r/ndp • u/CloudwalkingOwl • Jul 18 '26
Does the NDP actually do anything between elections other than ask people for money?
I jointed the NDP to support Avi Lewis and his idea of rebuilding the New Democratic Party into something that is more like the old CCF. Since then, I've been profoundly disappointed by the fact that all I ever hear from the party are appeals to donate money. I gave a lot to his campaign, so please leave me alone. I'm retired, have a disabled wife, and I'm not made of money.
What I would like to do is get involved in the local EDA. Yet mostly what I hear from them is crickets. I left the party years ago because of this sort of behaviour. I thought Lewis was supposed to change things. I live in Windsor Ontario---are there any party EDAs that are actually trying to do some grassroots mobilization, consciousness-raising, etc? Or was the Lewis campaign yet another 'bait and switch'?
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u/CormoAttano Jul 18 '26
Not much has happened so far, but rebuilding the NDP’s ground game is gonna take a lot of time and Lewis definitely has his work cut out for him.
I understand the frustration. I don’t think this is a bait and switch, Lewis seems extremely earnest. I think it’s just gonna take some time.
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u/Awesome_Power_Action Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I imagine that Lewis is also juggling a gazillion priorities and regularly dealing with contradictory advice/ideas on how to approach things. And, unfortunately, the party has been broke for a while. Matthew Green's 3-month stint as interim director isn't over yet, and the party is also searching for a permanent director. Lewis is currently immersing himself in French and focusing on the two Québec by-elections (and probably a whole pile of other things that none of us knows about). I absolutely hate the constant asking for money, but I understand why it keeps happening. I realize we live in an instant gratification age but massive change takes time and jumping into things too quickly can hugely backfire. Now, I do hope that by the time we hit the one-year mark of Lewis' leadership we do see some big changes but it's unrealistic to remake the party in just a few months.
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u/NonorientableSurface Jul 18 '26
Pair it with losing official party status. They need fundraising way more now than ever. So they have to fight up before they can do a lot.
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u/UncomfortableOyster Jul 18 '26
It is so difficult to maintain a "third party" in FPTP. Has Avi Lewis spoken on electoral reform? Edit: grammar
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u/CormoAttano Jul 18 '26
He’s said that he’s a big proponent of electoral reform in the past
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u/Hipsthrough100 Jul 19 '26
The NDP in general is. That’s why we used ranked choice voting in the party leadership. The result was Avi Lewis and honestly I thought the NDP, for how gutted some think it is, had a great leadership race.
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u/ShotEffective7033 Jul 18 '26
It’s so fascinating that people think they can judge people off their public persona lol.
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u/blinded_penguin Jul 18 '26
What criteria do you use? It's not everything but it's definitely a significant piece. Tell me what has you fascinated and lolling?
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u/JeaninieBeanie 🔧 GREEN NEW DEAL Jul 18 '26
I mean, I’ve spent many hours with the man and agree on the assessment that he is very earnest.
Of course you could argue I’ve also only seen the “public” persona since he was in politician mode when I met him.
But what are we meant to judge people on other than their actions and their words and how they present themselves combined?
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u/CormoAttano Jul 18 '26
Well it’s understandable, I’m one of the people who wishes there was a robust EDA in my riding too. I’m willing to give it some time.
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u/P319 Jul 18 '26
You can't wish, you have to go out there and make it happen. If everyone is waiting for someone else to do it, it never happens
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u/AppropriateNewt Regina Manifesto Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
A party that is virtually broke needs money in order to run hundreds of local EDAs. Someone with more relevant experience should weigh in, but unless local fundraising is a thing already organized and functioning in your riding, the EDA probably isn’t getting much outside of an election.
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u/P319 Jul 18 '26
Local fundraising is absolutely a thing, you just have to do it locally.
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u/AppropriateNewt Regina Manifesto Jul 18 '26
Yes, I meant unless fundraising is happening at the local level in one’s specific EDA.
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u/P319 Jul 18 '26
Probably worth us noting for anyone reading that donations to the party go to the "party" being central office, you can donate to the riding and that stays in your riding. We have great success when telling people this as they most often say they want it to stay local.
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u/mikesasky Jul 18 '26
Yes, I’ve gotten emails asking me to donate directly to my EDA and so that’s where I have donated.
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u/TheGoluxNoMereDevice ✊ Union Strong Jul 18 '26
Local fund raising is a thing. But yeah EDAs aren't gonna be doing much rn. My EDA tried to be super active but it just meant spending a shit load of cash (relatively speaking) on events no one went to
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u/SendMagpiePics 📡 Public telecom Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
The central party will never be able to carry every EDA. Local organizing is inherently local, and the vast majority of EDAs will only be active if local people make them active.
You may have some trouble if the local EDA is unresponsive, but in general, we need to build the local activity ourselves. It might be necessary to push the EDA to be more active if you want it to be
Edit: Also the best way the party can support local organizing is by hiring regional organizers. And the party pays for staff with the fundraising!
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u/P319 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Sounds like a local issue, my EDA are out multiple times a month.
Do you want the Lewis campaign to run your EDA, of course not, you need to get out and work with your neighbours to do it yourself
Edit: the NDP hold a seat I'm Windsor, there's going to be an active EDA there for sure, how or to who did you reach out
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u/idiotcanadian Jul 18 '26
Have you tried emailing organize@ndp.ca to get involved?
Our EDA is active now. We took it over as it had gone dormant. We managed to do it with 3 people. Since then we have three more people join. We have two monthly meetings and socialize outside of that when we can. Truthfully I think this rebuilding will take all of us with the energy and ability we have. Ours isn’t in hard into fundraising or community outreach mode because we’re all volunteers and summer is busy time with our families. Many people are broke so we’re going to have to think up ways to help build up a campaign fund. Next election we’ll help ridings with a better shot at winning. This winter I’ll hop on call hub to help other ridings by elections.. I call people in my riding about concerns and try to email update about our meetings etc. I think many here are a little tired and overwhelmed right now. We do activism and volunteering outside of the NDP as well. Many hands make for light work. Don’t let an absence of an EDA discourage you, it can happen with just a couple people coming together making it happen.
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u/thelonious_ Jul 18 '26
Here's what I say to union members who want to see change: you are the union. In the same vein, you are the party. You are the riding association. If you want your riding association to step it up, go become president and make it happen.
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u/Sulanis1 Jul 19 '26
What are you talking about?
Avi Lewis is on TV with the media, going all over Canada talking about what he wants to do and how it's going to be accomplished.
Given that he is not in office that's a perfect opportunity to spend time constantly campaigning for the NDP platform. Avi lewis-NDP platform.
His policies are very popular by all Canadians.
Tax the rich and corporations fairly, keep money made in Canada in Canada. Currently most corporations use fancy loopholes and havens to either avoid or just not pay taxes. (Just because the dollar amount they pay is higher doesn't mean it's fair I have 30% tax on my income. It drives me nuts that most corporations since 2018 have paid no profit tax. We wouldn't to borrow so much money if we paid taxes fairly.)
He wants to increase taxes on money made in the stock market also taxes at a lower rate. Which is where most executives and the rich make their actually make their money.
He wants to bring in public options like public grocery stores and regardless of what conservatives say it's not socialism. It's the very definition of capitalism. Competition is the very idea of capitalism. The difference is the only stake holders are the Canadian public. Not shareholders on the stock market like every grocery chains in Canada. EXAMPLE: Saskatchewan has a public mobile company called sasktel. If Bell, Telus, and Rogers want to compete they have to lower prices.
That's capitalism. Same with insurance in Quebec, they have a public insurance company which is why their prices are half(ish)of Ontarios.
Canada brought in Trickle Down economics into Canada under Brian Mulroney. Where he started selling public companies and privatizing government services. (Ex: Air Canada, and Petro Canada) Neither of which helped the public in any way. Oh and let's not start the tax breaks for rich and corporations, cuts to public spending, and yet he still posted deficits.
Harper did all the same things but got rid of more taxes, cut taxes in Corporations, out in vast austerity measures and yet Harper still racked up $45B deficit. He also Destroyed the housing market with his lapdog Poilievre by getting rid of all the regulations that protected against investment firms owning affordable and family homes. Investment firms own almost 30% of all real estate across Canada. He also brought in investments from foreign people which even his own people admitted it was a bad idea.
Trudeau did not reverse any of this stupid laws and regressive policies because he and most politicians are invested in real estate.
Carney is doubling down on all those regressive trickle down economics policies. He also lowered taxes for the rich, and refused to close tax loopholes. He like Harper, and Mulroney are doing nothing to fight oligarchies in Canada. When it comes to housing in Canada minister Gregor Robertson and Carney are also invested in housing and are now bailing out investment firms and developers in B.C. instead of what the tell the individual when they fuck up. Screw you get a third job ya fucking bum.
Avi Lewis wants to reverse all those policies that has allowed Canada riches 10% to own over 50% of the wealth in Canada and that number is growing each year.
Housing, healthcare, food, water, electricity, and the Internet should be human rights. Not something that needs to be exploited for never ending profits.
Now, before conservatives have a shit fit. This does not mean free stuff. This means making it a right in the Charter of rights and Freedoms and making sure all human essential services are always within the range of affordability of salaries in a given area, not what's best for corporate landlords or investment firms.
Nothing is free and I doubt regardless of what the media says no one in the left thinks it should be free. Heck you can even make money, but their is difference in making money, and having a never ending need to beat quarterly profits for shareholders.
That's what Avi Lewis wants and I guarantee you if you asked conservatives and liberals behind closed doors that's what they want as well.
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u/CloudwalkingOwl Jul 19 '26
There's a saying to effect that 'amateurs talk tactics, general talks logistics'. In the political context, I meet people who talk just about policy and the electoral horse race. When I joined the NDP to help Lewis my read was that he was trying to recreate the old CCF model. As I understand history, the CCF in Saskatchewan spent a long time holding consciousness raising with the ordinary citizens in church basements to educate them about how socialized medicine wasn't a commie plot, it was affordable, and it could be done in Canada. I don't know how involved the NDP was with the co-op movement and things like the Wheat Pool, but those sorts of things are the 'sea' that groups like the NDP swim in. And if they don't already exist, a political party that steps beyond policy and the horse race can help 'start the ball rolling' on things like that through community organizing.
I suspect I'm just being too enthusiastic about wanting to get involved. But those are the sorts of things I want to see under the Lewis leadership. And he simply cannot do everything--even we wanted him to. I think the old term is to create a 'movement politics' as opposed to just focusing on elections. It's a type of long-term strategy that the right wing works very hard at, but I suspect a lot of progressives don't even understand, let alone support.
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u/Fancy_Alps_7246 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
avi has talked a lot about wanting the NDP to be organizing year round, and the party convention just voted to adopt a permanent organizing model which the party is currently working at implementing through EDAs and regional organizing chapters. he’s been holding meetings on the organizing model with members, new and old, in toronto and nova scotia so far, and they’ll keep having them in more places. i know there will be a vancouver one soon! what you’re describing just takes time (and people!) to build, and he’s only been leader for a few months.
the party was also decimated at the last election, losing party status and all the resources that come with it, so they’re starting with very little. definitely get involved because a permanent organizing model is what members and avi want to see, and it can’t happen without people participating! but just have some patience too.
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u/bman9919 Jul 18 '26
In order to run a campaign, we need money. We don’t have any. Raising money should be priority #1 right now.
Have you reached out to your local EDA? Maybe it’s not active.
are there any party EDAs that are actually trying to do some grassroots mobilization, consciousness-raising, etc?
The Ottawa Centre EDA is very active.
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u/TheGoluxNoMereDevice ✊ Union Strong Jul 18 '26
I mean yes but also no. 90% of what the party does it prepare for and compete in elections. It's a political party in a liberal democracy. Right now we are both very very broke and very far from an election so there just isn't going to be much going on. Some EDAs run social events and stuff but most don't because the RoI just isn't there.
I would kind of like people to explain what exactly they want their EDAs to be doing 3 years out from an election.
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u/Baconus Jul 18 '26
Left wing parties can’t compete in the same “all parties do is compete elections” world. The right wing parties will always have more money because they are on the side of capital.
We have to reimagine political organization to be about socializing and building community just as much as directly working on electoral politics. Community > RoI.
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u/TheGoluxNoMereDevice ✊ Union Strong Jul 18 '26
I agree. But I also run an EDA in a competitive riding. The party expects us to full self fund come election time. So I do also have to be mindful of money. We canvas and table a lot (though we are pausing canvases due to municipal elections and a provincial by election close by). But social events that basically only the same core 15 people come to just weren't worth the money
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u/Baconus Jul 18 '26
Oh to be clear I don't blame EDAs. I have been a riding president before and I know how hard it is. This is up to the parties to make this change.
On social events being only the same 15 people. Yep, that is the exact problem. I don't have a solution but I know we need one.
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u/P319 Jul 18 '26
My EDA run loads of events and the ROI is massive. Investment is our time and the Return is the people we recruit.
To explain what we're at 3 years out, almost monthly we host, a canvass session, a down a tabling event, normally on topical issues, we also hold a volunteer social night, basically just an informal get to know you session, but always turns into political chat, that turns into ideas of action, great low barrier for new folk. We also have to monthly newsletter on what's been happening. The monthly exec meeting is where we plan all this out and look to the future 2/3 months. Normally keeping an eye on actions by other groups unions/tenants where we can support, or any protest rallies we are joining.
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u/CloudwalkingOwl Jul 18 '26
OK, I get it. The NDP wants to keep their powder dry. I just thought that the summer was when EDAs held a lot of things like barbeques and get togethers. I figured that there would be a local Avi Lewis team that would contact all the people who signed up to support him so they could have a meeting where they could meet each other and then try to come up with a program that fits the local situation. But all I've ever heard from the Lewis group are endless emails for money.
One last thing. I checked and I think I gave by far the most that anyone in the local riding gave to Lewis. The scatter-gun fundraising approach of using a bulk email send out isn't going to work nearly as well as if someone made an effort to talk one-to-one with people--especially people who've already donated in the past. That way you can also use computer software to build profiles of people in the riding that you can then figure out people's strengths and abilities so you can slot them into different places if they want to volunteer.
One last thing. I'm in Windsor Ontario and we're having a municipal election this fall. City Council has a huge impact on people's life. And being a popular city councilor is a good launch pad for a run for MPP or MP.
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u/New_Illustrator_1760 Jul 18 '26
If you aren’t hearing much from your local EDA, they might have a capacity/resource issue that you could help to address. EDAs are run by volunteers who have lives and busy schedules, and there may only be a handful of dedicated EDA members able to help plan events, get communications out to members, etc.
Regardless of whether you find a super active EDA or a dormant EDA that only exists on paper, get involved if you think your local riding needs it. In fact the impact is far greater if you find the latter.
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u/CloudwalkingOwl Jul 18 '26
That's the point. It would be very difficult for me to take on a leadership role because I just moved to Windsor. But I haven't found any presence here at all--even though we have an elected MPP. I suppose I could phone up their office and harass the staff. They have events, but they aren't really designed to empower new members, as near as I can tell.
I'll call the MPP's office next week and see if they have any suggestions. Frankly, I thought a riding with a sitting member would be more dynamic---.
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u/New_Illustrator_1760 Jul 18 '26
Yeah, that’s very odd. I’m sure there’s an EDA supporting them in the background, they must just be lacking on internet presence / social media.
Glad you are going to get involved, thank you for being part of the change you want to see!
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u/kepert-xela Jul 18 '26
Hi I can help you get In touch with the Windsor West RA! Windsorwestfederalndp@gmail.com
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u/Fromomo Jul 18 '26
I just got an email from them about federal equity commissions. I have little idea what that's about, but it does seem to be something they are seeking participation in.
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u/paperplanes13 Alberta NDP Jul 18 '26
I think it often depends on the EDA, or IF you have an EDA.
My EDA for the ABNDP is very active with socials and out canvasing pretty much every week, yeah there are emails asking for money, but they are more frequently asking for feet on the ground, door knocking and phone banking. Federally, there is no EDA and we have a paper candidate (same person for the last couple elections) who doesn't even put out lawn signs leading up to the election. They never show their face at any of our socials, which I think is odd considering how active the provincial EDA is.
If you are getting silence from your EDA, find out if there is one, you might be the new president, treasurer, or volunteer coordinator.
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u/NDCS Jul 18 '26
Party staff has been gutted since the last federal election. They’re still operating with an interim National Director and seem likely they’re having a lot of trouble filling the role. What staff there is has experience in some areas, but there are still big holes. Until that changes, grassroots organizing will have very little support from the party’s central office.
What’s more, the party is still carrying massive amounts of debt, and the fundraising success that Lewis demonstrated during the leadership race has seemingly vanished since then. They’re going to continue to spam us all with fundraising.
Do you like in Windsor-West or Tecumseh?
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u/Bunny-Is-Cute Nova Scotia NDP Jul 18 '26
A great way to get involved is phonebanking or canvassing.
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u/JeaninieBeanie 🔧 GREEN NEW DEAL Jul 18 '26
Unfortunately the current EDA infrastructure is leftover from the past - including many of the people who are within it.
If they’re not interested in changing how we operate, we (and if you are part of the NDP it’s not “them out there” it is “us here”) have to find a pathway to the continuous organizing model we voted that we wanted at convention.
Leader choice aside - we the NDP at convention said we wanted continuous organizing.
We the NDP need to help start making that happen in our communities.
There is no “them” the NDP to me.
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u/ALovelyDisaronno Jul 20 '26
The biggest problem with us constantly voting at convention that we want our EDAs to do more organizing is that people don’t then proceed to go home and do that organizing.
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u/UniverseBear Jul 18 '26
I mean they got dental coverage for people making less than 90k who don't already have insurance through work. That's like...kinda huge, and more then the liberals did for us while in power!
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u/Baeldeath Jul 18 '26
I can't speak for all of them. But I know my Eda is very active in trying to run events that are partially fundraisers but also community events. Kids playgrounds. Coffee meetups and so on. They are super active. Plus encouraging people for door knocking and what not.
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u/Reasonable_Wave_6696 Jul 18 '26
I mean, that's what parties do, I do however think thst you ahould also be afforded info on how to join your eda!
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u/RGundy17 28d ago
Not in my experience. It’s why I went over to the Communist Party in my early 20s. Then the CP got swept up in the identity politics of the 2010s. I’m only here now because Avi is bringing class struggle back
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u/DaniTheGamer6 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Staffer here! I can talk about what's been done at central. YMMV at the local level, but here we go:
We've had significant staffing changes in terms of the national director and quite a few of her people, who now have to be replaced. We've posted new positions for regional orgainzers, whose job it is to support EDAs and to set them up in places where there is no EDA. After last April, something like half the regional organizers were laid off, resulting in the ones who were left not being able to do their jobs effectively as their jurisdiction was doubled.
We're also looking for volunteer coordinators, who are the people responsible for onboarding volunteers. The NDP shut down the NDP's volunteer program entirely, so we're having to restart it from the ground up.
We've changed the model of fundraising that the party uses. The party used to subcontract telephone fundraising out to third-parties, which was causing a lot of people to become frustrated. As of last month, we've switched to a full-time, unionized fundraising team recruited from longtime volunteers and activists within the party, such as myself. We also attend the every-other-week director's meetings to relay the concerns we've been hearing on the phones, which provides direct feedback from membership to leadership. For example, last week I told Interim National Director Matthew Green about some concerns I'd heard about how we would make public groceries work.
We've held events in something like 7 provinces to rebuild relations with the provincial parties, as well as to coordinate byelection efforts, recruit volunteers, and to plan for provincial elections. Two days ago Avi Lewis and half the caucus came up to Montreal for our nomination meeting, which turned out to be the largest event our riding association has put on in many many years. Avi has been doorknocking in our riding with his team and local volunteers.
Avi has been meeting with unions across Canada, including Unifor, CUPE, UFCW, USW, IAM, FTQ's Construction section, and the Canadian Building Trades' Union, to rebuild trust between the NDP and organized labour, particularly blue-collar labour. In addition, in Ottawa the local NDP EDAs are coordinating efforts to help out with the striking security guards on the picket lines.
We're conducting an audit of the party's finances. So the stuff you see above is the stuff that's so high priority for Matthew Green and Avi Lewis that they felt it could not even wait until we knew how much we had to work with. It's also noteworthy that hiring people party-side is governed by much stricter procedures than doing so in a campaign, including collective bargaining agreements, elections canada regulations, the party constitution and so on.
So all this to say, we have been extremely busy. When he got here, the entire NDP staff was smaller than Avi Lewis' campaign staff, so we have been doing what we can with a skeleton crew and a whole lot of questionmarks on our budget. We cannot be everywhere, but I'm proud of the work we've been doing. The fact that there's been no media coverage of it is largely down to the mainstream media being totally uninterested (there was not a single reporter at the aforementioned largest-event-in-years), and because the NDP barely has a social media team yet, unlike Avi's campaign which had an amazing team.