New Democratic Party (French: Nouveau Parti démocratique), commonly referred to as the NDP, is a social-democratic federal political party in Canada. The party is regarded as falling on the left in the Canadian political spectrum. The leader of the federal NDP is Jack Layton. The provincial NDP parties in Manitoba and Nova Scotia currently form the government in those provinces. Provincial parties have previously formed governments in British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, and the territorial party formed the government in Yukon. In May 2011, the NDP gained the title of Official Opposition of the Canadian Federal Government due to the party's runner-up finish in the 2011 Canadian Federal Election.
20th century
Origins and early history
In 1956, after the birth of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) by a merger of two previous labour congresses, negotiations began between the CLC and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) to bring about an alliance between organized labour and the political left in Canada. In 1958 a joint CCF-CLC committee, the National Committee for the New Party (NCNP), was formed to create a "new" social-democratic political party, with ten members from each group. The NCNP spent the next three years laying down the foundations of the New Party. During this process, a large number of New Party Clubs were established to allow like-minded Canadians to join in its founding, and six representatives from New Party Clubs were added to the National Committee. In 1961, at the end of a five-day long Founding Convention which established its principles, policies and structures, the New Democratic Party was born and Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected its first leader. In 1960, before the NDP was founded, one candidate, Walter Pitman, won a by-election under the New Party banner.
Trudeau minority
At the 1971 leadership convention, an activist group called The Waffle tried to take control of the party, but were defeated by David Lewis with the help of trade union members. The following year, most of The Waffle split from the NDP and formed their own party. The NDP itself supported the minority government formed by the Pierre Trudeau-led Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although the two parties never entered into a coalition. Together they succeeded in passing several socially progressive initiatives into law such as pension indexing and the creation of the crown corporation Petro-Canada.
In 1974, the NDP worked with the Progressive Conservatives to pass a motion of non-confidence, forcing an election. However, it backfired as Trudeau's Liberals regained a majority government, mostly at the expense of the NDP, which lost half its seats. Lewis lost his own riding and resigned as leader the following year.
Rising popularity
Under the leadership of Ed Broadbent (1975–1989), the NDP played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979-1980, moving the non-confidence motion on John Crosbie's budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative (PC) government, and forced the election that brought Trudeau's Liberal Party back to power.
In the 1984 election, which saw the Progressive Conservatives win the most seats in Canadian history, the NDP won 30 seats, only one behind the 31 it won in 1972. The governing Liberals were decimated, falling to 40 seats in what was at the time the worst defeat of a sitting government at the federal level. The NDP fared far better than expected, considering the PC party had won the biggest majority government in Canadian history. Third parties historically do not do well in landslide election contests. More importantly, they were only 10 seats behind the Liberals — the closest the party and its predecessors had ever got (up to that point) to one of the two major parties, and the best performance for a third party in almost 60 years. This led to some talk that Canada was headed for a UK-style Tory-versus-Labour division,[citation needed] with the NDP pushing the Liberals into oblivion. Afterwards, Broadbent himself consistently out-polled Liberal leader John Turner and even Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Decline
At the party's leadership convention, former B.C. Premier Dave Barrett and Audrey McLaughlin were the main contenders for the leadership. During the campaign, Barrett argued that the party should be concerned with western alienation, rather than focusing its attention on Quebec. The Quebec wing of the NDP strongly opposed Barrett's candidacy, with Phil Edmonston, the party's main spokesman in Quebec, threatening to resign from the party if Barrett won. Barrett's campaign was also hurt when his back-room negotiations with leadership rival Simon De Jong were inadvertently recorded by the latter's CBC microphone. In these discussions, De Jong apparently agreed to support Barrett in exchange for being named House Leader, but he changed his mind at the last minute and supported McLaughlin instead, announcing his endorsement of her before the vote. In the course of his discussion with Barrett, De Jong explained "It's a head and heart thing," i.e., that his head told him to go with Dave while his heart told him to go with Audrey. McLaughlin won the leadership on the fourth ballot, becoming the first woman in Canada to lead a political party.
Into the 21st century
Recovery
The party recovered somewhat under new leader Alexa McDonough, electing 21 New Democrats in the 1997 election. The NDP made a breakthrough in Atlantic Canada, unseating Liberal ministers David Dingwall and Doug Young. The party was able to harness the discontent of Maritime voters, who were upset over cuts to employment insurance and other social programs.
Afterwards, McDonough was widely perceived as trying to move the party toward the centre of the political spectrum, in the Third Way mould of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Union leaders were lukewarm in their support, often threatening to break away from the NDP, while Canadian Auto Workers head Buzz Hargrove called for her resignation. MPs Rick Laliberté and Angela Vautour crossed the floor to other parties during this term, to the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives respectively, reducing the NDP caucus to 19 seats.
Jack Layton elected leader
McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002, and was succeeded by Jack Layton. A Toronto city councillor and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Layton was elected at the party's leadership election in Toronto on January 5, 2003, defeating his nearest rival, longtime Winnipeg-area MP Bill Blaikie, on the first ballot with 53.5% of the vote.
2004 election
The 2004 election produced mixed results for the NDP. It increased its total vote by more than a million votes; however, despite Layton's optimistic predictions of reaching 40 seats, the NDP only gained five seats in the election, for a total of 19. The party was disappointed to see its two Saskatchewan incumbents defeated in close races by the new Conservative Party (formerly Canadian Alliance), perhaps due to the unpopularity of the NDP provincial government. Those losses caused the federal NDP to be shut out in Saskatchewan for the first time since the 1965 election, despite obtaining 23% of the vote in the province.
2006 election
On 9 November 2005, after the findings of the Gomery Inquiry were released, Layton notified the Liberal government that continued NDP support would require a ban on private healthcare. When the Liberals refused, Layton announced that he would introduce a motion on 24 November that would ask Martin to call a federal election in February to allow for several pieces of legislation to be passed. The Liberals turned down this offer. On 28 November 2005, Conservative leader Stephen Harper's motion of no confidence was seconded by Layton and it was passed by all three opposition parties, forcing an election. Columnist Andrew Coyne has suggested that the NDP was unlikely to receive much credit for continuing to further prop up the Liberals, so they ended their support for the Martin government.
Conservative minority
The Conservative Party won a minority government in the 2006 election, and initially the NDP was the only party that would not be able to pass legislation with the Conservatives. However, following a series of floor crossings, the NDP also came to hold the balance of power.
There have been four confidence votes in the 39th parliament, and the NDP is the only party to have voted against the Conservatives on all of them. These were votes on the United States-Canada softwood lumber dispute, extending the mission to Afghanistan, the 2006 Canadian federal budget and 2007 federal budget. On other issues the NDP has worked with the Conservatives. After forcing the Conservatives to agree to certain revisions, the NDP helped pass the Accountability Act. After the NDP fiercely criticized the initial Conservative attempt at a Clean Air Act, the Conservatives agreed to work with the NDP and other parties to revise the legislation.
2011 election: Official Opposition
In the 2011 federal election the NDP won a record 102 seats, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time in the party's history.
The party had a historic breakthrough in Quebec, where they won 58 out of 75 seats. This meant that a majority of the NDP's MPs now came from a province where they had previously only ever elected two candidates (Thomas Mulcair and Phil Edmonston) in the party's history. The NDP's success in Quebec was mirrored by the collapse of the Bloc Québécois, which lost all but 4 of its 47 seats.
The NDP was, however, shut out of Saskatchewan and won only one seat (Edmonton—Strathcona) in Alberta. They also did not win any seats in Prince Edward Island.
Principles and policies
The NDP evolved from a merger of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF grew from populist, agrarian and democratic socialist roots into a modern social-democratic party. Although the CCF was part of the Christian left and the Social Gospel movement, the NDP is secular and pluralistic. It has broadened to include concerns of the New Left, and advocates issues such as gay rights, international peace, and environmental stewardship.
New Democrats today advocate, among other things:
Gender equality and equal rights for LGBT residents
Improving environmental protection through government regulations
National water safety standards
Increasing corporate taxes
Reducing poverty in Canada
Aggressive human rights protection
Expanding funding for public transportation
Expanding public health care, including dental and prescription drug coverage
Social assistance policies that reflects citizens' needs and assist their re-entry to the work force
Abolishing the unelected Senate of Canada and ensuring more proportional representation
Workers' rights including raising the minimum wage to pace the cost of living
Aboriginal peoples' treaty, land, and constitutional rights
A foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid instead of offensive military action
Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
One wing is focused on ending the Canadian War on Drugs and legalizing recreational drugs
Electoral achievements
The NDP has never formed the federal government, but has at times wielded influence during federal minority governments, such as in the recent 40th Parliament as well as the preceding 39th and (particularly) the 38th Parliaments of 2004-2008. The NDP also enjoyed considerable influence during the earlier minority Liberal governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, due to being a large enough group to decide outcomes when the others are split. Provincial New Democratic Parties, technically sections of the federal party, have governed in half the provinces and a territory. They currently govern the provinces of Manitoba and Nova Scotia, form the Official Opposition in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and have sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of Quebec (where there is no provincial NDP), New Brunswick (although the New Brunswick NDP had an elected member until 2006) and Prince Edward Island. They have previously formed governments in the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and in the Yukon Territory. The NDP also formed the official opposition in Alberta during the 1980s.
The New Democrats are also active municipally, and have been elected mayors, councillors, and school and service board members — Toronto mayor David Miller was a leading example, although he did not renew his membership in 2007. Similarly, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson began his political career as the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Fairview. Most municipal office-holders in Canada are usually elected as independents or with autonomous municipal parties.
Current members of Parliament
The 2008 federal election gave the NDP 37 seats. Twelve of its MPs are women; after the general election this represented 32% of its seats (down from 41% in 2006 where it had the highest proportion of women that has ever existed in a Canadian parliamentary caucus with official party status.) For a list of NDP MPs and their critic portfolios, see New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet.
Senator Lillian Dyck initially chose to associate herself with the NDP upon her appointment to the Senate in 2005. However the party did not allow her to be part of the parliamentary caucus, as the NDP favours the abolition of the Canadian Senate. Dyck sat in the Senate as an Independent New Democrat from 24 March 2005 until 15 January 2009, when she joined the Liberal Party of Canada caucus.
Two MPs who were re-elected in 2008, Dawn Black and Judy Wasylycia-Leis, have since retired from the House of Commons. The party retained Black's seat in the resulting by-election; however the party failed to retain Wasylicia-Leis' seat, losing the by-election to the Liberal Party.
20th century
Origins and early history
In 1956, after the birth of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) by a merger of two previous labour congresses, negotiations began between the CLC and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) to bring about an alliance between organized labour and the political left in Canada. In 1958 a joint CCF-CLC committee, the National Committee for the New Party (NCNP), was formed to create a "new" social-democratic political party, with ten members from each group. The NCNP spent the next three years laying down the foundations of the New Party. During this process, a large number of New Party Clubs were established to allow like-minded Canadians to join in its founding, and six representatives from New Party Clubs were added to the National Committee. In 1961, at the end of a five-day long Founding Convention which established its principles, policies and structures, the New Democratic Party was born and Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected its first leader. In 1960, before the NDP was founded, one candidate, Walter Pitman, won a by-election under the New Party banner.
Trudeau minority
At the 1971 leadership convention, an activist group called The Waffle tried to take control of the party, but were defeated by David Lewis with the help of trade union members. The following year, most of The Waffle split from the NDP and formed their own party. The NDP itself supported the minority government formed by the Pierre Trudeau-led Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although the two parties never entered into a coalition. Together they succeeded in passing several socially progressive initiatives into law such as pension indexing and the creation of the crown corporation Petro-Canada.
In 1974, the NDP worked with the Progressive Conservatives to pass a motion of non-confidence, forcing an election. However, it backfired as Trudeau's Liberals regained a majority government, mostly at the expense of the NDP, which lost half its seats. Lewis lost his own riding and resigned as leader the following year.
Rising popularity
Under the leadership of Ed Broadbent (1975–1989), the NDP played a critical role during Joe Clark's minority government of 1979-1980, moving the non-confidence motion on John Crosbie's budget that brought down the Progressive Conservative (PC) government, and forced the election that brought Trudeau's Liberal Party back to power.
In the 1984 election, which saw the Progressive Conservatives win the most seats in Canadian history, the NDP won 30 seats, only one behind the 31 it won in 1972. The governing Liberals were decimated, falling to 40 seats in what was at the time the worst defeat of a sitting government at the federal level. The NDP fared far better than expected, considering the PC party had won the biggest majority government in Canadian history. Third parties historically do not do well in landslide election contests. More importantly, they were only 10 seats behind the Liberals — the closest the party and its predecessors had ever got (up to that point) to one of the two major parties, and the best performance for a third party in almost 60 years. This led to some talk that Canada was headed for a UK-style Tory-versus-Labour division,[citation needed] with the NDP pushing the Liberals into oblivion. Afterwards, Broadbent himself consistently out-polled Liberal leader John Turner and even Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Decline
At the party's leadership convention, former B.C. Premier Dave Barrett and Audrey McLaughlin were the main contenders for the leadership. During the campaign, Barrett argued that the party should be concerned with western alienation, rather than focusing its attention on Quebec. The Quebec wing of the NDP strongly opposed Barrett's candidacy, with Phil Edmonston, the party's main spokesman in Quebec, threatening to resign from the party if Barrett won. Barrett's campaign was also hurt when his back-room negotiations with leadership rival Simon De Jong were inadvertently recorded by the latter's CBC microphone. In these discussions, De Jong apparently agreed to support Barrett in exchange for being named House Leader, but he changed his mind at the last minute and supported McLaughlin instead, announcing his endorsement of her before the vote. In the course of his discussion with Barrett, De Jong explained "It's a head and heart thing," i.e., that his head told him to go with Dave while his heart told him to go with Audrey. McLaughlin won the leadership on the fourth ballot, becoming the first woman in Canada to lead a political party.
Into the 21st century
Recovery
The party recovered somewhat under new leader Alexa McDonough, electing 21 New Democrats in the 1997 election. The NDP made a breakthrough in Atlantic Canada, unseating Liberal ministers David Dingwall and Doug Young. The party was able to harness the discontent of Maritime voters, who were upset over cuts to employment insurance and other social programs.
Afterwards, McDonough was widely perceived as trying to move the party toward the centre of the political spectrum, in the Third Way mould of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Union leaders were lukewarm in their support, often threatening to break away from the NDP, while Canadian Auto Workers head Buzz Hargrove called for her resignation. MPs Rick Laliberté and Angela Vautour crossed the floor to other parties during this term, to the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives respectively, reducing the NDP caucus to 19 seats.
Jack Layton elected leader
McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002, and was succeeded by Jack Layton. A Toronto city councillor and recent President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Layton was elected at the party's leadership election in Toronto on January 5, 2003, defeating his nearest rival, longtime Winnipeg-area MP Bill Blaikie, on the first ballot with 53.5% of the vote.
2004 election
The 2004 election produced mixed results for the NDP. It increased its total vote by more than a million votes; however, despite Layton's optimistic predictions of reaching 40 seats, the NDP only gained five seats in the election, for a total of 19. The party was disappointed to see its two Saskatchewan incumbents defeated in close races by the new Conservative Party (formerly Canadian Alliance), perhaps due to the unpopularity of the NDP provincial government. Those losses caused the federal NDP to be shut out in Saskatchewan for the first time since the 1965 election, despite obtaining 23% of the vote in the province.
2006 election
On 9 November 2005, after the findings of the Gomery Inquiry were released, Layton notified the Liberal government that continued NDP support would require a ban on private healthcare. When the Liberals refused, Layton announced that he would introduce a motion on 24 November that would ask Martin to call a federal election in February to allow for several pieces of legislation to be passed. The Liberals turned down this offer. On 28 November 2005, Conservative leader Stephen Harper's motion of no confidence was seconded by Layton and it was passed by all three opposition parties, forcing an election. Columnist Andrew Coyne has suggested that the NDP was unlikely to receive much credit for continuing to further prop up the Liberals, so they ended their support for the Martin government.
Conservative minority
The Conservative Party won a minority government in the 2006 election, and initially the NDP was the only party that would not be able to pass legislation with the Conservatives. However, following a series of floor crossings, the NDP also came to hold the balance of power.
There have been four confidence votes in the 39th parliament, and the NDP is the only party to have voted against the Conservatives on all of them. These were votes on the United States-Canada softwood lumber dispute, extending the mission to Afghanistan, the 2006 Canadian federal budget and 2007 federal budget. On other issues the NDP has worked with the Conservatives. After forcing the Conservatives to agree to certain revisions, the NDP helped pass the Accountability Act. After the NDP fiercely criticized the initial Conservative attempt at a Clean Air Act, the Conservatives agreed to work with the NDP and other parties to revise the legislation.
2011 election: Official Opposition
In the 2011 federal election the NDP won a record 102 seats, becoming the Official Opposition for the first time in the party's history.
The party had a historic breakthrough in Quebec, where they won 58 out of 75 seats. This meant that a majority of the NDP's MPs now came from a province where they had previously only ever elected two candidates (Thomas Mulcair and Phil Edmonston) in the party's history. The NDP's success in Quebec was mirrored by the collapse of the Bloc Québécois, which lost all but 4 of its 47 seats.
The NDP was, however, shut out of Saskatchewan and won only one seat (Edmonton—Strathcona) in Alberta. They also did not win any seats in Prince Edward Island.
Principles and policies
The NDP evolved from a merger of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF grew from populist, agrarian and democratic socialist roots into a modern social-democratic party. Although the CCF was part of the Christian left and the Social Gospel movement, the NDP is secular and pluralistic. It has broadened to include concerns of the New Left, and advocates issues such as gay rights, international peace, and environmental stewardship.
New Democrats today advocate, among other things:
Gender equality and equal rights for LGBT residents
Improving environmental protection through government regulations
National water safety standards
Increasing corporate taxes
Reducing poverty in Canada
Aggressive human rights protection
Expanding funding for public transportation
Expanding public health care, including dental and prescription drug coverage
Social assistance policies that reflects citizens' needs and assist their re-entry to the work force
Abolishing the unelected Senate of Canada and ensuring more proportional representation
Workers' rights including raising the minimum wage to pace the cost of living
Aboriginal peoples' treaty, land, and constitutional rights
A foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid instead of offensive military action
Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
One wing is focused on ending the Canadian War on Drugs and legalizing recreational drugs
Electoral achievements
The NDP has never formed the federal government, but has at times wielded influence during federal minority governments, such as in the recent 40th Parliament as well as the preceding 39th and (particularly) the 38th Parliaments of 2004-2008. The NDP also enjoyed considerable influence during the earlier minority Liberal governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, due to being a large enough group to decide outcomes when the others are split. Provincial New Democratic Parties, technically sections of the federal party, have governed in half the provinces and a territory. They currently govern the provinces of Manitoba and Nova Scotia, form the Official Opposition in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and have sitting members in every provincial legislature except those of Quebec (where there is no provincial NDP), New Brunswick (although the New Brunswick NDP had an elected member until 2006) and Prince Edward Island. They have previously formed governments in the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and in the Yukon Territory. The NDP also formed the official opposition in Alberta during the 1980s.
The New Democrats are also active municipally, and have been elected mayors, councillors, and school and service board members — Toronto mayor David Miller was a leading example, although he did not renew his membership in 2007. Similarly, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson began his political career as the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Fairview. Most municipal office-holders in Canada are usually elected as independents or with autonomous municipal parties.
Current members of Parliament
The 2008 federal election gave the NDP 37 seats. Twelve of its MPs are women; after the general election this represented 32% of its seats (down from 41% in 2006 where it had the highest proportion of women that has ever existed in a Canadian parliamentary caucus with official party status.) For a list of NDP MPs and their critic portfolios, see New Democratic Party Shadow Cabinet.
Senator Lillian Dyck initially chose to associate herself with the NDP upon her appointment to the Senate in 2005. However the party did not allow her to be part of the parliamentary caucus, as the NDP favours the abolition of the Canadian Senate. Dyck sat in the Senate as an Independent New Democrat from 24 March 2005 until 15 January 2009, when she joined the Liberal Party of Canada caucus.
Two MPs who were re-elected in 2008, Dawn Black and Judy Wasylycia-Leis, have since retired from the House of Commons. The party retained Black's seat in the resulting by-election; however the party failed to retain Wasylicia-Leis' seat, losing the by-election to the Liberal Party.
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