Prominent labour activist Sid Ryan, former President of the Ontario Federation of Labour and CUPE Ontario, has publicly condemned the NDP’s decision to block Yves Engler from the 2025 federal leadership race — despite the fact that Ryan himself is supporting Avi Lewis for leader.
Ryan’s intervention is significant: he is not aligned with Engler’s campaign, yet he argues forcefully that Engler’s exclusion is an attack on party democracy and a dangerous precedent for silencing internal dissent.
In a widely shared post, Ryan described the NDP’s vetting process as “broken,” “opaque,” and “ripe for abuse.” He warned that the party’s leadership contest risks becoming a rubber-stamp exercise rather than a space for real debate and ideological renewal.
“Engler deserves to be on the ballot”
Ryan writes that the stated reasons for disqualifying Engler — including alleged contradictions with “core NDP commitments” — are laughable in light of Engler’s decades of anti-war activism, historical research, and writing on democracy and international law.
While Ryan makes clear that he personally supports Avi Lewis “for his broader appeal,” he insists that Engler’s presence in the race is vital for the party:
“Leadership contests exist to challenge complacency, not rubber-stamp it. By excluding Engler, the party has shielded its bureaucracy from scrutiny and deprived members of vital debate.”
Foreign policy dissent targeted
Ryan also pushed back against attempts to portray Engler as a “Putin puppet” or apologist for authoritarian governments. He notes that Engler’s foreign-policy analysis — particularly his critiques of NATO expansion and Canada’s complicity in U.S. empire — aligns with the work of respected scholars like John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs.
Charges of antisemitism, Ryan argues, have likewise been repeatedly refuted and now appear weaponized to shut down meaningful discussion of Canada’s foreign policy, especially regarding Palestine.
Engler calls on leadership candidates to suspend their campaigns
In response to the disqualification, Yves Engler has announced that he will appeal to the NDP Federal Council and has called on all leadership candidates to suspend their campaigns until his candidacy is reinstated. So far Avi Lewis and the other candidates have not announced plans to suspend their campaigns.
Engler argues that proceeding with the race while a major campaign is barred on dubious grounds creates a fundamentally fraudulent and unfair contest. So far, no leadership candidate has suspended their campaign, though Ryan’s comments amplify growing calls for accountability within the party.
A warning shot for the future of the NDP
Ryan’s post ends with a stark message: the disqualification of Engler is not just about one candidate — it is about the party’s willingness to suppress democratic choice and exclude perspectives that challenge establishment foreign-policy orthodoxy.
“The NDP must admit Engler immediately and commit to transparent, democratic reforms of the vetting process.”
As internal backlash grows, the question now is whether the Federal Council will intervene — or whether the NDP’s leadership race will move forward under a cloud of controversy, exclusion, and rising grassroots anger.
