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In one of his last acts as interim NDP leader, Davies thanked each of the five leadership candidates.

He commended McQuail for his gentle idealism, Johnston for her optimism and commitment to reconciliation, Ashton for focusing on the blue-collar heritage of the NDP, Lewis for proposing bold ideas and McPherson for her push to expand the NDP coalition.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is known to use hockey metaphors in his public comments on various issues. In his speech just now, Davies took a page out of Carney's book to roast him.

"There is something I'd like to clear up arising from my speech at the press gallery dinner," Davies told the convention. "I erroneously said when Prime Minister Carney played hockey that he was a goalie. I was mistaken. He's clearly a right-winger."

That line got many NDP delegates on their feet.

Interim leader Don Davies is speaking at the convention ahead of the leadership announcement.

"We truly stand at the dawn of a new era," he told the crowd. "We get to rebuild a revitalized New Democratic Party."

Voting started earlier this month, and members were allowed to cast their ballots online or by-mail ahead of the convention.

The party had a voting booth set up at the convention to vote in person.

Party officials said roughly 100,000 members were signed up by the deadline required to vote — but that doesn't necessarily mean all of them will.

Most leadership conventions use a ranked ballot system, including the NDP.

Party members rank their preferred candidates from first to fifth. 

When the votes are tallied, if no single candidate has won at least 50 per cent of the vote, the last-place candidate is dropped. The ballots that ranked that eliminated candidate first are recounted are redistributed based on those voters' second choice.

The party will rinse, lather, repeat until someone has 50 per cent support.

The NDP says that the order that each name appears in is randomized for each ballot.

Four out of the five candidates aren't sitting MPs — but it's not unprecedented for a major party leader to watch the House of Commons from the sidelines for a while.

Jagmeet Singh, the party's last leader, won the NDP's top job in 2017. But he didn't enter the House of Commons until 2019, having previously been an Ontario MPP before winning the leadership.

Jack Layton, who led the party to its best electoral result in history in 2011, also started his leadership outside the House. Layton had been a Toronto city councillor before winning the NDP leadership in 2003. He didn't run for a seat until 2004.

In fact, both the Conservatives and Liberals also have recent experiences with their leaders being outside of Parliament.

Mark Carney wasn't an MP when he won the Liberal leadership last year. He wouldn't enter the House until after last April's election.

Pierre Poilievre lost his longtime riding of Carleton in that same election. He stayed on as Conservative leader, but needed to run in a subsequent byelection to rejoin the House of Commons.

Many at the convention are still buzzing from Wab Kinew's Friday speech. The popular Manitoba premier had words of affirmation for the struggling federal party: "What is the future of the federal NDP? It's victory."

But while he may be cheering for them now, I wrote a story this weekend about how, quietly, Kinew has kept his distance because of the federal party's unpopularity. 

Sources I spoke to — which include former candidates and campaign staff in Manitoba — say during the last federal election there were challenges getting endorsements from provincial NDP MLAs, accessing voting data that would have normally been shared, and even getting the go-ahead to use Kinew's face on their election flyers.

Kinew notably did not endorse former leader Jagmeet Singh during the 2025 election.

The doors have just been opened and New Democrats are pouring into the convention hall.

There is a bit of a din in the air coupled with music playing over the loud speakers.

I was standing outside the doors just before they opened as one of the organizers yelled out, "Who's excited?" which got a large cheer from the waiting crowd.

Ashton has largely argued that the party needs to be brought back to its labour roots.

The federal Conservatives have swayed some union voters into their camp when those voters have typically sided with the NDP.

Ashton, national president of the International Longshore Workers Union, is promising an NDP led by him would push for a "worker-powered economy" with a job for "everyone who wants one."

The dockworker has snagged some big union endorsements, including from the United Steelworkers.

Johnston, a social worker, city councillor and member of the We Wai Kai First Nation, is the youngest in the race, pitching herself as a fresh and new voice for the future of the NDP. She's the first Indigenous woman to seek the top job with the federal New Democrats.

Johnston is pushing social policies like a universal basic income, a national rent-control program and more investments in health care and child care.

McQuail, known for the distinct straw hat he wore during the debates, is an organic farmer from southwestern Ontario who says the party needs to take a holistic approach to policies, including tackling the climate crisis.

Five candidates have put their name forward for the NDP's top job: MP Heather McPherson, activist and filmmaker Avi Lewis, union leader Rob Ashton, farmer Tony McQuail and social worker and municipal councillor Tanille Johnston.

Lewis appears to be in the best position to become the new leader, having out-fundraised the other candidates.

The son of former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and grandson of former federal leader David Lewis, he's described his campaign as an "anti-capitalist movement" — proposing things like a national cap on rent, a wealth tax on the top one per cent of income earners and public option for groceries and telecoms.

But Lewis has faced questions about how he could impact the NDP's provincial wings if he wins the federal job.

McPherson, in contrast, has pitched herself as a pragmatist who is focused on bringing the party together and leaning on the electoral successes of the provincial parties.

The Alberta MP has promised to decentralize the party, handing more power to riding associations.

First elected in 2019, McPherson has touted herself as a winner, pointing out that she is the only leadership contender "that has beat Conservatives three times." (Lewis has twice unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the House.)

McPherson has also argued that having a seat means she will be able to immediately hold Prime Minister Mark Carney to account in the House of Commons.

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