Byelections won't be a test of NDP leadership, says Jagmeet Singh

Photo: Ryan Remiorz The Canadian Press The NDP took advantage of its visit to Montreal to launch its new advertising campaign, featuring its leader, Jagmeet Singh, who assures that “together, nothing is impossible.”

Boris Proulx

Published yesterday at 2:35 p.m.

• Canada

Regardless of the outcome of the by-elections next Monday, the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, assures that he will remain in office to lead his troops in the next general election.

“I will be a candidate in the next election, for the position of prime minister,” chanted Mr. Singh, prompting some applause from his party's elected officials gathered in Montreal on Tuesday.

The leader is making every effort to reframe the current political debate between his vision and that of the “conservative cuts” of Pierre Poilievre, his rival on the opposition benches in Ottawa. He offered similar arguments when he tore up his agreement with the Liberal Party last week, raising the risk of an early election.

Jagmeet Singh would not elaborate on his reasons for staying on as leader if his party were to be disowned by voters in two ridings currently holding byelections, and where the NDP is counting on a victory. He said he did not want to answer “hypothetical questions.”

Read also

• Jagmeet Singh talks about elections, but doesn’t say whether he will call them
• Column | Singh tears… his shirt
• End of NDP deal may discourage Liberals from changing leaders

NDP elected officials have been meeting since Tuesday morning in a downtown Montreal hotel to do “strategic planning” for the next parliamentary session. The fall session begins next Monday, the same day as these two elections.

Highly important by-elections

A loss in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood–Transcona would mean a net loss for Jagmeet Singh. Voters are going to the polls to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Daniel Blaikie, who went to work for Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew. The Conservatives, who won the last by-election in Toronto-St. Paul’s, are now courting the riding.

The NDP could still make up for it in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal, left vacant by the resignation of Liberal cabinet minister David Lametti. Singh has been there several times to lend a hand to his candidate, Montreal city councillor Craig Sauvé. Sauvé is campaigning on a promise to cap the price of certain grocery items. The Liberal Party and the Bloc Québécois are also very active in this area.

Elected since 2004 under the orange banner, MP Peter Julian recalled that former NDP leader Jack Layton lost a seat in a 2011 by-election, just months before he did well in the following general election, dubbed the “orange wave.” Which goes to show that by-elections are not necessarily a gauge of a leader’s popularity.

No tears for the agreement

The NDP took advantage of its visit to Montreal on Tuesday to launch its new digital advertising campaign, featuring its leader who assures that “together, nothing is impossible.” It is implied that Mr. Singh could become Prime Minister of Canada. It features footage of former leader Jack Layton and NDP premiers Rachel Notley and Wab Kinew winning in Alberta and Manitoba. The Conservative Party of Canada launched its own pre-election ad campaign earlier this month.

NDP elected officials say they quickly mourned the agreement that had bound them to the Trudeau government since March 2022, in exchange for a list of largely implemented public policies.

“There is no one crying this morning, there are no tears in the eyes of any member of Parliament,” assured MP Alexandre Boulerice at the entrance to the meeting on Tuesday. According to the only elected NDP official in Quebec, Mr. Singh's decision to tear up his contract with the Liberals is a consensus among his colleagues.

Franco-Ontarian MP Carol Hughes was not exactly of the same opinion. “Even I was torn on the decision: do we do it or do we not do it [break the deal],” she told reporters.

She said there are mixed views on whether an agreement between the NDP and the Liberals is worthwhile, just as there are mixed views on whether it is important to go to the polls this fall.

Last week, Jagmeet Singh gave a speech in which he talked about a new election, while refusing to say whether he would bring down the government by supporting a motion of non-confidence in the House of Commons, for example. A federal election will be called no later than a year from now, in the fall of 2025.