New NDP leader asks Quebec MP Boulerice to stay on his team

Shortly after being elected leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Avi Lewis is urging his only Quebec MP, Alexandre Boulerice, to stay on board.

Boulerice is considering running for Québec Solidaire in next fall’s election, and QS has even amended its rules to allow him to run.

Since its crushing electoral defeat in the spring of 2025, the NDP has only seven elected members in the House of Commons, so any departure would shake the already fragile party.

Lewis was elected Sunday by NDP members, and at his first press conference on Monday, he said he had met with his parliamentary caucus and spoken with Boulerice.

“I looked him in the eye and said, ‘Please, stay with us.’ I understand he hasn’t made a final decision, and we hope he stays,” he said.

When asked by a reporter what he might do to convince him to stay, he did not respond.

It is also unclear what the member for Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie replied.

At a press conference in Montreal, Québec Solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal declined to specify the status of talks with the courted member.

“I have no announcement to make,” she said. “Mr. Boulerice said he was thinking it over; I’m going to let him continue.”

“Yes, there are discussions; yes, it’s an option that’s being taken very, very seriously,” Boulerice reiterated as recently as Saturday at the NDP convention in Winnipeg, during an interview with CPAC.

The NDP MP had previously said he would wait until the end of the race to succeed Jagmeet Singh to make his decision, but has not yet made up his mind.

Boulerice has expressed numerous concerns about his party in recent weeks.

He had suggested that he was “disappointed” with the role of French in the leadership race.

In the same vein, he also told CPAC in recent days that the new leader will have to make French “a priority.”

He also acknowledged that there was “a lot of work to be done to rebuild the party.”

He urged the next leader to rebuild “from the ground up,” to “come and talk to Quebecers” in order to “better understand Quebec.”

Boulerice describes himself as a “pragmatist.” However, the new leader, Avi Lewis, is seen as representing a more radical left, which has drawn criticism from provincial New Democratic Party leaders in particular.

Lewis notably advocates for state-run grocery stores.

Boulerice is the last remaining figure in Quebec from Jack Layton’s “orange wave” of 2011, which propelled the NDP to the status of official opposition in the House with 103 MPs, including 59 in Quebec out of the 75 seats in the province.

Last February, QS changed its own nomination rules—which were adopted in 2025—in order to roll out the red carpet for Boulerice.

In fact, the rule stipulated that in “currently won” ridings, the party would require female or non-binary candidates.

So, to secure Boulerice a spot in the Rosemont riding—which overlaps with his federal riding and is becoming vacant with the departure of independent MNA Vincent Marissal—QS pushed through an exception.

The text of the proposal that circulated in some media outlets stated, in part: “In recent weeks, a well-known left-wing sovereignist who shares the values of Québec Solidaire and is deeply rooted in the riding has expressed interest in running as a candidate for Québec Solidaire in Gouin.”

By Patrice Bergeron

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 30, 2026.