OTTAWA — Avi Lewis, a prominent filmmaker and journalist, is set to officially announce his bid for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) today. According to his campaign team, Lewis will release a video outlining his intentions and will hold a formal campaign launch in Toronto next week.
Lewis comes from a distinguished political family, with his grandfather David Lewis being a former federal NDP leader and his father Stephen Lewis having led the Ontario NDP.
This is not Lewis’s first foray into electoral politics. He previously ran as an NDP candidate in the 2021 and 2025 federal elections in Vancouver-area ridings, though he was not elected.
The leadership race was triggered by the resignation of former leader Jagmeet Singh, who stepped down after the NDP was reduced to only seven seats in the April election, losing official party status.
A known climate activist, Lewis is also a co-author of the 2015 “Leap Manifesto,” a document that proposed a major policy shift to move Canada away from fossil fuels while addressing issues of social and economic inequality. His candidacy is expected to focus on these progressive and environmental policies.
