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WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called on NDP delegates Friday to focus on issues like affordability and health care and put off tackling bigger policy ideas until they form a government.
Kinew offered a simple piece of advice to the next leader of the federal NDP — concentrate on winning elections first.
“It’s important to be the conscience of Parliament. I don’t want to diminish that. That is very, very important,” Kinew said in his convention speech Friday.
“But here in Manitoba, we are showing you why winning matters. You can have a progressive economy. You can have better health care. You can stand up beyond the borders of a province of 1.5 million people and say, ‘This is who we are as Canadians.'”
Kinew is one of only two NDP premiers currently in office in Canada, and polls suggest his popularity is among the highest for provincial leaders.
His speech opened the party’s convention in Winnipeg on Friday, where about 2,000 delegates from across the country have assembled.
The main event will happen Sunday morning, when the new leader is announced. The candidates are union leader Rob Ashton, filmmaker and activist Avi Lewis, social worker Tanille Johnston, Alberta MP Heather McPherson and farmer Tony McQuail.
Rebuilding a federal party that was reduced to just seven seats in last year’s election has been the focus of the leadership race.
The next leader now faces an even tougher task after Nunavut MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor to join the Liberals two weeks ago, leaving the NDP with just six seats.
They also face some financial hurdles. Lucy Watson, the NDP president, told the convention on Friday the party is currently sitting at about $13 million in debt.
This, however, is down from $26 million in debt that the party carried after the 2025 election
Delegates will debate adopting a permanent political organizing model aimed at expanding the NDP’s presence in communities outside election cycles, and getting more resources to riding associations.
Matthew Green, a former Ontario NDP MP who lost his seat in 2025, said the party was the victim of bad timing in the last election, caught in a debate over which leader would be the best choice to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Green said the NDP’s message will resonate more in the next election campaign because working people are still being left behind.
“We have be able to have a process in which working class voices are actually represented at decision-making tables. That’s not the case right now,” Green told The Canadian Press at the convention.
“We have a Wall Street banker running our country as a CEO. And despite all of the rhetoric … wages are still stagnant, prices are still sky-high, and Canadians are still struggling to get by day to day. I think they’re waking up to that.”
Green did not endorse any of the leadership candidates. He said a winning strategy depends on building strong community connections and an enhanced volunteer base.
“When there’s an over-focus on the leader and this kind of cult of personality built around one person, I think it becomes very difficult for New Democrats to punch through,” Green said.
“But when people feel connected to the party where they live and when they’re building and developing leadership in their own communities, I think that’s where our processes of democracy are best.”
Many in the party have said they need to reconnect with their grassroots support in order to get back to recognized party status in the House of Commons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2026.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
