Thank U, Next: Is it time for an NDP leadership review?

This is the second article in Daily Hive’s Canada Line series, a multi-platform series uncovering the systematic causes of the social, political, and economic issues impacting Canadians. Filmed on subways and LRTs across the country, the series aims to bring nuance and analysis to the very same platforms where millennials and Gen Z are most active.

It’s hard to imagine that not too long ago, Canada’s NDP was the official opposition party, winning 103 of the 308 seats in Parliament during the 2011 Canadian Federal Election under the late Jack Layton’s leadership. Four months after the election, Layton succumbed to cancer, setting in motion a series of events that have had ripple effects on Canadian politics to this day, including PM Trudeau’s decision to stay in politics and run for Liberal leadership.

CPAC/YouTube

Today, Jagmeet Singh’s NDP is far from its former dominance in the House of Commons, reduced to just 24 seats after significant losses in the 2019 election. More recently, the NDP’s performance in various byelections across the country has continued to slip. In the latest blow to the Federal NDP brand, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is rethinking his party’s links with their federal counterpart.

CPAC/YouTube

With so much conversation around Trudeau’s political future, perhaps it’s also worth asking whether the NDP is due for a leadership review if the political winds don’t blow in their favour following the next election. To shed light on this, we spoke with Steve Burgess, a political columnist and contributing editor at The Tyee, who believes a leadership review would benefit the NDP if Singh is unable to convince Canadians of a viable progressive alternative in the next election.

@freshdailyca Is the federal NDP party due for a leadership review if Jagmeet Singh is unable to convince Canadians of a progressive alternative to the status quo 🤔 We spoke to Vancouver-based political columnist and author Steve Burgess to find out what he thinks about the Liberal-NDP alliance and the future of the NDP party. #Canada ♬ original sound – Freshdaily

Burgess called the Liberal-NDP alliance a “political gamble” that has generated significant policy wins, like dental care. However, these wins have come at the cost of “hitching [the NDP’s] wagon to a falling star”—Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party. That calculation was a choice, and Burgess predicts the NDP policy achievements will be lost on Canadians in the next election. “I think people are more tuned into the fact that the Liberals and the NDP are in bed together,” said Burgess. “I think that’s been the main takeaway for the average voter.”

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