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On Monday's live stream, David Menzies and Sheila Gunn Reid discussed the controversial NDP leadership convention in Winnipeg over the weekend that saw delegates arguing over colour-coded "equity cards" to determine the speaking order.

Sheila reacted to the the viral clips of NDP delegates showing their "equity cards" and condemning each other for things like "misgendering." 

"I guess they gave out cards to establish where you are on the social justice hierarchy, and for some reason they elected the man who appears to be right at the bottom of the oppression hierarchy, but I'm not a member of the NDP so I don't really know, but then they started getting into disagreements with everybody, some people were 'misgendered,' it was like a Portlandia skit," she said.

Canadian NDP socialist conference non-binary speaker gets ‘misgendered’ by non-binary woman wearing a keffiyeh.

“I’ll again thank delegates not to call me madame chair…I’m a non-binary person my pronouns are they/them and their- chair is sufficient.”

pic.twitter.com/89CmyxXYYa

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) March 29, 2026

The NDP officially recognizes five equity-seeking groups in its constitution: women/non-cis men, racialized members, Indigenous members, 2SLGBTQ+ community members, and persons with disabilities. Delegates from these groups received colour-coded cards (such as green for gender equity and pink or purple for racialized members) at registration to allow them to jump the speaking queue during debates and plenaries.

In one widely circulated video, a delegate holding a green gender equity card protested being passed over in favour of a "cis woman," while another delegate countered by displaying her race equity card and stating that such cards "have no value outside of this space."

The system, which was expanded on the final day of the convention, drew significant online attention and ridicule, with clips showing repeated disputes over card priority instead of policy discussions.

Avi Lewis was elected as the new NDP leader on the first ballot with 56 per cent of the vote during the same convention in Winnipeg.