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.<\/p>\n
His speech opened the party\u2019s convention in Winnipeg on Friday, where about 2,000 delegates from across the country have assembled.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Rebuilding a federal party that was reduced to just seven seats in last year\u2019s election has been the focus of the leadership race.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This, however, is down from $26 million in debt that the party carried after the 2025 election<\/p>\n
Delegates will debate adopting a permanent political organizing model aimed at expanding the NDP\u2019s presence in communities outside election cycles, and getting more resources to riding associations.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Green said the NDP\u2019s message will resonate more in the next election campaign because working people are still being left behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have be able to have a process in which working class voices are actually represented at decision-making tables. That\u2019s not the case right now,\u201d Green told The Canadian Press at the convention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a Wall Street banker running our country as a CEO. And despite all of the rhetoric \u2026 wages are still stagnant, prices are still sky-high, and Canadians are still struggling to get by day to day. I think they\u2019re waking up to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s 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,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when people feel connected to the party where they live and when they\u2019re building and developing leadership in their own communities, I think that\u2019s where our processes of democracy are best.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2026. <\/p>\n
David Baxter, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kinew is one of only two NDP premiers currently in office in Canada, and polls suggest his popularity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-565891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}