Welcome to the April 2026 edition of the Broadbent Bulletin.
Executive Director Jen Hassum recently joined a panel on iPolitics’ No Talking Points podcast, to analyze Pierre Poilievre’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Mark Carney’s inconsistent Trump and trade policies, and the state of progressive organizing across Canada.
In a wide ranging conversation, Hassum calls out Canada’s inaction on jobs as part of the response to the US Trump administration’s continued trade war with Canada.
Canada’s economy lost 25,000 manufacturing jobs since the start of the year. This should be a five-alarm-fire. But we don’t hear about it in the media because it’s happening to blue collar people.
Statement on the Passing of Stephen Lewis
The Broadbent Institute mourns the loss of former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis. Lewis was a committed democratic socialist who worked closely with Ed Broadbent during his time as leader of Canada’s NDP, and in their concurrent careers in internationalism. Ed was a frequent interlocutor of Stephen Lewis, having also worked closely with his father, David Lewis, during his time as a new Member of Parliament.
In Seeking Social Democracy, Ed expressed his pride and hope for Lewis’ ONDP leadership in the 1975 provincial election that brought forward the first social democratic Official Opposition in Ontario since 1948. Throughout Lewis’ career as Canada’s UN representative, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and as deputy director of UNICEF, Ed Broadbent’s work as President of Rights & Democracy would often cross paths again on the global stage.
Upcoming: Jacobin Magazine’s Bhaskar Sunkara delivers the 2026 Ellen Meiksins Wood Lecture
Tickets are selling fast for the 2026 Ellen Meiksins Wood Lecture, taking place on April 22nd at Toronto Metropolitan University.
This year’s lecture will be delivered by Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin Magazine, and recipient of the 2026 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize presented on March 5th at the Broadbent Institute’s 2026 Progress Summit in Ottawa. Sunkara has helped shape how a new generation is thinking about socialism and democracy today.
Ellen Meiksins Wood believed deeply in the importance of encouraging the next generation of socialist thought, connecting class struggle to today’s social movements, and building a more democratic society against the anti-democratic tendencies of the market.
We hope you’ll join us for a timely conversation that aims to give organizers, workers, and thinkers the blueprint for how socialist public policy works in the real world.
Emerging Leaders Program: Meet the 2026 Cohort
Launched in 2023, the Emerging Leaders Program is the Broadbent Institute’s flagship training initiative. After a rigorous call for applicants at the start of 2026, the program’s fourth cohort gathered at the 2026 Progress Summit, to build the skills, knowledge, and networks needed to advance social change in their communities across Canada.
Learn more about the 2026 cohort, and catch up on interviews with alumni of the Emerging Leaders Program by clicking the button below!
PressProgress Spotlight
After sharing their stories on the Progress Summit stage at the start of March, PressProgress continued to deliver hard-hitting news and analysis on Canadian health, labour, and politics.
Here’s the latest PressProgress reporting from the month of March:
- The Labour Push to Declare Israeli Goods Untouchable
- Podcast – How to Save Canadian Healthcare with Dr. Danyaal Raza
- Western Standard: Canadians with German, Ukrainian and Dutch Bloodlines Are Not Pure ‘Ethnic Canadians’
- Alberta Won’t Budge on Charging Indigenous People for COVID Vaccines
- Why Mark Carney Is Being Accused of ‘Gaslighting’ Canadian Sikhs
- Global News’ Ben Mulroney Shared a Video of Airstrikes. The Footage is Actually from a Video Game
That’s all for this edition of the Broadbent Bulletin. Thank you for following our work to advance a just and equitable world, and stay tuned for other updates and announcements from the Broadbent Institute. Consider supporting the Broadbent Institute, sharing this Bulletin with your friends and family, and subscribing if you haven’t done so already.