NDP nationwide collapse leads to 17 fewer seats
The NDP were decimated in the polls on Monday, losing more than two-thirds of their seat count, and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, resigned in an emotional exit speech.
The NDP were decimated in the polls on Monday, losing more than two-thirds of their seat count, and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, resigned in an emotional exit speech.
Singh’s NDP was elected in only seven ridings, with 6.3 per cent of the vote share.
The NDP held 24 seats in the last Parliament and lost 17 seats on Monday. Singh came in third place in his Burnaby-Central riding, stepping down in tears.
“I’m disappointed that we could not win more seats, but I’m not disappointed in our movement. I’m hopeful for our party. I know that we will always choose hope over fear and optimism over despair and Unity over hate,” he said at his election night party. “New Democrats literally built this country. We have built the best of Canada, and we aren’t going anywhere.”
Despite this near-death blow to the NDP, the Liberals could use the NDP again to prop them up in a confidence agreement.
The Liberals went from holding 155 seats before the election to being just short of a majority with 169 seats.
With Singh set to resign as party leader, a leadership race is imminent. NDP party members will have to choose who they believe would be best in negotiations to get NDP policy passed with the Liberals.
The potential candidates with seats left include Heather McPherson, Leah Gazan, Jenny Kwan, Alexandre-Boulerice, Lori Idiout, Gord Johns, and Don Davies, all of whom were incumbent candidates.
Prime Minister Mark Carney could also choose to deal with the Bloc Québécois to pass bills and continue his government for a four-year mandate. The BQ received the same amount of the vote share as the NDP, 6.3 per cent, but were elected in 22 ridings.
From on-site polling that True North has conducted throughout the election, there were massive numbers of Carney supporters who were lifelong NDP supporters, and several said the stakes were too high to support a third party this time around.
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I watched a snippet of an interview with one of the NDP candidates who won their seat. He was talking to Vassy Kapelos and said he was going to ask the PM to grant the NDP official party status despite them only having 7 seats. Of course we know that would be beneficial to the Liberals who are only 3 seats shy of a majority so this is concerning. What do you think the likelihood of that is and the possibility of it happening?
How does a crocodile look when he sees a wildebeast stepping into the former's domain? Carney et al are looking the same way towards the NDP shrunken rump.