Who's in the NDP race — and why do they want to lead the party?

On Wednesday, the NDP race takes another step as the party hosts its first official leadership candidate forum, with five candidates.

Organizers aren't promising what political nerds crave — a back-and-forth debate. Instead, organizers are offering "a worker-first forum" hosted by the country's largest umbrella labour organization, the Canadian Labour Congress, and moderated by its president, Bea Bruske.

Still, the forum could give the first clues about who has the edge in the NDP leadership race.

So far, five candidates have been sanctioned by the party and will appear on stage. Here's a look at who they are. 

Rob Ashton

Ashton has been described as a dark horse whose performance might surprise some when the ranked ballot votes are counted on March 29, 2026. 

The B.C. dockworker and national president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada describes himself as a "working-class labour candidate" and not a politician or policy wonk. 

Ashton doesn't speak like your typical politician and sometimes swears during interviews with journalists. 

"I talk like I talk at work. I'm not gonna bullshit you," he told CBC.

His "raw, unvarnished and grounded" persona, according to pollster David Coletto, makes him a threat in the leadership campaign, but also a threat to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre if Ashton were to head up the NDP. 

WATCH | Why does Rob Ashton want to be NDP leader:B.C. labour leader Rob Ashton tells Power & Politics he's joining the race to replace Jagmeet Singh as leader of the New Democratic Party because the NDP has 'strayed away' from its traditional focus on workers.

"Pierre Poilievre's brand has been simple and effective, an anti-elite crusader promising to fight for the 'common people' against a rigged system," Coletto wrote on his blog. 

"Ashton may be able to puncture that. He embodies the working-class resentment Poilievre performs. When [Ashton] says he wears steel-toed boots every day, it's not a line; it's a life."

Tanille Johnston

At the age of 38, Tanille Johnston is the youngest candidate in the race. 

Johnston is trained as a social worker and works full-time as the director of community programs with the First Nations Health Authority and as a city councillor in Campbell River, B.C. She's also a member of the WeWaiKai First Nation on the east coast of Vancouver Island, making her the sole Indigenous woman in the race.

Under former leader Jagmeet Singh, Johnston ran for the party in North Island—Powell River on Vancouver Island and lost to the Conservatives. She said she wants to transform the NDP into a force that is "brave, progressive and impossible to ignore."

"This leadership race is about renewal. We can no longer afford to settle for watered-down policies or wait for Liberals to do the right thing" Johnston said at her campaign launch.

B.C.-based Tanille Johnston is the youngest candidate in the NDP race. (Tanille Johnston/ Submitted)

She also came out against the construction of an oil pipeline to B.C.'s north coast. 

"I think pipelines are super harmful for the environment," she said in an interview. 

"We don't have to invest in oil to uplift our economy. There are so many renewable resources and energy projects that we can be getting behind that are not going to destroy the planet ... There are just way better ways to do more in a green, solid, unionized Canadian jobs kind of way."

Avi Lewis

Avi Lewis is well-known to Canadians of a certain age as a TV presenter and reporter at CBC, Al Jazeera, MuchMusic and CityTV. Along the way, Lewis pursued a form of journalism where he said he "butted heads with the powerful," liberals and conservatives alike.  

"I think we need more straight talk and not message boxes and politics as usual. People are cynical about message crafting and I think too many politicians talk a lot without saying anything," Lewis said in a recent candidates' debate. 

Lewis's campaign stands out because he will be unveiling policy planks, or his "political offer." They will include an "aggressive" wealth tax and a "public option" for cell phones and grocery stores, something that has been pitched by leading New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. 

WATCH | Avi Lewis admits NDP had an 'awful' election:Filmmaker, activist and third-generation New Democrat Avi Lewis admits the NDP had an 'awful election' as he launches his bid to become federal leader, saying the party is 'going back to our base with our humility' as he runs on what he calls 're-democratizing' the party and holding large corporations accountable.

Lewis is also expected to release his version of the Green New Deal, a "green industrial strategy" that includes manufacturing electric buses with Canadian steel and unionized labour.

Lewis comes from a strong political pedigree. He's married to bestselling author Naomi Klein, who has written about capitalism as an exploitative force and why it cannot solve the climate crisis. 

While Lewis describes himself as a political outsider, if he wins the leadership, he would continue the Lewis NDP dynasty. Avi Lewis is the grandson of former federal NDP leader David Lewis and the son of former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis. 

Heather McPherson 

Edmonton NDP MP Heather McPherson begins the leadership race with a leg up on the other contenders. 

She's a sitting MP and the presumed front-runner. She's broadly seen by activists within the party as the "establishment candidate," with backing from key organizers in the party who at one point or another served under previous leaders like Jack Layton or Jagmeet Singh. 

WATCH | Heather McPherson says the NDP needs to change how it talks to people:Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson entered the federal NDP leadership race on Sunday. McPherson joined Power & Politics to discuss her vision for how to rebuild the party. ‘We don’t need to change our values, but we do need to change how we talk about them,’ says McPherson.

McPherson launched her leadership bid with support from former Alberta premier Rachel Notley. 

McPherson's campaign seems to be built around embracing a bigger table that includes more people, as opposed to, she said, "shrinking into some sort of purity test" and pushing people away.

Those comments prompted this response from one of the party's few remaining MPs, Leah Gazan, who suggested McPherson was a "neoliberal."

"When … neoliberals dismiss calls for equity as 'purity tests,' what they really mean is that the fight for true justice makes them uncomfortable — that caring too much is somehow a flaw," Gazan posted on social media. 

Tony McQuail

Tony McQuail is and isn't your traditional NDP candidate. His campaign doesn't have the polish of the others — for example, his website was made by a high schooler. McQuail is a proud Ontario farmer, which harkens back to a time when the party's grassroots where more connected to the land under the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

McQuail is running a campaign that is low-budget and low travel. He often opts for hitch-hiking when he can. 

He's planning to run much of his campaign out of his 40 hectares of land, which is used to raise grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, hens, roasting chickens as well as to grow apples. 

McQuail's core reason for running is to ensure the planet isn't forgotten in this leadership race.

Tony McQuail is running for the NDP leadership because he wants the environment to feature in the race. (Tony McQuail/NDP)

"We have to look after the environment," McQuail said. "There should not be a conflict between having a healthy Mother Earth, creation and environment to live in and doing your work that earns you your daily bread, your home and your basic lifestyle."

McQuail said he believes in the core NDP values, having run seven times as a New Democrat in Huron County both federally and provincially since 1980. 

But he wants the NDP and the Green Party of Canada to work more closely together, instead of running candidates against each other.   

What about Yves Engler?

Activist and author Yves Engler is not an official candidate in the race and likely won't appear on stage on Wednesday night. 

He has yet to submit his official candidacy documents to the NDP leadership race organizing committee. 

"To be crystal clear, we have not put paperwork in for vetting," Engler told CBC. 

LISTEN | After a decimating election loss, what kind of leader does the NDP need to rebuild? :

Front Burner32:24Who can rebuild the NDP?

It’s been about a month since the NDP leadership race began and two main contenders have emerged: longtime climate activist and former broadcaster Avi Lewis, and NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, Heather McPherson, one of the most prominent New Democrat voices in Western Canada. The NDP suffered a crushing defeat last election. The party went from 24 MPs to only seven, losing official party status. The next leader is faced with a monumental challenge to rebuild. Today, we’ve got two people with different visions of what that looks like. Martin Lukacs is the managing editor of the independent progressive media outlet The Breach. He’s also the author of ‘The Poilievre Project’. Cheryl Oates is a political consultant, who worked for former Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley. She’s also worked on NDP campaigns across Western Canada, and teaches at McGill’s Max Bell School of Public Policy. They join host Jayme Poisson for a spirited debate about the future of the NDP. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]

Nevertheless he is still hoping to participate in Wednesday's forum.

"We've asked the CLC [Canadian Labour Congress] to include me in the forum. It would be unfortunate to exclude a campaign with a comprehensive pro-worker platform," Engler said. 

He notes that former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was a late entry into the 2017 campaign and did not officially announce until much closer to the deadline. 

Engler has raised well over $80,000 and likely will not have a problem paying the race's $100,000 entrance fee. The leadership race organizing committee is warning Engler against this. 

"It has been recommended that prospective campaigns not accept contributions prior to receiving approval, as such contributions are not tax-receiptable and would be in violation of the leadership rules, which require all donations to be processed through the NDP," said NDP leadership race chief electoral officer Éric Hébert-Daly.