP as it is regarded by 51 per cent of NDP voters as the party of the working class, according to the Angus Reid Institute.
Ahead of the NDP leadership vote, a number of unions endorse International Longshore Workers Union leader Rob Ashton. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), United Steelworkers (USW) and MoveUP all voiced their support for Ashton over the course of the race. The national body of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) did not endorse any NDP leadership candidate but some of its provincial divisions had also spoken out in support of Ashton.
In the end, Ashton secured only 5.9 per cent of the vote placing him in fourth after Avi Lewis, Heather McPherson and Tanille Johnston.
READ MORE: Avi Lewis gave a powerful victory speech but lack of French is his Achilles heel
While Ashton, backed by a number of labour organizations, did not win, unions are still looking forward to meeting with Lewis in an effort to advance labour interests on Parliament Hill. Bea Bruske, leader of Canada’s largest labour organization, met with Lewis a day after he became leader to discuss union priorities.
Bruske, representing the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), met with Lewis in Elmwood-Transcona, a working-class riding the NDP lost to the Conservatives in the previous election. Bruske said she spoke with Lewis about what is needed to rebuild trust with communities like Elmwood-Transcona.
“Workers need immediate, tangible, practical solutions that protect their jobs and make their lives more affordable,” Bruske said in a statement. “We are in a jobs crisis, losing private sector jobs to the Trump trade war and public sector jobs to government cuts. We agreed that the NDP must fight for jobs in every sector of the economy. The party of workers must be the party of good jobs.”
The labour movement saw some disappointments at this year’s NDP convention. Unions had also put forward leaders to run for NDP executive committee leadership. Laurie Antonin of the Canadian Labour Congress was running for VP and Susanne Skidmore ran for re-election as treasurer. Both lost their election. The only union member who won their bid for the executive committee was Keira Gunn, a labour researcher who is now treasurer.
Despite this, union leaders are keeping their focus on the future and are booking at how to work with the NDP to advance workers’ interests.
Lana Payne, national president of Canada’s largest private sector union, said she looks forward to also meeting with Lewis. For Unifor, a political priority continues to be protecting Canadian jobs.
“Workers across the country, including Unifor members, have lived through a year of volatility and job loss thanks to U.S. imposed tariffs. We need bold leadership ready to fight for all of Canada’s workers,” Payne said in an email to rabble.ca. “Our union looks forward to sharing our plans to Protect Canadian Jobs with newly-elected NDP Leader Avi Lewis and invite all political leaders to defend worker’s rights and take steps to build a strong industrial economy in Canada.”
Mark Hancock, leader of CUPE, said he looks forward to working with the NDP to defend the rights of workers, build public services and Canada’s social safety net.
“We need to remove Section 107 from the Canada Labour Code immediately. We need to fight like hell to stop the sell-off of public health care in this country, which the Prime Minister is allowing to happen in Ontario and Alberta,” he wrote in a message to rabble.ca. “It’s a big challenge ahead for us but it’s the work our movement was built for, working alongside our allies in the NDP.”
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