Every NDP leader before him insisted they were on the cusp of power, but Lewis now dispenses with that diplomatic fiction.
asserted
Lewis → insist → fiction
Not so much out of modesty or authenticity as a recognition of reality:
“We got our asses handed to us in the last election,” he concedes, right off the top.
asserted
he → get → top
The NDP now holds five seats in the House of Commons (among 343 MPs), the lowest number in its 65-year history.
asserted
NDP → hold → history
The federal party won exactly zero seats in Ontario, and now has no MPs east of Manitoba.
asserted
party → win → Manitoba
Lewis himself is seatless, eschewing the chance to run in a byelection this summer.
asserted
Lewis → eschew → byelection
“I’m not gonna be prime minister in the next election,” he told me.
asserted
he → go → me
“I don’t think anyone thinks you can go from five seats to a majority government.
asserted
you → think → government
It’s a time when you’ve got to be straight with people.
asserted
you → ’ → people
So what’s left for the left?
asserted
what → leave → left
But in a candid encounter at the Democracy Forum that I hosted at Toronto Metropolitan University this week, the new leader of the New Democratic Party opened up — and argued that a path is opening up.
asserted
path → host → Party
Lewis hopes to profit from buyer’s remorse over the current PM, Mark Carney.
asserted
Lewis → hop → PM
The more his Liberal government drifts right of centre in the time of Trump, the more room that leaves for the NDP to move in.
asserted
NDP → drift → Trump
That said, is Lewis the right politician for a feint from the left toward the centre?
asserted
Lewis → say → centre
After all, he staked out a more activist, leftist incarnation when he won the leadership last March.
asserted
he → stake → leadership
“I’m doing a kind of left-wing populism,” says the former TV host and filmmaker, pointing to the nexus of democratic socialism and social media in America.
asserted
host → do → America
The left must fight the right’s rage farms by borrowing from the NDP’s populist antecedents.
asserted
left → fight → antecedents
“The right has not been afraid of rage, and I think what they’ve done with the rage is very unhealthy and scary,” Lewis argues.
asserted
Lewis → think → rage
“Left-wing populism says, ‘You’re right to be angry.
asserted
You → say → ?
You have every right to be angry.
asserted
You → have → right
But it’s not immigrants and trans kids who are making your life impossible, it’s the bankers and the billionaires.’
asserted
it → ’ → ?
He wants to harness social media algorithms in the era of AOC, while reining in AI and banning new data centres.
asserted
He → want → centres
So, should students on campus be wary of an artificial intelligence monster or learn to master it?
asserted
students → learn → it
“There is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube,” he tells our audience.
asserted
he → be → audience
But Canada needs “hard, legal, binding regulations” on AI.
asserted
Canada → need → AI
Lewis helped lead the Leap Manifesto a decade ago that called for a halt on any expansion of energy production and pipelines.
asserted
that → lead → production
Back then, it landed like a grenade within the party’s prairie base.
asserted
it → land → base
All these years later, his manifesto helped blow apart the old establishment and propel him to the top.
asserted
manifesto → blow → top
The irony of his ascension isn’t lost on Lewis.
asserted
irony → lose → Lewis
In the 1970s, another NDP insurgency was turned back by his father Stephen and grandfather David Lewis when they led the provincial and federal wings of the party.
asserted
they → turn → party
The so-called Waffle movement, led by economic nationalists and social democrats, was disdained by Stephen Lewis as “an encumbrance around my neck.”
asserted
movement → call → neck
Now, a new insurgency rules the party, thanks to Avi Lewis.
asserted
insurgency → rule → Lewis
“I’m not proud of what my dad and my grandpa did.
asserted
dad → ’m → what
They expelled the Waffle from the party, and they saw it as a party within a party that was ripping the party apart,” he muses.
asserted
he → expel → party
“Yeah, it’s super ironic, and you’re right to point it out.”
asserted
you → ’ → it
Lewis says he is patching things up with New Democrats whose noses are out of joint after a divisive leadership race.
asserted
noses → say → race
But he makes no apologies for his policies, which he believes are siphoning support away from the rival Green Party.
asserted
he → make → Party
Some of his
“Can I be super honest with you?” Lewis begins.
asserted
Lewis → begin → you
“I think the tradition over the last 20 years or so was … threading the needle and trying to have it both ways.
asserted
tradition → think → it
I think people are too smart for that.
asserted
people → think → that
I’ve taken a clear position.
asserted
I → take → position
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
