CAEF Letter from President Michael Teper to Chief Electoral Officer of the Federal NDP Concerning Yves Engler's Leadership Candidacy, Followed by Response from Chief Electoral Officer
- CAEF
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
September 2, 2025
Chief Electoral Officer
New Democratic Party of Canada
300-279 Laurier West
Ottawa, ON K1P 5J9
Delivered by email: ceo.dge@ndp.ca
Re: Potential Candidacy of Yves Engler for Leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada
It has come to my attention that Mr. Yves Engler has announced his intention to contest the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
We are writing to convey the following information regarding Mr. Engler’s candidacy, particularly regarding the requirement that Leadership Contestants “consistently show integrity, honesty, professionalism, leadership, and respect for human rights, diversity, and equity” according to Rule 5(d) of the Rules Governing the 2026 Leadership Contest.
Mr. Engler has consistently used inappropriate inflammatory language regarding supporters of the State of Israel in social media postings, routinely calling them “genocidal Jewish supremacists”.
Mr. Engler has also made numerous flipflop and callous statements on social media about antisemitism, stating, in a June 6, 2025 post on his personal website www.yvesengler.com that “Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism is part of an ever more elaborate genocide enabling ‘antisemitism industrial complex’”. Public funding of “antisemitism industrial complex” must end - Yves Engler
As far back as 2016, Mr. Engler wrote that “Without an intervention of some sort, the Jewish community risks having future dictionaries defining ‘anti-Semitism’ as “a movement for justice and equality.” Could it be anti-Semitic to misuse the term “anti-Semitic”? - Yves Engler
Mr. Engler also has a history of turning his vitriolic words into violent action. In 2005, he was expelled from Concordia University for assaults and vandalism. Engler v. Concordia University, 2005 CanLII 20097 (QC CS), <https://canlii.ca/t/1kwdv>, retrieved on 2025-09-01
Each of these considerations make it clear that Mr. Engler habitually fails to demonstrate integrity, honesty, professionalism, leadership, and respect for human rights, diversity, and equity, and therefore has no place as a candidate for leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada, or any other major national political party in this country.
Yours very truly,
R. Michael Teper
President
Reply from Chief Electoral Officer, Federal NDP to Michael Teper, President of CAEF re candidacy of Yves Engler
Mr. Teper,
Thank you for your correspondence and sharing your concerns. Be assured that I will pass them along to the team that is responsible for vetting candidacies.
As the Chief Electoral Officer, I am not the deciding authority on such matters.
Éric Hébert-Daly (he/him/il)
Chief Electoral Officer, Federal NDP Leadership Race
Directeur général des élections, course à la direction du NPD fédéral
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