Most Canadian leftists are likely happy about Avi Lewis’ successful leadership bid to head up the floundering New Democratic Party. After all, many of us grew up on his Much Music commentaries and CBC CounterSpin debates from the 1990s. He was a “hip” Gen X progressive looking towards a more egalitarian future, and he reflects a more mature version of that persona today. As a scion of one of Canada’s most progressive families, it’s hard to see his leadership missing the mark, particularly given his lineage and his partner, writer and activist Naomi Klein.
His election as NDP leader evokes a broader North American tradition of populism, one that frames politics as a struggle between elites and ordinary people. That dynamic is evident in the party’s effort to rebuild its base and widen its appeal through a more assertive, “big government” lens. Both Canada and the United States have long histories of this kind of politics. These histories are worth revisiting in light of recent developments.
In the US, the Populist Party of the 1890s remains the closest any third party has come to seriously challenging the two-party system in the modern era. Yet, as historian C. Vann Woodward observed in his classic The Burden of Southern History, populism’s promise has always rested on a difficult balancing act: forging a coalition across divergent interests—farmers and workers, small business owners and labourers—united less by shared identity than by a common opposition to entrenched economic power.
The challenge for this third party in the 1890s was the flexibility required to build broad coalitions across deep differences in status, ideology, and region.
Similar flexibility stretches to the more multi-party Canadian scene, where Prairie populism, which helped create the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the origins of the modern NDP, also helped foment western alienation, Alberta conservatism, and other right-wing formations in Canadian politics. Indeed, one could equally trace a history of Canadian populism in the Prairies to the leadership of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, as well as to other right-wing figures in his aftermath, including current United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith.
As noted recently in Canadian Dimension, Lewis’ nomination to lead the NDP recalls past efforts to push for reform within the party from the left. Most notable among these was the Waffle faction (officially known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada after 1972), an influential current within the party in the late-1960s and early-1970s that sought to anchor the NDP more firmly in its socialist and social democratic roots.
The Waffle’s influence extended beyond internal party battles. Key figures, including CD founder Cy Gonick, as well as political economists James Laxer and Mel Watkins, helped develop and circulate its ideas in the very pages of this magazine, using it as a platform to advance arguments for economic nationalism, public ownership, and a more radical break from corporate power. In that sense, the Waffle functioned not just as a faction within the party, but as part of a broader intellectual and political movement.
Seen in this light, Lewis’ leadership bid is decidedly left-wing in orientation, but also part of a longer tradition of internal renewal, one that points to the recurring need to reopen the party to new ideas, new constituencies, and more ambitious political horizons.
What remains to be seen is the extent to which Lewis will align his approach with left-wing populists and social democrats in the United States and Great Britain, and whether that strategy can succeed in a Canadian context. Efforts along these lines have had mixed results, though they’ve gained traction in recent years through figures like Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana in the UK, and Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani in the US, all of whom have challenged party establishments from the left.
Lewis and his partner, Naomi Klein, have been open in their support for Mamdani’s mayoral bid in New York, particularly his emphasis on taxing the rich. Following his victory, the two took part in a livestreamed conversation expressing optimism about a more expansive, “big” politics in Canada, one aimed at meeting the needs of the working-class while countering right-wing populism, exemplified by the oligarchic tendencies of Donald Trump’s presidency. As Klein put it in that very social media savvy exchange: “What the billionaires are frightened of is everyone getting out of their silos, building a multi-racial, multi-faith, multi-generational, multi-sectoral movement that doesn’t agree on every single thing… but understands that power lies in uniting people who are getting in myriad ways, getting fucked by these billionaires.”
In Canada, there is some space on the left of the political spectrum, particularly as current Prime Minister Mark Carney has shifted toward the centre-right in response to the challenges posed by Trump and their implications for the global economy. What Canadians ultimately respond to in future election cycles, however, will depend largely on how they assess Lewis’ leadership against their own standard of living. Recent commentary suggests Carney’s approach is beginning to look more like austerity than prosperity. His calls for middle powers to chart a more independent course come as little surprise, but their success may hinge in part on political developments in the US, particularly the outcome of this November’s midterms, which could shape the trajectory of Trump’s second term.
Important choices lie ahead for both Canada and the US in defining the future of their relationship. Much will depend on how each balances deep economic interdependence with shifting political priorities, especially in areas like trade, energy, border security, and environmental policy. At a moment when global alliances are being recalibrated, the Canada-US relationship may be tested not only by external pressures—such as competition with rising powers, but also by internal debates over sovereignty, protectionism, and climate commitments. The future of the relationship will depend on whether both countries continue to see mutual cooperation as essential to their prosperity and security, or whether divergent domestic agendas begin to erode what has long been framed as one of the world’s closest bilateral partnerships.
How Lewis’ populist leadership and rebuilding of the NDP fit into this picture will likely shape the fate of Canada’s third party.
Ian Rocksborough-Smith teaches US and Canadian history at the University of the Fraser Valley.