Was Louis Riel a socialist?

This was an off-handed remark I came across in Mike Davis' Late Victorian Holocausts. I initially thought this might be another example of my incredible Canadian education leaving out our minimizing the significance of a socialist project. I don't know a ton about the Red River Rebellion but I've found it pretty difficult to find any other similar descriptions online of his group as socialists. Is this just a quick hot take by our boy Mikey Davis? Or is this a bird-brained statement?

Surely Hexbear knows.