03/06/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Anti-Imperialist Organizer Jasmine Peardon Launches Campaign for NDP President; Calls for Democratic and Socialist Renewal at 2026 Winnipeg Convention
March 6, 2026 — Jasmine Peardon, organizer, policy researcher, and grassroots activist, has announced her candidacy for President of the New Democratic Party ahead of the 2026 NDP Convention. Running as a direct response to the party’s administrative "gatekeeping", Peardon is proposing to rebuild the party’s internal infrastructure to one that upholds democracy and encourages policy debate.
Peardon, who helped lead the drafting of the policy platform Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed: Onwards to a Socialist Future, is running on a platform centered on internal democracy, political clarity and rebuilding the party’s connection to social movements, such as the Palestine solidarity movement. Her campaign focuses on internal transparency and reclaiming the party structures from the leadership of National Director Lucy Watson and President Mary Shortall, who she says have enforced exclusionary mechanisms to keep grassroots and socialist voices out of the party.
“The executive leadership of the NDP is profoundly misaligned with the party values of democracy, justice and integrity” Peardon said. “They have obstructed the 2026 Leadership race, stripped membership, misclassified political critique as slander, and violated proper party procedures. All this, because they cannot tolerate socialist and anti-war debate within the party”.
The NDP President plays a key role in overseeing internal governance and ensuring democratic processes are upheld between conventions. Peardon says her campaign is focused on democratizing decision-making at the top, and decentralizing party power to place trust back into the members as organizers and policy developers. She argues that meaningful political renewal requires not only proposing bold policy but a party structure that enables members and movements to debate, organize, and lead.
“The party needs to rebuild its internal infrastructure to one that upholds democracy and encourages policy debate,” she said. “If we cannot even practice democracy within our own party, we can’t credibly promise it to Canadians. Further, if we can’t tolerate policy disagreement, how can we credibly lead such a diverse nation?”.
As part of a younger generation of organizers shaped by the climate crisis, labour precarity, and rising inequality, Peardon says the party must make space for new voices and new leadership if it hopes to remain relevant.
“The NDP has evolved alongside capitalism,” said Peardon. “As economic and political power of the working class has been transferred upwards, our party has mirrored this centralization. It is only when the fight against capitalism is embraced within the party will there be space for bold policies and true democracy.”
Her campaign emphasizes:
-Strengthening internal transparency, democracy and accountability
--Opening space for grassroots activist, socialist and anti-imperialist voices
-Uplifting labour militants, community leaders and movement organizers
-Ending backroom gatekeeping and centralization
“The NDP needs to root itself in the socialist and anti-imperialist movements already building working-class power across the country,” Peardon said. “The role of President must be reoriented back to providing strategic leadership grounded in workers' interests, rather than accommodating corporate interests that dilute the party’s commitment to structural economic transformation”.
Peardon will address delegates at the Winnipeg convention as part of her candidacy for NDP President.
For more information: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/jasmine-peardon Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capitalismcantbefixed/
