FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2025
The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus proudly announces the nomination of Yves Engler, a distinguished Montreal-based author and activist, as its candidate for federal NDP leader. Engler brings to the contest a fearless commitment to global peace, democratic accountability, workers’ rights and socialism.
The NDP Socialist Caucus will host an on-line media access event on Monday, July 7, at 11 AM Eastern Time where it will present Engler as its candidate for federal NDP leader. Those interested in participating can email [email protected] to register and receive the Zoom link.
Born in Vancouver in 1979 to union-organizer parents who were deeply rooted in political activism, Engler learned early that social change demands hard work and struggle. Engler has authored thirteen critically acclaimed books—including Stand on Guard for Whom? A People’s History of the Canadian Military and Canada in Haiti: Waging War Against the Poor Majority—expanding the public’s understanding of Canada’s foreign policy and its impact on working people and oppressed communities.
Engler is founder of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and resides in Montreal with his partner, Bianca Mugyenyi, and their two children, and is fluent in French and English.
Engler embodies a robust, left-wing commitment to democratic socialism. He understands the necessity of structural transformation: affordable public housing, universal pharmacare, indigenous self-determination, closing tax havens used by the super-rich and fostering worker-owned cooperatives to further economic democracy. He also advocates for public ownership and democratic, workers’ control of critical sectors, including auto, banking, and public utilities, to ensure that public benefit, and not private profit, is central to Canada’s economy.
“Forty years of neo-liberal capitalist policies have led to radically increased inequality and homelessness, as well as a weakened working class and social welfare system,” says Engler. “It’s time for the NDP to take on unmitigated corporate power and fight for a democratic economy that puts workers first. We stand for the billions, not the billionaires.”
“Capitalism’s need for endless consumption is imperiling humanity’s long-term survival on this planet”, added Engler. “Canada’s most egregious contribution to the ecological crisis is Alberta’s ever growing tar sands, which must be quickly phased out.”
Engler’s critique of Canadian militarism stands at the forefront of his work and activism. In 2005, he poured symbolic fake blood onto Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew to condemn Canada’s role in Haiti’s 2004 coup and subsequent occupation—an action that garnered both widespread attention and provoked Canadian political scrutiny. In 2002 Engler was an elected vice president of the Concordia Student Union executive when Benjamin Netanyahu sought to speak at the university.
Engler has systematically dismantled the myth of Canada as benevolent peacekeeper, instead documenting through investigative work the ways Ottawa’s military and corporate interests align with those of Washington and US businesses, and have undermined peace globally. His leadership would position the NDP as a global voice for freedom and international solidarity.
“Yves Engler is exactly the leader Canada’s NDP needs: a fearless, principled, and unapologetically socialist,” said Socialist Caucus chair Barry Weisleder. “He represents everything we stand for—workers’ rights, democracy, peace, and environmental justice. We call on all NDP members who believe our party must return to its democratic socialist roots to support Yves Engler in this leadership race.”
Engler also emphasizes the deepening of NDP democracy—from policy development to candidate selection—ensuring that the party remains rooted in the communities it serves, not just broadcast from central party headquarters.
The Socialist Caucus endorses Engler because he embodies its enduring project: pushing the NDP away from corporate centrism toward its democratic socialist roots. Engler has repeatedly challenged party leadership—whether on Palestine, Canada’s complicity in Haiti, or fossil-fuel expansion—and urged rank-and-file members to reclaim the NDP from within. His campaign commits to reinvigorating neighbourhood associations, ratcheting up policy debate, and ensuring the party responds to and is managed by working people, not expensive public relations lobbyists.
As an ally of the labour movement, Engler has recognized that a revitalized NDP must prioritize pro-worker legislation: binding sectoral collective bargaining, stronger anti-scab laws, enforcement of pay equity, paid sick leave, and a real minimum wage indexed to inflation.
Under Yves Engler, an NDP government would champion:
1. Morally grounded, foreign policy based on solidarity — Ending Canada’s role in enabling Israel’s holocaust in Gaza, slashing military spending, curtailing arms sales and withdrawing Canadian troops from all international deployments with U.S. forces.
2. Economic democracy — Public ownership and democratic control of strategic industries, robust and well-funded public services (healthcare, childcare, eldercare), and recognition of unions as partners in economic planning.
3. Freedom of expression and civil rights — Protection for political speech, end government surveillance of peaceful activists, better restrain of the intelligence agencies and abolish Canada’s terror list.
4. Land back — An end to Canada’s dispossession of Indigenous peoples and an expansion of Indigenous jurisdiction.
5. Environmental stewardship — Just transition away from fossil fuels with retraining programs for workers. Drastically reducing Canada’s ecological footprint and shuttering the tar sands.
Praise for Engler has come from across progressive movements. Briarpatch Magazine called him “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left.” Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Rick Salutin have praised his investigative rigor and principled stance.
The Socialist Caucus invites all New Democrats—especially those who feel their values are no longer reflected in the party—to unite behind Yves Engler’s leadership bid. It is time to build an NDP that challenges capitalism and imperialism while promoting de-colonization and economic democracy.
Contact Information
New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus
647.986.1917
[email protected]
ndpsocialists.ca
About the Socialist Caucus
The Socialist Caucus is an organized network within the NDP, dedicated to advancing democratic socialism, party rank and file democracy, labour solidarity, social justice, and feminist internationalism. Founded in 1998, it consistently promotes anti capitalist, pro working class, and anti imperialist policies.
ndpsocialists.ca
