Lewis begins NDP leadership with Prairie tension and a big rebuilding task ahead

WINNIPEG — Avi Lewis starts his term as federal NDP leader with the daunting task of rebuilding the party in line with his unapologetically progressive vision — but he’s already facing resistance from the leadership of the Alberta and Saskatchewan parties.

Lewis’s energy and environmental policies have sparked pushback from Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck. In separate statements issued after Lewis’s win, they said the federal party’s position is out of touch with the reality of workers in their provinces.

Lewis campaigned on opposing new pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals and accelerating a “green new deal” that emphasizes investment in renewable power generation, electric buses and heat pumps for homes.

Beck said she would not meet with Lewis unless he changes his position on natural resource development.

Lewis said he wants to see both Nenshi and Beck become premiers of their respective provinces and his door will be open when they’re ready to talk.

“I do believe that hard conversations are necessary. I’m a person who actually welcomes them. I think that we need to have them,” Lewis told a Winnipeg press conference Monday.

But Lewis did not indicate he’s willing to budge on energy policy.

“We have run a seven-month campaign where the policy proposals were clear from Day 1,” he said. “We won the largest mandate for any NDP leadership race in history. We brought in tens of thousands of new members and we won a thumping victory on the first ballot, larger than any previous one in the one-member, one-vote era.

“We have a mandate from the members and I have a responsibility to be consistent with the ideas that brought those folks into the party and to support our campaign, and I’ll continue to do that.”

Asked about possibly meeting Lewis, Beck told reporters in Regina on Monday she stands by a letter she sent to him over the weekend in which she said she would be willing to meet if he reverses his positions on natural resource development.

“I have a calendar right now that doesn’t allow a lot of extra outside of all of what we’re doing here in Saskatchewan,” she said. “It was pretty clear in the letter, and I am laser-focused on the things that matter to Saskatchewan people.”

Nenshi, on the other hand, said he was willing to meet with Lewis.

“I can work with anybody — I can work with the Conservatives, I can work with the Liberals, I can work with the New Democrats — and our party is made up of people who share our values but also vote every possible way federally,” Nenshi told reporters Monday.

Nenshi released his own energy policy last week before the federal NDP vote over the weekend, which included expanded Trans Mountain pipeline capacity and revisiting projects such as the Energy East pipeline.

“I thought it was important for Albertans to remember that for many, many years now, the Alberta New Democrats and the federal New Democrats have not been fully aligned, particularly on energy policy,” he said.

Nenshi said the Alberta NDP adopted a policy that makes membership in the federal party optional when joining the provincial wing. He said he and thousands of others are only members of the Alberta NDP.

He said changing the provincial party’s name is still a consideration.

“I think Albertans are smart enough to understand that we are different and that we are an alternative for them as a government in waiting,” Nenshi said.

“But, ultimately, if the members of the party want to have that conversation … New Democrats are very, very good at having conversations within the party with people who may or may not agree with one another, and I’d be happy to have those conversations.”

In Winnipeg, Lewis said he had a good meeting Sunday with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, one of just two NDP premiers in Canada. Lewis said that while he and Kinew have differences of opinion on energy exports at the Port of Churchill, they can still work together.

“Whether it’s Churchill or somewhere else ends up being the destination for more oil and gas exports, that’s something that we in the federal NDP do not think serves Canadians. The energy economy is extremely unstable,” Lewis said.

“We think that we need to accelerate the transition to a more stable, secure and safe economy and a more independent Canadian economy, which actually means not shipping our raw resources elsewhere, but using Canadian materials to create good unionized Canadian jobs.”

Lewis won a first-ballot victory with about 56 per cent support, nearly doubling the vote count of the runner-up, Alberta MP Heather McPherson.

In the last NDP leadership contest in 2017, Jagmeet Singh won on the first ballot with 53.8 per cent of the vote.

Singh took the helm of the party after a disappointing electoral showing in 2015 — when the NDP went from official Opposition status and flirting with winning government to a third-place finish.

Lewis faces a more monumental rebuilding task. In the 2025 election, the NDP plummeted to just seven seats, five short of official party status — the worst showing in the party’s history.

The caucus is now down to six MPs after Lori Idlout crossed the floor to the Liberals earlier this month.

Lewis is also taking over a party deeply in debt. NDP officials said at the convention the party carries a $13-million debt.

His platform was built on what he called bold ideas, such as publicly run grocery stores and telecom companies, and opposition to new fossil fuel developments.

Lewis said he and the NDP federal caucus have decided that he won’t immediately seek a seat in the House of Commons and will instead focus on introducing himself to a broader swath of Canadians.

He said he accepts the “populist” label and looks forward to showing people what left-wing populism looks like.

“Right-wing populists imagine conspiracies of immigrants or Jews or a tiny class of puppeteers who control the world. Left-wing populists believe that capitalism concentrates wealth and power in the fewest hands,” Lewis said. “And we need policies and a response that actually responds to the needs of the 99 per cent of us.”

Lewis said no decisions have been made yet on caucus roles — including who will act as the NDP’s parliamentary lead in his stead.

It’s not uncommon for the NDP to choose a leader without a seat in the House of Commons. Singh became the party’s leader on Oct. 1, 2017, and did not become a member of Parliament until Feb. 25, 2019.

Lewis has run federally for the NDP twice. He lost in two Vancouver-area ridings in the 2021 and 2025 elections.

Lewis said that when he does decide to run again, it will be a joint decision with caucus.

“When the caucus and I feel that the party is at a point where I’m needed in the House of Commons, I will look for the first available winnable seat. And that moment is not now,” Lewis said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.

— With files from Jeremy Simes in Regina and Lisa Johnson in Edmonton

David Baxter, The Canadian Press