New Democratic Party
This page is about the Canadian party. For other parties, see New Democratic Party (disambiguation).
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| Current Leader: | Jack Layton |
| Founded: | June 17, 1961 |
| Headquarters: | 1001-75 Albert Street Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E7 |
| Colours: | Orange |
| Political ideology: | democratic socialist |
The New Democratic Party (NDP) is a federal and provincial political party in Canada. It is a social democratic party and is the furthest left of Canada's mainstream parties. It is noted for its socialist roots and its connection with organized labour; a significant proportion of its membership consists of associate members who belong to the party by their membership in affiliated trade unions. The federal leader of the NDP is Jack Layton, a former Toronto City Councillor.
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2 Provincial Structure 3 Current Members of Parliament 4 Federal Leaders 5 External links |
The NDP was created in 1961 as a merger between the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected the party's first leader. The importance of labour to the party is still reflected in the party's leadership elections as labour votes are scaled to 25% of the total number of ballots cast.
Under the leadership of David Lewis, the NDP supported the minority government formed by Pierre Trudeau's Liberals from 1972 to 1974, although they never entered into an official coalition. Together they succeeded in passing many left-wing initiatives into law, including pension indexing and the creation of a nationalized oil and gas company, Petro-Canada.
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 government and forced the early election that brought Pierre Trudeau back to power .
In terms of number of seats, the NDP reached its apogee with 44 MPs under Ed Broadbent in the election of 1988, however the Conservatives had a solid majority. Broadbent stepped down after 15 years as federal leader of the NDP in 1989, although he has recently returned from retirement to run as a representative for the riding of Ottawa-Centre, where he lives. This return is quite celebrated from within the membership of the party.
Under the leadership of Audrey McLaughlin -- the first woman to be leader of a national political party in Parliament -- and Alexa McDonough, the party underwent a decline. Pundits also believe the unpopularity of the NDP government in Ontario affected the federal party's fortunes. It briefly lost official party status due to a lack of MPss in Parliament after the 1993 election, winning only 9 seats (12 are required by Canadian law). This status was regained in the 1997 general election, when 21 New Democrats were elected.
The party embarked in a renewal process starting in 2000. A very active general convention in Winnipeg in November 2001 made significant alterations to certain party structures and reaffirmed its commitment to the left. This bore fruit in the May 2002 by-elections when Brian Masse won a formerly safe Liberal seat in the riding of Windsor West in Windsor, Ontario.
Alexa McDonough announced her resignation as party leader for family reasons in June 2002, and was succeeded by Jack Layton. He was elected at the party's convention in Toronto on January 25, 2003, defeating his nearest rival, longtime MP Bill Blaikie, on the first ballot with 53.5% of the vote. Because Layton currently does not have a seat in the House of Commons, he has appointed Blaikie to fill that role on the floor of the House for the immediate future. In addition, a younger French Canadian candidate, Pierre Ducasse, gave such a stirring speech at the convention that it is hoped that he could be critical in gaining votes in Quebec where the party is typically weak.
The Party is currently favoured by an average of 15% in public opinion polls (an increase of 7% since the last election), and is very optimistic about its future. Recent polls show the NDP at 18% and in 3rd place, behind the Conservative Party of Canada. The NDP expects to make significant gains in the next election widely expected to be called this Spring. Pundits think the party will win new seats in Toronto, Northern Ontario and British Columbia. Due to a fall in Liberal party support, the NDP may hold the balance of power in a minority Liberal government.
At the provincial level, the NDP is currently governing in Manitoba (Premier Gary Doer) and Saskatchewan (Premier Lorne Calvert). The party has also formed governments in Ontario, British Columbia and Yukon.
The most successful section of the party has been the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party which first won government in 1944 as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation under Tommy Douglas and has won most of the province's elections since then. Tommy Douglas is often referred to as the Father of Medicare since Saskatchewan was the first province to bring in free, universal healthcare for all its citizens.
Unlike other federal parties, the NDP is integrated with its provincial and territorial party, such that a member of the federal party is a member of the provincial or territorial party where he or she resides.
There are three exceptions. In Quebec, the provincial NDP was expelled from the party in the early 1990s when it voted to call for Quebec independence. After its expulsion the former Quebec NDP renamed itself the Parti de la Democratie Socialiste or PDS.
Today, the NDP has an activist wing in Quebec (the Nouveau parti démocratique - Section Québec) which promotes the party's agenda in the province and works on federal elections there. On the provincial level in Quebec, many supporters of the federal NDP participate in the Union des forces progressistes (UFP) and some are active in the Parti libÃÂéral du QuÃÂébec.
In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, whose legislatures have no parties, the federal NDP is promoted by its riding associations, since each territory is composed of only one federal riding.
As of February 2003, the NDP holds 14 seats in the House of Commons:
History
Provincial Structure
Provincial and territorial parties
Current Members of Parliament
Bill Blaikie, parliamentary leader
Joe Comartin
Libby Davies
Bev Desjarlais
Yvon Godin
Wendy Lill
Pat Martin
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Brian Masse
Alexa McDonough
Lorne Nystrom
Dick Proctor
Svend Robinson
Peter Stoffer
Judy Wascylycia-Leis
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Federal Leaders
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
New Democratic Party
See also: NDP leadership conventions
See also: List of political parties in CanadaExternal links