Avi Lewis unveils Canadian Green New Deal proposal in NDP leadership bid
NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis is proposing a sweeping Green New Deal for Canada that would dramatically expand public spending.
NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis is proposing a sweeping Green New Deal for Canada that would dramatically expand public spending, phase out fossil-fuel infrastructure and reshape the country’s economy.
Lewis released a series of policy slides and statements on social media Thursday outlining what he called a “made-in-Canada Green New Deal” to confront the climate crisis and create long-term employment.
The package reflects many themes Lewis has promoted for years as a journalist, academic, and climate activist.
Under the plan, Canada would invest two per cent of its GDP in climate initiatives, with half dedicated to what Lewis describes as “one million good green jobs.”
Two per cent of Canada’s current GDP would amount to $50 billion and would match the government’s current NATO-related defence spending commitment.
The proposals include large-scale hiring in trades, public-sector climate work programs, and funding aimed at transitioning workers in regions heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
Lewis is also calling for fast, free public transit in every major Canadian city, a national electric inter-community bus network and a public high-speed rail system connecting provinces.
The plan would expand zero-emissions vehicle mandates and build additional public charging stations.
A central element of the proposal is the call to provide heat pumps, solar panels, and battery storage systems for every household in Canada. Lewis said the upgrades would apply to both new builds and retrofits, starting with lower-income homes, and would be delivered through new public enterprises.
The platform also commits Canada to ending new pipelines, LNG terminals, and offshore oil projects, replacing them with a publicly built East–West clean energy grid that would allow provinces to share renewable power. An approach Lewis calls “powerlines not pipelines.”
During the French NDP Leadership debate in Montreal last week, Lewis claimed that the main problem behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to prioritize “nation-building projects” is that they will be opportunities for murder and sexual assault on a large scale.
“Manly things with huge work camps entailed in remote areas, the impacts on Indigenous women and girls are intense, are horrifying” he said.
To fund the transition, Lewis proposes a windfall-profits tax on oil and gas companies and a new Canadian tax on oil and gas exports to the United States in response to U.S. tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Lewis, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and longtime media host, is the son and grandson of former NDP leaders Stephen and David Lewis.
He previously co-authored the 2015 Leap Manifesto and ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in the 2021 and 2025 federal elections. He is one of several candidates seeking to replace outgoing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.
The party will select its next leader at the upcoming convention in Winnipeg between the 27th and 29th of March.