Montreal activist Yves Engler officially looking to enter NDP leadership race

A New Democratic Party campaign team member works at the NDP headquarters in Ottawa, on Friday, March 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Montreal-based activist Yves Engler is applying to enter the NDP leadership race months after announcing his intention to make a bid. 

Engler bills himself as an “agitator” and is running for the leadership with promises to nationalize energy, banks and telecommunications while halting oilsands development and speeding up renewable energy sources. 

“We believe that the members, and the Canadian public more generally, want to hear this message,” Engler said Monday outside NDP headquarters.

Engler said he’s going through the vetting process to enter the race in time to take part in the first formal leadership debate, scheduled for Nov. 27 in Montreal. 

The entrance fee for the NDP leadership race is $100,000, paid in four instalments. The first is due upon entry, with the second $25,000 deadline coming up Friday.

“We have those resources,” Engler said. “We want the NDP to not only vet us in, but also take the money so we can put forward our platform and our ideas.”

Engler added that his campaign has raised $90,000.

However, the NDP’s chief electoral officer, Éric Hébert-Daly, has previously said that donations cannot be accepted until a candidate formally enters the race, and that he had been in contact with Engler.

“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,” Hébert-Daly said in an Oct. 10 email.

The Canadian Press has contacted the NDP for comment on Engler filing his vetting application but has not yet received a statement.

Engler said he is following fundraising rules, and that he has been in touch with Elections Canada regularly.

Engler added that he wanted to show he had support before taking official steps to enter the leadership race.

“We thought that it’s important to put forward our platform because we understand that there’s a history of anti-democratic behaviour from the three-person vetting committee, and we thought it was important to make sure that the NDP knew there was lots of support for these kind of left insurgent, pro-economic democracy, pro-decolonization kind of platforms,” Engler said.

Engler added he believes it should be up to the NDP membership who is in the race, and they can decide what policies they like and dislike.

If Engler’s application is successful, he will become the sixth candidate for leader.

The current candidates are documentarian Avi Lewis, Alberta MP Heather McPherson, union leader Rob Ashton, social worker Tanille Johnston and organic farmer Tony McQuail.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2025. 

David Baxter, The Canadian Press