Packed venues with lines stretched down the block. Smashed fundraising records, fuelled by small donors in every part of the country. And as excitement has grown, so have the attacks by the corporate media—from open hostility to studied erasure.

The Canadian left is in desperate need of a victory and a boost, and signs are emerging that one may be within reach: Avi Lewis’s campaign for the leadership of the federal NDP.

On the heels of the party’s recent collapse, it has a once-in-a-generation opportunity—not merely to recover lost ground, but to remake itself entirely. A revitalized NDP could inject bold climate, anti-war, and socialist policies into mainstream Canadian politics, super-charge the reach of social movements, and ensure a distinctly progressive electoral option roars back to relevance. There’s less than a week left to buy a party membership to help make that possible.

Imagine: instead of cautious politics most attuned to Ottawa pundits, the party could unapologetically champion the causes of movements, trade unions, and a multi-racial working class. Instead of a fixation on a leader’s personality and single-minded electoralism, it could broaden its focus to include year-round education and campaigning. And instead of top-down control by a consultant class that rotates between party headquarters and corporate lobbying firms, it could empower and unleash the energy of a grassroots base.