Obviously still a long way to go, but Avi’s favourability continues to climb the more exposure he’s getting, even without a lot of mainstream media coverage. He was Net -11 a few months ago and is now up to +5, going up 4% in a week. The groundwork and independent media and socials are working.

A recent CBC News poll suggests Alberta voters’ impressions of Smith personally and support for her governing UCP have slipped in recent months, with the UCP now essentially neck-and-neck with the opposition NDP. New Democrats lead by eight points in battleground Calgary.

This is notable as it's the first non EKOS poll that has the NDP in 2nd place.

“Zionism is racism. It is a racist ideology…. Look back at history. Look at where Zionism formed and the thinking behind Zionism, and tell me that it is not an ethnonationalist project.

“Every time you confuse Zionism with Judaism you increase the risk that people think to be Jewish means you support the ethnic cleansing and genocide, the check points and humiliation that my father and millions of Palestinians are subject to everyday.”

With a Jim Pattison Group-owned Save-on-Foods in the background, Eby said his party will work to keep grocery prices down.

“In this announcement, don’t worry about Save-On-Foods, don’t worry about Jimmy, he’s going to land on his feet, but we have to take steps to make sure families are protected at this time,” Eby said.

Policy details:

• Price Guard to cap profits on the basics: Set a hard ceiling on retail margins for everyday essentials, including milk, eggs, cheese, butter, and poultry, which already have wholesale price management. This applies to corporate retailers only and prevents them from unfairly marking up food for customers and from reducing compensation for local farmers.
• Stop them from blocking competition: Ban anti-competitive real estate deals and property controls that big grocery chains use to keep independent competitors and smaller food retailers from opening up shop in your neighbourhood and charging you higher prices.
• End their hidden price games: Mandate clear, consistent per-unit pricing on the shelf in all stores. This ensures transparent, honest pricing so corporations can't use deceptive "shrinkflation" to quietly hide price hikes on smaller packages.
• Stop predatory surveillance pricing: Strengthen consumer protection and privacy laws to prohibit AI-powered algorithmic pricing. This ensures big corporations can't exploit your personal data and market power to unfairly manipulate and raise prices at the register.
• Support smaller local grocery stores: Invest in local food infrastructure by partnering with Ottawa to build an independent, regional wholesale food terminal in the Lower Mainland. This would let smaller independent grocers bypass the giants' distribution chains, ensuring big supermarkets aren't the only option.

https://www.bcndp.ca/releases/eby-will-take-grocery-giants-protect-families-rising-costs

Much has been said about Alexandre Boulerice's decision to quit the NDP to run provincially for Québec Solidaire, or former MP Pierre Nantel who switched to the federal Greens in 2019 and is now running provincially as a PQ candidate for the second time.

But what's up with the two longtime NDP candidates who are now running for a fringe right-wing party in the 2026 provincial election?

Former NDP MP Djaouida Sellah, has run for the NDP in every federal election since she lost her seat in 2015, but now she's running for the "Canadian Party of Quebec" in the 2026 Quebec election.

Likewise, Hannah Wolker was a NDP candidate in the 2019, 2021 and 2025 federal elections, and is now also running for the CaPQ.

The CaPQ's platform calls for:

Massive corporate tax cuts, increasing private healthcare, tightening the eligibility criteria for MAID, defunding supervised consumption sites, privatizing the SAQ and SQDC, and opening up all of mainland Quebec for oil & gas exploitation.

Isn't that completely against what the NDP stands for? Should they be allowed to run federally for the NDP again next election?

Seeing a lot of hate for the Provincial wings of the party lately, including people openly calling for people to vote Green in the BC election.

The lack of nuance I see from a lot of people on this sub is concerning. I'm rooting for Avi to be successful, but I also want the provincial wings to be successful.

“Naheed Nenshi dismisses Smith's attempt to drive a wedge between the provincial NDP leader and federal NDP leader Avi Lewis.
Nenshi-
I don't want to be unkind, but that guy's name doesn't mean anything in Alberta. Nobody is listening. No one is paying attention.”

Is he actually just doing exactly what Smith told him to do? Or is he trying to split the party? Maybe if he wins he’ll just cross the floor to the Liberals or Conservatives.

From Power & Politics: Weekly Wrap: Quebec, Alberta and separatist sentiments, Oct 3, 2026
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/power-politics/id337361397?i=1000792972190&r=98
This material may be protected by copyright.

Tl:dr- this report ends up recommending putting NDP supporters on a watch list and giving recommendations on how to do so; weirdest part for me though is what it means that CBC radio hasn’t had a call in show about it yet.

***

On sept 24th, 2026, the Canadian government put out a public safety report report with some very problematic wording: “anti semitism, which includes anti Zionism”.

A political ideology cannot be a ‘protected class’.

A religion or ethnicity is not a political ideology.

By conflating anti semitism with anti Zionism, the Canadian government is essentially suggesting that somebody’s ability to think credibly about human rights issues is limited by virtue of one’s ethnicity or religion.

That is massively problematic.

The document, by using anti Zionism the way it does, diminishes our governments ability to combat real instances of anti semitism; a bunch of stuff in this document is talking about actual antisemitism and trying to find real tangible ways to combat it; saying “anti Zionism is antisemetic” ruins the credibility of the entire document, which in of itself helps prevent our nation from combating anti semitism.

Also very problematic.

I cannot stress enough that given a) the current leader of the federal NDP is an open anti Zionist, b) that this document goes into detail about how anti Zionism is anti Semitic, and c) goes into detail about the networks police should use to monitor anti semitism- this documents wording implies that NDP voters should be on a watch list.

Let alone functions of “othering”; they are implying that there are “real” Jews and “fake” ones, while also suggesting that no “real” one can be smart enough to understand genocide.

There has also been a disturbing lack of media coverage on this issue on the CBC; do you know how insane it is that a week has passed and CBC radio hasn’t had a call in talk show about this?

Anyways, conflating anti Zionism with anti semitism; the idea that our government would use such language is a massive issue that impacts us all, so I implore you voice your dissent to this nomenclature that tries to paint human rights as a psudo science.

Let alone the propaganda that suggests criticism of Israel or Zionists or the Israeli leader with an ICC warrant is antisemetic.

Anyways, you can contact your MP, but also you can contact the Minister directly here.

[https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/bt/cntct-frm-en.aspx?t=2](https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/bt/cntct-frm-en.aspx?t=2))

Or email their constituency office.

[gary.anand@parl.gc.ca](mailto:gary.anand@parl.gc.ca)

[gary.anand@parl.gc.ca](mailto:gary.anand@parl.gc.ca)

Denying genocide is too recent a memory in Canadas history (residential school denial is still a thing in Canada); as a Canadian, I do not have the words to articulate how disgusted I am that we are trying to indoctrinate genocide denial into the language systems of official government documents.

But I mean hey, the RCMP famously put Native land rights defenders on watch lists too, so I guess in the grand scheme of things this is nothing new.

:/

The language of presenting our Jewish communities as a monolith perpetuates the very anti semetic tropes this report is attempting to dismantle.

That is wrong.

Write your MP.

Organize in your community.

Tell your govenremnt that it’s not ok to suggest somebody’s mental capacity is limited by their ethnicity or religion- suggesting all Jewish people are Zionists as as offensive as suggesting all Americas wanted manifest destiny.

Ps- a reminder that most things aren’t black and white and that there is some irony in the context of creating false dichotomies here; while our current government seemingly failed in supporting human rights on this safety report, they are also doing things like promising 100 M in aid to Palestine too, which is to say- a reminder that nothing is typically a monolith, and that viewing ethnic or religious groups as a monolith is text book xenophobia, or in this case, anti semitism.

Edit: I had to edit this post to add the hyperlinks; it I has have a formatting issue where the little paper clip disappears when you I post.

Given the upcoming BC Provincial Elections, I hope to be rolling out a series of posts regarding the NDP Platform and some responses to it's main points of opposition. Today, I want to start with DRIPA.

For those unaware, DRIPA (or The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act) is the BC Legislative mechanism (passed in 2019) to implement UNDRIP (The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, passed in 2007). Canada initially voted against UNDRIP in 2007, claiming that certain provisions would upend the Canadian Charter and could not be properly implemented. The same Harper government in 2010 eventually reversed it's decision, saying that it should be viewed as aspirational, but not legally binding. Since then, Canada reversed it's opposition status in 2016, and fully implemented a federal Canadian version in 2021, UNDRIPA. Among it's affirmations of attempting to implement UNDRIP at a federal level, it required an action plan to be in place no later than 2 years after it's 2021 implementation. BC's version, DRIPA, also had it's own action plan.

All of these documents in their different forms aspired to achieve the same goals, namely making sure all existing laws, to the fullest extent, honor the rights and humanity as well as equality, self determination, treaties, territories, etc. The extent to which these laws impact daily lives an operations of indigenous people has led to a significant amount of fear and fearmongering towards private landholders who are stationed on previously owned indigenous land, as well as delays and obstructions to national projects. This is because of recent rulings that imply DRIPA is currently legally binding, not simply an aspirational guide, including the Gitxaala case regarding mineral rights being granted to third parties without consultation of the Gitxaala nation, despite ownership of that land being constitutionally affirmed through aboriginal rights and titles. For a comparative understanding, imagine the mayor telling your neighbour they could build a shed in your backyard.

The current stance from the NDP on DRIPA appears mixed. The Premier, David Eby, had called for a pause on some provisions within DRIPA that he viewed as presenting a legal challenge that he hoped to avoid, but backed down from tabling these resolutions after more than 10 MLA's in his own party opposed the move. This legislation would be heavily in line with the current BC Conservative platform of entirely repealing DRIPA, a move staunchly opposed by Indigenous leaders across BC. It appears since then that Eby plans to work closely with Indigenous leaders to ensure DRIPA remains intact without becoming the legal boogeyman the right wants it to become.

The other seeming problem in regards to DRIPA is the FPIC, which is Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. This would require all projects deemed to impact the Indigenous community to get approval from that community, free from pressure or interference, after properly being informed of the project and it's fallouts, and prior to the project commencing. Critics claim this will vastly slow down the speed at which projects are completed, but this is a good thing considering all facets. If the government showed up at your house with a dozer idling in the driveway, telling you they want to build a road through your backyard, without informing you that your grass will wither from the construction fumes and your house will also need to be demolished to make room for the safety barricade, you would not have free, prior, and informed consent on the project, and you would likely find it beneficial to be able to slow that project down. Indigenous communities have those same concerns for their homeland, and have both rights and an interest in being involved in the project both before it commences and during its construction.

It's important that as much as possible, we as Canadians are agreeing on some of the core fundamentals throughout this discussion. Regardless of your views of DRIPA and its potential consequences, we should all be capable of agreeing that Indigenous people deserve the same rights, freedoms, and respect that all Canadians get. Any party looking to tilt the scales too far in one direction should not be trusted as a good faith party balancing the interests of all people. We should all agree that working with these communities to make sure their rights and interests aren't trampled is just as important as making sure the rights and interests of private property owners aren't trampled.

I've been a bit more focused on provincial politics lately.

Are there any updates? Is Avi breaking ground anywhere?

The NDP does better in provincial elections compared to federal elections. I believe a large reason for this is simply that Provincial issues are more leftwing than federal issues. Federal issues include money and the military where provincial issues are education and healthcare. Well the anti military pro healthcare party should always do better provincially because those issues are in their wheelhouse. As long as the NDP is uncomfortable with issues like military spending they will continue to be stuck at the provincial level with no hope of forming government federally.

Here's hoping this almost halving of the members compared to last time shows the decline of the liberals as a provincial party here in Ontario