NDP Leader Avi Lewis categorically ruled out running in the Montreal riding soon to be vacated by Alexandre Boulerice. Still, he repeatedly dodged questions about whether he intends to seek a seat in the Toronto riding of Beaches–East York, fuelling fresh scrutiny over his path to the House of Commons.
Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill just days after learning his party’s lone Quebec MP is decamping for the provincial stage, Lewis sought to project confidence and minimize the loss.. But when the conversation turned to his own electoral plans, the new leader's answers grew conspicuously evasive.
The NDP is now staring down two potential by-elections: one in Boulerice's riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and another in Beaches–East York, where Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine–Smith is planning to step down to run for MPP in Scarborough Southwest with the Ontario Liberal Party. A by-election in either riding could offer Lewis a parliamentary foothold.
On Thursday, he closed one door and left the other conspicuously ajar.
“This is not a riding where I will seek election myself,” Lewis said of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. “First of all, Quebecers should be represented by Quebecers. I'm not a Quebecer.”
The remark, while expected, extinguishes any speculation that Lewis might attempt a parachute candidacy in the province where his party's fortunes have cratered. The NDP was reduced to a single seat in Quebec in the 2025 federal election and now faces the prospect of zero francophone representation in caucus. Lewis's decision to stay out of the race means the party will rely on a local candidate—still unnamed—to defend a riding it has held for 15 years.
That clarity evaporated, however, when a reporter asked Lewis point-blank whether he would consider running in Beaches–East York, a downtown Toronto riding with deep progressive roots that borders the Danforth constituency once held by the late Jack Layton. Lewis did not engage with the question at all.
“I'm not sure what you’re getting at exactly,” Lewis said at one point when pressed on his efforts to retain Boulerice, before returning to a broader message about party renewal.
The non-answer on Beaches–East York is likely to intensify questions about Lewis's strategy. As a leader without a seat, he faces the unenviable task of rebuilding a diminished caucus from the sidelines of the parliamentary precinct. The longer he remains outside the House of Commons, the harder it becomes to hold the government to account in Question Period and to command national media attention, a challenge that dogged previous NDP leaders before they secured their own ridings.
New Democrats might argue that a by-election in Beaches would be anything but a safe bet. The Liberals are expected to compete aggressively to maintain the stronghold riding, and some New Democrats privately acknowledge the riding is no longer the fortress it once was. A loss there for a new leader—one who has previously lost two elections—would be politically devastating.
On Boulerice's exit, Lewis was philosophical. He acknowledged urging the veteran MP to stay but said the decision was clearly made long before his own leadership campaign gained steam.
“He's a beloved figure. He's a great colleague and a comrade,” Lewis said. “This is so different from other floor crossings and opportunistic moves we've seen from MPs recently. This is a move of principle.”
Lewis framed Boulerice's jump to Québec solidaire as a homecoming driven by a desire to fight a decade of far-right Coalition Avenir Québec governance that, in his words, has “shredded” rent control, privatized health care, and attacked workers' rights.
But the political math for the federal NDP remains brutal. Boulerice's departure strips the party of 16% of its caucus and erases its last remaining link to francophone Quebec—a voter base the party spent decades cultivating under Jack Layton. Lewis said he is “not phased” and pointed to thousands of new members who signed up in Quebec during the leadership race. He called the upcoming Rosemont by-election “a great start for us to build for.”
What he would not say is where—or when—he might put his own name on a ballot.
