Labour Day marks the beginning of the federal NDP’s leadership campaign to replace Jagmeet Singh.
But the NDP had better do more than just replace the man who delivered the party’s worst election defeat in modern history: the party needs a NEW direction as well!
I told them so months BEFORE the last federal election … on this blog, appropriately named Keeping it Real: https://harveyoberfeld.ca/bc-provincial-losses-signal-trouble-ahead-for-federal-ndp/.
“The party currently holds 25 seats in Parliament … with more than HALF of them … 13 … representing BC ridings. Just think about what that same major shift to Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives in BC federally would do to the NDP in Ottawa!,” I wrote in November, 2024.
“Perhaps it’s not just the Liberals who should be looking for a new leader and a new approach … as their only hope of resuscitating popular appeal?,” I suggested.
The Liberals listened … but the NDP ignored my advice.
The results of the April 28, 2025 proved I … and others sounding the alarm … had been right: the NDP ended up with a miserable seven seats in the House of Commons, compared to 169 for the Liberals, 144 Conservatives and even well behind the Bloc Quebecois with 22.
“And making it worse, the NDP’s share of the popular vote fell to 6.3% this election, from 17.8% in 2021,” I noted.
The NDP even lost Official party status.
Again I sounded a warning: https://harveyoberfeld.ca/spring-time-for-renewal-but-will-the-federal-ndp-get-the-message/.
“It may be admirable, even laudable, to champion Canada as a leader in environmental change (and oppose mining, refineries, pipelines) or provide a home for hundreds of thousands Third World immigrants, almost unlimited numbers of refugees, prioritise spending on homelessness, services (and supplies) for hard drug users, and advocate on behalf of trans-gender issues or pontificate on world conflicts … but right now, Canadian taxpayers/voters have other priorities,” I wrote last May.
Now, I’ll try once more to help the NDP “get real”.
Here’s what the federal party MUST do to climb out of basement … and not end up being buried down there!
The NDP has to PRIORITIZE working families, the middle class, blue collar tax-payers, struggling seniors and, yes, jobs-producing businesses and tax-revenue-generating resource developments, even if they require new pipelines.
NOT sacrifice the majority to push costly climate change priorities, Indigenous reconciliation, gender issues, refugees, international social justice, conflicts or supporting/pushing revolutionary causes/protests on campuses or as government policies.
Canadians are hurting and are more worried about REAL issues: jobs, trade, inflation, housing, crime, Courts and their own and their kids’ futures.
In other words, the NDP MUST get back to the party that thrived under Ed Broadbent, Jack Layton, Audrey McLaughlin and Thomas Mulcair and move away from the armchair socialist theorists, activists and university elitists who I sensed ruled the roost under Singh.
A new leader gives the party a chance to change the direction that brought such disastrous results.
The NDP leadership campaign will wind up on March 29 at a party convention in Winnipeg.
So far, several names have emerged as possible contenders:
Most prominent is Avi Lewis, a professor at UBC’s “Centre for Climate Justice”, in my view, just another silver-spoon socialist, son of former Ontario NDP Stephen Lewis and grandson of former NDP federal Leader David Lewis.
“Lewis has also pushed for Canada to take more pro-Palestinian positions…. a longtime climate activist, filmmaker, and a former broadcaster with CBC and Al Jazeera,” the Toronto Star reported last week.
Hmm! A climate activist, documentary maker, CBC broadcaster who worked at Al Jazeera … which I would describe as the unofficial propaganda arm of the Hamas terrorists!
A loser’s Curriculum Vitae these days for an aspiring Canadian political party leader, I’d say!
His current priorities?
“Lewis said he believes the NDP should be taking on a more populist approach and focus on affordability with policies like national rent control, which was in the NDP’s election platform, and publicly supported non-profit grocery stores. He also said efforts toward nation-building development projects that have dominated the political discourse in Canada should instead focus on massive public investment in things like health care, elder care, child care and education,” The Star reported. (Read the full article here: https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/heather-mcpherson-avi-lewis-prepare-ndp-leadership-bids/article_2d65de8b-66f3-4e27-82ce-b354769f692e.html).
Lewis would never get my vote.
Another well-known potential candidate, Edmonton MP Heather McPherson “has a family history in the oil and gas sector, and has been less hawkish on conventional energy development, except for coal, than some others in the NDP, including Lewis.,” The Star reported.
“More people need to be welcomed, and more people need to see themselves within a progressive movement. I think sometimes, we don’t do that,” she said. “There’s no future to a New Democratic Party that doesn’t include workers, that doesn’t include seats in southern Ontario and in Alberta and Saskatchewan.”
“She worked in the non-profit sector before becoming a member of Parliament in 2019, and gained a profile in the last two years as the NDP’s foreign affairs critic, leading the party’s push for the Liberal government to take tougher stances on Israel in its war in Gaza and to recognize a Palestinian state.”
Better … but still not for me.
The Star also pointed to possible candidates: Yves Engler a Montreal activist with “an anti military, anti-capitalist platform”; Rob Ashton, President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; Tanille Johnston, a Campbell city councillor; and, Ontario farmer and former NDP candidate Tony McQuail .
Well, the campaign is just starting: let’s hope … for the sake of the future of the NDP … a successful candidate emerges in touch with what the MAJORITY of Canadians need here and now, and puts a lid on the NDP’s extreme left ideological ideas … both domestic and foreign.
Happy Labour Day! 🇨🇦
Harv Oberfeld
🇨🇦🇨🇦Check the labels. Support Canadian jobs! 🇨🇦🇨🇦
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D.M. Johnston, haven’t heard the term “green chain” for a long time. Do remember the male parental unit worked on it from time to time at Eburne Saw Mills before departing for B.C. Electric’s Gas Division. The neighbour in Richmond, Lorne Frame also worked there.
The descriptions of today’s NDP leadership is interesting but we used to refer to them as Cadillac Socialists.
The new game rules to run for leadership are just plain stupid. The name of the game is winning and that requires the best candidate for leadership and and who has a chance of being elected to a seat in the House of Commons. By restricting who and how you get to run for the NDP leadership is going to restrict any chances of the best winning the position. It will also signal to many running for M.P. they aren’t welcome and that too will be a problem.
The name of the game is not trying to change the world but to win as many seats as possible and then work to improve the lives of the people of the country, Eventually that will change the world.
The current game rules would not have permitted Tommy Douglas or Ed Broadbent to run for the NDP leadership. Having only seen Tommy Douglas on t.v. and hearing about his work, thought he was probably a pretty big guy. Then in the very early 70s saw him one summer day speaking at an outdoor rally on Mayne Island. OMG he wasn’t a tall person at all. Almost tiny but when he spoke he was the biggest person in the room. We don’t need an NDP leader who meets a list of artificial requirements. The NDP needs a leader who will give people pause and then think, ya I’m going to vote for them and give them a chance. People may care about all the things the list contains, but what gets them to vote for a particular party is the impact they will make on what happens in Parliament and what changes they can affect to improve voter’s lives. People are concerned about the plight of those being bombed in Gaza by Israel but when push comes to shove, they will be more concerned about their kid getting a decent job, their parents having a decent pension and every one having health care which will keep them from dying. There will also be an emphasis on ensuring people are properly housed and kids are looked after if their parental units don’t.
Its great to move society to a more equal space but first you have to ensure society is a safe place to live, like not a whole lot of crime and people living on the street. Do some of these rule makers not understand voters are going to care more about being safe than politically correct (or their version of it) People won’t focus outside of their own town, province, country if they are worried about the necessities of life.
I’m fine with the NDP supporting the Liberals in Parliament. Having the Conservatives in office, PP especially, is something which will lead to this country looking more like maga and the U.S.A. than anything Canadian. PP is just a loud mouthed politician who has never held a real job, lives in government housing, bad mouths everything and anything which isn’t his idea and never met a person he didn’t want to critize. I’ll continue voting NDP like I have since 1969 but would vote federal Liberal in a heart beat to keep PP or most any Conservative from being P.M. Haven’t liked a Conservative Leader since Joe Clark
Political parties evolve. The Conservative Party of Canada is not the same as the Progressive Conservative Party of Stanfield, Clark and Mulroney that was crushed in 1993 and joined up with Reform, Alliance, whatever. Didn’t a Social Credit Party run BC for 37 of 40 years until 1991 only to be destroyed but somehow those folk took over an actual Liberal party to create a fake Liberal party that just up and quit to allow a Conservative party to resurface who hadn’t elected anybody in over 50 years. I have lost track of the names of the governing party in Alberta since the days of Ernest Manning (Social Credit) and Peter Lougheed (Conservative). And nobody can tell me that the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau was the same as the one led by Paul Martin, Jean Chretien or John Turner.
And these were all winning parties. And despite the rosy view of NDPs past, the NDP, federally, while sometimes effective in minority governments has never been more than a fourth party since 1993. Before that they were third when there were only three parties. They have never had more than 20% of the popular vote. Yes I am ignoring the 2011 election which was just Quebec playing a practical joke on the rest of Canada and giving the NDP the illusion that they could form government. Thomas Mulcair, from Quebec, lost most of Layton’s gains.
In Singh’s first two elections, the NDP received its traditional total but his best before date expired and the NDP was squeezed out when the last election became a strictly two party race. The Bloc and the Greens lost ground as well.
I am not sure why you included Audrey McLaughlin in your list of leaders that the NDP thrived under. In her one election, the NDP got less than 7% of the vote and 9 seats. Or maybe you mixed her up with Alexa Mcdonough who got 8% and 11% in her two elections. The ’90s were an absolute disaster for the federal NDP yet somehow they came back.
I am not trying to defend the NDP. They lost and lost badly. They need to figure out what they need to do to regain some relevance. But I am not sure the death knell is tolling quite yet. Provincially, there are two NDP governments and in several more they are the official opposition which is a lot more than we can say about the Liberal provincial parties.
I’ve said before, I vote NDP because I want a strong opposition to hold the party in power to account. That has been the role of the NDP in the past. To get enough members elected to be effective both in the House and committees, they have to have some kind of platform that distinguishes them from the Liberals and Conservatives.
I guess we will just have to wait to see what they come up with and who the face of the party will be and whether or not they can make some sort of comeback down the road. And if they fail, some other party (maybe the same old same old with a different name like BC United lol) will fill the void.
(Response: You are absolutely correct when you write parties evolve. At least, they must evolve if they want to stay relevant … and most do, changing stances and policies as the priorities and interests of the electorate also change. Some would see that as hypocritical but I do not: different times/circumstances call for different priorities and policies … as long as the party retains its basic principles and goals. I know in the last election the federal NDP lost votes of some potential supporters who felt the most important priority was to keep Poilievre out; but what I believe is much more critical to its future is that many of their former worker base thinks it abandoned them to prioritize the interests of louder, militant, activist minorities. And depending on who the party chooses now … those voters may see the Conservatives, not the NDP, as the new champions of the middle class, worried more about jobs, taxes, crime than the environment, indigenous demands, gender issues etc. Ho)
More to the center would be more inclusive? And back to basics.
(Response: Exactly! The center is where the majority of the votes are …. not with those on the fringes. Ho)
Harvey
Have you seen the latest from the Federal NDP Leadership candidate rules?
The rules released for candidates for NDP leadership race….
“Rules indicate that at least 50 per cent of the total required signatures must be from NDP members who do not identify as a cisgender man — meaning a man whose reported gender corresponds to their reported sex at birth.
The party also requires a minimum of 100 signatures be from “equity-seeking groups” such as racialized members, Indigenous members, members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and persons living with disabilities.”
As the rest of the voting public turn their back on this alphabet soup identity crisis….the NDP embrace it?
Remember when the NDP represented the working man? Unions? Joe Average?
As Ukraine, Gaza, everywhere spins into war and chaos….
These self absorbed fools continue to beat the hell out of an issue 5% of the population cares about?
What an embarrassment they have become.
Lots of luck getting funding.
I can just hear it now at the annual NDP convention.
“Would the last person to vote NDP please stand up and state….your gender….”
(Response: I’m not sure: some might suggest the rules stack the deck in favour of far left activist progressives; others might believe it just ensures diversity. The most important issue is WHO they choose: a pragmatic majority-issues-focused leader working and middle class voters can identify with; or some far left climate/gender/indigenous/foreign battles focused activist who will keep them in the basement. Ho)
I was blown away by this. I was a supporter of the Layton era NDP. Poilievre lost catering to a fringe minority, now the NDP do the same at the other extreme. It’s just painful. Alienating 50% of the population is a ridiculous strategy.
(Response: This is all a product of the shift of the party away from its old blue collar working/middle class beer-drinking labour base and their issues to more elitist, progressive, social re-engineering wine drinkers more interested in busting ceilings than actually winning power. Ho)
I’m probably the last person who should give the NDP advice. As many here probably know, I’m on the right and I’m happy that the NDP has few seats. If the NDP wants to gain more seats, it should study the policies of former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
He was a socialist, but I respected him because he was a man who rode the subway to work, who didn’t surround himself with bodyguards, who was close to ordinary people, and who fought for policies that people actually cared about. His assassination remains a mystery, but I’m sure the CIA wasn’t happy with him when he criticized American foreign policy in Central America. If the NDP can focus on the working-class and not simply be an ally of the Liberals, it may be able to gain more seats in the next election.
(Response: A party that has gone from once being Official Opposition to now fourth place, without even party status in the Commons, could use legitimate suggestions from everywhere! I have tried, repeatedly, you have now tried and I’m sure many other pragmatists, both within and outside the party, will try to convince them to choose a leader who will keep it real and actually appeal to the majority of Canadians …not prioritize the issues of activists/extremists and those on the fringes. Ho)
Here are the rules for the candidates running for the leadership:
To be nominated, candidates require at least 500 signatures from party members, at least half of which must be from female-identified members and at least 100 from “other equity-seeking groups,” including Indigenous people, LGBTQIA2S+ people, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities.
Do you notice there is no mention of working class, middle class or people who actually you know work for a living or even seniors struggling on a pension, or military ???? Sad what they represent. I used to vote NDP when I lived in Manitoba and they actually stood for something. Never ever again!
Marge is right I’m sure. The NDP is done at least for a very long time or forever because no one trusts them even if they get a new leader. Leader of what ?? The same disrespectful wingnuts. The same airy fairy ideologically driven activist re makers of actually Canada itself. And much of their destructive disease has been transferred to the Liberal Party caucus. As if they needed more of it to add to their craziness.
(Response: Well, take it from someone who actually met and admired Tommy Douglas, and has voted NDP, the party has a long proud history of actually representing and prioritizing the working/middle class. If they can get back to that …instead of what they have become … the party could become relevant again to the majority of “ordinary” Canadians: otherwise, they’ll remain in fourth place, without even Official Party status. Ho)
The NDP is broke.
They were broke before the election and borrowed heavily to campaign.
Even worse.
They have lost their opposition status.
Leave them to their own demise to “die on the populist altar” of irrelevance.
They’ve earned it.
(Response: In politics, a party’s fortunes can change drastically in just weeks: ask Trudeau, Poilievre! A lot depends on the leader and the issues of the time. The question is whether NDP members are prepared to keep pushing their ideological dreams and stay irrelevant to most … or “keep it real” and rebuild their possibilities. Ho)
I am a Conservative “die hard” … but when Mulcair was the top boy for the NDP I was truly on the fence .. he was good and now as a CTV commentator he makes a lot of sense. And I m sure he will not put his hat in the “ring” to return to the top spot for the NDP.
Sorry I don’t see the NDP getting anywhere with any of the candidates .. they will lose all seats in Parliament eventually … hopefully they don’t take any of your advice HO.
(Response: Well, I warned them repeatedly …. and so did others/polls … they were in big trouble with Singh at the helm, but he decided to hang in, and in the end, that decimated the party. The party membership must abandon their “progressive” penchant of breaking ceilings … advancing “woke” issues … and then losing; they need to concentrate on winning back the middle class workers/families … who care more about jobs, taxes, crime, and health care. Ho)
Oh, you must be and have to be talking somewhat about the Liberals also. The same social re-engineering of the Canadian fabric by way of the same Trudeau mentality. Singh and the Singh and the NDP were just on the very edge of the fringe and moment of the perfect storm. I think Pollievere would have made it if not for the Tarriff crisis whereby Canadians felt more comfortable with the the devil they knew in power and a new leader even if he is another elitist and a fancy man banker with a Big off shore account in a qeustionable place of off shore tax havens, under qeustionable holdings. Just wait until Carneys Trudeau activist social re-engineer elitists and anti Canadian values and identity come in for the kill on regular working families and homeowners. Watch out for the Generation Squeeze sleaze also and every other outside self interest non elected rats. In my opinion, the regret will come, and the hangover ain’t even started yet.
(Response: Traditionally, the Liberals have depended on soft NDP supporters when the Conservatives have come close to power … and it often worked! But as the NDP drifted away from the blue collar lunch box crowd and was taken over more and more by comfortable, educated elitists, their soft supporters turned away, from the NDP and, some fearing Poilievre and the Conservatives as well, voted for Carney/Liberals. But apparently others, worried about crime/Courts, taxes, even started leaning more towards the messaging of Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives. The NDP now needs a new leader who will reclaim the party’s middle class voters …and get back to basics. Now, will they listen to Keeping it Real? Or stay irrelevant to most Canadians? Ho)
Jagmeet & co., sank this party by propping up Trudeau. To think they could advance by propping up a minority govt. is too delusional to describe.
The few options to fully go down with the ship are boring, recycled, corduroy clad, silver spoon socialists. None offer any real departure from the downwards spiral seen since Layton passed away.
Even my trade labour friends say the NDP is finished.
I guess a few supporters of bike lanes, safe supply, nanny states, and the terrorist lovers will still vote NDP.
(Response: The NDP, federally, has no hope of winning and little hope these days of forming Official Opposition, so it wields power as a third party, propping up the Liberals. But they so alienated their base under Singh, and the issues they kept prioritizing clearly turned off huge numbers of voters …. along with fears of Poilievre/Conservatives … many voted Liberal instead. Ho)
As Trump would say, I lay my cards on the table, I am a 70 year old lefty. That being said the NDP leaves me as cold as a corpse. The NDP is not a national party, rather a fragmented rag-tag party of discontents, spiced with anarchists.
Jagmeet Singh was an utterly poor choice as party leader and to quote the late Rafe Mair; “a party member must look the part of a national leader in the world’s eye and Jagmeet Singh did not, rather looked like a 1930’s Fleischer caricature of an unkempt anarchist.
If this is the best the NDP can do, they might as well close shop and go the way of the Dodo bird.
The NDP do not represent the “common man”; or the “worker”, rather, as you say silver spoon, armchair socialists, who went to the right schools, to work in the right jobs and married the right money.
I doubt many NDP types understand the term “pulling chain”, let alone know what a green-chain is.
My first job out of high school was pulling chain at Eburne sawmills and I doubt many in the NDP today, under 35 has done much manual labour.
I do not see the NDP changing, but instead more circling of the wagons, more antisemitism; more outlandish promises; more stupidity.
The NDP do not represent me or many in my cohort; they used to, but not no more.
The NDP has become an national embarrassment.
(Response: This could be their most important leadership choice ever! I hope Canadians see a real battle between the ideologically driven airy fairy socialist types (out to remake mankind and promote revolutionary causes overseas) and more pragmatic democrats (out to raise wages, create jobs, improve living standards at home). And if the delegates want ANY chance of returning to Official party status, it’s the latter that had better win! Ho)
The NDP sold their souls to the Liberals so their leader could redeem a nice pension. Strangely enough the Conservatives are now regarded as the party of the worker and the NDP just a sellout for any cost. With youth unemployment at record levels and immigration running wild, what do you think the NDP under a new leadership will do? My guess is absolutely nothing. They will continue to prop up the Liberals and eventually join them. That is where I think all of this is heading. We will eventually have a two-party system like they do in the US with fringe parties like the Greens around just to add to the fun! The NDP is finished as a singleton party for good and they deserve it for what they did to Canada. Sadly the NDP fringe supporters here will continue to advocate for them, not realizing what they are supporting and that their party is dead for all and purposes.
(Response: The NDP used be much more blue collar, union, working and middle class orientated. That’s when I voted for them … in Saskatchewan and in BC. Today the party seems to have been taken over by the “progressive” university, professional, artsy, activist crowd … so, ironically, many working people now see the NDP as very elitist, out of touch. They need to respect/get back to their roots… or, as you indicate, the Conservatives will capture more of those voters the NDP used to be able to rely on. Ho)