Critics warn Bill C-22 risks weakening cybersecurity as telecommunications firms and other service providers could be legally obligated to store Canadian users’ metadata for up to a year. But the public safety minister says some tech firms are ‘misinterpreting’ the bill, and that ‘safeguards’ are written in.
Rachel Notley’s watching Danielle Smith make bold deals with the federal Liberal government to help develop Alberta’s energy sector, the same sort of deals Notley tried but failed to make. But she was just the victim of cold political calculations.
Leadership is in Avi Lewis’ family’s DNA, but leadership requires taking risks. Contesting Beaches-East York might seem risky, but there are really no downsides. Diefenbaker and Douglas proved it. Lewis’ grandfather discovered it after losing his first attempt at getting elected to Parliament in 1940. Lewis should go for it.
The NDP’s massive loss in last year’s election might prove to be a blessing. Now, with nothing left to defend, the NDP can go on the attack.
Personal data should not be weaponized to squeeze more money out of people who are already stretched thin.
Amidst spiralling inequality and the unprecedented threat of Trump, working Canadians need an NDP ready to fight for their interests, not each other.
NDP MP Heather McPherson says the government’s failure to expedite these applications is ‘an international embarrassment.’
Unless the NDP can find some ‘superstar candidate,’ then they have ‘zero chance’ of holding the riding once five-time MP Alexandre Boulerice steps down, says Liberal strategist Jonathan Kalles.
With ongoing momentum and the Conservative and NDP vote collapse in Terrebonne, pollster Greg Lyle says the Liberals have a good shot at winning in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, a riding represented by the same NDP MP for the last 15 years.
Despite the defeat of their motion to ban surveillance pricing, the NDP has kicked over a dormant hornet’s nest of affordability issues.
Battling against Avi Lewis will also help conservative premiers, such as Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Ontario’s Doug Ford. Whether federal or provincial, nothing excites conservative bases more than fighting the hard left.
Most voters cast their ballot based on their views of the party or its leader. It’s deluded for an MP to think it is the magnetism of their personality, rather than their party affiliation, that brought them to and keeps them in Ottawa.
A truly populist message of policies that would benefit the working class could reshuffle the Canadian political landscape.
Avi Lewis is unlikely to become prime minister any time soon. But the new NDP leader wants to urgently jump-start our transition from oil to green technologies with the new revenues and jobs they promise. Pragmatist-in-chief, Prime Minister Mark Carney, made similar arguments before he became a politician. These are not ‘crazy’ ideas.
Canadians generally like to govern from the centre. Most electoral victories have been precipitated by the winning leader showing balance and moderation. Lewis’ victory was not based on moderation, but on exploding the status quo.
Canada made a deal in 2023 for American defence contractor Lockheed Martin to supply 88 F-35 aircraft to replace its aging CF-18 fleet at a projected cost of $19-billion. That cost later increased to more than $27-billion. However, in March 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of that deal amid deteriorating bilateral relations with the U.S.
The NDP’s ‘one member, one vote’ system raises questions about accountability and whether Lewis voters will ‘stick around’ in the party beyond his leadership, says professor Lori Turnbull.
‘New Democratic Party’ is cumbersome to say and write, and is almost inevitably reduced to an acronym, which presents differently in English and French. A rebrand is in order to help reset public perception.
The NDP leader is pushing for ‘a public network for food, phones, and internet.’ Political dynamics will make it hard to achieve, say politicos, and even those fighting for a more accessible industry wonder if the idea is realistic.
As long as these Pierre Poilievre-driven dynamics remain in place, the NDP seems destined to be squeezed out in two-party Liberal-Conservative contests.
If Avi Lewis were to lead the NDP to power, his policies would make him the most radical leftist prime minister in Canada in decades, maybe ever.
The mocking responses of the Establishment to Avi Lewis’ win belie their divorce from the realities of Canadians not in their socioeconomic class.
Reversing the party’s decline won’t come from better rebranding. The new leader must reconnect with workers, confront populism, and restore political purpose.
The NDP elected Avi Lewis to lead the party through its next chapter on March 29 in Winnipeg.
The self-described democratic socialist is pledging party unity, but fissures are already apparent as Alberta and Saskatchewan NDP leaders quickly criticized the new leader’s position on fossil fuels.
