The NDP leadership candidates began the final official debate with a general acknowledgment they agree on policies, but have different visions for how to achieve their most existential goal — rebuilding the party.
During opening remarks in the Vancouver-area debate, Alberta MP Heather McPherson said the party needs someone who knows how to turn NDP policies and values into electoral wins. She said she has a track record of beating Conservatives in her home province and can expand that nationally.
Documentarian Avi Lewis said the same approaches seen in past elections will not work and the NDP needs to be putting forward big, bold ideas. He said this can be a winning strategy as his campaign has pulled in the most donations, nearly $780,000 as of Dec. 31, 2025, and is getting significant member support.
Lewis disputed the assertion that they all agree on what the NDP needs to do, and talked about his push for government-run options in groceries, telecoms and banking as a means of addressing affordability.
Dockworker union leader Rob Ashton disputed this, and said people need quicker fixes to address the affordability crisis and establishing these new Crown services will take too long.
Ashton said in his opening statements that the party needs to go back to its working-class roots if it wants to try and win back ridings that it lost in the last election to the Conservatives and Liberals. Ashton said that without that support, their ideas will remain ideas.
Social worker Tanille Johnston opened the debate saying that she is honoured to be the first Indigenous person to be on a federal leadership ballot. She said Canada needs to bring in a universal basic income to pull people out of poverty, end fossil fuel subsidies and have proper government-to-government relations with Indigenous communities.
Organic farmer Tony McQuail said Canada needs a radical societal reworking to address climate change and the affordability crisis. He said Canada needs to redistribute wealth and shift the country’s capitalist, consumer society to a more sustainable system.
Yves Engler, a Montreal activist who was not allowed to run in the race, and a small group of protesters tried to enter the studio during the debate. They banged on the doors, shouting “Let us in!”
Local police arrived at the studio in New Westminster, B.C., to remove the protesters.
The broadcast of the debate was not interrupted by the protest.
Engler had promised to disrupt the race after his candidacy was not approved.
The race will be decided through a ranked ballot vote.
The next NDP leader will be announced on March 29 during the party’s convention in Winnipeg.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.
David Baxter and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press
