Thank you everyone, thank you. This is a tremendous result.

But even more important than the results of this leadership vote is the unity in our party.

To that end, in my first act as leader, I want to invite our heroic caucus, my wonderful fellow candidates, and the labour leaders representing millions of workers, who are the heart, soul, past and future of our party — to all join me onstage.

Let's show the country what solidarity looks like.

Thank you, thank you.

Let me start by thanking the greatest campaign team ever — led by campaign manager Savhanna Wilson and powered by an extraordinary group of young people who have changed this convention, changed this party, and will go on to change politics in Canada.

Come on out here!

Friends, 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!

After seven months of campaigning across this country, and speaking to thousands upon thousands of Canadians, here is one thing I know for sure — and I want to say it out loud.

Canada: mark your calendar. The NDP comeback starts now.

Et au Québec aussi : notez bien la date. Le retour du NPD commence aujourd'hui.

You can see it in the lineup featured in this race. 4 other candidates, all deep New Democrats, all making a unique and powerful contribution.

Tanille, you're a sensation and a rising star. You've redefined what politics in our party can look like – funny, honest, and rooted in Indigenous ways.

Tony, you have made sure that we never forget the importance of changing our undemocratic first-past-the-post system.

Rob, you're the real deal. I can't wait to see you walk into parliament in your work boots.

Workers will always be at the heart of the NDP — the one and only original workers' party.

And Heather, You know how to win, you help others win, and you get things done in Ottawa.

Your leadership in the House denouncing the genocide in Gaza has been profoundly important.

The NDP family is bursting with talent. Premier Kinew, you're just a natural born political powerhouse and wow are we lucky to be doing this in Manitoba.

Thank you for providing such a welcoming home to all of us at this convention. On a personal note, our family's friendship spanning two generations means the world to me.

And of course I look forward to connecting with Premier Eby when I'm back in BC, and continuing a conversation with other provincial leaders, the premiers-in-waiting across the country.

Everywhere in Canada, this party is united in our commitment to working people. And no, we will not always agree on every single issue.

But here's the thing: our debates are another sign that our party is back and our tent is growing. It's big enough to hold some differences of opinion within it.

The NDP comeback has arrived just in time. Our party has never been more needed.

Friends, Canadians are living on the edge.

We're under economic attack from the US, while Donald Trump stomps around the globe grabbing foreign leaders and oil fields and starting wars he has no idea how to stop.

And 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.

Whether you're on a single salary, hustling with multiple gig jobs, or taking care of loved ones, working hard no longer earns you a living.

Look, I know every politician says they feel your pain, and claim to be outraged by the sky high price of everything.

But what they won't talk about is why — an economy that's rigged for the rich, leaving the vast majority of us behind.

Écoutez, je sais que tous les politiciens prétendent comprendre votre détresse et se disent scandalisés par les prix exorbitants. Mais ils ne vous en disent jamais la raison: une économie truquée au profit des riches, qui abandonne la grande majorité de nous.

And what they definitely won't talk about is who — a tiny group of billionaires that control every part of our economy, enabled by their friends among both Liberals and Conservatives.

They'll blame Trump. They'll blame immigrants. They'll blame Indigenous land rights. They'll blame anyone but the CEOs — the corner office class to whom they feel accountable.

Only the NDP will tell the truth: the cost of living emergency is driven by extreme wealth and power in the hands of the 1%.

Six grandes banques qui réalisent des profits astronomiques. Cinq grandes compagnies pétrolières qui se réjouissent d'une nouvelle vague de superprofits grâce à une nouvelle guerre illégale.

Five grocery giants who collude and price-gouge and gorge on profits — they fixed the price of bread for 15 years for heaven's sake.

3 telecoms corporations with mobile data rates that can cost a thousand times what people pay in Finland!

And let's not forget the Tech oligarchs and their global digital empires: spying on us from every device and jamming generative AI into every platform.

This is more than a rigged economy — it's a war on working people.

And it's why you are in shock at the checkout, in tears looking at your bills at the end of the month. It's because the wealth of this country is being hoovered up by a corporate elite who are extracting it from you every single day.

It's immoral, it's unreasonable, and it's un-Canadian. And we cannot let it stand.

Friends, we're at a crossroads in our history.

In our world — with what remains of the international order being torn to shreds by Donald Trump.

In this moment of intense uncertainty our country needs a vision to guide the path we take — one that makes us safer and more secure. One shaped by values shared by most Canadians: fairness, compassion, equality, international solidarity, and love for the natural world.

En cette période de si grande incertitude, nous méritons une vision qui illuminera la voie à suivre. Une vision façonnée par les valeurs de grands nombres de Canadien·nes et Québécois·es : l'équité, la compassion, l'égalité, la solidarité internationale et l'amour de l'environnement.

But that's not where we're headed now.

The Prime Minister is very popular at the moment — he's a smart guy and most Canadians still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. That's fair.

But I think when you connect the dots, his moves do not add up to the vision that Canadians truly want and deserve in this perilous moment.

Half a trillion dollars for weapons to make Canada a major arms exporter in a war-torn world. Slashing our cherished public services. Sweeping aside Indigenous rights. Full steam ahead on AI. And pipelines.

In the last federal election, Canadians voted to say no to Trump and Trumpism. What they're getting instead is our government following the US into a future of wars, fossil fuels, austerity, and job-killing, generative AI.

Our NDP has a different offer for this country.

Our plan is to Trump-proof the economy by investing massively in Canadian economic independence, using the unmatched power of public ownership to ensure the fundamentals of a good life.

A network of public providers for food, phones and internet.

A public housing developer and public construction companies to build millions of non-market homes.

A 21st century electrical grid, an EV bus revolution, and a heat pump in every home — all built with Canadian steel, creating tens of thousands of unionized jobs.

Investing in the care economy as true nation-building. The education, healthcare, elder and childcare that holds our social fabric together.

And finishing Tommy Douglas's dream. Eyes, teeth, mental health, medicine. They're all part of your health: they must all be part of our universal, public health care system.

If we want Canadians to feel more secure then we have to invest in our security. And we can.

Là, je veux m'adresser directement au peuple québécois — et mon français n'est peut-être pas parfait — mais je tiens à vous dire que l'histoire des luttes du Québec brille fort au sein de notre parti.

Les Québécois et Québecoises ont soif de vraies solutions progressistes. Ils veulent de l'audace : des options publiques pour l'épicerie, le logement, les cellulaires. Ils veulent du clair : plus de pipelines sales, ni ici ni ailleurs.

Et ils veulent de la solidarité, plutôt que de blâmer les plus vulnérables.

Je veux que ce NPD soit votre foyer. Nous allons bâtir ce mouvement ensemble et faire un retour en force au Québec.

Of course, we can already hear the howls from the establishment: but how will you pay for all this?

Well, this country is awash in wealth. We can have nice things. Banks made $70 billion in profits last year. Oil companies are expecting a new windfall in the tens of billions.

Grocery baron Galen Weston alone is worth $20 billion.

It's time to properly tax the corporations and billionaires that have been riding a tidal wave of profits while the 99% have been suffering and struggling — and use it to directly improve the lives of Canadians.

The money is there. We need a government with the courage to go and get it for all of us.

And we need a government that doesn't just talk about Canadian values on the world stage — we need one that ACTS with moral clarity when it matters, when missiles are falling on schools and hospitals.

When Israel commits genocide in Gaza, we call it by its name and we do everything in our power to bring it to an end.

When the US and Israel start an illegal and reprehensible war against Iran that sets the world on fire, we say: Canada should have absolutely no role in it whatsoever.

It is humbling to pick up the mantle of leadership from the long line of NDP leaders before me. My grandfather David Lewis, who took over from Tommy Douglas, gave his life to the CCF and then the NDP — working tirelessly for the party from the 1930s til the 1970s.

And friends, a lot of you know that my Dad, Stephen Lewis, isn't doing too well.

But he's still with us and hanging on to see the next chapter of our movement.

Ever the political fanatic, he has demanded daily updates about our organizing delivered to his hospital bed — a veritable IV drip of campaign data.

At age 88, he is more passionate about the promise of democratic socialism than he has ever been.

But he told me something kinda heartbreaking that David, his father, said to him once.

David said: not in my lifetime son, but maybe in yours.

Recently, my Dad told me the same thing: not in my lifetime, maybe in yours.

Well Dad: I refuse to tell that to my kid.

We can't wait another generation. We've got to start winning now.

We can live in a country built on a foundation of care and connection.

Where you don't have to fight every day just for the basics.

Where hard work earns you a living — and if you can't work, you're not abandoned.

And where our kids know we are doing everything we can to protect the air and water and their right to a liveable future.

That is why the NDP is coming back. Because we know that a thriving world is possible – and we know who is standing in our way.

There are way more of us than there are of them. We just have to find each other.

And that's what we've started on this campaign.

I want to thank again my incredible team and every single volunteer, donor, voter who has powered this history-making movement over the past seven months.

You have flung open the doors to this party. Your energy and passion is the fuel for all the work ahead.

And it's not going to stop just because the campaign is over.

Organizing can no longer be something we do when the writ drops — it's year round work, with the NDP fighting alongside labour unions, and social movements, showing up where we are needed, part of a common front.

The NDP will start winning again because we will become that beacon to the 99%, illuminating the darkening sky of these terrifying times with the energizing light of collective struggle.

This is about all of us coming together to find our place and our power in the thrilling work of building a shared future: a government that works for the many, not the money.

Thank you, let's get to work.

The images coming out of Iran are already unbearable. Reports of an elementary school struck by missiles, killing dozens of people, with scores more killed around the country. Fear and chaos in the streets as families run through smoke and search for safety.

The United States and Israel have launched an illegal act of war while Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu speak openly of regime change. This is what Prime Minister Mark Carney says he supports. He has issued a statement so brazenly belligerent that even Conservatives like Jason Kenney are cheering it on.

It's a shameful moment that buries all of Carney's high-minded rhetoric in Davos under the rubble.

These leaders justify this war as serving Iranian liberation. But the courageous movement in Iran that has been fighting tyranny for nearly five decades — and is still reeling from the worst massacre in the country's modern history in January — will suffer a massive setback from these foreign bombs.

We remember the disastrous outcomes of previous U.S.-led wars of regime change in the Middle East, including in Iraq. They led to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, sectarian conflict, and a world that is less safe, not more. The current attacks on Iran must stop now, before the entire region is plunged into conflict, death, and destruction.

My thoughts are with the people in Iran and around the world who are watching this unfold with heartbreak and uncertainty.

Freedom will not come from military intervention by outside powers, it can only come from the Iranian people. War is not the way.

Today, I’m pausing in sadness and solemn reflection to mourn the six worshippers who were killed in an act of Islamophobic terror at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City nine years ago.

My thoughts are with family members who lost loved ones, and with all those whose lives were forever changed by that horrific act of violence – including Aymen Derbali, who was paralyzed for life after attempting to stop the gunman.

This anniversary is a stark reminder of the deadly consequences of hate, and of the work that remains to be done in Canada to eradicate Islamophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant hatred.

At a time when racism and fearmongering is on the rise in the country, we must do far more to confront the forces that divide us. That includes working side by side with Muslim communities to protect their safety, security and wellbeing; strengthening education and public awareness about Islamophobia; enhancing support for victims of hate crimes; and taking real action to hold social media companies accountable for the spread of racist hate online.

Today and every day, I stand in solidarity with Muslim communities against hatred and discrimination. Our fates are intertwined – and our unity only makes us stronger.

I would like to send a message to the Latin American community in Canada at this difficult time.

As we have seen so many times before, the United States has carried out a violent intervention in a Latin American country.

This is an attack on the most basic principles of sovereignty and international law in the face of imperialism. The United States has no right to impose its will on Latin America — nor on Canada.

I know a little about the history of American imperialism in Latin American territories. I lived in Argentina in 2001, amid the ruins of an economic crisis created by local elites with the help of the IMF and Washington. It was a time of popular movements, and also of horrible repression.

The dictatorship of the 1970s was just beneath the surface. Many of those responsible had never left. And not only in Argentina — fascist actions filled with blood the already open veins of this Latin America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile…).

Many of you came to Canada as a result of those terrible years, and I know they are still very present for you, especially in weeks like this one.

Canada is a stronger, more vibrant, and more solidary country today because of you, and the contributions you bring to our communities and workplaces every day.

Finally, I want you to know that we are rebuilding the NDP right now. We need a left party that fights for a Canada that is a refuge from fascism and that does not participate in imperialism. For example, my platform includes a foreign policy independent from American foreign policy, especially with respect to Israel.

And we need your courage, your organizing capacity, and your generational wisdom.

Please join me and the party before January 28 to vote for the leadership. Vote for me to be the new leader of the NDP.

For almost two days, they have been cut off from loved ones by the Iranian government's internet blackout, which it has used in the past as cover for mass arrests and deadly force.

The protests are the latest expression of a struggle that has gone on for decades: against tyranny, against the crushing of the rights of women, workers, minorities, and dissidents, and against the impossible cost of living. The courage of those taking to the streets in cities, towns, and villages from across society is extraordinary.

Iranians know, especially in the wake of the brutal Israeli-US 12-day war, that their liberation will not come from outside forces waiting to exploit their fight for freedom. The responsibility of the Canadian government is clear: stand with the Iranian people, oppose repression, and refuse to support any attempt by foreign powers to hijack this moment for their own ends.

The US has attacked a country, kidnapped its head of state, and is seizing its oil. Trump has invoked the Monroe Doctrine.

This is a moment for Canada to stand up: condemn this act of imperialism. Reject impunity and the politics of brute force.

State clearly that we will not support a US invasion in any way whatsoever – and that includes our oil companies and weapons industry.

This is my position as a candidate for leader of the NDP.

Canada’s response has shown why we need the NDP: Poilievre applauds Trump. Carney's government cannot muster a single word of criticism.

Whatever you think about Maduro, Canada cannot be an accessory to this blatant violation of international law.

It’s an assault on the fundamental rights of migrants, refugees, and all Canadian citizens. Rather than keeping us safe, this bill creates a deportation machine that drags us ever closer to the horrors happening in the US.

Migrants deserve safety and protection, not scapegoating and discrimination. We stand in solidarity with the migrant justice movement and we won’t stop fighting until all people are guaranteed the freedom to move, the freedom to stay, and the freedom to return.

Today, across the country, we honour their memories, say their names, and re-commit to the collective work of changing the conditions that enabled their deaths.

We are collectively mourning Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, and Annie Turcotte, and we remember them.

Remembering is essential. But it has not changed the reality that, decades later, gender-based violence is still rising and governments continue to cut or underfund services and supports that keep women, girls, and gender-diverse people safe.

I was fortunate to be raised by a feminist mother. Through her commitments and dedication to this struggle, I learned at an early age that gender-based violence is a systemic problem rooted in patriarchy, which is woven deep into the injustice and exploitation of our unfair economy.

But the feminist struggle is also woven into the fabric of our society – it sits at the heart of all righteous struggles. And it continues to shape and frame how I and so many others pour our hearts into the collective work of transformation.

In honour of the 14 victims at École Polytechnique, we want to amplify and uplift supports, services, and programs across this country that continue to show up in this collective struggle, and encourage you to donate, reach out, volunteer, or access the services that you or people you care about might need.

Today on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, I want to share my solidarity and support for Palestinians here at home and around the world.

It’s time for our government to have the moral courage to do what is right: no more arms sales to Israel, no more diplomatic and economic support, no more complicity with occupation and genocide.

A real nation-building project would expand the renewable energy of the future while creating thousands of jobs - powerlines not pipelines.

We will stand up for Indigenous rights, for our coast, for our country. We will fight to protect the places we love like our lives depend on it, because they absolutely do.

Prime Minister Carney needs to remember he has a minority mandate - instead of arrogantly forcing through a budget without changes, playing brinkmanship when Canadians are clear they don’t want an election.

Budgets like these underline the imperative of rebuilding the NDP so we can offer Canada an alternative to the disastrous pro-corporate agenda of the Liberals and Conservatives.

Zohran Mamdani’s historic win in New York is a beacon of hope and possibility - proof that a people-powered, solutions-focused, democratic socialist campaign can defeat entrenched power in the centre of global wealth.

His campaign did what so many said was impossible. Despite a tidal wave of corporate spending and a chorus dismissing his ideas as “too radical,” voters gave a huge victory to a candidate who spoke directly to the everyday emergency of just trying to get by in a rigged economy, offering concrete solutions as big as the crises working people face.

Like so many Canadians, I’ve been deeply inspired by Mamdani’s campaign - by the way he built power from the ground up, organizing with working people, tenants, young people and a diverse multiracial coalition long shut out of political power.

It’s the same energy and vision that’s driving our campaign here in Canada: a politics that takes on concentrated wealth, offers public options where markets fail, makes life much more affordable, and integrates climate solutions into everything we do.

Mamdani’s victory isn’t an outlier - it’s part of a new wave of bottom-up politics. Its lesson is simple: if you fight for people, people fight back with you.

Tonight, New Yorkers showed that politics rooted in justice, dignity, and solidarity can win - and win big. Canadians are hungry for that same courage and clarity.

It has nothing to do with students or improving the state of education in Alberta.

If Smith cared about that, she'd reverse her own cuts, address overcrowding and stop the creeping privatization through funding to charter and private schools.

There is a concerted attack on the right to strike in this country - we're seeing it in Alberta, we've seen it in Ontario, and we've seen it time and time again from the federal Liberal government.

I'm proud that the NDP has been a consistent voice in support of organized labour, including Leah Gazan’s recent motion to delete Section 107, the loophole Carney has been using.

Flight attendants showed us earlier this year that when workers stand up and use their power we can win - and we can do it again. Solidarity!

Exactly 20 years ago, I was honoured to speak at the Alberta Teachers’ Association convention, 2005.

I’ve got the same message of solidarity and appreciation I did then:

“I don’t need to tell you, of all people, that robust, creative, fully funded and universal Public Education is the foundation on which democracy rests.

You understand that there can be no meaningful democracy in a place where children go to school hungry, don’t have resources available when they have special needs, and can’t count on a healthy public system to be with them as they grow up.

And energized, hopeful and committed teachers have always been the ones to lead this struggle around the world.”

The antisemitic attack in Manchester is devastating enough without adding insult to mortal injury.

Two unshakeable principles should meet such acts.

First, clear and unequivocal condemnation of this crime of hate and against all antisemitism.

Second, clear and unequivocal opposition to all who would exploit such acts to silence others standing up to hate and violence (like those protesting Israel’s genocide).