A Political Instrument of the People
Avi Lewis for NDP Leader

The NDP has a rich history and a special place in the story of Canada. By organizing to win universal public healthcare and many other programs essential to Canadian life, we have played an outsized role in shaping our country's very identity. But at an all-time low in our electoral fortunes federally, this leadership race is rightly focused on how we come back – starting with recovering party status and then building back our ability to contest for power nationally.

Our campaign believes that none of this is possible if we don't learn the right lessons from our history, re-energize our tradition of member-based organizing, and add new base-building strategies to become a true mass movement party. A political instrument of the people.

Organizing Is How We Build Power and Win

How we aspire to win is everything. As NDPers, we pride ourselves on a culture of door-knocking, phone calling and voter contact. But over the years, that culture has not retained its urgency, scale, or effectiveness. In a 21st century data-driven electoral environment, we need new tools – infused by some of that old fire for hand-to-hand, heart-to-heart organizing. Even more necessary, in a time of rising fascism, is the need for many, many more humans working for change. That means that just identifying our vote and turning it out at election time is not enough.

To win we must become a mass movement; anchored by 343 Electoral District Associations, providing solutions required to address constant overlapping crises. We need to empower our EDAs so that they are embedded in year-round local community organizing. Together we must build a movement that outlasts leadership changes and works long-term, towards our common purpose.

While our party faces profound challenges, we are also blessed by the opportunity to begin anew. By re-structuring internally, shifting power to our members and affiliates, and shifting the horizon of what is politically possible, we can transform our party into a year-round organizing machine from coast-to-coast-to-coast. One that can do today what the NDP has done at its best throughout our history: win changes that transform the lives of Canadians for the long term.

Make Membership Matter

The NDP's power comes from dedicated members who turn out every election, or year-round, to knock on doors, make calls for local candidates, and donate whatever they can.

Yet, too often, these core members of our party have felt undervalued and underutilized, asked to show up, often with very little support while facing barriers to share feedback, understand decisions, and access resources — especially in regions where the NDP hasn't had success in years.

To grow our party, we need to build trust again. And to do that, we need to trust the party's grassroots first, and let them lead our party from the ground up.

Cultivate local leadership

Canada's regional diversity means strategies must be locally driven. EDAs will have more freedom to adapt party priorities and policies, develop messaging that resonates in their communities, and identify organizing approaches that work locally. EDAs need to be supported by the Central Party to identify, map, and build power in their own ways.

We will empower local leaders to shape how local campaigns are organized. We will provide tools and training that develop leadership among local volunteers, to do everything from reviving EDAs to door knocking to organizing year-round, to running for roles on Council or Executive, or becoming a candidate or campaign manager.

Transparency and accountability at the centre

Members need to be able to trust the central party office to be open, transparent, and accountable. Local organizers need up-to-date information on party priorities, organizer and EDA directories, training resources, and Federal Council discussions. To make the NDP a truly member-driven party of the 99%, we will urgently break down communication and information bottlenecks that keep members in the dark.

Our party is run on donations and membership fees, and members deserve financial accountability around how the resources that fuel our collective power are being used. Through rigorous oversight and transparent reporting to the Federal Council, we can uphold integrity, responsibility, and sound financial management that is transparent around how resources are allocated.

Update our organizing toolbox

We will update our organizing toolkit for the digital age by equipping members and volunteers with secure and innovative tools for outreach and engagement. We will renew the Mobilize portal as a year-round member engagement and connection tool that can act as a central hub for information about the party, how it is structured, what the priorities are, and how members can grow into leaders.

Mobilize should include everything from the NDP Constitution to the Organizational Chart that demystifies the party's structure and invites deeper engagement for members. Federal Council meeting minutes, reports from party leadership, regional resources, training tools, and contact information for leaders across the country that can support year-round organizing efforts will be readily available, alongside opportunities to check membership status and donation history, and download tax receipts.

Unleash the potential of Commissions

Despite the NDP's explicit and longstanding commitment to inclusivity, we still hear from members of equity-deserving communities that they feel powerless when they raise concerns with party leadership. We think a meaningful response to this is to strengthen the power and influence of Commissions. Commissions present an important, untapped potential for NDP members across the country who can organize around shared identities, experiences, and issues – including women, queer, gender-diverse, disabled, racialized and Indigenous communities.

Particularly in ridings with fewer members, Commissions offer connection and solidarity across regions. They deserve more power and visibility within the party.

Commission chairs will be provided with onboarding, recruitment, and retention support including resources and training to support their independent and effective coordination. We will support each Commission in bringing tangible goals and recommendations to the party. We will amplify their priorities by providing plenary opportunities at convention and accountability mechanisms to ensure their recommendations and demands inform plans of action.

Finally, in this spirit, and as advocates in the disability community and members of the Persons Living With Disability Committee have called for, we will prioritize making conventions truly accessible to all.

Fundraising as political action, not extraction

Behind every donation to the NDP is a person who believes in this political project enough to fund it. To regain party status and rebuild an NDP capable of winning against parties backed by the rich and powerful, we cannot only ask for money, we must show people why it matters.

Our fundraising culture must be transformed into collective, mission-critical, collaborative work. Rather than subjecting donors to endless and content-free fundraising emails, we will share our vision to mobilize and inspire hope and confidence, offer ways to engage, and turn contributions into participation. We will diversify fundraising strategies, train and mobilize skilled fundraisers across the country, and introduce fundraising-specific training. By linking all contributions to the growth of our collective power through a mix of in-person and digital connection, education, and mobilization, fundraising can become a tool for expanding our base, strengthening our connections within the party, and fuelling collective action.

Resource organizing where it's happening

Powerful organizing emerges when resources and people come together. Organizing requires financial resources, and every dollar raised strengthens our collective ability to connect, engage, show up in our communities, and build power.

Right now, across the country, EDAs are at differing stages of building towards what's possible, and require different levels of resources. Our union partners at CUPE have shown us the tremendous potential of strategic resource allocation towards organizing where people are ready with their cost-sharing campaigns, like their successful "Unpaid Work Won't Fly" campaign. We will introduce cost-sharing grants for EDAs that apply with clear, achievable goals that contribute to effective organizing. These will be available to all EDAs and overseen by a committee that includes members of Federal Council.

Lead with ideas

The NDP is strongest when we lead with our ideas: the story we tell about the challenges we face and the solutions we need. That's what ignites and mobilizes our base, that's what brings new people into the party, and that is how we win.

The wisdom, expertise, and advocacy of our members is our greatest resource as a party, but currently, the only way to bring new ideas forward is through a contorted process at convention. Conventions should genuinely set the major strategic and policy priorities of the party. Policy development would then not be determined exclusively by the leader's office or small circles around it, but be far more inclusive – drawing on the expertise of MPs and staff, labour unions, social movements, progressive think tanks, and members with specialized knowledge or lived experience.

We will create more opportunities to debate policy regularly between conventions, to adapt to emerging issues and stay attuned to shifting political realities. One example could be a bi-annual online policy forum (hosted by the party in non-convention years) that features facilitated debates on major policy areas. This would inform, stimulate and broaden the perspectives available to members on issues of the day outside the formal resolution process at convention. These events would include trainings on how to bring resolutions to convention and turn policy passion into concrete proposals.

Ongoing policy development will be reported back at convention and fuel the formal resolution process. Following conventions, the updated Policy Book will be made widely accessible, and will support and inform planning on our election platforms. By decentralizing decisions, developing leadership, and trusting EDAs as community organizing hubs, our party can build a much bigger tent for the NDP – a party for the 99%.

Build Power to Win Change and Elections

Implement year-round organizing

Our power is rooted in people. To compete with our political opponents, our party needs to prioritize organizing and training.

A permanent, year-round campaign strategy means our party will consistently work alongside EDAs to organize ongoing outreach. They will have open and clear access to canvassing materials, engaging trainings, and channels to central organizers available to assist in these efforts. Between elections, we will continuously find new ways to improve our organizing strategy, tactics, and digital tools.

Build a culture of deep organizing

We will build a culture of deep organizing that develops member-to-member outreach and one-to-one contact that reaches and persuades people well beyond the ranks of committed NDP activists and voters. This is built on structured conversations, identification of local issues, and community participation to bring a true majority into collective action. We will do this through leadership identification and development, organizing trainings, and setting clear targets and metrics for success that our party organizers will be accountable to achieving.

Invest in political education

Our predecessor party, the CCF, made political education central to its work, recognizing that it could not transform Canada without developing the political and organizational understanding of its members and the broader working class majority.

We will invest in ongoing and accessible education for all members, covering everything from history, the ideas of democratic socialism, to practical organizing skills. This could include workshops, policy forums, online resources, or even reading groups that CCF Clubs once held across the country.

Our campaign has already modelled the importance of this education by hosting "solidarity sessions" and other events where we develop collective analysis about the crises we face and the inspiring movements and political parties organizing for change here and around the world.

Expand the Council of EDAs model

We will grow and expand regional EDA collaboration by encouraging the formation of more Councils of Electoral District Associations (CEDAs) across the country, coordinating with similar existing provincial party structures where they exist. By uplifting this underused mechanism in our constitution and linking local riding associations into regional councils, we can share resources, coordinate organizing and training, and amplify regional voices within party decision-making. Each council will support leadership development, volunteer engagement, election planning, community organizing, election planning, and candidate recruitment.

This networked approach will turn isolated supporters into active organizers and foster greater collaboration and coordination between neighbouring ridings to create a more resilient party infrastructure. We will provide connection and support mentorship and training from successful CEDAs like the one in Saskatchewan to ensure that every community - urban, suburban, rural, Northern and remote - has a voice, a structure, and the tools to build lasting political power.

Nominate early, nominate often

The leaders that will grow our power and win elections are already in their communities working for change. Our EDAs and local organizers need to be empowered to identify, recruit, and run nominations for candidates immediately following elections. Relationships with community leaders and their networks can yield strong candidates, and those candidates must have a presence between elections.

The current vetting process for NDP candidates has been a source of frustration for many. We are committed to conducting a formal review of the vetting process and timeline for NDP candidates, for general elections and for leadership contests. We will empower and activate Federal Council as a foundational element of party democracy and renewal. That means working with them to ensure there is not just more transparency, but a completely new process with more rigorous grounds required for candidate rejection, and an appeal process that involves elected Federal Council in the final decision.

We are committed to clear, honest, and frequent communication with candidates undergoing vetting to be as transparent as possible, while ensuring our vetting team reflects the diversity of candidates as best we can and that they undergo cultural sensitivity training to decrease the risk of inherent bias in their work.

Demand electoral reform

Every election, Canadians are pushed to vote defensively or strategically, to vote against what they fear rather than for what they truly believe in. It is weakening our trust in the institutions of democracy. The 2025 election - let alone the authoritarian chaos in the US that shaped it - made the urgency of electoral reform undeniable. We must be clear: when we hold the balance of power in a minority Parliament, our support for the government will require a firm commitment to finally implement electoral reform. We will call on the government to establish a Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform to determine the path forward, and to enact the system that it recommends.

We will demand an end to First Past the Post at the federal level, and until that fight is won, we will address strategic voting directly and early in every campaign. We will not bluff: Canadians must know we are prepared to send the country back to the polls if a minority government refuses to exercise the will of the people. The health of our democracy is at stake.

It bears repeating though: at the moment the party is working with threadbare resources, and all the steps to restoring widespread trust in the party's internal processes will require more people and time. Some of the goals in this document are short term, some are longer term – all of them are needed.

Our Path to Victory: The Big Tent

Across Canada, a broad social majority share a common struggle. Working people are searching for stability and opportunity, and for too long have been told we are all on our own. Our strength lies in recognizing that we rise or fall together. No single leader can deliver the scale of change we need, and winning individual elections is not enough. The task ahead is to rebuild a shared sense of purpose among Canadians, and to build a broad coalition that can be a force for transformative change. It is not enough to win elections: we must win change itself.

The NDP must be the political instrument of the people. The answer is not one of us. It is all of us.

Build trust in suburban, rural, remote and Northern communities

The NDP has lost its footing in rural, remote, Northern, and suburban communities across the country, and it is not enough to name that and commit to listening. Through structured door-to-door conversations, community assemblies and town halls, and digital engagement, we will meet people where they are at in these communities – and we will not leave them there.

Showing up is necessary, but insufficient. We will build a power-centred framework that invests time, outreach, and local skill development into grassroots strategic planning led by and for ridings that our party has ignored. Rural, remote, Northern, and suburban strategies need to be developed and led by people who live in those communities. It's not about asking members in those communities to trust us, it's about trusting them and shifting power and leadership into their hands. These communities, many of which the party has all but abandoned, must be seen as part of our core constituency once again. They may have drifted to other parties, but we cannot continue to define suburban, rural, Northern and remote communities as outside the NDP: they are a fundamental part of our movement. This is how we win back trust, expand our base, and ensure the NDP represents every community in Canada.

Support youth leadership development

For decades, mainstream politics has left young people on the outside looking in. Skyrocketing youth unemployment, unattainable housing, and the intersecting crises of our time have fuelled frustration, despair, and hopelessness. Conservatives and the far right have co-opted the righteous anger of young people for political gain, and our urgent task is to see that anger, validate it, and give it a path out of toxic echo chambers and into people power and real change. We will develop a youth leadership pipeline that works in collaboration with the youth wing of our party to renew campus clubs through concrete material resources that support their work and go beyond campus clubs to grow through youth clubs at the riding level and labour clubs. We will build towards dedicated youth organizers across the country that will drive the development of a Youth Outreach Action Plan to identify a strategy for expansive youth engagement and ensure that young organizers have access to organizing spaces through their local riding associations that will support in-person gatherings, trainings, and relationship building within their communities. We will integrate digital platforms to build community and solidarity across the country with youth organizers to connect with each other year-round.

Young people are not just the inheritors of the future, they are leaders today. We will create mentorship opportunities to provide young people with hands-on training from skilled and experienced campaign and community organizers, while recognizing that the learning must go both ways. We will create new skill sharing programs so that young people can be mentored into advanced leadership roles, while experienced organizers can learn new skills and outreach tactics from the young people who engage in those today. This will ensure that we help new leaders get the skills they need to grow our party's potential, while also ensuring that emerging practices from young leaders are built into our organizing model.

Reconnect with Québec and win power

Both Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton understood a critical aspect of Canadian federal politics – the path to victory for the NDP must include Québec. The NDP has the potential to be a natural fit for Québec voters, but, in order to compete with not only the Liberal and Conservative parties in Québec, and also the Bloc Québécois, we need an approach to Québec that is unique and rooted in an understanding of its distinct cultures.

As the debate of Québec's independence comes back to the mainstream of politics, we must remain committed to the Sherbrooke Declaration , which was drafted by Section Québec members of our party and adopted as party policy in 2005. In this spirit, we believe that in order to be successful in Québec, we must run our campaign in Québec with messaging specifically tailored to the political reality of Québec; policies and messaging created directly in collaboration with our members in Section Québec. Through year-round campaigning, our earliest efforts in Québec will be focused on growing membership and engaging those members in movement building led by our current base of volunteers. Our campaign in Québec will be developed distinctly from the rest of Canada with policies, messaging, and organizing tactics designed for the local context based on the recommendations of our members in Québec, and we will ensure that Section Québec is supported with a clear operating budget overseen by the Federal Executive and party staff. Finally, we are committed to making our Central Party itself more bilingual. In addition to having at least one Québec Regional Organizer, we will make an effort to expand the number of fluent French speakers and those with a deep understanding of Québec who work in our party.

Build coalitions, stand alongside movements, and grow our collective power

The CCF was born from a coalition of farmers, trade unionists, feminists, and community activists, united in the shared goal of a fairer, more democratic, and equal society. Today, many of the best progressive organizers in the country are engaged in activism, labour organizing, and grassroots movements outside the party. They share many of our goals and political passions, but we are too often two solitudes. Our party must become a movement ally once again, a party that movements can trust to stand alongside and behind them, and to speak their demands in the halls of power.

If we want movements to show up for us at election time, we need to show up for them year-round by fighting for the bold solutions that they are calling for, that make people's lives better, unapologetically and unwaveringly.

This includes standing in solidarity with Indigenous rights movements that offer profound roadmaps for transforming our relations to each other, the land, and the environment. We must ensure a deepening alliance to these movements, while respecting that Indigenous organizing doesn't always embrace participation in Canada's electoral systems. It also means reconnecting with working people. Our party's deep history with the labour movement has always drawn strength from working class organizing for dignity and fairness. We will renew that tradition in partnership with both organized labour and unorganized workers. Today's workers face insecurity and uncertainty amid a growing gig economy. We will ensure that our party is not just a voice for labour in Parliament, but an active participant in rebuilding the power of all workers.

It's time for the NDP to return to its roots: a party of the 99% that fights a system rigged for the rich. A party offering bold, unapologetic policies that are laser-focused on the everyday needs of Canadians. A party that struggles alongside labour unions in our shared battle for the rights of all workers. A nation-building project for people, not profit. All Canadians are better off with an NDP that fights like hell for this vision. And the NDP will start winning again when we become that beacon to the 99%, illuminating the darkening sky of these terrifying times with the shining light of collective struggle. Leadership matters, but this isn't about one person. It is about all of us coming together to find our place and our power in the thrilling work of building a shared future: for the many, not the money.