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Amy Hamm: Avi Lewis claims NDP leadership in front of waving Palestinian flag

If the party hopes to regain relevance, it must reject this far-left extremism

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Avi Lewis’ win of the NDP leadership in Winnipeg this weekend was expected. Husband of famous author Naomi Klein, and grandson of 1970s NDP leader David Lewis, Avi Lewis entered the race with the air of nepotism and celebrity — a factor missing from the four other leadership hopefuls. Lewis identifies himself as a proud anti-capitalist and eco-socialist. He has never held elected office. 

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His victory speech began with the words: “If it isn’t already obvious, we are building a new foundation for our party, and we are ready to come roaring back on the Canadian political stage.” 

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Standing behind Lewis during his speech were at least three people in keffiyehs, symbolic of Canada’s disturbing and growing antisemitism problem. As broadcast on CPAC, one person began to wave a large Palestinian flag behind Lewis about two minutes into his address. Another waved a “renters over landlords” protest placard — held upside down. There was not a single Canadian flag in sight. 

Lewis’ promise about building a new foundation for the party is at odds with his leadership campaign slogan, which was “return the party to its roots… for the many, not the money.” This weekend’s convention made it clear that the party has little to do with its trade unionist roots: it’s now a party of far-left grievance culture and niche political obsessions. 

From the “equity cards” handed out to convention delegates, which allowed for persons with various “oppressed” or “equity-seeking” identities to jump to the front of the line and speak before other, lesser-oppressed delegates, to the wild screams of the audience, appearing rapturous after leadership-hopeful Rob Ashton shouted “Eat the damn rich!” in the volume and tone of a 1990s WWE fighter — this weekend revealed that the NDP is comprised of the dregs former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh left behind after consuming the party to support Justin Trudeau.  

Despite any talk about nationalized grocery stores, electoral reform, expanding (or at least maintaining) the public service sector, and unionizing every single employee in the country, petty squabbles between convention delegates made it clear that party principles will always take a back seat to identity politics and virtue signalling. 

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On day two, a transgender-identified male insisted on speaking after a policy vote (on rescinding the Charter’s notwithstanding clause) had already passed. The delegate complained that a “cisgender woman” spoke first, despite this delegate having held out an equity card based on their gender identity. “Hey, this pertains to multiple intersecting parts of my lived experience. I’d like to speak, I was rejected,” said the delegate. 

The chair, lawyer and trans activist Adrienne Smith, responded apologetically before smirking about a request to have delegates form a “straight” line, so equity cards were more visible from the stage. 

Similarly, on day three, the convention chair and a delegate, both of whom identify as non-binary, got into a tiff over the delegate using the term “madame chair.” After a keffiyeh-adorned delegate ranted about how there should be “no debate” over Canada’s non-involvement in the current Iran conflict, Smith, appearing on the verge of tears, replied with: “I’ll thank delegates not to call me ‘madame chair,’ I’m a non-binary person, my pronouns are they, them, and their.” 

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Avi Lewis wins NDP leadership, will lead party into uncertain future Canada

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Meet Avi Lewis, the leftist firebrand and new leader of the NDP Canada

Meet Avi Lewis, the leftist firebrand and new leader of the NDP

Watching the convention felt like watching sketch comedy from 15 years ago. But this is real life. This is the federal NDP. 

What isn’t clear just yet is how many Canadians are paying attention to how outrageous the NDP has become. It’s possible that there are disillusioned (with Carney) Liberal voters who will be willing to move — or move back to — the NDP as they perceive Carney’s government shifting ever more to the right. But I suspect that number will be insignificant. 

Unless and until the NDP purges its ranks of ideological extremism, it won’t regain relevance. And with Avi Lewis at the helm, this is unlikely to happen. 

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