Arts, Politics

Film Night at Linnaea: Climate Action, Politics and Societal Change

Two films by veteran journalist, educator, and NDP candidate Avi Lewis are being shown at the Linnaea Education Centre this weekend. At 7 PM on Friday, January 23, 2026, Lewis and his wife Naomi Klein tell the story of Argentinian workers who took control of a bankrupt auto plant and turned it into a cooperative. At 7 PM on the following night, their documentary ‘This Changes Everything’ connects climate action to economic justice.

Max Thaysen, who is organizing the showings, explained, “Avi Lewis is running for the leadership of the Federal NDP, and he has made a couple of awesome films that I actually haven’t seen yet. So, I thought that it would be interesting to see his films, learn more about him, share that with the community, and take the opportunity to chat about the leadership race and how people can get involved if they want to.”

Cortes Currents: Are you putting this film on as a supporter of Avi Lewis?

Max Thaysen: “I’m pretty excited about Avi Lewis as a candidate, and I am planning to vote for him. So, you could say that I’m a supporter of his. I have been advocating for other people to support him and vote for him, but I’m not really actively on the team, if that’s what you mean by a supporter. For me, as a climate-concerned person, he feels clearly like a front-runner, living in reality and bringing that critical, most relevant reality to the political conversation across the country. That’s one of the primary reasons why I’m excited about him.”

The 2026 NDP Leadership Convention will be in Winnipeg on March 29, 2026 – Photo by Robert Linsdell via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

“One interesting thing about the race is that it is a ranked-choice ballot. You get to rank all five candidates in order of your preference. So, that really changes the game. You can be a Tanille Johnston supporter—which I am—and also an Avi supporter. Those don’t have to fight against each other the way they do in our super annoying first-past-the-post electoral system that we use in general elections.”

Cortes Currents: The five candidates for leadership of the NDP are:

  • Avi Lewis, a Vancouver-based TV presenter and reporter at CBC, Al Jazeera, MuchMusic, and CityTV.
  • Heather McPherson, the current NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona.
  • Rob Ashton, National President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada.
  • Tanille Johnston, city councilor from Campbell River.
  • Tony McQuail, an Ontario farmer who believes Canada needs a proportional representation electoral system so we can stop the strategic voting that has “kept workers and women from getting effective representation since before confederation.” Until then, he argues we need to strategically cooperate with the Greens, the Bloc, and whoever else will help us build a fairer, regenerative, and representative society.
Avi Lewis – Photo by DrOwl19 via Wikimedia (Own Work – Public Domain)

Two of these candidates have produced YouTube videos. Here is a short clip from Avi Lewis’ presentation.

Avi Lewis: “Life in Canada today feels on the edge. Everyone is seeking just a little stability; everyone is told you are all on your own. It doesn’t help that we’re under economic attack: disruption, grenades flying over the border without warning. But there’s an even bigger crisis, one that Donald Trump only magnifies. It’s the everyday emergency of just trying to get by. In an impossible economy—whether you’re taking care of loved ones, hustling with multiple gig jobs, or punching the clock nine-to-five—working hard doesn’t earn you a living. $100 for a cell phone plan! $300 for a cart of groceries! several thousand a month for rent or a mortgage payment!”

“These days, every politician claims to be shocked by the costs. What they don’t talk about is the why: the billions in profits for the tiny group of corporations that control every part of our economy. Three phone providers; three grocery giants; five oil companies; and the five big banks that fund them. And when it comes to those oil and gas CEOs, they’re not just hoarding extreme wealth; they are foreclosing on our shared future.”

“Every summer wow, wildfires poison the air and incinerate entire towns we love. And you know why it’s happening? Because Liberals and Conservatives in Ottawa let them get away with it.”

Cortes Currents: I like the gist of what he is saying, but I have been hearing it for decades.

Max Thaysen: “I think a lot of people are feeling jaded, cynical. What’s it called… learned helplessness? Where even though the cage door is open, we can’t seem to jump out. There are lots of reasons why it makes sense to feel that way, and yet I think we can see evidence of things having gotten better. I work in healthcare, and so I have a frontline seat at just how remarkably transformative our healthcare is for everyone in Canada. It is a massive wealth transfer from people who can afford to pay taxes—but aren’t so rich that they avoid paying very much of their taxes—to those who maybe don’t pay so much in taxes but still get access if they need it. That is tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of healthcare in this country.”

Cortes Currents: The early NDP came out of the Great Depression and brought about some changes which many of us now take for granted.

Avi Lewis: “In the 1970s, my grandfather David Lewis, one of the founders of the NDP, said it well: ‘The government and big business both hold hands in your pocket.’ His generation refused to accept a rotten deal. They won public healthcare, pensions, and the whole social safety net that used to catch people when the economy tumbled. That’s the tradition of struggle I was raised in. I came of age in the fight against free trade deals. You remember—the ones that killed hundreds of thousands of jobs and made us so vulnerable to U.S. bullying today.”

Max Thaysen: “So, progress is possible. It’s happened in the past, it could happen again. I think everybody feels like inequality has never been higher than it is right now. It’s reached unacceptable levels. We’re due for a setback. That energy that people are feeling can be translated into transformative change at the political level.”

“And there are some interesting candidates in this leadership race to be the vocal champions of those transformations.”

“One of the planks that Avi Lewis is running on is a Green New Deal. He does allude to the 1930s—the Great Depression—and how the New Deal started in America. They brought in a lot of reforms, like a jobs guarantee and some social welfare programs, to make sure that more people were being taken care of because the challenges that people were facing became so strong that it was just untenable.”

“So, the context changed and what was possible changed. The proposal is that we’re in a similar situation where the current trajectory, the current reality, is just completely unacceptable. It’s time for a reset of the rules and bringing in some dramatic new programs.”

Cortes Currents: Now let’s listen to a little of Tanille Johnston’s presentation.

Tanille Johnston: “Hey, Canada. I’m Tanille Johnston, a proud Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ woman, social worker, and parent from Campbell River, BC. Like many Canadians, I grew up in a working-class family: my dad, a mill worker, and my mom, a small business owner. I know what it’s like to work long and hard to provide for your family and keep a roof overhead.”

“This last election was a setback, but I know we’re ready for a record-breaking return. The NDP needs some fresh energy and a real choice—one built on integrity, inclusion, and inspiration. That’s why I’m running to be the next leader of the NDP, because I know that when we root our fight in our values, we win.”

“For over a decade, I’ve stood with families and communities, ensuring their access to healthcare, campaigning for free post-secondary education, battling harmful legislation that divides and discriminates, and championing advocacy for voices that power structures refuse to hear. I’m here to give the NDP its edge back.”

Max Thaysen: “I think she’s a great option and people should support her as well. There have been multiple fundraising hurdles and that is a pretty good indication of what kind of energy, intention, and resources people are gathering. So far she’s raised $20,000 several times in a row. Every month or two you have to jump over that hurdle in this leadership race. So far she’s doing great.”

“For those thinking the NDP is never going to form government or take full power in Canada, there’s lots that can be accomplished in a minority government, including our beautiful healthcare.”

Cortes Currents: What does the NDP hope to achieve in this next election? Are we talking about increasing their seats to 12, or more?

Max Thaysen: “If we think about just how many people have an expectation that they should get a fair share of the resources in this country—like maybe be able to own a house and not pay rent forever, or have their rent be unfairly elevated—I can imagine people waking up to the fact that there really is only one party in this country who is ideologically aligned to changing the rules of the game to favor people getting a fair shake in our economy.” 

“Both the Liberals and the Conservatives more or less want to leave it up to the market, and the market is buying up housing and jacking up rent. So it’s not inconceivable for me to imagine that people can wake up to that and decide we’re going to elect the party that is for the people, especially the working and middle classes. So why not have a majority in the House of Commons in the next general election?”

Cortes Currents: Tell me a little about the two films that you’re putting on.

Max Thaysen: “Friday night is a film about Argentina having major recession problems. They had a bunch of companies that went bankrupt and factories that shut down. So workers decided to occupy one of the factories, start it up again under worker ownership, and get the business going. It covers their challenges with the bosses and the government, and their successes too. That’s called The Take and we’ll be watching that on Friday, seven o’clock at Linnaea Education Centre at Linnaea Farm. Come a bit early to get a seat on the couch—two couches actually.”

“Then Saturday night we’re going to be watching This Changes Everything, which Avi made with his partner Naomi Klein, based on her book called This Changes Everything. That was a pretty powerful book written about the overlap between capitalism, the power structures that exist in our society, and climate change—and how we need to solve those problems together. So that should be pretty relevant and interesting, and then we’ll chat about the leadership race after the films.”

Cortes Currents: Is there anything you would like to add?

Max Thaysen: “Yes. I, myself, am uncomfortable with being super partisan and tribal. A lot of people in our community and my friends are similarly uncomfortable with that. So I get that that’s a turnoff. I’ve decided to set some of those concerns aside in order to try to make the world a better place. This is one of the ways we can make a difference: possibly a small one, possibly a bif difference.”

Links of Interest:

Top image credit: publicity posters for the movies.

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