Finding a Political Home: “Capitalism Can’t be Fixed” Insurgent Socialist Campaign
by Zachariah Allister
The end of the summer break was near. I had been spinning my tires on finding a place to complete my journalism internship and with it, my journalism degree. There was just something about applying to these payless positions for corporations, that enabled the live streamed holocaust in Palestine. It just didn’t sit right with me. At this point I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be a journalist in the current Canadian political environment.
During the month of August, my dad had been encouraging me to join the Yves Engler campaign for NDP leader. He told me they were looking for video creatives to help with the communications committee and my ears perked up. I knew of Yves. I had heard Yves speak on a panel as part of his book tour for “Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy” at Wilfred Laurier University’s Waterloo campus. His comprehensive breakdown of Canadian foreign policy was amazing. Growing up in my dad’s home, I always knew Canada wasn’t truly a force for good in the world, but Yves’ historical context and anti-imperialist analysis was what I needed.
Seven months ago, I attended one of Yves’ early campaign stops at one of my favourite coffee shops in downtown St. Catharines, ON. Yves’ speech left me feeling energized. I had never heard a prospective politician speak like him before. His opening line, “I’m running on a platform that challenges capitalism that challenges imperialism that promotes Decolonization, Degrowth and Economic Democracy.” The simple yet focused sentence encapsulated my entire political ideology. I was instantly engaged, and wanted to help. I offered my assistance as a journalism-student-intern. I felt the weight of seeking a moral internship lifted from my body and mind.
Within the next couple of weeks, I was part of the communications committee; made up of rockstar activists from across the country. I felt as though I was the new draft pick, making my debut in the NHL.
My main focus was on helping the communications committee with whatever they needed. This included sending out mass emails, video editing, website updates (including events), and social media posting. I also assisted with volunteer coordination.
I was proud to do whatever little task the campaign needed. The campaign did a great job of making everyone feel involved and important.
I gladly helped with the various zoom webinars/panel discussions. I got to meet one of my idols, and the genius behind Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” Roger Waters. He and Yves had been named in the same civil defamation case by genocide fanatic, Dahlia Kurtz.
I also participated in many of the campaign’s public events, live and in-person. The first of which was doing video for a rally scheduled for Toronto’s St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Zionist pressure caused the church to cancel the event three days before. Despite this, the boisterous campaign rally proceeded on the front steps. With their backs to the locked church doors Yves, Mike Palecek, Rabbi David Mivisair and student organizer Sara Rasikh all spoke loudly over noisy pro-Israel disruptors that included the disreputable Meir Weinstein. This was my first time seeing such genocidal zionists in person.
Two days after, I attended the Ontario NDP convention held in Niagara Falls. I went there with the hope of watching the party do its thing - democracy in action. I arrived early on Saturday to attend the Draw the Line protest that was taking place outside the convention building. When I tried to get into the convention I was denied access, despite being a registered member. I decided I would use the washroom before leaving. A security guard quickly called for backup as me and my keffiyeh headed for the closest washroom. When I exited the bathroom, I passed several security guards as I moved towards the exit. As I approached the doors a man in a suit, with what appeared to be an RCMP pin, told me to have a nice day. I told him where he might go, using strong and simplistic language. He took offence to that and followed me out into the parking lot. He told me I had to leave the property. He then put his hands on me so as to help usher me to the area I was already walking. I started to yell and told him to get his hands off me! Naturally this caused a scene in which people who were outside participating in the Draw the Line protest assisted me in getting out of that increasingly volatile situation.
This situation really opened my eyes. The NDP brass had shown me what they were willing to do to party members who they saw as threatening. If the NDP were happy to enact violence on an activist member, what were they willing to do to members who wanted to challenge the status quo?
On Nov. 14, 2025, the campaign held another rally in Toronto. The hall was packed with about 200 people. By this point I could no longer deny it, I was a socialist! I readily signed Socialist Action’s contact list. I could no longer align myself with social democrats as it were. Rebooting the NDP through Yves Engler and later Bianca Mugyenyi’s anti-capitalist campaigns would be the last ditch effort to reinvigorate the only mass Labour oriented electoral party in Canada. They were the only candidates talking about expropriation of the Epstein class, of shutting down the tar sands, landback, of building a socialist future rooted in justice, equality and solidarity.
Not only was Yves able to quickly raise the outrageous $100,000 entry fee, but Bianca was able to do it in a fraction of the time. Even though neither of them was deemed acceptable as leadership contestants by the secret 3 person vetting committee, the policy that they put forth, struck terror in the heart of the NDP brass. It was clear to me that they knew there was significant hunger amongst NDP members for real change.
During the course of the campaign we observed leadership contestants shift their meagre policy platforms ever so slightly to the left in response to the campaign’s Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed, Onward to a Socialist Future policy book. Heather McPherson’s “National Housing Emergency Plan” called for an “end to corporate control of housing” in response to Yves’ call to convert Canada’s Real Estate Investment Trust into Housing Cooperatives.
Recently, Yves decidedly used strong language to call out Lewis’s support for NATO, calling him a “warmonger”. This sparked major discourse over Canadian militarism and NATO involvement. Previously, Lewis stated that, “Canada should continue providing the defence assistance that Ukraine needs to protect its sovereignty.” Just a few days ago, Lewis has come out and said in an interview published by The Islands Grapevine and posted on X, that he doesn’t believe Canada should even be spending 2% GDP on our military, let alone the “destructive and nihilistic” 5% target that NATO wants.
One of the major successes of the campaign was exposing the NDP’s undemocratic secret three-person vetting committee. Since both Bianca and Yves were vetted out, other candidates have spoken out. McPherson calls for “faster, clearer vetting,” in her platform. McPherson also stated in an article published by the National Post that “she wouldn’t stand in the way of Engler jumping into the race.” Lewis stated he was “disappointed” after reviewing the reasons for Yves’ disqualification. Tony McQuail has stated that the “vetting process lacks transparency,” and was “concerned” over Bianca’s exclusion for allegedly being Yves’ ‘proxy’ candidate.
While it doesn’t seem like the NDP will truly be a force for socialism in the coming years, it certainly seems like the party can be pressured to move further to the left than it’s been in recent years. And it’ll have to, if it wants to see a resurgence at the next Federal election. Capitalism can’t be fixed! Onward to Winnipeg! Onward to a Socialist Future!