In his speech, Avi Lewis vowed “to bring our party back from the wilderness.” What map, then, will he follow to inspire a fractured party and attract new voters to its retooled agenda?

Lewis pledged to be laser focused on the affordability crisis. He called out the genocide in Gaza, declaring, “We are at a high-stakes moment in human history.”

Lewis’s policies include creating public grocery stores and banks, building public housing and expanding health-care access. He also wants a moratorium on building AI data centres. He has vowed to make proportional representation the NDP’s “one demand” if the party holds the balance of power in Parliament. And not surprisingly, Lewis has floated the idea of a wealth tax.

Lewis and other activists wrote the Leap Manifesto in 2015 — a radical response to climate change, income inequality and racism. He continues to propose an end to new oil production.

In the past, such ideas have not necessarily gone over well with voters. Lewis ran in federal elections in 2015 and 2021, losing both times.