NDP Leader Avi Lewis begins his term with the task of rebuilding the federal party in his unapologetically progressive vision, but there is already resistance from the leadership of the Alberta and Saskatchewan branches.

Lewis won a first-ballot victory with a platform built on bold ideas that he says meet the issues Canada is facing head-on. He won with about 56 per cent support, nearly doubling the vote count of runner-up Alberta member of Parliament Heather McPherson.

This includes ideas like publicly run grocery stores and telecom companies to deal with affordability and opposing new fossil fuel development to address climate change.

It’s this energy and environmental policy that sparked pushback from Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck. In separate statements after Lewis’s win, they said the federal position is out of touch with the reality of workers in those Prairie provinces.

Lewis is scheduled to hold his first media availability as leader Monday in Winnipeg.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Sunday that disagreements are part of being a big tent and they are all united on core values.

Keira Gunn, the NDP’s new treasurer and a Calgary delegate, said that both provincial leaders are up against governments that like to link them to the federal NDP.

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Gunn said while she sees the comments from Nenshi and Beck as strategic moves, she’s disappointed in how they did it.

“It’s maybe a strategic choice to then try to distance yourself immediately from the federal party, and I think that that’s where the comments come from,” Gunn said Sunday.

“But I have concerns that they’re fairly divisive at a time when we really need to come together and support each other as parties that have progressive values. Yeah, I’m a bit disappointed.”

Gunn said that she’s seen the Lewis campaign bring many active young people to the party, and the Alberta and Saskatchewan branches should see that young people are excited by Lewis’s message.

One of those young people is 17-year-old Milo Clarke from Brampton, Ont. He volunteered on the Lewis campaign and said he was drawn in by Lewis’s ideas and the authenticity he brought to the message.

As Lewis takes the reins of the party, Clarke said that he wants to see the new leader get out to working-class communities and make direct connections as a first order of business.

“I think the first thing he needs to do is go to a lot of industrial working-class areas, like Hamilton, like London, like Windsor, like Port Moody, like Halifax, areas that have like a lot industry,” Clarke said Sunday as the convention closed.

“He needs go and talk to those people, define himself to them before he can be defined by people who are not acting in good faith.”

Another question Lewis is expected to face is about when he plans to try to win a seat in the House of Commons.

He’s previously said that he isn’t in a rush, and plans to start the building process with the grassroots and meeting people at “their house” instead of the House.

Kinew encouraged Lewis get a seat, but said it’s up to him on the right place and time.

Former Ontario NDP MP Matthew Green spent about six months last year travelling the country and meeting with grassroots party members. He said that Lewis’s priorities should be outside Ottawa because of the reduced visibility of the NDP in the House due to not having recognized party status.

“I spent six years where we did have those things, worked diligently as a parliamentarian on the Hill, spent hours and hours in debates, spent hours and hours in media scrums only to go back to my community. And have them have no idea what was happening in Ottawa,” Green said.

“What is required for us to come out of the wilderness is having a real and deep connection to our membership. And if we don’t have that, we’re in trouble.”

If Lewis does take his time in trying to win a seat in the House, it would not be the first time the NDP has had a leader begin their term outside parliament. Former leader Jagmeet Singh worked outside Ottawa as NDP leader for just over a year before winning a Vancouver-area byelection in 2019.

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Avi Lewis is the new federal leader of the NDP, but the leaders of provincial counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan are making it clear they want no part of his policies.

Lewis won the leadership on the first ballot Sunday with 56 per cent of the vote, a decisive victory over four competitors.

But as Lewis begins his role, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck says she’s turning down his invitation to meet.

“The positions that you have taken when it comes to natural resource development are ideological and unrealistic,” Beck said in a letter released slightly more than an hour after Lewis’ election.

In her letter, Beck expressed concerns about previous statements by Lewis on issues like the fossil fuel sector, and said policies and positions Lewis has supported would risk $13.6 billion in economic activity for Saskatchewan.

“The NDP is the party of working people,” she wrote. “It’s impossible to support – and respect – working people without respecting the jobs they have, not the ones you think they should have.”

Beck said until Lewis reverses his stance on issues involving the province’s resource sectors, she won’t meet with him.

Lewis has previously criticized both the Liberal and Conservative governments, saying the spread of wildfires was due to a failure to limit fossil fuel emissions.

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He also recently said in an interview with The Canadian Press that Prime Minister Mark Carney had “thrown climate under the bus.”

During the leadership campaign, Lewis promised to slap an export tax on oil and gas shipped to the U.S. and to end all federal approvals for new pipelines.

8:03
Federal New Democrats gather in Winnipeg to choose new leader

Following his victory on the first ballot, Lewis said Sunday that he’s focused on party unity.

“This is a tremendous result. But even more important than the results of this leadership vote is the unity of our party,” Lewis said.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi criticized Lewis over his policies and noted that his provincial party voted to make membership in the federal party optional.

“It is clear that the direction of the federal party under this new leader, someone who openly cheered for the defeat of the Alberta NDP government, is not in the interests of Alberta,” Nenshi wrote in a post on X.

Nenshi released his own energy policy on Friday, which includes expanding Trans Mountain pipeline capacity and revisiting projects like the Energy East pipeline.

“Albertans deserve federal leaders who understand the importance of Alberta and our essential role in the federation,” he added.

Not all provinces share the same opinion though, with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew saying he loved Lewis following the new leader’s first speech in the role and the mandate received.

Kinew said he acknowledged they may not agree on everything, but believed he and Lewis could do “big things together.”

“The big things are health care, education. Yeah, we can have debates, heated debates about any manner of other issues, but the values are there,” Kinew said. “The values are we’re fighting for the average person, we’re fighting for the people who don’t have a voice right now and that’s the most important thing.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby congratulated Lewis on his election, but was measured in his response.

“Our priority is lifting up working people and growing prosperity,” Eby wrote on X. “We will work with anyone and any federal leader who shares our priorities, and stand firm against those who put that progress at risk.”

Lewis has said he isn’t in a rush to enter the House of Commons, instead planning to start his leadership by strengthening the grassroots before seeking elected office.

–with files from The Canadian Press

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Avi Lewis has been named the new leader of the federal NDP, drawing to a close a six-month leadership campaign.

The new leader won on the first ballot, receiving 56 per cent of the total votes cast during the election, or 39,734 out of a possible 70,930.

“This is a tremendous result,” Lewis said in his first remarks following his victory. “But even more important than the results of this leadership vote is the unity of our party.”

While people in the room applauded Lewis, the result did not generate universal praise.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said in a post on X that Lewis becoming the federal leader was “not in the interests of Alberta.”

“Albertans deserve federal leaders who understand the importance of Alberta and our essential role in the federation,” Nenshi wrote.

The election of a new leader came months after former head of the party, Jagmeet Singh, said he would resign after the NDP’s overwhelming loss in the 2025 federal election.

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The party was reduced to seven seats in April 2025, but that number has dropped to six when Nunavut MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor to the Liberals earlier this month.

“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,” Lewis said. “The NDP comeback starts now.”

Heather McPherson came in second place with 20,899 votes, with Tanille Johnston, Rob Ashton and Tony McQuail coming in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Lewis went on to commend each of his fellow candidates, calling Johnston a “rising star” and saying McQuail reiterated the importance of changing the First Past the Post electoral system. He also said Ashton was the “real deal” and that workers were at the heart of the party while adding McPherson knows “how to win” and that she helps others win.

The NDP’s new leader went on to stress the party’s need to tackle issues Canadians are facing.

“Canadians are living on the edge, we’re under economic from the U.S. while Donald Trump stomps around the globe, grabbing foreign leaders and oil fields and starting wars he has no idea how to stop,” Lewis said. “At the kitchen table in Canada, there’s an even bigger crisis the everyday emergency of just trying to get by in an impossible economy.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Lewis in a post on X, saying he would take a “collaborative approach.”

“I look forward to speaking about how we can work together to keep delivering for Canadians,” Carney wrote.

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will table a deficit budget next month, citing economic uncertainty across the country as the reason for increased spending.

Turbulent trade relations between Canada and the United States, along with ongoing tariffs in China and India, are among the reasons Moe cites for the province’s revenue challenges.

“We are in a very challenging time financially, both nationally and at the provincial level. Provincial, sub-national, and national governments are faced with choices that they are going to have to make,” said Moe, speaking to reporters Tuesday following a luncheon speech held by North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA).

Moe points to British Columbia’s recently-tabled budget — one that projects a $13.3 billion deficit — as evidence of the economic pressures provinces are currently facing, but adds that Saskatchewan’s deficit won’t be as significant.

“I don’t think you’re going to see anything like that, whether it be in the existing budget or in next year’s budget,” he said.

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Raising taxes is not in the cards for the province, said Moe, adding that his government is taking an approach of protecting services instead.

“We are going to make the choice to protect Saskatchewan services, whether that’s health care, whether it’s community safety and investing in keeping our Saskatchewan communities and families safe, as well as education, highways and such,” he said.

A renewed focus on improving health care is also on the table, with Moe saying his government will look into innovations in how health care is provided rather than join the debate over whether it is delivered privately or publicly.

Moe said his government will look into virtual health care innovations so that “everyone in the province does have access to a primary health care provider.”

The province’s Opposition is blasting the government’s latest spending, saying the debt is growing uncontrollably.

“It’s difficult to say what to expect, because frankly I don’t trust this government’s ability to bring a real budget forward or to deliver the full financial picture of the province,” said Carla Beck, Saskatchewan Opposition leader.

Last year, the province budgeted for a $12-million surplus, but this spiralled into the red when the province reported a $427-million deficit in its mid-year budget update in November.

Earlier this month, the province approved $654.7 million in spending through executive orders. The Opposition criticized this spending last week, saying it pushes the province’s deficit close to $1 billion.

Moe would not say whether the budget is approaching a $1 billion deficit and defended these special warrants, saying they are widely used by governments and are not new.

“The province utilizes special warrants, the federal government utilizes special warrants, and then it’s accounted for each and every quarter,” he said.

“If it wasn’t accounted for in the quarter of the reports, then we’d have a problem, but it is each and every time.”

Saskatchewan’s spring legislative session kicks off on March 2, with the budget expected to be tabled on March 18.

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An immigration expert says a dip in Saskatchewan’s latest population numbers can be attributed to a decline in non-permanent residents, as the province’s official Opposition opens itself up to suggestions on how to keep young people in.

Last October, Saskatchewan’s population grew by 9,251 people compared to the same reporting period in 2024, bringing the total to 1,266,234.

But compared to the end of the second quarter in July 2025, the population dropped by 725 people.

At a Wednesday press conference, Saskatchewan’s opposition leader, Carla Beck, said the province’s population declined for the first time in 20 years. However, a slight drop in the province’s population was also recorded between January and October of 2020, when the population dropped from 1,169,426 to 1,165,963, according to the province’s population numbers.

“Let’s not assume that people don’t wanna stay here, but there are things that are keeping them from staying in this province,” Beck said.

The NDP says the population dip is due to young people leaving the province, and launched an online survey on Wednesday to gather their ideas for change.

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But according to an immigration expert, the reasons for the changing population numbers are more complex and also not unique to Saskatchewan.

“We’ve seen zero population growth throughout Canada. But in Saskatchewan, it has actually not been as precipitous as some of the other communities,” said Rupa Banerjee, Canada research chair in the economic inclusion of immigrants and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.

In a statement to Global News, the provincial government attributes the drop in population to a “necessary reset” in the number of immigrants to Canada.

“We continue to be supportive of carefully managed immigration that benefits Saskatchewan’s and Canada’s economy, and we expect Saskatchewan’s population to return to gradual, manageable growth in the future,” the statement read.

In 2024, the federal government introduced a cap on the number of temporary foreign workers and international students to address surging immigration levels.

This also led to the scaling back of the Provincial Nominee Program, which gives provinces an allowance for the number of skilled workers they can bring in each year. Banerjee says it is the reduction of the allowances in this program that has largely impacted Saskatchewan’s population.

Alongside the drop in skilled workers coming into the province, another issue leading to the lowered population numbers is that many who come to work in the province are choosing not to stay.

“Saskatchewan has done a really good job of putting preference on skilled workers, particularly in health care, in tech, and other areas like skilled trades where we really do have labour shortages,” said Banerjee.

“So people are coming in, but the question is, how long do they stay?”

According to Banerjee, newcomers who move to the province for a job often leave because they lack the services, community and support they feel they require to settle for the long term.

“I think the solution to that is providing more services for newcomers and building community. Resources so that people can build those communities,” said Banerjee, pointing to Halifax as a city that was not previously an immigrant centre but is making strides to support new communities.

“We don’t want people just to come here temporarily and then leave. We want them to settle, we want them to have children here, we want those children to do well and be prosperous and essentially allow Canada to grow and be prosperous,” said Banerjee.

In August, Saskatchewan was granted nearly 1,100 additional spots under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, bringing the province’s total to 4,761.

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