On, November 10, 2025, we had our usual Monday evening general meeting on Zoom forYves Englers campaign. It takes place right after the Canadian Foreign Policy Hour which has been reduced to half an hour due to the campaign. At first, a few people would get lost when passing from one Zoom room to the next, but now the system is well oiled and we promptly get into the right Zoom room.

First the good news: Yves Eastern Canada tour went well. He appreciated the preparation and support in Toronto; he especially praised the clean-up following the event. Yes, tour support is not only pompoms and cameras!

In Halifax, he found a lot of support forhomes not bombs.

Parallel to the tour, messages appear on social media. For instance, Yves justice anchored peace, his Land Back' reconciliation with Indigenous nations positionare recognized by Jafrikayiti(Jean Saint-Vil).

One canalso readthat Yves Engler promises free tuition and student loan forgiveness and that in Canada, nearly two million people are still paying off student loans.(Canadas population is close to 42 million.)

We have now reached the Can$100 000 necessary for Yves to run. There is, however, some doubt as towhether donations can be acceptedbefore a candidate formally enters the race. Also, all contributions must be processed through the party. Yves applied to vetting on November 10, 2025, and contributions have been accepted long before. However, the campaignfollowed the rules of Elections Canada.

An interesting fact is that the required sum jumped fromCan$30 000 in 2017 to Can$100 000 now.

It is also worth noting that some candidates arestruggling to gather the required amountand that for some, it is hard toget the number of signatures required: 500, + 50 from each of 5 regions.

Unfortunately, because he hasnt been vetted yet, Yves wont be able to participate in the November 27 leadership debate taking place in French in Montreal. Since Yves is the only candidate capable of debating in French, we wonder how the debate will go.

Theleadership vetting committee consists of three members.Yves states that party vettingshould be made instead by the NDP members.In anarticle on vetting, Yves points out that Zohran Mamdani was never vetted and notes that Zohran would probably have been blocked by the NDPs vetting committee. Indeed, the NDP questionnaire asks the candidates to list statements theyve made which have/may be considered politically controversial.

Im sure that plenty of such statements can be found in Yves books or articles. For instance,Yves declaresthat NATO is not only a hazard to peace, it is a threat to democratic institutions; whereas Canadas Prime Minister, Mark Carney,declares thatNATO remains a cornerstone of transatlantic security.

Another question asked in the vetting document is whether the candidate has ever been arrested.Mamdani has been arrestedat least three times. Yves has been detained at protests andhas been jailedthree times.

Yves proposes a hilariousalternative vetting formwhere the questions are for instance:

1. Have you ever been accused of caring too much about social justice?

- Yes - No

2. Have you been jailed for opposing Canadian complicity in genocide?

- Yes - No - I dont even do demos

Sometimes, all these problems are discouraging; but when I think about Palestine, homelessness, and so many other issues; when I see the level of commitment and enthusiasm among volunteers; when I see our belovedplatform, I very much want Yves to succeed.

Evelyn Tischer