It’s possible that backing the Leap Manifesto would bode poorly for Mulcair’s centrist vision, but it might also be the case—should he read the writing on the wall—that he supports this new initiative as a way forward for him, and the party. We shall soon find out.

While democratic socialism may well take a different form in Canada than with Sanders, the latter has shown us that the public, even in a conservative nation like the United States, is clamoring for social and economic equality and democracy. Americans are listening to Bernie Sanders; Canadians are listening to Bernie Sanders; NDP parliamentarians like Niki and Steve Ashton are listening to Bernie Sanders; the question remains: is the NDP as a whole listening?

What the NDP needs is a combination of its existing social progressivism with a recommitment to the principles of economic democracy and a healthy skepticism of capitalism, argues Canadian Dimension columnist Christo Aivalis. This, and not electoral opportunism, is the enduring legacy of the democratic socialist tradition in Canada.