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New Democratic Party (NDP)

At the end of the 1950s, renewed recession, increasingly repressive labour legislation in a number of provinces including Quebec, disenchantment with the traditional parties, awareness of the eroding support for the CCF and the need to enlarge its base, triggered a movement in favor of a New Party.

As premier of Saskatchewan, Tommy Douglas made history by leading the first social democratic government ever elected in North America. After 17 years as Premier, he made history again as the founding leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada in 1961. As the premier of Saskatchewan, Douglas became a symbol of what social democracy promised. His government was innovative and efficient, balanced the budget every year, and pioneered many programs that would later be replicated by others.

Douglas was known as one of progressive Canada’s most eloquent spokespeople. During his time as NDP leader, he helped ensure the introduction of Medicare, public pensions and the expansion of Canada’s social safety net in successive minority Parliaments.

Canadian history has shown clearly that a federal political party cannot hope to govern without a certain number of seats in Quebec. If the NDP aspires to be more than just a mere pressure group, it must work to broaden its base in Quebec. Not everyone in the party shares this ambition. Some party members and even some MPs would be uncomfortable with the prospect of one day holding power. Michael Bradley, a former NDP party member, blames the party's failure to gain power partly on its working class ideology which is difficult to reconcile with the complex Canadian reality.

In September 1984, the New Democratic Party, which many had predicted would be erased from the political map, withstood the Conservative onslaught and captured essentially the same number of votes and seats as in the previous election. NDP members elected to the House of Commons represented areas which had traditionally supported the party, namely Western Canada and Ontario. The NDP failed to return any members east of Ottawa. In Quebec, they won about 9 per cent of the popular vote, less than half of the national average. Since it was founded in 1961, the NDP has never been able to improve its 1965 performance in Quebec when, under the leadership of Robert Cliche, it garnered about eleven per cent of the popular vote.

The referendum of 1980, the Constitution Act, 1982, the economic crisis at the beginning of the decade, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's retirement, labour's dissatisfaction with the second Lévesque administration, and Quebecker's apparent indifference to the constitutional debates gave new hope to the NDP's leaders. They appeared willing to soften the Party's constitutional stance, as they had at the time of the Party's founding in 1961 and again when Robert Cliche gave it momentum in 1968. Once again they believed that circumstances favoured the NDP. A political vacuum appeared to be developing in Quebec, both federally and provincially, and the NDP leadership talked more and more about the right to self-determination, and opting-out with financial compensation.

The social democratic NDP won 29 seats (17.4 percent of total votes) in the 2006 election, which rose to 30 after it won a rare upset by-election in Quebec province in 2007. It increased its popular vote by only 2 percent from the 2004 election, but added ten new seats in British Columbia and urban Ontario. Twenty-two of the Qnew seats in British Columbia and urban Ontario. Twenty-two of the party's seats represented Ontario and British Columbia. Under Toronto-based leader Jack Layton since 2002, the NDP continued its transformation from a largely rural western Canadian caucus in the 1980s to an almost exclusively urban party concentrated in Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. It had pockets of support in northern Ontario and the maritime provinces, in addition to its high-profile single beachhead in Montreal. The party's "core" base of support is approximately 12-14 percent nationwide.

Few of the party's seats were "safe," however. The majority stemmed from tight margins in two and three-way splits against the Liberals in urban and northern Ontario, and against the Conservatives and Liberals in Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Halifax. Even small swings in overall support can produce disproportionate gains or losses. The Green Party's appeal to NDP voters since 2004 further threatens to fragment NDP support. Disenchanted Liberal voters turned to the NDP or stayed home in 2006 over the sponsorship scandal; hanging on to those voters will be a challenge in the next election.

The NDP is also highly vulnerable to strategic voting if center-left voters flee to the Liberals to prevent a Conservative majority, underlining the Conservatives' need to handle the NDP with kid gloves in Vancouver and urban Ontario. The party's 2007 by-election win in Montreal (Outremont) raised NDP hopes of a breakthrough in Quebec, but realistically the party was hard-pressed to hold even this riding in the next election.

The NDP has never formed a federal government, but exerts influence when it can exercise a certain balance of power in minority parliaments. It is the self-styled "conscience" of Parliament and champion of "ordinary Canadians." Its chief issues are defense of the public health care system, promotion of human rights and gender equality, improving education and the environment, fighting poverty, and reducing income inequality. The NDP opposed extension of the Canadian Forces' mission in Kandahar, and was the only party to call for immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. The party maintains ties to organized labor, but these links have slackened over the last decade.

In 2011, Jack Layton brought the party to incredible new heights. Voters in the May 2 election elected a record-breaking 103 NDP MPs to represent every part of the country. Layton became leader of the largest Official Opposition in 31 years—and the first formed by New Democrats. With 59 Quebec MPs, Layton’s team emerged not only as a credible government-in-waiting but as a force for Canadian unity. In 2007, after serving as a cabinet minister in Quebec, Tom Mulcair accepted Jack Layton’s invitation to join his New Democrat team. After Jack’s death, Tom was elected leader of Canada’s NDP. In Parliament Tom led the fight for better health care, real action on climate change, and to make life more affordable for Canadians.

Jagmeet Singh, party leader since 2017, was first elected as Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding Bramalea-Gore-Malton in 2011, re-elected in 2014 and served as both the Deputy House Leader and later Deputy Leader of the Ontario NDP from 2015-17.